honey bush tea - Department of Agriculture: Western Cape

intermedia show more growth, have more flowers and often reach one to one and half
meters in height (www.healthwisefood.com).
1.2.2 Harmonised System description of tea
Although called red teas, honeybush like rooibos is classified under black tea. Tea is
normally classified based on the processing, leaf size and grade. Fermentation is the
major process and creates two major classifications, black and green tea. Black tea is
further classified into CTC (cut, tear and curl) and Orthodox tea
(www.valuenotes.biz/research/teatoc.asp). In other words the red teas including
rooibos and honeybush (called black teas in English) are fermented for a few hours
while the oolong teas are fermented for a shorter time (see classification below).
Unfermented Tea Green tea
Partially fermented tea Pauchong tea
4
Oolong tea
Fermented tea Black tea
With regard to statistics, there are three basic types of black tea. These include, ready-
to-brew tea that is packaged for retail sale in containers of 3kg or less, black tea that
can be sold as bulk and is unprocessed or blended which can then be processed in the
country concerned. Lastly, is instant tea that is used mainly for vending machines or
confections. As a result, the study will mainly relate to these types of black tea as also
classified in the Harmonised System (HS).
1.2.3 Benefits
Honeybush shares some similar characteristics with rooibos, but differs very in taste
and aroma as observed to be more aromatic. It is an herbal infusion and many health
properties are associated with its regular consumption as the tea and hence
comparable to other health teas. Its potential rely on the following benefits: