Portfolio item posted on Thursday, April 1st 2010 at 12:18 PM

Kalahari Rooibus blends cornflower and marigold with the African tea

Technically speaking, the tea tree produces the only true tea, while all other beverages made of brewed leaves and roots are “tisanes.”  Despite this fussy nomenclature, rooibus tea has definitely conquered the tea market in the United States during the last decade!  A product of South African scrubland and desert, the rooibus is a small shrub.  The Dutch colonist of the area, who became the Afrikaaners, noted that the local Zulu and Watusi peoples valued the rooibus (which simply means “red bush” in Afrikaans!) for the tea made from its dried leaves.  The rooibus could alleviate high blood pressure, and the liquor was good for the skin.  So the plant was adopted by the colonists for their own.  The Zulu people helped growers gather the tiny seeds of the shrub for commercial cultivation in the 1930′s, and and today the entire world has discovered the sweet, nutty flavors of rooibus tea!