POWER can come in small things, and rooibos, a proudly South African tea, is one of those small things!
For many years this tea has been consumed by South Africans, but now the whole world is aware of one of SA’s greatest discoveries.
The tea comes from Aspalathus linearis, a broom-shaped member of the legume family of plants growing in the Cederberg, a small mountainous area in the Western Cape.
Before being commercialised, rooibos was known only to the San people of the Kalahari desert. They used this plant to survive and remain hydrated in one of the hottest, harshest, driest places on the planet.
Marc Micozzi, a physician, medical anthropologist and epidemiologist who specialises in complementary and alternative medicines, spent 10 years studying the wonders of this tea. He discovered rooibos had a similar antioxidant profile to green tea.
Rooibos actually makes antioxidants to protect itself against heat and sunlight—and humans are able to benefit from these chemicals and improve their health.
He said because it was carefully harvested during the hottest, driest time of the year, the antioxidant content was high.
But it does not just stop at a cup of tea. These days you can get anything with rooibos as an ingredient such as hair and skin products, food, desserts and cold drinks.
Benefits of drinking rooibos
Antioxidant source
It’s the only known source of a potent antioxidant aspalathin, which could play a role in combating a number of lifestyle diseases including diabetes.
Caffeine free
Unlike black or green tea, rooibos is naturally free of caffeine, which makes it suitable for children, infants and breastfeeding mothers.
Cancer-fighting properties
Research has found rooibos also has cancer-fighting properties.
Low amounts of tannin
Tannins are bitter-tasting plant chemicals called polyphenols that bind and collect proteins, which interfere with iron absorption in the body.
No negative side effects
After centuries of use, no negative side effects of drinking rooibos tea have ever been recorded.
The history of humble rooibos
Around 1900, the rooibos business was a little more than a cottage industry.
1904: Benjamin Ginsberg, a Russian immigrant and pioneer in the area, became interested in rooibos and realised its marketing potential. He started trading it from the local farmers.
1930: Dr Pieter Nortier, local medical doctor and amateur botanist, had discovered the secret of germinating rooibos seeds. Together with Olof Bergh, a commercial farmer, he developed new cultivation methods. Soon, rooibos was grown on a much larger scale along the slopes of the Cederberg mountain range.
1948: The rooibos producers established the Clanwilliam Tea Co-operative in 1948 because the rooibos market collapsed after the Second World War.
1954: At the request of the co-operative, the Minister of Agriculture appointed the Rooibos Tea Control Board in 1954. The Control Board’s task was to regulate marketing, stabilise prices, and improve quality.
1993: The Rooibos Tea Control Board was converted into the fully privatised company Rooibos Limited.
2003: Green rooibos – or unfermented rooibos – is produced by Rooibos Ltd.
2009: A new cookbook, A Touch of Rooibos, is launched. In it, 14 of South Africa’s top chefs contributed recipes that use rooibos as an ingredient to show its usefulness in cooking.
2011: Rooibos Ltd opens a factory to produce rooibos extracts for other industries.
2014: Rooibos Ltd markets rooibos to more than 60 countries all over the world.