From black tea to rooibos
Rooibos is the closest thing to a black tea that is not tea, and the two after it are the closest things to rooibos. Three steps that stay inside one shape of drink.
Who this is for
Someone who drinks black tea with milk and wants something that behaves the same way without caffeine.
What you should come away with
A sense of which non-tea leaves take milk and which do not, and why fermentation rather than plant is what makes the difference.
The three leaves that behave like tea
Ordered by how far each is from a black tea. Rooibos takes milk in South Africa the way tea takes it in Britain; by the third step you are drinking something fermented rather than oxidised, which is a different process reaching a similar place.
Starting point. Everything after this is measured against it.
Naturally sweet and slightly woody, with a vanilla note and no astringency at all. It tolerates boiling water and a long steep without turning bitter, which very few botanicals do.
Why this step follows
Neighbouring Cape shrubs processed the same way, and honeybush is the sweeter and rounder of the two. If rooibos works for you, this is the same shape of drink with the edges taken off.
Sweeter and rounder than rooibos, with an apricot note the red bush does not have. The two are frequently confused and honeybush is the softer.
Why this step follows
Both are non-Camellia leaves that behave like a black tea. Fireweed is fermented rather than oxidised and is darker and maltier, which is a step up in body rather than a change of category.
Dark, faintly fruity and malty with a soft body and no astringency to speak of. The closest thing to a black tea that any European plant produces.
Read alongside
- Tea vs herbal infusion
One plant against several hundred. The comparison is worth making carefully, because almost every generalisation about 'tea' fails the moment herbal infusions are included in it.
- Leaves used in botanical drinks
The largest botanical category, and the one that divides most cleanly: leaves grown to be drunk, leaves that are kitchen herbs with a second life, and leaves that are by-products of a fruit crop.