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Food - Drink
What Makes Rooibos Tea So Unique?
By MEGGAN ROBINSON
You wouldn’t know it by looking at the tea section of the grocery store, but most of the teas we drink come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis, with the differences coming from the way the plant is processed. Herbal teas, however, are a different category altogether, and one herbal tea that stands out from the rest is rooibos tea.
Herbal teas are made from a variety of plants, like peppermint and chamomile, and are flavored with any combination of spices and fruits. Rooibos tea comes from a bushy herb that mysteriously only flourishes in a mountainous region of South Africa called Cederberg, and when brewed, this plant yields a rich reddish-brown beverage.
Rooibos is full-bodied with a flavor that contains “smoky, sweet, woody, grassy, vanilla, floral, geranium, honey, herbal, and caramel” notes, according to Teatulia. Because it’s so rich, rooibos is ideally suited for cooking, and can be used to flavor cookies ice cream, yogurt, sauces, beverages, and even marinades — it pairs especially well with caramelized onions.