It has been thousand of centuries since tea was first discovered in China. Perhaps in the days of the past, no one would’ve ever thought of tea traveling from East Asia to the rest of the globe. However, tea is now one of the most popular beverages in the world. JOKO tea is also very prevalent in Africa.
Produced by Unilever Food Solutions at their Tea Factory in KZN – JOKO tea has a rather romantic origin story, filled with ambition, vision, friendship, and entrepreneurial spirit.
Background
During the early 1890s, Frederik Glenton worked at Transvaal Rubber Company as a linoleum layer. His dream had always been to start his own tea company, he learnt a good deal about tea while working for a grocer in Newcastle, England.
But the thing is, he was working hard in order to save money to bring his fiancée from England.
He saved his weekly wages until it was sufficient enough to bring his fiancee from England to Cape Town, where he met her at the docks.
They married on the same day she arrived in the country, and the only guest at the wedding was a man called Mitchell, whom she had met & befriended during the voyage from England.
Frederick thought Mitchell was wealthy judging by his appearance. Thinking he could convince him to invest in the tea company, he invited him to join his venture.
Mitchell in fact had no money, but was interested in the venture and enthusiastic enough to pursuade his brother in Ireland to lend him £1000, and so Glenton & Mitchell was officially formed.
Armed with capital and Frederick’s tea knowledge, they bought high-quality Ceylon tea, which they sold to boarding houses and mines.
They would pack the teas during the afternoon and sell it the next morning, making deliveries by bike. If there was strong winds blowing against them, they would travel by train.
Glenton & Mitchell started collecting samples of product labels imported all the world, they then came across the label tea called JOKO from New Zealand
They chose this catchy name for their own product. To publicise the new brand, they had a wagon made and painted exactly like a pack of JOKO tea. It was pulled by two horses, JO & KO – and soon became synonymous with high-quality tea.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Joko tea is still blended with the same personal care and attention to detail at the Tea Factory in Pietermaritzburg, where over 7 000 tons of tea are packed each year – Enough for over 3,5 billion cups of tea
