Rooibos Tea History

The indigenous people of South africa are believed to be the first to discover that the needle-like Rooibos leaves could be used to make a refreshing and thirst quenching drink. Rooibos pioneers harvested the plant in the wild, they then bruised the leaves before leaving it to ferment in heaps and then drying it in the sun. Today the plant is harvested and processed in much the same way.

Early Dutch settlers at the Cape started drinking Rooibos as an alternative to the expensive black tea available in Europe. The first reports of the Rooibos plant and the tea brewed from it was recorded in 1772, by a botanist from Europe.

In 1904 a Russian immigrant to South Africa, Benjamin Ginsberg, recognised the potential of this unique “mountain tea” and started trading with Rooibos that he bought from Khoi descendants. He became the first exporter of Rooibos. Ginsberg’s family had been involved in the European tea industry for many generations. Today, the Ginsberg family is still involved in the marketing of Rooibos. In the early 20th Century, Dr Le Fras Nortier started researching its medicinal value and agricultural potential.

The growing of Rooibos as a commercial crop only started in the 1930’s and in 1984 Rooibos made headlines in Japan as an anti-ageing product. A new Rooibos innovation in the form of an espresso, the first tea espresso in the world, was introduced to coffee shops and retail outlets during 2006.