Wild Honeybush Tea

Most honeybush is still gathered from wild plants, and this one grows in the mountains of South Africa's Eastern Cape. The cut leaf is honeyed and floral, with a soft, rounded body. Steeped in a covered mug at 100°C for five to eight minutes.

Origin & Story

Wild honeybush is a harvest more than a crop. Most honeybush, the sweet fynbos tea made from Cyclopia, is still gathered from wild populations rather than grown in rows, and mountain tea, Cyclopia intermedia, which grows on the slopes of the Eastern Cape and the Langkloof, is among the wild kinds.

Gathering wild plants takes care. Mountain tea regenerates within about three years after it is cut or burned by a fire, so responsible harvesting leaves each stand time to recover. That is slower than farming, and it is one reason cultivation became necessary once demand grew.

After gathering, the leaf and fine stems are cut, bruised and oxidized, then dried, which turns them from green to brown and brings out a sweet, honeyed smell. In the cup, honeybush is sweeter and rounder than rooibos, with floral and dried-fruit notes. If you like the idea of tea that comes from a place rather than a plantation, wild honeybush is an easy way in: the leaf is simple, the flavor is gentle, and there is no caffeine to count.

Because honeybush is low in tannin and has no caffeine, a long steep only deepens it. A covered mug and five to eight minutes in boiling water is a good start.

Steep 3 g of wild honeybush in 240 ml of water at 100°C for five to eight minutes in a covered mug.

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