BUSH TEA

WITH NO CAFFEINE AND LOW TANNIN LEVELS, THIS SOUTH AFRICAN BREW BECAME AN INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS

- Jennifer Stackhouse

Fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency will know that Precious Ramotswe spent a lot of time drinking bush tea. That tea was made from a plant called rooibos (“red bush”), the name by which it’s now known and sold around the world.

Precious drank bush tea as she pondered the intricate problems she’d been asked to solve as a detective, but rooibos has many heathy properties as well. It’s caffeine free and low in tannin but rich in minerals including zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium and potassium.

The leaves were first harvested and used as a herbal medicine by South Africa’s Khoisan people centuries ago. This long history of use has led to recognition of their original rights and recently these indigenous farmers were granted a percentage of total sales.