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Herbs & Cultures

Khoi and San knowledge of rooibos →

Honeybush tea for a cough

A honey-sweet tea of Cape honeybush, traditionally drunk for coughs.

Traditional use

Time
15 minutes
Makes
2 cups
Honeybush

Honeybush (heuningbos) grows in the mountains of the Western and Eastern Cape. The original inhabitants of the Western Cape were probably the first to brew a drink from it, and travellers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries describe it as a tea. A decoction was drunk as a tonic and to loosen phlegm with a cough.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp honeybush tea
  • 500 ml water

Step by step

  1. Bring the water to the boil with the tea.
  2. Simmer for 5–10 minutes; honeybush does not turn bitter.
  3. Strain and drink warm, plain or with milk.

Tips

  • Honeybush contains no caffeine, so you can drink it in the evening too.

Registry

Herbs in this recipe

Read more about effects and safety on each herb’s page.

  • Caution

    Africa · Food · № 807

    Honeybush

    Cyclopia intermedia

    A caffeine-free, sweetish tea related to rooibos. Health effects have not been established.

    Khoi and San knowledge of rooibos

Cultures and traditions

Where the herbs come from

The herbs in this recipe also appear in these traditions.