Rooibos General Questions

[VelociTea]

I've been searching for a healthy, caffeine free alternative to 'normal' tea because I drink a lot of tea and my local shop recommended Rooibos. I started drinking loose leaf Green Rooibos (unoxidized) a few weeks ago and was wondering how long I should steep it to get the most antioxidants and benefits. Will steeping it longer than say 10 minutes increase those benefits? Or does most of the good stuff get infused during the initial steep?

I would love to learn all your tea wisdom to make a purfect cup of tea.

Thanks!

[Whalebreath]

I've been searching for a healthy, caffeine free alternative to 'normal' tea because I drink a lot of tea and my local shop recommended Rooibos.....I would love to learn all your tea wisdom to make a purfect cup of tea.

I find Tisanes generally to be over rated and Roiboss in particular nothing special-one cup a year is plenty-I first started using it for a minor medical condition and found it's purported positive effects to be illusory at best.

[JRS22]

I've never tried the green rooibos, just the red. I've only bought flavored rooibos, from Adagio and Rishi. I don't drink for health purposes, just when I want a substantial hot drink w/o caffeine, so I don't worry about anti-oxidants. I figure I get those from fruits and veggies.

[VelociTea]

I've been searching for a healthy, caffeine free alternative to 'normal' tea because I drink a lot of tea and my local shop recommended Rooibos. I started drinking loose leaf Green Rooibos (unoxidized) a few weeks ago and was wondering how long I should steep it to get the most antioxidants and benefits. Will steeping it longer than say 10 minutes increase those benefits? Or does most of the good stuff get infused during the initial steep?

I would love to learn all your tea wisdom to make a purfect cup of tea.

Thanks!

You both make good points.. Perhaps I'm overthinking all of this.

Any recommendations for a good tasting caffeine-free tea anyone?

[JRS22]

Adagio sample packets are quite large, generally 10 cups for about $2. if you buy a selection of herbal tea mixes and rooibos in sample size you'll get to experience a lot of different flavors to find what suits your particular taste.

[entropyembrace]

Rooibos is one of my favourite tisanes so I drink it fairly often (both the red and green)

It doesn't get bitter or astringent like tea does so you can brew for several minutes and you end with a more robust drink with thicker mouth feel. There's not much point in brewing for more than 10 minutes though, the water will be cooling off quite a bit and the infusion is quite saturated, so you're not going to be extracting anything more.

Flavoured rooibos will get really horrible with infusions longer than a couple of minutes so use a pure red or green rooibos if you're going to make long infusions.

other tisanes I really enjoy are spearmint and hibiscus. Dragon Tea House has very good examples of these

[LooseLeafTeaMarket01]

We just posted a video on Loose Leaf Tea-V about Rooibos. It carries a TON of health benefits. It supports your connective tissue, your hair, skin, has tons of Vitamin C. And more.

[dtegtmeier51]

@VelociTea - I've been drinking rooibos (red) for years but have never even seen a green version or I'd have tried it, as well. I did my research and discovered rooibos has health benefits beyond traditional herbal and green/white teas. It has a mild, pleasant taste, maybe a very subtle hint of cinnamon? I sweeten my tea, hot or cold, with a few drops of stevia. If you are looking for a caffeine free tea and you like rooibos, there's no reason not to drink it. Just because someone else didn't like it or it didn't live up to their expectations, don't stop drinking it if you like it. Your opinion is the only one that matters to you when it comes to what you like or don't like.