History of Honeybush Tea
In the world of tea, Honeybush stands out. Not just for the unique, honey-like aroma that emanates from its yellow flowers (where it gets its name), but also for the plant it comes from.
Unlike black, green, oolong, and white teas which come from the Camellia sinensis plant, Honeybush tea comes from the Cyclopia plant. The name Honeybush comes from the distinct, honey-like aroma from the plant's yellow flowers, as well as the honey notes found in its tea. It's most similar to Rooibos tea, but where Rooibos is known to be an earthier, nuttier tea with hints of vanilla or clove, Honeybush has a sweeter, honey-like taste with hints of caramel. Both, however, are considered red teas and are caffeine-free.
The Cyclopia plant grows only on the coast and mountains of the Western and Eastern Cape regions of South Africa. While there are more than 20 species of this plant, only a few are harvested for distributing tea commercially. Harvesting is usually a manual process because Honeybush leaves grow in higher elevations where transport to farms can become difficult. Workers hike up in the hills, cut down the stems and leaves, wrap them securely in bundles, and then strap the bundles to their backs to carry them back down the hills. Ideally, the plants are harvested while the plant is flowering, but farmers may harvest more often depending on demand. Also, ideally, farmers try to harvest younger plants since they are not as coarse as older plants and the stem is not as thick.
Honeybush Processing
To process Honeybush, the leaves must go through a series of steps, some of which require a lot of labor, meticulous measurement, and constant monitoring. After harvesting, the tea branches undergo cutting--finely chopping the leaves to the ideal size. Once cut, the leaves are ready for fermentation. Fermentation can be confused with oxidation, but these are two separate processes. Oxidation is a chemical reaction where tea leaves react with oxygen, changing their color and flavor, whereas fermentation focuses on encouraging the growth of microbial activity (like yeast and bacteria) to change color and flavor.
In oxidation, the tea leaves are exposed to sunlight for a period of time before being dried with heat to stop the oxidation process. The longer the leaves are exposed to sunlight, the darker the leaf, which is the process of oxidation. Black is the most oxidized tea, while white tea is the least.
Fermentation, on the other hand, is a controlled process that encourages the development of microbes to enhance flavor. This is what happens to Honeybush! Our blog Fermentation vs. Oxidation provides more detail on the process overall and how it affects the categorization of tea.
Once cut, Honeybush leaves undergo one of two types of fermentation: The two main processes for fermentation with Honeybush tea are fermentation tanks (also called baking ovens) and heap fermentation. With heap fermentation, the monitoring process is more manual than with tanks and is more commonly used for large-sized harvests. Leaves are piled in a heap, packed firmly, and covered with canvas material for three to five days. As the leaves ferment, they release a sweet honey-like aroma (again, why it's called Honeybush!). Once the fermentation is complete, leaves are set out to dry outside in direct sunlight to complete the oxidation process.
In the other method, leaves are placed in fermentation tanks which allow for the monitoring of humidity and temperature to make sure the environment for microbial growth is perfect. The tea leaves ferment for 60-72 hours, with the tanks being rotated several times a day to ensure that leaves have contact with oxygen while they ferment. Because it requires a perfect balance of temperature, humidity, and motion, the labor it takes for an ideal product in this process is much harder. The fermentation cycle for Honeybush is much shorter than the fermentation process of Pu-erh tea, which can take weeks, months, or even years! Water is often involved in this process in order to achieve the right amount of humidity. During the fermentation process, the tea leaves go from a green leafy color to a brownish color.
Once fermentation is complete, the leaves are removed from the tanks and transferred to drying beds or climate-controlled greenhouses in order to oxidize--just like green or black teas. When oxygen comes in contact with tea leaves, they further darken in color. Once the teas have completely dried in this stage (reaching less than 10% moisture), the oxidation process is done, and the tea can move on to the final stage of processing: sieving.
In sieving, or straining, if there are any larger than ideal pieces, those need to be separated from the smaller tea parts of the tea. A strainer-like tool is used to ensure that only the perfectly sized tea leaves and stems are included in the final product. Additionally, if the manufacturer wants to separate their tea into different cuts for different products (fine cut for tea filter bags, coarse cut tea for loose leaf tea, etc.) this is the stage at which they would do that. So many steps, but the final product is a deliciously sweet herbal tea!
