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Rooibos: A South African Specialty

Options for tea drinkers abound with green, white, oolong, black and more as we have discussed earlier. Also well-known are the many tisane blends; be they pure herbals or herbal tea blends. Rooibos represents another option for an infused tisane and one that is growing in popularity due to its caffeine free nature and mix of anti-oxidants. Camellia Sinensis naturally has caffeine as a self-defense mechanism, and decaffeinated tea in the U.S is allowed to have up to 5% residual caffeine. The rooibos plant has no caffeine at all. Rooibos also enjoys significant popularity for the wide variety of anti-oxidants it contains including aspalathin which is only found in rooibos.

Cederberg Mountain Region of South Africa

The scientific name for rooibos, which comes from Afrikaans meaning “red bush”, is Aspalathus Linearis. Coming from the legume family, rooibos is related to beans, peas, clover, and peanuts, though the family also includes over 16,000 other species. It is a shrub that grows up to 6’ in height with green, needle shaped leaves and yellow flowers.

Rooibos is only grown in one location in the world, the valleys of the Cederberg Mountain region of Western Cape, South Africa, to the north of Cape Town (South African National Biodiversity Institute, 2007).

The Rooibos Bush – Aspalathus Linearis

Production of finished rooibos for export comes from both the needle shaped leaves and bits of small stem. The leaves of the plant and small stems are harvested from January to March, the South African Summer to Fall season. After harvesting they are cut into small pieces and bruised, similar to the bruising of tea leaves to bring out flavor and encourage oxidation. After bruising, the leaves are traditionally moistened and allowed to oxidize in piles before drying in thin layers in the sun. This oxidation process is what produces the deep red-brown color and its sweet, woody taste and aroma. In much the same way that green tea is produced by preventing the fermentation process, green rooibos is also produced by skipping the fermentation stage and moving straight from cutting to drying in the sun.

Rooibos has been consumed by local Khoisan inhabitants for more than 300 years. The arriving Dutch settlers to South Africa in the 1700’s started to consume rooibos due to the high cost of imported black tea. Commercial production began in the 1930’s and more recently its anti-oxidant properties have attracted significant demand, initially from Japan but now from many other countries as well. In fact, exports have increased over 700% from 1993 to 2003. (Hansen, 2006)

While rooibos is increasing in popularity and is a significant crop for the Western Cape region of South Africa, there are concerns both about the impact of production on the environment as well as the threat to rooibos from climate change.

Western Cape, South Africa with Rooibos Growing Region Highlighted in Yellow

Rooibos comes from one of the most biologically diverse regions of the world and the birthplace of modern humans. The area has several distinct regions ranging from coastal, to lowland fynbos (shrubs with varied shapes and sizes), and mountains with many others in between. (Fynbos Forum, 2005) The specific region where rooibos is grown recently was designated a World Heritage Site, yet the majority of land is privately owned, so the need for responsible land use and development practices has driven the South African Rooibos Council to develop Right Rooibos, a program to foster sustainable production practices for the industry and support production while protecting the environment.

More recently farmers have noted increasing temperatures and drier conditions, both of which are being attributed to climate change. This trend, if it continues is expected to make it harder to grow rooibos and eventually could mean the demise of the industry. (Price, 2012) And since rooibos, thus far, has not been successfully cultivated anywhere else in the world, the end of rooibos in South Africa would mean the end of rooibos globally.

For now, we continue to enjoy rooibos and wish the best for sustainable farming practices under the Right Rooibos program. We love rooibos straight or blended with more traditional teas and herbals. How about you? Have you tried rooibos?

Tell us what you think. Post a comment here, message us on Twitter, or leave a note on Facebook.

Works Cited

Fynbos Forum. (2005). Ecosystem Guidelines for Environmental Assessment in the Western Cape. Sounth Africa.

Hansen, T. (2006). Sustainable Rooibos Initiative. Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Cooridor & South African Rooibos Council.

Price, C. (2012, February 28). Climate change threat to rooibos tea. Retrieved February 12, 2014, from Mail & Guardian: http://mg.co.za/article/2012-02-28-climate-change-threat-to-rooibos-tea/

South African National Biodiversity Institute. (2007, June). Aspalathus linearis. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from PlantZAfrica.com: http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantab/aspallinearis.htm

Chinese Tea Culture

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In trying to explore the tea cultures of other countries, it is difficult to isolate tea from the rest of the country’s culture. A beverage, especially one as old as tea, makes its way into everything and its use reflects the overall culture of the country. As the birthplace of tea, China’s tea culture is rich in ceremony and history. The drink has been part of Chinese life for over 4,000 years. It has brought great wealth, supported opium addiction, triggered wars, and became part of everyday life.

Tea in a Porcelain Cup (Stilllife) by Flicker User Jos Deilis, CC BY 2.0

A fundamental aspect of Chinese culture is Confucianism. This is a complex set of beliefs that influence many parts of Chinese culture, the largest being the focus on social harmony brought about through each individual knowing his or her place within society and focusing on doing the best job possible in that place. Tea plays a role in social harmony. Every Chinese household has a tea set and tea is routinely offered to guests, family, and friends as a sign of respect and love. Interestingly, in formal settings, it is always the person in the lower social role that serves the tea to the person of the higher social status, like a child serving tea for a parent.

Since tea is considered one of the seven daily necessities in Chinese culture along with firewood, rice, oil, salt, vinegar and soy sauce, it has created entire industries in China around teaware, teahouses, and various methods of brewing tea. From glazed porcelain tea cups to terra cotta teapots used only for oolongs, there is a wide variety of wares for brewing and consuming teas. Many of these are built around either the chaou or gongfu brewing methods. The chaou brewing method is usually done in a porcelain bowl that allows the drinker to both drink the tea and inspect the tea leaves. There is no strainer, just a bowl with a lid and saucer. It may be used with serving cups or by itself and is considered an informal way of drinking tea. It is said that this method was devised as a way for faster tasting by the tea merchants of tea they were considering purchasing. The gongfu brewing method is more formal and uses a smaller terra cotta tea pot to do multiple steepings of a single tea. The teapots usually only hold between 100-150 mL or 4-5 oz. The gongfu method varies across regions of China and may also include the use of other instruments like tweezers and various strainers. Teahouses are everywhere in China and are social gathering places for the exchange of ideas. Unlike Americans, who either take their coffee to go or bury their head in their laptops at the coffee shops, these teahouses are built around staying to talk and to share a pot of tea prepared by the hostess.

Back of Tea Shop, Zhuhai Guangdong, China, By logatfer, Flickr, CC BY SA-2.0

Tea also plays a large role in Chinese weddings. During a wedding, the bride and groom will serve tea to their parents as a sign of respect and thanks. If the couple wishes, they may do a full tea ceremony which includes serving tea to the rest of the family after serving it to their parents. Often this could include serving tea to hundreds of people as Chinese extended families are often quite large and all are invited to the wedding. This full ceremony allows the couple to meet each other’s extended family members that they may not have met while dating.

The idea that an everyday drink can also be given prominence in a special event shows the integration to tea into the lives of the Chinese at all levels and helps to explain why most of their tea does not leave the country. I don’t believe America has anything like this within our own culture, but given that American culture is centered on the individual instead of the collective society it shouldn’t be a surprise. Wouldn’t it be nice if we slowed down a bit to enjoy each other’s company over a pot of tea?

Let us know what you think, follow us on Twitter @DominionTea, or like us on Facebook.

– Hillary

Tea Infused Yogurt

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I have been making my own yogurt for over a year now, and tea infused yogurt would combine two of my favorite foods.. In trying to find yogurt that is not loaded with sugar or artificial sweetener, I did what many people do these days and googled how to make yogurt at home. I was pleased to discover how few ingredients it required and, since I already had a dehydrator big enough to hold 8 oz glass jars, I was pretty much ready to go if I could just find yogurt starter at a grocery store.

Yogurt starter is basically the bacteria necessary to make yogurt, in packets very similar to the yeast used to make bread. Some recipes suggested that you could use yogurt from the grocery store instead of the yogurt starter however, as I was trying not to eat the yogurt in the grocery store, I decided to pass on this option. Finding the yogurt starter was simple here in the suburbs of Washington, DC where I found yogurt starter in the baking aisle next to tapioca and various extracts.

So why tea flavored yogurt? Over the year as I have gotten more comfortable with scalding milk, getting it up to 180 degrees Fahrenheit without boiling, I have gotten braver in adding alternatives to the milk to try to flavor the yogurt. I decided while reading a recipe for tea flavored ice cream that I should be able to flavor yogurt with tea was amazed to find that it worked!

Now, before I show you the recipe I should say I do not add sugar to my yogurt. I rely on the lactose in the milk to sweeten the yogurt, which makes for a tarter yogurt than most Americans are used to. I really like it, but my son absolutely dislikes it and David doesn’t eat yogurt, so I’m subjected to my own creations. I have added a note at the end, if you want sweetener, on what and how much to add.

While I haven’t done this recipe with herbals or green teas, I imagine it could work with them also. Just be prepared for your yogurt to take on some unconventional colors – like green or pink. This recipe calls for your favorite black tea, which in my case is Earl Grey. Just be aware of how it tastes in the cup because that taste will amplify in the yogurt, especially if it is citrus in flavor.

Getting started, you need a few pieces of equipment, a good liquid thermometer, dehydrator and fine mesh sieve. You can usually find a thermometer in the kitchen equipment section of your grocery store next to the can openers. If you have butter fingers like I do, spend the extra money for the waterproof one so when you drop it in the milk it will survive (learned this one the hard way). As for the dehydrator, there are many options out there, so find one you like that can run at 115 degrees Fahrenheit and is deep enough to hold glass jars. Ball makes 4 and 8 oz jars, so measure before you buy. I use 8 oz since I already had them in the house from making jelly and my dehydrator was big enough to hold them if I removed the racks. As for the sieve, the finer the mesh you can find the better, as the dust from the tea leaves will get through if the holes are too big. You might like it or you might find it a bit gritty in your yogurt (it looks almost like vanilla bean seeds at the bottom of the yogurt cup when it is done cooking). I resorted to a kitchen supply store to find one that was fine enough and I still get some tea dust remaining in the yogurt.

Whole Milk and Earl Grey Tea

Recipe

4 cups Whole Milk*
2 tbs Favorite Black Tea (mine is Earl Grey)
1 packet Yogourmet yogurt starter

Scalded Whole Milk and Earl Grey Tea

Put the 4 cups of milk in a sauce pan with the tea leaves, you will need to stir to get the leaves incorporated. Bring the milk up to 180 degrees Fahrenheit without letting it boil. Expect it to turn caramel color as the tea brews in the milk. As soon as it hits 180 degrees take the pan off the burner and allow the milk to cool back down to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are adventurous you could strain out the tea as soon as you pull the pan off the burner. I prefer to wait as I have no need to get burned by hot liquid if it happens to splash while pouring it through the strainer.

Straining Off Earl Grey Tea

Pour the milk through the strainer into a vessel that makes it easy to pour the milk into the jars (I have a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup with a spout that makes this super easy).

Put the yogurt starter into a small bowl that you can whisk in and ladle in a couple of scoops of the milk once it hits 115 degrees (I have found this happens almost immediately after pouring the milk through the sieve). Whisk until the starter has dissolved then add back into the rest of the mill and stir.

Distribute the milk between your glass jars and then put those jars for a minimum of 4 hours in your dehydrator at 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Check if thick enough by turning the jars upside down at the 4 hour mark. I have had it take as long as 6 hours in a few cases. Transfer the jars to the refrigerator and start to enjoy the yogurt the next morning. Be prepared for losing about ½ cup of the milk to being absorbed by the tea leaves.

Just a word of caution about Earl Grey and other citrus flavored teas – Citrus and milk creates buttermilk, which is very tangy. Even if the citrus is nothing more than an extract, my experience has been that the yogurt is rather tangy. So I will admit, sometimes sugar is necessary to help tone this down. I add mine after the fact by pouring a little agave nectar (no more than a teaspoon per serving) over the top before eating, but that is only after I have tasted the yogurt first.

For those who really need sugar in your yogurt – go with ¼ to 1/3 cup of a liquid form of sugar – like agave nectar, honey or maple syrup. While these 3 may turn your white milk slightly cream colored, you do not have to battle trying to dissolve granulated sugar in your milk while trying to make sure your milk does not boil.

*Forget 2% or skim milk as they make runny yogurt that requires corn starch to thicken – too much work in my book

I hope you enjoy this recipe. What do you like to cook with tea?

– Hillary at Dominion Tea

American Tea Culture

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Golden Dragon Tea

Recently Hillary and I spent a couple weeks in Florida visiting family and having our son spend some time with his grandparents. As usual we brought our own tea. During a break we visited a well-known tea house which featured a wide selection of over sixty teas as well as serving salads and sandwiches. Hillary selected an Earl Grey and Jasmine blend while I selected an oolong described, in part, as rare. The tea itself tasted great but I felt the tea house left us short. Specifically, the tea infuser was removed from the pot before it was brought to the table. We had no option to examine the tea leaves nor have a second steeping. So is it that odd to expect an institution serving premium tea to provide access to the infused leaves? And this begs a larger question. How does one define “American Tea Culture”?

Culture can be defined as “the sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another.” (Dictionary.Com, 2014) We are dominated by a coffee culture in this country now, but that hasn’t always been the case. Early in our history we were primarily tea drinkers, dating back to the early days of the nation and beginning the transition to coffee with the Boston Tea Party at which point it became unpopular to drink tea, lest you be seen as supporting the British. Over time came wars involving Asia, further eroding the tea as a part of the American way of life.However, tea didn’t fully fade away, and throughout our history we have opened our doors to large numbers of immigrants, a number of which were displaced from their homelands during political upheaval. For example we helped relocated nearly a million people from Vietnam in the 1970’s after the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. Immigrants from Vietnam moved primarily to Southern California but also Houston, TX, the Washington DC suburbs and a variety of other cities. The Vietnamese brought with them their language, beliefs, and consumption of hot and iced tea. (Peter Cody Hunt, 2002)

Today the American Tea Culture is hard to pin down, involving a variety of different things. On the one hand we have tea in a restaurant atmosphere. We have a growing number of tea houses with fancy tea pots and cups as well as light fare or coffee & tea establishments offering a trendy atmosphere where you can get coffee, tea, bagels, and other food from a counter to sit in or take out.

Sun Tea by flickr user SanFranAnnie, CC BY SA 2.0

There is sweet tea, iced tea, and sun tea. As far as tea in the United States goes it is overwhelmingly iced. Iced tea is featured nearly everywhere in the south and served up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In some parts it is sweet tea with a good helping of sugar or sweetener added, while in other areas its straight black. For Hillary, growing up in Arizona only a few miles from Mexico, her favorite was sun tea made simply by adding a few teabags to a jar of cold water and setting outside in the Arizona sun. A few hours later simply pour over ice and enjoy!

Bubble Tea by flickr user ohallmann, CC BY 2.0

An alternative for many in this country is tea as occasional “get well” drink, often from grocery store teabags, including tea, lemon, and honey to relieve a sore throat, or herbal remedies purported to help overcome sickness. In fact America, being the melting pot that it is, sees different uses based on different cultural backgrounds. For many Hispanics “traditional practices include using home remedies (e.g., drinking herbal or spiced teas) and seeking care from relatives, neighbors, community members, or traditional health care providers.” (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012) Haitians “drink lots of water and homemade fruit juices, coffee in the morning, and tea only when sick.” (Jessie M. Colin) And there is a significant Asian population in Southern California with shopping catering to the population and bubble tea shops for younger generations. (Medina, 2013)

We have portions of the population who seek benefits from green tea in the form of food ingredients, dietary supplements, facial masks, and a whole host of other uses.

Lastly, there are those of us who enjoy loose leaf tea, the myriad varieties, the historical significance, different brewing methods, blends, scenting, baking, and more. We can get our fix from specialty tea shops sprinkled throughout the country, online, and regional festivals ranging from the Pacific Northwest and Los Angeles International Tea Festivals to the NYC and Philly Coffee and Tea Festivals.

In the end I’m not sure one can really pin down “American Tea Culture”. Like America there are options for everyone and plenty of room to explore, no matter what your preference. Is one aspect wrong and another right? Is one a more worthwhile aspect of tea on which to focus? What is your preference? Did we leave out your favorite aspect of American Tea Culture?

Tell us what you think and share this blog with another tea lover…

– David at Dominion Tea

Works Cited

Dictionary.Com. (2014, 01 22). Culture | What is the dfinition? Retrieved from Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture?s=t

Jessie M. Colin, P. R. (n.d.). Cultural and Clinical Care for Haitians. Betty Hastings, LCDR US Public Health Service, Indian Health Services.

Medina, J. (2013, April 28). The New York Times. Retrieved from New Suburban Dream Born of Asia and Southern California: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/us/asians-now-largest-immigrant-group-in-southern-california.html?_r=0

Peter Cody Hunt, M. (2002). An Introduction to Vietnamese Culture For Rehabilitation Service Providers in the U.S.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Building Our Understanding: Cultural Insights – Communicating with Hispanic/Latinos.

American Tea History

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Tea traveled to America with the colonists who arrived from all European countries, with some colonies like New Amsterdam (modern day New York) being heavier tea drinkers than all of England at the time_{(Smith & Kraig, 2013)}. The British implemented a mercantile system, as with its other colonies, which focused on trade to increase its wealth. With this system London based businesses were protected through the use of trade barriers, regulations, and subsidies but it also required the British government to fight smuggling and illegal trading with other countries, especially by American merchants.

Early American Tea Experience

American Tea consumption is tied tightly to the early ship building in the colonies. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania were both major ship building colonies, where craftsman took advantage of the abundance of local resources, craftsman, and cheap labor to build more and faster clipper ships than the British. Many of these clipper ships were put into use by the American merchants to trade directly with other countries, bypassing the British government. Smuggling was extremely common in the American colonies and tea was high on the list of illegal goods.

American Tea drinkers are less familiar with asian teapots and accessories.

Small Yixing Teapot

The colonists adopted many of the British customs like tea drinking both at home and in public coffeehouses (Yes, coffeehouses did exist 300 years before Starbucks). It should be noted that much of the tea consumed in the colonies and Britain was green tea_{(Smith & Kraig, 2013)}. The social demand for tea, and the additional taxes levied on tea from the British East India Company made smuggled tea a very common commodity in the colonies, most coming from the Dutch East India Company. The loss of revenue by the British East India Company did not go unnoticed and in 1767 the tea tax was levied. This tax became one of many levied on the colonists in the ten years leading to the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution. As Joseph M. Walsh noted in 1892, “The birth of the greatest nation of all time due to a three-penny tax on tea!” _{(Walsh, 1892)}

After the revolution, American merchants used their clipper ships to go direct to China for trade, bringing tea and other goods legally into the United States without British involvement. These merchants became the first of the American millionaires, with tea being a dominant contributor to their wealth. This wealth was later used to give loans to the fledgling American government to purchase arms for the War of 1812 other ventures necessary to stabilize and expand the country.

American Industry and Tea

Tea consumption thrived in the United States through the 1800’s with farmers experimenting with growing tea plants in the country. The US Department of Agriculture even published a study about using tea as a commercial crop in 1897. There is still a commercial tea plantation in South Carolina, new tea farms in Hawaii, and the US League of Tea Growers working to increase the growth of tea in America.

It was in the early 1900’s that America made perhaps its largest contribution to modern tea culture, first through the large scale introduction of iced tea and then through the invention of the tea bag. While iced tea has been documented in American cookbooks dating back to 1870’s, it was at the World’s Fair in 1904 that iced tea was introduced in a big way to the public. With the warmer US climates, iced tea still remains the most consumed tea in the US. The second was the accidental invention of the tea bag by an American, Thomas Sullivan, who sent small samples of his tea in silk bags to his clients in 1908. Those clients went on to ask Thomas to send their tea in bags going forward and since silk was expensive he created his bags out of paper.

American Tea drinkers love beautiful European inspired teapots.

Antique Teapot

American Tea Consumption and World Wars

American tea consumption saw significant declines around World War I (1914-1919) and then again around World War II (1939-1945) because of significant disruption in trade with China and Japan.. Trade with China did not resume after WWII until 1971. As green tea was produced predominantly in China and Japan, this left black tea from India to satisfy the US market. Current tea consumption in the United States is 85% iced tea and still overwhelmingly black.

As loose leaf tea becomes easier for the US consumer to get and consumer awareness of options increases, the growth in the specialty loose leaf market will mirror that of coffee and wine bringing a large variety of tea to market. I am looking forward to having more options in the high quality tea market, are you?

– Hillary

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Works Cited

Smith, A., & Kraig, B. (2013). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Volume 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Walsh, J. M. (1892). Tea – Its History and Mystery. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates & Co.