Rooibos

Rooibos, sometimes called red bush tea, is a naturally caffeine-free tisane made from the needle-like leaves of a shrub grown in South Africa's Western Cape region. Like other tisanes, it comes from a different plant entirely than green, black, white, oolong or pu-erh tea.

Most rooibos sold is red rooibos, which goes through an oxidation-like fermentation step that turns the leaves reddish-brown and gives a naturally sweet, nutty flavor. Green rooibos skips that step, staying lighter in color with a grassier, less sweet taste, closer in spirit to green tea.

When buying, whole cut leaf tends to hold its flavor longer in storage than very fine or dusty rooibos, and it is worth checking whether a blend is red or green rooibos before you brew it the way you would a delicate tea. A common mistake is treating rooibos like a delicate green tea and brewing it too gently: rooibos actually tolerates boiling water and a long steep, often several minutes, without turning bitter, so a short, cool steep just leaves it weak and underwhelming.