Rooibos, The Red Tea

May 28, 2014

The rooibos plant grows in South Africa. Botanically, it is a member of the legume family and has long skinny needles, like needles or broomsticks.

In South Africa, when you make tea from these leaves it is called Bush Tea. Like black tea, red rooibos tea has been oxidized from its original green colour. But unlike green and black tea, rooibos is not from the camellia sinensis species and does not contain caffeine.

Like other plants rooibos leaves have been found to contain important phytonutrients.

I visited the Olympia restaurant in Lindsay, Ontario recently and saw Red Espresso on the menu for the first time. I tried it, while it wasn’t my favourite, I still do enjoy the flavour of rooibos tea.

Try this homemade Chai Spiced Tea recipe that I have adapted from it’s original version. It’s more work then I would do when making a cup of tea for myself, but will definitely impress your guests.

Homemade Chai Spiced Tea (Serves two)

Ingredients

  • 2 cups water
  • 4 Rooibos tea bags
  • 1 TBSP honey or less
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 pinches ground nutmeg
  • 2 cups milk or soy (if using sweetened soy then reduce or eliminate honey)

Directions

In a saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add tea, honey and vanilla. Season with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger and nutmeg. Simmer for 5 minutes. Pour in milk, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and strain through a fine sieve.



Homemade Spiced Chai Tea

References:
Recipe Adapted From: ‘Coffeebar Chai’ http://allrecipes.com

The top lymphedema questions answered in these

Free Webinars.

FOR PATIENTS
and CAREGIVERS

Does diet really make a difference for lymphedema?

What type of diet should I follow?

Get these answers and guidance on other essential topics like fluids, fasting, gluten and much more!

FOR DIETITIANS
and THERAPISTS

What is the research around lymphedema?

I’ve never dealt with lymphedema…should I start?

Get familiar with lymphedema, understand which patients are at risk, and learn how diet can improve your patient’s outcomes.

Recent Recipes

Guacamole Healthy Recipe
Guacamole Healthy Recipe

I’ve been making this guacamole healthy recipe for a few years. I adjust the ratio of the ingredients based on...

More
Healthier Cranberry Sauce
Healthier Cranberry Sauce

I prefer a simple cranberry sauce, and you can't get much simpler than the three ingredients: water, cranberries and maple...

More
Nutritional Yeast Dressing
Nutritional Yeast Dressing

I first encountered this nutritional yeast dressing when I was attending a weekend retreat and I asked for the recipe...

More