The farmers are trying to find ways to combat the situation by growing tall trees between the bushes to shade them from the scorching sun, and now they are changing the bushes every seven years. The first year the rooibos bush is allowed to grow, the following five to six years the plants are harvested and then replaced with oats, which are harvested for a year before planting again. This is done to keep destructive insects and mites down.
The leaves are mostly hand-picked in order to simultaneously control the bushes for pests and diseases. The branches are cut off at the base, to be processed later and it all takes place in full sun! These small farmers live so remote that there are no roads to all the farms, so they walk and carry heavy branches and leaves long distances to gather the harvest into piles where it can be picked up by a car to be taken for processing .
That’s why Emeyu buys from these small communities in a really remote location in South Africa.
The quality and taste are the highest in the world with its natural sweetness, light earthy and soft nutty flavors, completely without caffeine.
Rooibos is also called ‘red tea’ and ‘red bush tea’ because it has the most amazing copper red color both as a dried leaf and also when brewed.
