Rooibos Tea Industry Looks Ahead

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Consumer demand for South Africa’s distinctive herbal infusion has boomed since 2000. Now stakeholders will invest in proving its health benefits.

One reason rooibos tea has become so popular in Europe, Japan, and America during the past two decades is consumers’ perception that it is healthy to drink. And over the years, scientists have found tantalizing indications of the benefits of this caffeine-free infusion. 

But there have been only a handful of studies. Rooibos research lags far behind the scientific work done on other natural beverages like coffee and Camellia sinensis, which have been studied intensively for more than a century.

To fill the gap and sustain growth in consumer demand, the South Africa Rooibos Council is undertaking a new study to better establish the health benefits of the rooibos plant.

The Council said in November 2022 it had received 4.8 million South African rands (US$ 264,000) from the national government’s Department of Science and Innovation.  The Council will match this amount to bring total funding to ZAR 10 million (US$549,000) to study how rooibos can serve as an alternative therapy in management of such diseases as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s, among others.

“The demand for natural medicinal products in modern medicine as complementary or alternative therapies is on the increase,” said Joe Swart, research director at the Rooibos Council, when the funding was announced.

“However, the potential medicinal values of these plants, including rooibos, are not always properly researched and documented, and the industry and wider sector can benefit from an increased focus on R&D in this area,” he said.

Suzanne Herbst, a spokesperson for the Rooibos Council, told STiR that new research has already been completed at the in-vitro and in-vivo stages, and is now ready to progress to human trials.

“The studies are conducted at recognized research institutions, and some of the studies include collaborations with international research institutions,” she said.

Herbst said that this research will provide “scientific evidence as proof of the many health properties of rooibos and that consumers in all income brackets can obtain these health properties by just drinking six cups of rooibos spread out over a day.

“Currently, it is too soon to project the impact on the production of rooibos in South Africa, but we believe that the demand for rooibos as an alternative healthy option to sugary drinks will positively impact production and all other actors in the rooibos supply chain,” Herbst said. 

Guarding intellectual property

South Africa’s rooibos industry gained a major victory in 2021 when it won geographical indication (GI) protection in the European market.

Inclusion in the Geographical Indication Protocol of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the Southern African Customs Union and the European Union means that rooibos, which has been enjoyed for more than three centuries by Khoisan tribes of South Africa, is protected as a GI within the EU.

Geographical indication links a product to the specific place where it is produced, processed, or prepared.  GI protection means that the word “rooibos” or “red bush” can only be used for rooibos tea imported from the winter rainfall areas of the Western Cape and Northern Cape.

The EU, at the request of the Rooibos Council and South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry, agreed to include rooibos in the GI EU Register and grant rooibos the status of a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).

Inclusion of rooibos in GI EU Register and approval by the EU Commission will allow use of the EU logo for geographical indication purposes. “This logo is well recognized by consumers in Europe and its use will provide an indication of the value of rooibos as a unique product,” the Council said.

Moreover, “when trademark searches are done in the EU Register, it will confirm rooibos as a protected name and registered GI, which isn’t possible at the moment.” Rooibos, which is also referred to as red bush or African red tea, has become an icon of South Africa’s diverse culture alongside other plants such as buchu, whose leaves are used to make medicine.

“The monopoly over the brand in the EU could help rooibos tea producers to penetrate markets in the EU,” said Dr. Enrico Bonadio, a reader at City University of London. “Indeed, they will be able to sue producers from outside South Africa and prevent them from using the rooibos brand,” he told STiR.

In 1994, a skincare product company in the United States, Burke International, registered the rooibos name as a protected trademark, which drew a furious protest from the government of South Africa and Rooibos Ltd., an industry consortium. But in 2005, the American company surrendered the trademark.

“South Africa having exclusive rights over the brand in the EU may increase its revenues, and the country can send a message to the global trade market that the tea in question is of high quality linked to the original place of production, i.e., South Africa,” Bonadio said. Rooibos is indigenous to South Africa’s Western Cape Province.  It is mostly grown in the Cedarberg Mountains at altitudes of between 200 and 1,000 meters above sea level. The climate is characterized by hot and dry summers, when temperatures can rise above 48 degrees Celsius, and cool wet winters, when temperatures fall below zero.

The rooibos plant, which goes by scientific name Aspalathos linearis, can grow up to two meters in height. It has reddish-brown branches and needle-like leaves. Its first scientific identification came in the late 18th century, and it became widely consumed in South Africa as an inexpensive domestic substitute for Camellia sinensis during the 19th century. But it was not grown commercially until the 1930s.

By the 1950s, a cooperative was organized to develop the industry: the Clanwilliam Tea Cooperative, which later became the Rooibos Tea Control Board. The Board was privatized in the 1990s, becoming Rooibos Ltd, which currently groups the leading rooibos value chain players.

In 2005, rooibos tea producers, processors, and other value chain actors formed the Rooibos Council, an independent, non-profit organization responsible for promoting the industry. Currently, there are between 350 and 500 rooibos tea farmers in South Africa, with eight major processors controlling up to 90% of the market. These farmers have devoted more than 67,000 hectares to rooibos tea cultivation, an increase of nearly 500% from the 13,000 hectares under the crop in 1993.

Rooibos is prepared through a traditional process of fermentation that starts with cutting, bruising, and wetting the leaves with water. Then the damp leaves are left to ferment for at least 12 hours. The product changes from green to a distinctive amber hue through a process of enzymatic oxidation. The rooibos is then spread out in the sun to dry.

Alternatively, rooibos can be produced without fermentation. This so-called “green” rooibos is harvested, cut, and then dried immediately. When served, it has a lighter color compared to traditional rooibos. Rooibos production has been on the increase in South Africa, from 2,000 tons in 2009/2010 to more than 18,000 tons in 2017/2019.

Rising production is driven by consumer demand for various rooibos products, such as individually packed fruit-flavored tea bags; ready-to-drink rooibos either plain or mixed with fruit juice; and rooibos skin care products.

“The production of rooibos remains the same in terms of how the rooibos plants are cultivated and harvested, and the drying and fermentation process,” said Herbst. South Africa’s rooibos tea value chain starts with the commercial and small scale farmers who supply their rooibos harvest to the packer-branders that process the raw product to produce different types of products.

Currently the Rooibos Council comprises mostly packer-branders, with a few of these companies being producers as well.

“Although the rooibos producers are not directly involved in the research, their input into the research priorities is obtained and provided via the packer-branders to whom they supply their rooibos harvest,” said Herbst.

The rooibos is collected at nearly 80 stations, known as “tea courts,” which are based near farms or villages, where oxidation and drying is carried out.

The oxidized and dried rooibos is supplied to the more than 11 processors, which handle the second phase of the of processing, including sifting and dust extraction, as well as pasteurization. Leading processors in South Africa include Rooibos Ltd, Cape Natural Tea Products, The Red T Company, Cape Rooibos, and at least seven others.

The final process is the blending and packaging of the rooibos tea or cosmetics and personal care products.

Marketing of rooibos tea in South Africa, the largest consumer of the beverage, involves a mix of channels such as through supermarkets, specialty shops, direct marketing and online. South Africa’s rooibos tea is exported in packaged form or in bulk to at least 60 countries in Asia and Europe, such as Japan, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Growing awareness of potential health benefits of rooibos tea is expected to increase its popularity in South Africa and around the world on a long-term basis.