Honeybush tea is caffeine free, high in antioxidants, and has a wonderfully sweet, very slightly astringent flavor with overtones of honey - the overall flavor is unique and has been compared to hot apricot jam or a dried fruit mix.
Honeybush (Latin: Cyclopia spp.) is native to the Cederberg District (the Eastern Cape) of South Africa. Dutch botanical records from the area make mention of Honeybush consumption as far back as the mid to late 1600's. The first mention of the consumption of Honeybush as a caffeine free tea substitute outside of South Africa however appeared almost 200 years later. A pharmacological handbook published in the US in 1898 entitled "King's American Dispensary of 1898," makes mention, under the heading "Tea," of Honeybush as an acceptable tea substitute manufactured in the Cape Colony of South Africa.
