This wonderful herbal tea is often known as red tea because of its color and the cool fact that 'rooibos' is Afrikaans (spoken in South Africa as well as English) for red bush. This is a small shrub with thin leaves, more like needles really than leaves. Although the leaves are green, they turn red after being picked and fermented for rooibos tea.
The plant is only grown in South West Africa. The tea was first properly marketed at the beginning of the twentieth century. In South Africa (where many people are of English origin), people are asked if they want 'normal' (black) tea or 'bush' tea - meaning rooibos tea.
The tea itself has a lovely red color and is a bit sweet and has a nutty flavor. The fact is that it's also a great substitute for black tea. You can drink it on its own, it tastes great with milk or lemon and because it is an herbal tea, it has no caffeine and lots of properties that are good for you. Pregnant moms who like tea, but don't want to drink it because of the caffeine content, can easily switch to rooibos and reap added health benefits. Added to the fact it is now so popular, that you can purchase it in most supermarkets.
Here are just a few of the benefits to drinking rooibos tea:
- Great for the skin - you can put it on your skin directly to slow down the aging process. It's good for eczema. Mothers in South Africa use it on their baby's skin too.
- Used to help relieve cramps in the stomach and colic in babies.
- Can also help with asthma and hay fever.
- Good for headaches and nervous tension.
- Also helps with insomnia.
- Very importantly it boosts the immune system.
- Has no oxalic acid which makes it safe for people inclined to suffer from kidney stones.
- Contains many minerals, including calcium, iron, copper, potassium, zinc, alpha-hydroxy, manganese and magnesium.
This is a great herbal tea and is really good for you. Give it a try. You can also get 'Honeybush' which, as the name suggests, has a honey flavor. You can also buy it with a vanilla flavor.
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