North Africa and the Middle East
Moroccan mint tea is gunpowder green tea, fresh spearmint and a great deal of sugar, poured from height and served as a rite of hospitality rather than a beverage choice. Egyptian karkade is hibiscus, hot in winter and iced in summer. Yansoon — anise — and marmariya — sage — are domestic staples across the Levant.
East Asia
Japanese mugicha, roasted barley, lives in the refrigerator through the summer and is given to children precisely because it is caffeine-free. Korea drinks boricha the same way, plus corn silk tea from every convenience store. Chinese households drink chrysanthemum through the summer and goji from a flask through the day.
South America
Yerba mate is drunk from a shared gourd through a metal straw, passed around a group by one server, with etiquette specific enough that getting it wrong is noticed. It is the defining daily drink of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and southern Brazil, and it contains caffeine.
Southern Africa
Rooibos grows only in the Cederberg and nowhere else, despite many attempts. It is a household drink across South Africa, taken with milk and sugar in a pattern that mirrors British tea habits directly. Honeybush is its softer neighbour.
The same plant, different arrivals
Hibiscus is the clearest example. It reached the Caribbean and the Americas through the transatlantic slave trade and Egypt through overland routes. Jamaican Christmas sorrel, Mexican agua de Jamaica and Egyptian karkade are one plant with three separate histories, and none of those traditions borrowed from the others.