Pure & Simple How do you like yours?
100g sTarTer pack only ÂŁ5.00 (includes p+p)
M
y first encounter with hibiscus was in 2008 when I tried it as an iced tea during a wedding ceremony in the mountains of Ethiopia. Not a bad place to start a life changing romance. I was fed up with sugary drinks and needed something robust but refreshing – and I lunged for a jug of iced juice which looked like red wine with a mint leaf floating in it. I was half expecting cranberry, instead I had tried my first glass of tangy iced hibiscus tea. I fell in love and now I supply the dried flowers to customers in Europe. I work with Kulika, a Ugandan NGO (charity) which trains farmers in sustainable organic agriculture. Bill Bruty, founder, HibiDrinks.com
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ers into a mug, pour Just pop a couple of flow have the purest will you in boiling water and let the water absorb form of herbal tea. Just and they will drop to the flavour of the flowers e people like to add a the bottom – simple. Som sugar – experiment! drop of honey or a little
For over 30 years KULIKA, a local NGO (charity), have worked in Uganda, imparting organic agricultural techniques that free small holders from dependency on buying seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. They have equipped thousands of families to grow sufficient food to thrive and start selling the surplus, farming with principles based on permaculture. Kulika helped to introduce hibiscus as a cash crop into Uganda, where traditionally, it has been seen as an ornamental plant, whilst next door in Sudan, the banks of the Nile are lined with commercial hibiscus plantations. Kulika now buy the hibiscus from the farmers, guaranteeing them a good price and then transporting it for export to the US and Europe. It’s a neat, short supply chain. kulika.org
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For an iced drink, I boil up about 30 grams in two litres of water, let it cool and it turns into a deep red drink. I then play around with a few spoonfuls of honey or sugar to sweeten it (pure hibiscus is quite tart) and then add some liquidised fruit pulp to enrich the flavour. Sometimes pineapple or berries, oranges and for a treat, passion fruit.
HEALTH BENEFITS When I started drinking hibiscus it was as a substitute for my beloved red wine. I found it an ideal replacement, a drink with a bite which didn’t leave me with a fuzzy head and a bulging belly. It didn’t surprise me when I encountered medical research* which indicated that three cups of hibiscus tea per day can reduce high blood pressure by 6%. Other studies indicate it can reduce blood sugars for diabetics, reduce cholesterol and even attack cancer cells. *Flower Power Beats High Blood Pressure, Beauchamp K, Journal of Nutrition 2010;140:298–303
“It has all that beautiful African simplicity and every gram we sell puts money into the pockets of farmers in Uganda and not into the pockets of a thousand traders in between. It’s pure + no processing + minimal packaging.” Find the HibiDrinks community on Facebook
HibiDrinks organic is only available from:
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pack sticker 96mm x 51mm (peel-off) grams minimum contents
Mailing sticker: A6 148mm x 105mm (crack-back)
If undelivered, please return to: Hibidrinks 15 Hurst Close Wallingford Oxon OX10 9BQ
Design & Photography: © Rob Bowker Brand typography: © Francesca Proudman