Welcome to the official website of the South African Honeybush Association (SAHTA). The aim of this website is to support the development of the uniquely South African Honeybush tea industry. Honeybush, also known as “heuningbos” in Afrikaans, is part of the fynbos biome (Cyclopia spp), meaning “fine bush”. With yellow, pea flowers, and a characteristic sweet honey-like scent, Honeybush plants have fine, three-pronged leaves which are characteristic of the fynbos vegetation. Honeybush was first documented as being used by man as early as 1705, although it is thought to have been used even earlier by the KhoiSan. The first documented medicinal use of Honeybush was by the early colonists of the Cape as a restorative in 1830. Scientific research looking at its chemical composition 1881, but it was over 100 years later in 1992 that it was first investigated for cultivation. This research was initiated by the Kirstenbosch National Biodiversity Institute and funded by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC). In 1996, the first harvest from a commercial plantation was obtained. The official Honeybush industry emerged in 1999 when the South African Honeybush Tea Association (SAHTA) was formed. For more technical information on Honeybush visit the homepage of the ARC Honeybush Research Programme http://www.arc.agric.za/home.asp?pid=4045