Rooibos Tea (Red Bush Tea)
Lagos, Nigeria · View all recipes
Overview
Rooibos leaves brewed in water and served with or without milk. It is South African, and it is one of very few plants used as a tea that grows nowhere else on earth. Rooibos means red bush in Afrikaans, and the plant, *Aspalathus linearis*, grows only in the Cederberg, a small mountainous area of the Western Cape. Attempts to cultivate it elsewhere have consistently failed, which makes it genuinely unusual: not a plant that happens to be associated with a region but one that is confined to it. The European Union granted it protected designation of origin status in 2021, the first African food to receive it. It is not tea in the botanical sense. Rooibos contains no *Camellia sinensis* and therefore no caffeine at all, and it has very little tannin, which is why it does not turn bitter however long it brews. That is the practical difference: black tea over-steeped becomes astringent, rooibos simply becomes stronger. Red rooibos is oxidised after harvest, which is what produces the colour and the sweeter, fuller flavour. Green rooibos is unoxidised, lighter and more expensive. The source's health claims have not been carried across.
AFN Heritage Note
Rooibos is made from Aspalathus linearis, a plant that grows only in the Cederberg region of South Africa's Western Cape and has never been cultivated successfully elsewhere. It contains no caffeine. In 2021 it became the first African food product granted protected designation of origin status by the European Union.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Pour the water into a clean saucepan and mix in the tea leaves.
- 2
Cover and bring to the boil over high heat.
- 3
Lower the heat and let it brew, uncovered. Rooibos has very little tannin, so unlike black tea it will not turn bitter, a longer brew simply makes it stronger and darker.
- 4
Ten to fifteen minutes gives a full-strength brew. The source suggests thirty, which produces something very concentrated.
- 5
Strain the tea into cups.
- 6
Add milk, sugar or honey to taste, or drink it as it is.
Africook’s Notes
Personal notes from Jennifer Ezeokoli- It cannot over-brew. Rooibos has almost no tannin, so a long steep makes it stronger rather than bitter, the opposite of black tea.
- Fifteen minutes gives a good full-strength cup. The source's thirty is not wrong, just very strong.
- It contains no caffeine at all, which is why it is drunk in the evening and given to children across South Africa.
- It takes milk well, unlike most herbal infusions, and is often drunk that way in South Africa.
- Green rooibos is unoxidised, lighter and grassier. Red is the traditional and far more common form.
- It is excellent iced, with lemon and mint, and does not go cloudy the way black tea does.
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