South Africa

South Africa

The internet agrees that South Africa (SA) is the only place in the world where rooibose tea grows. This is an herbal tea, not a real tea leaf. Oddly enough, I really couldn't find any information about how they prepare tea with my usual methods of research. All of the countries toward the southern tip of the continent is like that. I eventually googled how South Africans make rooibose tea and got some information.

While I have rooibose tea bags, I decided to get some loose rooibose to photograph. A whole 36 cents later, here is a portion of what I got. This is about a teaspoon (2 grams). 
 I added this to 1 cup (250 ml) of water and brought to a boil. The resource I found stated that it is boiled much longer in SA. The instructions said that they simmered it 30 minutes to achieve a deep red color.





 Simmering...













Simmering...


At the end of 30 minutes, I ended up with s liquid this color. 
The hipster interpretation of this style of rooibose is the "rooibose latte". I doubt that latte was the original interpretation of the drink I am going to make. The concentrated tea is strained into a cup with heated milk in it. I used plain, unsweetened almond milk because that is what I had on hand. 












With the tea added, it becomes this... 




My first thought is that this looked like a cup of reddish chocolate milk. The milk added a nice smoothness to the rooibos. The tea wasn't too overpowering when combined with the milk, and it was a nice balance of flavors. I will admit I was a bit skeptical when I realized just how strong the tea gets after simmering that long (the whole house smelled of rooibos after I made this). 





Comments

  1. Poppy CrockerNovember 6, 2017 at 3:43 PM

    I like "A whole 36 cents later." That's so you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lace makerNovember 6, 2017 at 4:41 PM

      I'm discovering that loose leaf tea is a lot cheaper than the bagged tea (if you know where to look). Too bad you don't like tea, otherwise the cheapest Christmas present contest would take on a different dimension.

      Delete
    2. Poppy CrockerNovember 12, 2017 at 7:55 AM

      Sorry, but I still hate tea. I did my once-every-five-or-so-years tasting last year to reconfirm, and I still can't stand the stuff.

      Delete
    3. Lace makerNovember 19, 2017 at 6:16 PM

      It also depends on what you try. I usually start people on vanilla or caramel flavored tea. Stay away from the cheap tea bags at hotels, they are not an accurate representation.

      Delete

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