Rooibos. Also known as red tea has been consumed for centuries by the Southafrican Khoi tribe. It has been known in the west since the seventeenth century.

Carl Thunberg, a Swedish botanist and explorer noted that the indigenous people form have been making and infusion from a plant harvested in the mountains surrounding the Cape plain.

The plant later got the name Rooibos or which is phonetic for red bush in Afrikaans. After beeing harvested the needle like leaves of the plant where transported from the mountain, cut and bruised and left to dry in the african sun. The final product was then infused in hot water to obtain a beverage not unlike coffee but sweet and nutty in taste and with many health benefits known at that time only to the natives.

Rooibos tea had its second renaissance in the early twentieth century when Benjamin Ginsberg came accross the tea. He introduced fermentation in the harvesting process. A huge market was born arround the plant and to meet demand the local farmers were incouraged to cultivate the red bush plant on their farms.

In the next post we are going to talk about the health advantages of Rooibos tea and the many ways it may be used.