It’s Friday again – it’s tea time and time to take time out for our tea-way ritual. This week the focus is on Red Bush, the African herbal tea known as Rooibos, a herbal tea that de-stresses due to its caffeine-free nature: this gives it a tradition of being a base for other herbal teas: as it’s a bush it has an earthy connection low-down with the earth, and I think the red bush’s “red” in its energy connects us at our root chakra, giving us a culture of connectedness with Planet and Nature.
African Red Bush, Rooibos Herbal Tea
Rooibos tea is an herbal tea that comes from the leaves of the red bush plant. This plant grows exclusively in the Cederberg Mountains of South Africa. Rooibos tea is naturally caffeine-free, making it a great choice for a base tea in herbal blends.
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Types and Characteristics
There are actually two types of Rooibos tea: green as well as red. Red Rooibos tea is considered the original variety and is lighter in flavor compared to green blends. Red Rooibos tea offers an earthy flavor similar to Yerba Mate with floral hints that are reminiscent of Hibiscus Tea.
Green Rooibos tea is rarer and slightly more expensive than Red Rooibos, with its taste being more similar to Green Tea and features delightful notes of grass: it is more malty than Red Rooibos.
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Health Benefits
Rooibos tea (pronounced ROY-boss) is less well known than its green, black and oolong alternatives, but it has excellent health benefits and a delicate flavor that is sweet and aromatic. Rooibos tea contains antioxidants, enzymes, and chemical compounds that help skin look youthful, reduce inflammation that causes pain, and prevent serious illness.
Rooibos tea, also known as red tea, is unique in that it is grown mainly on the African continent and contains polyphenols such as aspalathin that are not found in any other foods. With powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, drinking a cuppa rooibos tea every day can help you stay healthy.
Health benefits of Red Bush tea are in its powerful ingredients: Rooibos tea contains vital minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc and alpha hydroxyl acid. As with most true teas and herbal teas, it also contains high levels of vitamin C along with powerful antioxidants such as aspalathin that offer extensive health benefits. Rooibos tea contains polyphenols that help to fight free radicals, keeping your body healthy and ready to tackle the day: and giving it the power to aid weight loss, help skin health, alleviate pain [from inflammation] and . . . give relief from allergies!
As usual, I encourage you to inform yourself and if you’re instinctively drawn to a tea like Red Bush, Rooibos tea for your mind-body-spirit then gen up as much as you can with self-education. Learn more about our Zen Tea-way in my blog.
Enjoy! suzen
With Gratitude to Cup and Leaf: we’ve partnered up with these lovely people – and when you buy your teas from them, we get a little bit of commission which helps to support the zen.vegan.thrive Newspaper every week! Check out their own amazing Tea Bundles in their shop.
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