Rooibos of South Africa
Rooibos, also known as the African red bush, is a plant that grows in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It’s a member of the legume family with broom-like growth. The leaves are shaped something like pine needles or those of the rosemary bush. The leaves are harvested, dried, and oxidized much in the same way that black tea is processed. They are then steeped in hot water to create an herbal tea called South African red tea.
The liquid produced by steeping the rooibos is reddish brown, hence the nickname of red tea. It’s naturally sweet without sugar and many people drink it with milk for a warm drink. South Africans, however, drink it without milk, often adding sweetener and lemon. In South Africa you can even get “red espresso” highly concentrated rooibos served espresso style. This trend has moved to the US and you can now buy red espresso based drinks such as red lattes and red cappuccinos.
Rooibos has its advantages as an up and coming beverage. For one thing, the fact that it’s sweet without adding sugar makes it a good base for sweet flavored drinks. You can buy rooibos with flavors such a chocolate, chocolate mint, cinnamon, and various fruit flavors. This is highly beneficial to those who cannot have sugary drinks. It’s also caffeine free, which means you can drink it any time of day, even at bed time. To top all that, it’s loaded with antioxidants that benefit your health.
But there is a controversy brewing over rooibos and it isn’t pretty. The problem lies in the name “red tea.” Rooibos isn’t actually “tea” because it doesn’t come from the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, but from the Aspalathus linearis. Tea purists do not want to hear of any substance that is not true tea being called “tea”, even with the distinguishing word “herbal” in front of it. As you can see from this video, at least one prominent tea company has tiptoed around the name controversy by restoring the original meaning of rooibos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipQBkwoDZHM
brewed on Feb 7th, 2010
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