Tinkturenpresse

Cyclopia intermedia E. Mey. - Fabaceae - Kouga Honeybush-tea, honeybush (tea), Honigbusch

Subshrub endemic between Port Elizabeth and the edge of the Langkloof in South Africa; leaves trifoliate, yellowish green; flowers bright yellow… The leaves of honeybush are commonly used to make herbal teas (healthy beverage) considered antioxidant.

„There are dozens of species of honeybush tea found in the wild, of which mainly 4 or 5 are in widespread home or commercial use.“
wikipedia

„This species is experiencing a decline primarily due to the overharvesting of wild plants for the honeybush tea industry, constituting 85% of the commercially wild-harvested honeybush crop.“ Kouga Honeybush-tea (Red List of South African Plants)

„Plants from the genus Cyclopia are easily recognized by their sweetly, scented yellow, pea flowers. All 23 species of Cyclopia occur only in fynbos; from the Cederberg Mountains, southwards to the Cape Peninsula and eastwards to Port Elizabeth. Usually species are restricted to very small areas and then also to very specific habitats like high mountain peaks, marshy areas, shale bands and wet southern slopes.
Honeybush tea Cyclopia genistoides (L) R.Br. was traditionally harvested only for home use, but has recently developed into an exciting, new commercial product as the demand has increased from tea-lovers around the world. Other species such as Cyclopia intermedia (bergtee) and Cyclopia subternata (vleitee) and Cyclopia sessiliflora (Heidelbergtee) are also harvested for tea.“
Cyclopia genistoides (Plantzafrica)

„The fermented leaves and stems of Cyclopia intermedia are used to brew Honeybush tea, a herbal tea indigenous to South Africa. The plant is also used to manufacture a sweet herbal infusion used for restorative properties such as soothing coughs and alleviating bronchial complaints including tuberculosis, pneumonia, and catarrh. It is claimed to have a low tannin content and no caffeine and contains various antioxidants. Continued investigations into the phenolic content of the leaves and stems of C. intermedia yielded tyrosol and a methoxy analogue,… five glycosylated flavonols, two isoflavones, four flavanones, two isoflavones, and two flavones.“
[Polyphenols from honeybush tea (Cyclopia intermedia). Kamara, B. I., Brandt, E. V., Ferreira, D., Joubert, E., Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Vol.51(13), 2003, 3874-3879]

„The leafy branches are cut into short sections, damped with water and allowed to 'ferment' (actually an enzymatic oxidation process) in a warm place until a sweet smell is generated. The product is then air dried… The processed herb (all four crop species) contains mangiferin as one of the major constituents, together with smaller amounts of isomangiferin.“
[Medicinal Plants of the World. Ben-Erik Van Wyk and Michael Wink, Pretoria 2004, 119]

„Honeybush or Cyclopia intermedia is a short, woody shrub grown in the mountain slopes of the Langkloof district between the Eastern and Western Cape regions of South Africa. Unlike other herbal teas, honeybush is not widely cultivated and most of the commercially available product is collected from natural plant populations. The leaves, stems and flowers of the plant are harvested for use in making an herbal tea infusion, which is variously called Heuningtee, Bergtee, Boertee, Bossiestee and Bush tea. Upon harvesting the plant material is cut to disrupt cellular integrity, fermented in either a curing heap or at elevated temperatures in a preheated baking oven, and then allowed to dry. During the fermentation process, the plant material changes color from green to dark brown as the phenolic compounds are oxidized…
After 72 h of fermentation, du Toit and Joubert (1998) found significant reductions of 26% in the concentration of total polyphenols compared with the amount present at 24 h (129.2 vs 95.6 g/kg soluble solids), of 32% in flavonoids over the same time period (92.0 vs 62.2 g/kg soluble solids) and of 60% in the tannin content (40.1 vs 16.0 g/kg soluble solids)… honeybush tea extracts prepared from fermented plant materials containing the flowers had significantly less total polyphenols, but more favorable organoleptic properties including a sweeter aroma, flavor and better quality overall.“
[A review of the bioactivity of South African herbal teas: rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) and honeybush (Cyclopia intermedia). McKay, Diane L., and Jeffrey B. Blumberg., Phytotherapy Research Vol.21(1), 2007, 1-16]

„The aroma volatiles of honeybush have also been reported by Wang et al. The aroma components were dominated by monoterpene alcohols, of which α-terpineol (28%) was the major component, with minor amounts of linalool (7%), nerol (2%) and geraniol (8%). These monoterpenes are responsible for the sweet, floral and fruity notes of the tea, while other components such as phenylethyl alcohol (3%) and 5-methylfurfural (2.1%) imparted also sweet and honey notes. Other volatiles such as eugenol (6%), linalool oxides (7%), and methyl-heptenol (3%) were also detected. With both honeybush and rooibos, the exact nature of the aromas and flavor will depend significantly on the species collected, time of collection, drying, fermentation and processing.“
[Marnewick, Jeanine L. „Rooibos and honeybush: recent advances in chemistry, biological activity and pharmacognosy.“ African Natural Plant Products: New Discoveries and Challenges in Chemistry and Quality. ACS Symposium Series. Vol. 1021. 2009]
http://port-trading.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/newsletter1.pdf
[Wang, M.; Juliani, R.; Simon, J.E.; Ekanem, A.; Liang, C.-P.; Ho C.T. In Phenolic Compounds in Foods and Natural Health Products; Editors, Shahidi, F. and C.T. Ho; ACS Symposium Series 909; American Chemical Society, Washington DC, USA, 2005; pp 118-142]

More than 20 Cyclopia species of honeybush grow in the wild, but only Cyclopia intermedia, Cyclopia subternata, and Cyclopia genistoides, are currently commercially exploited to manufacture tea. Many of the terpenoids identified in C.intermedia and C.genistoides like α-terpineol, nerol, geraniol, linalool, linalool oxides, and eugenol, are known to have floral, sweet, sweet-woody, floral-woody, or spicy odors. „Sensory descriptive analysis showed that C. subternata differs from C. genistoides with respect to their sensory profile with C. subternata predominantly having a fruity sweet and apricot jam-like flavor note as opposed to C. genistoides having a vegetative sweet aroma.“
[Roux, Maritha Le, et al. „Characterization of volatiles and aroma-active compounds in honeybush (Cyclopia subternata) by GC-MS and GC-O analysis.“ Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 60.10 (2012): 2657-2664]

„The “characteristic” sensory profile of honeybush can be described as a combination of “sweet-associated”, “floral”, “fruity”, “woody” and “plant-like” aromas with a sweet taste and a slightly astringent mouthfeel… C. sessiliflora samples were associated with “green” aroma (“plant-like” and “green grass”), as well as a sour taste, and C. genistoides with “apricot jam” aroma and a slightly bitter taste. C. intermedia did not display a distinct profile as most positive attributes were perceived at moderate intensities. Although certain compounds can be linked to specific a roma notes, it is important to realize that aroma notes of different compounds can mask or suppress one another, and combinations of aroma compounds can produce new aroma characteristics.“
[Theron, K. A., et al. „Sensory profiling of honeybush tea (Cyclopia species) and the development of a honeybush sensory wheel.“ Food research international 66 (2014): 12-22]

Cyclopia intermedia, Garcia's Pass, Eden, Western Cape, South Africa, © Felix Riegel (2021) (CC BY-NC) iNaturalistAU