Tagged: khoi and san

1. 01 The trade · 15 Aug 2026 Some of the Oldest Rooibos Never Reached a Cup The earliest documented Khoi and San use of rooibos was not only a drink. It was something you put on your skin, and the record of that use is older than the industry that grew from it.
2. 02 The trade The trade · 20 Jul 2026 The Rooibos Patents Nestlé Quietly Let Lapse In 2008 a Nestlé subsidiary filed five patents on rooibos and honeybush without the permit South African law required. None of them survive today, and the reason they vanished is quieter than most people expect.
3. 03 The trade · 26 Jun 2026 Rooibos Pays the Khoi and San for Their Knowledge Since 2019 the rooibos industry has paid the Khoi and San a share of its earnings for the knowledge that the red bush makes a drink. Here is how that came about, how the levy works, and the argument that it does not go far enough.
4. 04 The trade The History of Rooibos The full history of rooibos, from a wild Cederberg shrub used by the Khoisan, through Benjamin Ginsberg's 1904 trade and Pieter Nortier's 1930 cultivation breakthrough, to the trademark fights and the protected name it carries today.