Chai Mamma: Is Rooibos a Tea?
Is Rooibos a Tea? I assumed it was. At A Fairtrade Market about 4 years ago a customer came up to me and said I should be making Rooibos Chai. I was reading a blog recently where someone said it wasn't. So I decided to look it up.
According to Wise Geek... Rooibos means Red Bush, it is native to South Africa "Some consumers mistakenly call the beverage brewed from these leaves “red tea” when it is not a true tea, since it does not come from the Camellia sinensis plant. Instead it is classified as a tisane, an herbal brew, and it is handled very differently than tea is"