TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The water soluble components comprise polyphenols and/or tannin.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - FOOD - Preferred Process: Preparation (I), comprises:(i) mixing raw plant material from the species Aspalathus and/or Cyclopia with a specific amount of hot water to form a slurry;(ii) stirring the slurry for some time to effect the extraction of water soluble components into water;(iii) separating spent plant material from the water extract and stabilizing the extract by heating and/or cooling;(iv) passing the stabilized extract is through one or more micro filtration membranes and clarifying;(v) pressurizing and cooling the clarified extract;(vi) pre-heating the pasteurized extract and flashing under vacuum;(vii) recovering the resultant aroma fraction by condensing the vapor in the flash process;(viii) removing the heated extract by evaporation under vacuum, concentrating and drying to form a powder by spray, or freeze drying;(ix) granulating the dried powder to form instant tea product;(x) adding the resultant aroma fraction to the powder during granulation to form instant tea product;(xi) recovering sludge obtained as retenate from the clarification step and stabilizing through a high-speed centrifugal de-sludging step;(xii) separately drying de-sludged material in vacuum dryer or freeze dryer, or spray drying onto a carrier, and adding back, partially or completely to the concentrate.Alternately the stabilized water extract is first concentrated, pasteurized and cooled. Subsequently the pasteurized and cooled concentrate is clarified by filtration. The clarified concentrate is dried to form a powder which is subsequently granulated. EXAMPLE - Unsifted and unpasteurized fermented rooibos leaves, and stalks (8 kg) were packed into a column between a support plate and an end plate. The end plate was perforated in order to allow the water extract to pass through, but to retain leaves and stalks. The extraction water was pre-heated to 90 degreesC and pumper under pressure through the column.    Fraction 1 (in L) (4) having solid content of 5.5 wt.% (weight%), fraction 2 (30) having solid content of 2.45 wt.%, fraction 3 (20) having solid content of 0.745 wt.%, fraction 4 (20) having solid content of 0.466 wt.% and fraction 5 (20) having solid content of 0.345 wt.%, were obtained. The fractions 1,2,3 were pasteurized and cooled to 4 degreesC. The resultant cooled solution was clarified through a hollow fiber micro-filtration unit having a pore size of 0.22 microns. A clear and stable tea-like beverage was obtained.    The clarified solution (50) having solid content of 0.9 wt.% was fed to an evaporator and concentrated to solid content of 7.2 wt.%. The obtained concentrate was still stable and clear and was easily blended down to single strength without any loss of clarity or stability. Dry malto-dextrin (1.44 kg) was added to the obtained concentrate (10). The resultant powder was spray dried to a moisture content of 5 wt.% and fine powder (2 kg) was obtained.    The fine powder (1 kg) was agglomerated through re-wetting with the obtained concentrate, and dried. A granulated powder was obtained. The granulated powder (1.7 g) was instantly solubilized in cold water (200 ml) and a stable and clear solution resembling the single strength tea-like beverage was obtained.