Africa’s Honeybush Tea Tasty and Healthy Like its Rooibos Cousin

health promoting benefits, the first recorded use of honeybush
dates back many generations, to around the 17th century, but it was likely
in use thousands of years earlier.  Honeybush became known locally as
“Poor Man’s Tea,” because it could be gathered for free.All honeybush that is sold commercially today is wild growing and natural,
and so is considered to be essentially

organic, even though it isn’t certified
as such on the labeling.  All three varieties of honeybush look completely
different, but once processed and fermented they are all quite similar, and
just like rooibos, the entire plant is utilized during processing.Most of the honeybush produced today is gathered by local resi-
dents, granted access by the landowners to go into the surround
-ing hills where it grows.  The production amounts fluctuate due
to the wild, natural state of the honeybush, that varies from one
year to the next.  The bushes are cut and bundled, then sold to
processors, like Honeybush Natural Products, Pty. Ltd, (HNP),
who pay a fixed price for each species.

The independent gatherers deliver cut bundles of honeybush to Honeybush Natural Products
(HNP), and once there is enough stock on hand, production begins.  First the bushes are fed in-
to cutting machines, where leaves and branches are broken down to a fine cut.

Next comes fermentation, as the finely
cut honeybush is fed into a steam fer-
menter and heated to 85C for eighteen
hours. This process serves a double
purpose of both fermenting the tea,
and pasteurizing it, removing all micro-
bial and bacterial components existing
in the mixture. It’s during this ferment-
ation step that the oxidation process
changes the enzymes, resulting in
changes to the flavor characteristics,
and the color of the tea.

During the next phase, the hot, wet
tea is fed into a three stage fluid bed
dryer. When it emerges at the end of
this step the moisture content will be just 8%.  Lastly, the tea is filtered through a set of
three sizes of graduated sieves:  dust, fine cut, and course.  The coarsely

graded tea is
then fed into another cutter that reduces it to smaller, fine cut size pieces.  The dust is
stored and not packaged or shipped.Once packaged, honeybush can last up to five years if

stored properly.  Rarely does this
happen though, because for now demand exceeds supply, and whatever supplies of
honeybush that are bought, are usually used rather quickly.Commercial production of honeybush began in the early
1990s. New and refined techniques brought the first
honeybush tea products to market in retail stores in South
Africa by the mid to late 1990s.  HNP began its operations
in 1996 and quickly became the largest supplier of pro-
cessed honeybush in the world.

HNP joined forces with Rooibos Ltd. in 2004, with Rooibos
Ltd. becoming a major stockholder, taking on the task of marketing and distribution of all
HNP products.  Currently HNP has a production capacity of about 300 tons per year, but
with the current harvesting methods dependent on wild, natural gathering, production
amounts can vary.

Honeybush tea can be prepared and drunk much the same as rooibos or

black tea; plain,
with cream and/or sugar or honey, or with a slice of lemon.  For a unique flavor combina-
tion rooibos and honeybush teas mix well together, adding another layer of flavor.  In fact,
rooibos and honeybush blends are be- coming a fast growing blend that’s currently in high
demand.  They also work well when added to, or blended with other herbs.

caffeine free tea will storm supplier’s shelves, and like the growth of rooibos, eventually
become available in many other formats, such as ready to drink (RTD) honeybush tea
and honeybush extract, used for the same types of applications as rooibos.So, rejoice honeybush tea drinkers-the best is yet to come.

Enjoy.