🌿 Rooibos

Rooibos (also called Red Bush or redbush) is a herbal drink from South Africa, brewed like tea although it does not come from the tea plant. It is made from the leaves and stems of the shrub Aspalathus linearis. It is naturally caffeine-free, and since 2021 the names Rooibos and Red Bush have been an EU protected designation of origin (PDO).

Aspalathus linearis belongs to the legume family, grows up to 2 m and has needle-like leaves 15 to 60 mm long. It is gathered from the wild and also cultivated; farms use the so-called red type Rocklands, which comes from the Pakhuis Pass in the northern Cederberg mountains.

Harvest takes place in the dry summer months from November to May, and 20 % of the plant mass must stay on the bush. Fresh material has to reach the tea court within 72 hours, where it is cut into pieces of 1 to 10 mm. For red rooibos it is laid in rows in the sun, moistened and turned, then dried in a thin layer. The trade calls this fermentation, but it is enzymatic oxidation rather than fermentation in the brewing sense, and it is what turns the leaves red and gives the plant its name.

The area covers 15 municipalities in the Western Cape, Cederberg among them, plus Hantam in the Northern Cape. Rainfall is 380 to 635 mm a year, mostly in winter. The PDO application was filed on 21 August 2018 and the name was registered by Regulation (EU) 2021/865 of 28 May 2021. The South African Rooibos Council says rooibos is exported to more than 50 countries.

Oxidised rooibos ranges from light brown to brick red, while the green kind stays light green. The EU single document describes the taste as fruity-sweet with low tannins. The absence of caffeine was confirmed by 2009 tests at a Stellenbosch University laboratory.

Like chamomile tea, rooibos has no caffeine and shares the same EU limit for pyrrolizidine alkaloids: 400 µg/kg of dry product. Black tea, made from Camellia sinensis, carries 20 mg of caffeine per 100 g according to USDA.

On the shelf, look for the name Rooibos or Red Bush and the PDO symbol. Rooibos may be blended with tea and herbs, in which case the label lists the ingredients. Green rooibos is sold separately from the red kind.

Why this matters to you: knowing that rooibos is not tea explains why your cup has no caffeine, and the PDO symbol helps you pick out South African raw material.