African Treasure: The Story of Rooibos Tea

What do you prefer: tea, coffee? Maybe chicory? Wait, we know – rooibos! Did you guess it? Oh, even if not, TimeTea is sure that you will be interested in reading about where and how this amber-red drink comes from.

So, rooibos (or rooibos) is a herbal tea made from the shoots and leaves of a plant called aspalathus linearis. This specimen belongs to the Legume family and is a shrub up to 1.5 meters in height with small, needle-like leaves.

Aspalathus lineara in its natural form grows exclusively in South Africa – 200 km from Cape Town within the boundaries of the Cederberg mountain range. Today, of course, the plant is cultivated on an industrial scale, but still the plantations do not go beyond the Cederberg Valley. And all for the sake of a pleasant-tasting and energizing drink, which at one time replaced tea for local residents, and then for settlers from Europe.

The first to collect leaves and branches of Aspalatus lineara were the indigenous people – the Hottentot people. Only in the 18th century did the Dutch learn about the plant, and then – closer to the 19th century – the British also caught up. The fact of the “discovery” of rooibos for Europeans is attributed to Carl Peter Thunberg, a Swedish naturalist who was in South Africa on behalf of a Dutch company back in the 1700s. The drink was liked by sophisticated society, and at the beginning of the 20th century they began to export it with might and main. Today, the annual production of rooibos is about 12,000 tons, and half of this is exported.

If you are already tired of coffee and tea or need/want to give up caffeine, rooibos is a great option. It quenches thirst well, tones up, is useful for both adults and children, and can also be drunk without sugar. This herbal tea itself contains a sufficient amount of glucose.

Ready! We’ll dry it and sell it.In addition, rooibos contains enough vitamin C, flavonoids, and a number of minerals. In particular, the flavonoid quercetin has antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antitumor properties. Some studies show the effectiveness of rooibos against mutagens, CNS damage and free radicals. Although we, of course, recommend that if something happens, contact doctors, and not tea sellers.

Today you can find this herbal tea in any form: loose, in bags, in pure form and with additives. They even make so-called espresso from rooibos. In general, be sure to try it if you haven’t already!