Rooibos tea is a caffeine-free herbal drink made from leaves of a shrub native to South Africa. See how easy it is to brew it properly, hot and cold.
Rooibos Tea
- Rooibos tea is a tisane, or an herbal tea, made by infusing rooibos in water.
- The more leaves in a rooibos, the higher the quality. The more stems, the lower the quality.
- South Africa is the only country that produced rooibos and have been for centuries.
- It’s native to South Africa’s mountainous region of Cederberg.
- Rooibos means “red bush” in Afrikaans, a language of southern Africa.
- Naturally caffeine-free.
- There are two kinds — rooibos and green rooibos. They differ in how they’re processed. The fully oxidized (exposed to air before drying) rooibos is red in color. The green rooibos is less oxidized.
RELATED: How to Make Herbal Tea Properly
Rooibos Tea Brewing Guide
TO MAKE HOT ROOIBOS TEA
TEA: 1.5 teaspoons loose rooibos tea
WATER: 1 cup (8 fl. oz.)
WATER TEMPERATURE: 208°F
STEEP TIME: 5 minutes
TO MAKE COLD BREW ROOIBOS TEA
TEA: 1.5 teaspoons loose rooibos tea
WATER: 1 cup (8 fl. oz.)
WATER TEMPERATURE: Cold water
STEEP TIME: 12 hours
What You’ll Need
TO MAKE HOT ROOIBOS TEA
- Rooibos loose tea
- Filtered water
- Teapot with a strainer
My go-to teapot for making herbal tea. It’s easy to use and easy to clean. - Electric kettle with temperature setting
A must for all tea drinkers to get the water temperature exactly right.
TO MAKE COLD BREW ROOIBOS TEA
My Electric Kettle Pick:
Photo Credit: amazon.com
How to Make Hot rooibos tea Properly
STEP 1: Boil water.
Tea Sommelier’s Tip: An important part of making a good cup of tea is to use good water. The better the water, the better the tea will taste so use filtered water if possible.
I always use my electric kettle with temperature setting when boiling water for tea. I set the water to 208°F for herbal tea.
Boil extra water than what the tea calls for since you want more to warm up the teapot.
STEP 2: Warm up teapot.
Pour some hot water into the teapot and swirl it around a bit. Discard the water.
We’re warming up the teapot so that when the rooibos steeps, the water temperature won’t drop drastically.
STEP 3: Put rooibos tea into teapot and add hot water.
STEP 4: Cover teapot and steep for 5 minutes.
Herbal teas do best when steeped for a minimum of 5 minutes so we’re doing the same for the rooibos tea.
If you want a stronger brew, add a couple of more minutes to your steep time and/or add another 1/2 teaspoon of rooibos tea.
STEP 5: Strain rooibos solids and pour hot tea into a teacup.
The rooibos bits can escape the strainer so if you want absolutely no rooibos solids in your tea, strain it again, using a fine mesh strainer.
It’s ready to drink — enjoy!
If you want to sweeten your rooibos tea, try sugar, honey, or date syrup.
How to Make Iced Rooibos Tea
The best way to make iced rooibos tea is to cold brew it!
RELATED: 30 Refreshing Iced Tea Recipes
STEP 1: Put rooibos tea and cool or room temperature water in a pitcher or glass container.
Use filtered water for the best-tasting tea.
STEP 2: Cover pitcher and put in refrigerator for at least 12 hours.
You can cold brew for up to 24 hours.
STEP 3: Strain out rooibos solids and pour tea into a cup.
Adding ice is optional when it comes to cold brew since the tea is already chilled.
I prefer my cold brew without any sugar but if you like your iced rooibos tea sweetened, use simple syrup since it’s the easiest to incorporate into your cold tea.
Simple syrup is super easy to make at home. Just mix equal parts sugar and hot water until sugar dissolves.
ROOIBOS TEA TIPS
- If you don’t want to have any small rooibos bits in your tea, strain it twice.
- Use rooibos in place of black tea if you want to make a caffeine-free tea.
- Make different kinds of simple syrup by dissolving honey, brown sugar, or date syrup instead of regular sugar in hot water.
QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE
The common pronunciation of rooibos is ROY-BOSS, but when said quickly, it sounds more like ROY-BUS.
Rooibos tastes like mild tea with woody and earthy notes with a touch of honey.
Just like black tea, you can have rooibos tea with or without milk and sugar.
Nope, there’s no caffeine in rooibos tea. It’s great as a nighttime drink.
Use loose rooibos to make a better quality cup of tea. Tea sachets are lesser in quality than loose tea, and tea bags are the lowest quality.
Rooibos tea comes from the rooibos plant, not the camellia sinensis plant so it’s not a real or true tea. Real tea is tea that comes from the camellia sinensis plant. Teas that comes from the camellia sinensis plant are black, oolong, green, yellow, white, and puerh teas. All these teas contain caffeine.
Related
- Rooibos Latte
- How to Make Peppermint Tea Properly
- How to Make Chamomile Tea Properly
- How to Make Chrysanthemum Tea Properly
- How to Make Herbal Tea
Rooibos Tea
EQUIPMENT
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup water + more to warm teapot for hot tea
- 1 ½ teaspoons rooibos loose tea
INSTRUCTIONS
- Boil water.If using an electric kettle with temperature setting, set it to 208°F. Boil a little more water than needed so that it can be used to warm up the teapot. Filtered water is best.
- Warm up teapot.Pour some hot water into a teapot and swirl it around. Discard the water.
- Put rooibos tea into teapot and add hot water.
- Cover teapot and steep for 5 minutes.
- Strain rooibos solids and pour hot tea into a teacup.
One other benefit of rooibos: some life-long drinkers of this tea swear that it whitens their teeth! I wish I could say the same about Camellia tea.