Many of the German settlers decided to stay on under British governance and eventually one settler decided to build a large tea garden and factory in the vicinity of the Usambara mountains. Due to the rich soil found in this district and the remarkable success of tea growing other planters, including Luponde, moved in and gradually the number of plantations increased. From the very beginning the Luponde Tea Estate proved that it was more than capable of producing extremely high quality teas and in recent years has earned a fair trade certification and has established an excellent track record of beneficial social and economic developments for its workers.