Topic 6 of 6
The trade
Its history, and how it is bought and sold.
Start with this guide
The History of Rooibos
The full history of rooibos, from a wild Cederberg shrub used by the Khoisan, through Benjamin Ginsberg's 1904 trade and Pieter Nortier's 1930 cultivation breakthrough, to the trademark fights and the protected name it carries today. Read the guide →
Also in The trade
- GuideThe Rooibos Trade
- ArticleA 1933 Tea Sample Still Matches Today's Cup
- News · 21 Aug 2026Rooibos Could Draw Tourists Like Cape Wine, NWU Researcher Says
- ArticleSome of the Oldest Rooibos Never Reached a Cup
- ArticleThe Rooibos South Africa Keeps for Itself
- ArticleThe Rooibos Patents Nestlé Quietly Let Lapse
Everything filed under The trade
- GuideThe Rooibos Trade
- ArticleA 1933 Tea Sample Still Matches Today's Cup
- News · 21 Aug 2026Rooibos Could Draw Tourists Like Cape Wine, NWU Researcher Says
- ArticleSome of the Oldest Rooibos Never Reached a Cup
- ArticleThe Rooibos South Africa Keeps for Itself
- ArticleThe Rooibos Patents Nestlé Quietly Let Lapse
- ArticleThe Farmer Who Bought Back the Farm He Worked for Wages
- ArticleRooibos's Monopoly Ended in 1993. It Had a Private Sequel
- ArticleHow Rooibos Became a Health Drink
- News · 28 Jun 2026Fair-Trade Rooibos Pays Cederberg Growers More After Drought
- News · 27 Jun 2026China Drops Its Import Duty on South African Rooibos
- ArticleHow Rooibos Became a Crop, With Help From an Ant Heap
- ArticleRooibos Pays the Khoi and San for Their Knowledge
- News · 23 Jun 2026The Rooibos in Your Cup Now Pays the Khoi and San for Their Knowledge
- ArticleWho Gets to Call It Rooibos? The Fight for a Plant's Name
- ArticleThe Board That Owned Rooibos for Forty Years
- ArticleThe World Wants Your Cup. Only One Valley Pours It.
- News · 29 Apr 2026Cape Town Installation Turns Rooibos Into a Story of Loss
- ArticleThe Wartime Rooibos Boom the Record Cannot Quite Confirm
- ArticleThree Different Promises on a Rooibos Label, and Why Most Tins Carry None
- ArticleNobody Has Ever Auctioned a Kilogram of Rooibos
- ArticleThe Biggest Rooibos Market on Earth Never Grew a Single Bush
- ArticleFour Times Someone Tried to Own the Word Rooibos
- ArticleThe Red Bush Two Different Histories Both Call Home
- ArticleJapan Boycotted Apartheid and Bought the Rooibos Anyway
- News · 31 May 2021"Rooibos" on an EU Pack Now Means Real Cape Rooibos, by Law
- News · 24 Jun 2005"Rooibos" Is Now a Free Word in America, Any Pack Can Say It