| |
| |
ABOUT HONEYBUSH TEA |
International interest in honeybush can be traced back to the tea trade of the Dutch and the British. A settlement, which eventually became Cape Town, was established in 1652 as a supply base for the Dutch East India Company that was trading in Indian tea and Southeast Asian spices. Botanists began cataloguing the rich flora of the cape soon after; the honeybush plant was noted in botanical literature by 1705.
Though there are no published reports at that time of its use as a tea by the native populations (the San and Khoi-Khoi tribes, known today as KhoiSan or Bushmen), it was soon recognized by the colonists as a suitable substitute for ordinary tea, probably based on observing native practices. The Khoisan of the South African Cape were also using the tea for treatment of coughs and other upper respiratory symptoms associated with infections.
Honeybush (Cyclopia Intermedia) is indigenous to the cape of South Africa. It is used to make a beverage and a medicinal tea, having a pleasant, mildly sweet taste and aroma, somewhat like honey. It has become internationally known as a substitute for ordinary tea (Camelia Sinensis). With the dramatic growth in the use of honeybush during the past five years, export of honeybush tea products is now a major industry, following the success of Rooibos, another tea substitute from South Africa. |
“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.”
Thich Nat Hahn - Buddhist Monk |
| |
