This. Roobios is my go-to late-night warm beverage.
Rooibos is available in pretty much every Austrian and German supermarket, and will often be found on the menu of cafes that offer at least a half-dozen varieties of tea or tisane. I’ll drink it if it’s offered and there’s nothing else available, but I’d never buy it myself. I much prefer black tea.
For the past 20 years or so, I’ve had rooibos in my tea shelf most of the time. However, while my tea supply needs replenishing quite often, a single package of rooibos lasts for years. I get an itch to drink it maybe twice a year. My SO never drinks it.
Now that this thread prompted me, I realized I haven’t had rooibos for over a year. So, a meh from me, based on the above.
I went through a tea phase where I drank many different teas and really enjoyed 99% of them. I kept hearing about rooibos, so I bought some. It was so bad I thought it was the brand and I bought a different one. It was horrible.
Born in the UK, so I’m a regular black tea drinker (with milk). I got a taste for Rooibos from South Africa, and I drink it regularly - but only WITH black tea - one bag of PG Tips, one bag of Rooibos.
I’m puzzled that some people have such a strong aversion to it - it seems like an innocuous mild taste to me. I wonder if its one of those things where we have innate differences in taste receptors.
“Caffeine free” is part of its appeal to me–I drink it at night.
I like it, but as with all infusions, I put way too much sugar in it.
I like it. I like C. sinensis black tea better, but I’m usually not in the mood for more than one cup of black per day. It has a more robust flavor than most herbal teas, which is sometimes what I’m in the mood for.
And I had no clue that there were parts of the US where it was hard to find. I’ve never traveled to Africa, but I’ve never had any difficulty finding it in any large grocery store.
Noting potential for liver damage, particularly when consumed in large amounts or obtained from sources that are less than stringent about good manufacturing practices.
I’ve tried it, I’m in the “meh” category. Give me a strong black loose tea blend, either flavored (chocolate or chai flavorings) or non-flavored “breakfast” blends. I have found that having hot tea during the day helps to curb my appetite considerably. I can’t drink caffeinated tea at night, so if I really want something I will have an herbal tea, although I have yet to find one I really like.
Maybe I should try Rooibos again, to see if I would like it for an evening drink. What I tried before may have been flavored, I don’t remember.
I’ve only had this version from Celestial Seasonings but it’s great stuff.
It’s become the default tea in my parents household and I am really not a fan of the flavour
I’m starting to wonder the same thing now that I’ve read the responses in this thread. I am not a picky eater, but there is something distinctively gross about the flavor of rooibos.
Excellent description. I agree.
I wonder if that astringency is the flavor profile of all the anti-oxidants. Certainly, vitamin C can be quite piquant.
That article also mentions green tea as a potential cause of liver damage. And says that the rooibos & buchu mix has been reported to cause liver problems before, but it’s rare and the mechanism is unknown.
The rarity of rooibos and buchu tea DILI may be due to small-batch production, which allows for variability in the exact components of each tea after processing.9 Other teas with reported hepatotoxicity include chaparral, kava, germander, and Camellia sinensis (green tea).
Unless i have unknown liver problems, I’m not going to worry about either rooibos or green tea.
By the time liver functionality is compromised, there can already be marked damage.
Again, if one drinks rooibos tea in moderation and uses a trusted supplier (however one might be assured of that), serious problems are unlikely.
The fact that they listed it, along with green tea, as a rare problem, makes me think this is more an article for doctors (here are some offbeat things you should consider) than as a warning to consumers.
Anyway, most of what’s available in the US is just rooibos, and not rooibos with bucha.
I tried it once.
Once.
I think this thread inadvertently illustrates how much the world has changed since the 1990s, vis-a-vis globalization. Back then, the only reason I knew about the stuff was because of my proximity to South Africa (I lived in Mozambique and went to SA a lot). None of the American friends and family we gave it to were familiar with it.
Now it seems fairly common. I guess I could have eliminated the “never heard of it” choice in my thread title.
I have tried rooibos; I don’t remember the brand. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like it much. When I want something hot and non-caffeiny, I’ll usually drink mint tea, or chamomile, or “throat coat”; or hot apple cider with cinnamon in it. When I want something hot and caffeiny, if I’ve already had my daily coffee allowance, there are several black teas that I like. (I don’t like green tea much; though it seems the right thing at a Chinese restaurant.)