African Rooibos Red Tea

Because I'm a geek and know things like this, Rooibos (pronounced "Roy-boss") herbal tea isn't technically tea. All true teas come from the Camellia sinensis plant whereas Rooibos is the name of the plant from which the tea is created. Rooibos plants are only found in the Cedarberg Mountains in South Africa; true teas are cultivated in many countries around the world.

Now if you know me you know I'm not an herbal tea kind of guy. Peppermint, chamomile, whatever, I like the flavor of real tea and find herbal teas to be lacking in what I'm looking for. True teas have character and flavors that I would compare to fine scotch or burbon for their taste complexities. Really the only advantage that herbal "teas" have is that often they are caffeine free and are often fire and forget (meaning they won't grow bitter when left brewing for too long). Other than that they're pretty lame in my experience.

Enter Rooibos. For a long time I'd heard of this tea, but never tried it directly. On a semi recent date I got the opportunity to try Rooibos for the first time, and wow did the drink impress me. Sadly more than the date. Anyway, for the flavor of Rooibos, I would compare it to a smoky scotch. It's dark and reddish (duh), but other than the smoky flavor it's actually naturally slightly sweet like some of the best green teas. So flavor-wise, it's great. It has all the health benefits of tea but with one distinct advantage: no caffeine. I can drink it all day should I so desire, which often I do.

I have not acquired loose leaf Rooibos yet, but that's on my list. According to what I've read, brewing is much easier than true teas. Rooibos tastes best brewed with boiling water, but will brew in much cooler water, even in room temperature water. You only get really one brew out of a single batch of tea, but unless we're talking really good green tea, you shouldn't be brewing twice with most teas anyway.

So go! Buy red tea! It's good and it's good for you!