Leadership That Keeps The Tea Moving
Annelise van der Merwe leads Cup Of Tea Co from Stellenbosch Central with a steady hand and a clear eye on quality, stock flow and customer expectations. Since 2011, she has shaped the business around dependable service, careful sourcing and the kind of tea range people can use every day, whether they are buying for home, a guest house or an office that needs a proper tea point.
She keeps the team aligned on practical matters too, from busy courier weeks in the Western Cape to bulk orders headed for Johannesburg or Durban. Her focus is simple: make sure each order leaves in good condition, arrives on time and feels considered when it is opened.
- Business direction and day to day oversight
- Service standards for retail, gifting and bulk supply
- Coordination with local and national courier schedules
Blending And Product Development In The Tea Room
Siyabonga Ndlovu is the Head Tea Blender and the person who brings structure to flavour. He works across loose leaf teas, rooibos and herbal infusions, balancing aroma, colour and strength so the final cup holds up well whether it is brewed in a cafetière, a teapot or a tea urn at a function.
His work suits South African tastes well, with blends that must perform in warm summers, cooler winter mornings and those familiar load-shedding evenings when a good kettle and a good tin of tea matter more than people admit. He also keeps an eye on consistent batch quality, which is important when customers order the same blend month after month.
- Custom tea blending for private and corporate use
- Rooibos and herbal infusion development
- Batch consistency for repeat orders and subscriptions
Operations And Courier Fulfilment With Local Know How
Mariska Botha manages operations, which means she keeps the moving parts in order from packing tables to stock counts and dispatch timing. She works closely with the fulfilment side so orders for Cape Town, Pretoria, Bloemfontein and the other major centres are packed properly and handed over without fuss.
Her role matters most when orders are time-sensitive, such as wedding favours, corporate packs or hospitality supplies for a guest arrival deadline. She makes sure labels, quantities and packing lists are checked properly, and she keeps the workflow sensible for a small team that needs to stay organised every day.
- Stock control and packing oversight
- Courier handover planning across South Africa
- Order checks for bulk and event packing
Customer Care And Tea Guidance For Every Order
Leanne Petersen is the first point of contact for many customers and she handles enquiries with calm, direct service. She helps people choose between rooibos, herbal infusions and loose leaf teas, and she also supports customers who are planning office tea supply, menu updates for hospitality venues or gift orders for special occasions.
Because customers often want a practical recommendation rather than a long list, Leanne keeps the conversation focused on what the tea will be used for, how many people it needs to serve and whether the recipient prefers softer flavours or stronger brews. That saves time and usually gets a better result. She is also the one who keeps careful notes on recurring customer preferences, which helps a lot.
Her work covers:
- Enquiry handling through the contact form
- Tea selection guidance for households and businesses
- Support for subscription boxes and seasonal gifting
Fulfilment And Gifting For Weddings, Offices And Events
Thabo Mokoena coordinates courier fulfilment, so he is the person who keeps parcels moving once they have been packed. He works with delivery schedules for Stellenbosch, Somerset West, Paarl and the bigger metros, making sure orders are ready for collection and tracked through the handover process.
Zanele Dlamini handles retail and gifting, with a sharp eye for presentation and order detail. She works on corporate gifting service, wedding favour packing and seasonal gift curation, where a tidy finish matters just as much as the tea inside. Between them, they help the business handle both small personal orders and larger project runs without confusion.
- Thabo handles dispatch timing and courier coordination
- Zanele manages gift packs, favour sets and presentation details
- Both support event tea bars and larger bulk orders
A Team Built Around Practical Tea Service
What sets the Cup Of Tea Co team apart is not just knowledge of tea, but the way each person covers a clear part of the process. From blending and packing to customer questions and courier handover, the work is split so orders can move smoothly through the system without unnecessary delays.
That matters whether the request is for hospitality tea supply in Stellenbosch, an office box in Johannesburg or a curated selection for a wedding in Cape Town. The team works with real timelines, local expectations and the sort of service South African customers appreciate: direct, careful and on time.