Red Espresso Celebrates 20 Years While Continuing To Expand And Support African Farmers Through Sustainable Practices – CoffeeTalk

Red Espresso, a South African company, has been making a significant impact in both local and international markets. The company was founded by Nic Reid, who sold his first bag of rooibos tea and put it through an espresso machine. Reid, still in the final year of a marketing degree, was roped in by his sister and her husband, Monique and Pete Ethelston, to market their rooibos espresso to cafés and delis.

Reid’s ploy worked, and the owner of Giovanni’s, the beloved Sea Point deli, agreed to buy a few bags in October 2005. Today, Red Espresso has more than 100 product lines that extend well beyond rooibos, and a footprint in 12 countries. The business is doubling in size every two to three years and is still 100% family-owned.

The seed for Red Espresso was sown in a Kathmandu internet café when Pete and Monique received an email from friend and business partner Carl Pretorius, who explained how he tried grinding the tea in his home grinder. A few months later, he could produce something that mimicked real espresso, right down to the frothy crema on top – but without the caffeine.

Before proving there was a market for Red Espresso, the company invested heavily in intellectual property rights, securing worldwide trademarks for names like Red Espresso and Red Cappuccino, as well as international patents. At Monique’s insistence, a top-tier designer was hired for its logo and branding.

Red Espresso’s first big break came in 2006 when Woolworths added Red Cappuccino to its café menu. International acclaim followed in 2008 when the Specialty Coffee Association of America voted Red Espresso the best new product, a first for a tea-based beverage and a South African company.

Red Espresso, a South African coffee company, began producing high-altitude, organically grown and hand-harvested rooibos that tasted better and were willing to pay a premium for it. The Ethelstons, who worked directly with their primary farmer, established Seeds of Hope in 2015, a support and upliftment programme for subsistence farmers in the Moravian mission town of Heuningvlei. The project started with a handful of farmers producing less than 10 tonnes in the first season, but as the rest of the community saw the livelihoods of their neighbors improving, more farmers signed on. Today, Red Espresso buys about 40 tonnes of high-quality rooibos from 20 subsistence farmers every year, about 15% of its annual needs.

The company has expanded beyond rooibos espresso by developing Nespresso-compatible rooibos espresso capsules and instant Red Cappuccino sachets, which enable customers to bring the same premium taste to their homes. The first non-rooibos product developed was a matcha latte in 2016, and dozens of others have followed, including chais, hot chocolates, and superfood lattes. Red Espresso was also the first to launch a range of vegan drinks in South Africa and white-labelling products for retailers and café chains has been another important element in its growth.

The business employs 70 people at its head office in Paarl and provides an income to a further 20 workers on the tealands. Factoring in the many other suppliers who help to get drinks on shelves and in cups, it’s a significant boost to the local economy. Sustainability is taken seriously, with the cocoa in the hot chocolate range being all Rainforest Alliance certified. All the rooibos is farmed without any herbicides, pesticides, or irrigation.

Red Espresso’s eco-friendly factory relies on rainwater for a third of its water needs and 75% of the electricity used comes from rooftop solar. Investing in local carbon offset projects means the entire supply chain is carbon neutral. For the Ethelstons, this all goes back to their reasons for starting the company: “In our corporate lives we had this nagging feeling that we weren’t doing people or the planet much good,” says Pete. “We wanted to build a business that was a force for good.”

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