Processing Red Tea - Honeybush
Traditionally Red Tea - Honeybush is harvested during the flowering period, because the bright yellow flowers made it easy for the wild harvesters to spot the plant in the mountains. The harvested material usually gets cut or shredded before "fermentation" or curing. Mechanized fodder cutters are used to deliver a uniform product. There are two distinct methods used for Red Tea Honeybush tea fermentation, i.e. fermentation in a curing heap and fermentation at elevated temperatures in a preheated "baking-oven”. The use of a preheated oven results in a more standardized quality product since better control over the temperature of the fermentation process is possible and shorter fermentation periods (24-36h) are needed to obtain fully fermented tea, which helps to inhibit mold growth. Fully fermented tea can also be obtained fermenting for 72 hours at 75°C in fermentation drums. Drums are equipped with elements to rotate, and uniformly heat the tea. The final product’s appearance is improved by sun-drying. The tea normally takes one to two days to dry, depending on the thickness of the layer as well as weather conditions. Red Tea - Honeybush tea is traditionally a very coarse product, which contributes to the belief that the unrefined product has certain health properties. That is why the tea is often sold as a mixture of short stems and leaves. The final product is put through an electrically driven, cylindrical sieve that has a 6.5 mm aperture screen, to remove all the pieces thicker than a matchstick. Sieved Red Tea - Honeybush tea is generally packed in bulk in large, woven plastic bags for local and overseas markets, but smaller portions are also be packed in plastic or tea bags
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