Like many different herbalists, I prefer to drink natural tea with or after my meals. Nevertheless, it’s not all the time straightforward to search out. Typically most eating places supply chamomile and/or mint teas, however few different decisions. So you possibly can think about how pleased I used to be to find that in South Africa I discovered rooibos tea all over the place plus out there at any time or the day or evening. Since rooibos is native to the Fynbos eco-region of South Africa, it’s just like the nationwide tea of South Africa.
Aspalathus linearis, the botanical identify of rooibos tea, is a shrub discovered within the western mountainous elements of the Western Cape north of Cape City. Rooibos means “pink bush” in Afrikaans and is also referred to as pink tea and African pink tea. The kind of A. linearis that’s cultivated commercially for tea is the pink kind, also referred to as the Rocklands kind.
There are actually two sorts of rooibos; pink and inexperienced. The lengthy needle leaves of the plant when harvested in summer time (January – March) are inexperienced whereas after they’re fermented they flip pink. The inexperienced tea is definitely tan/yellow in coloration that mildly tastes like inexperienced tea. Whereas the pink is nice and fruity – it may be drying if taken in extra due to its astringency. Each have a impartial vitality. Low in tannins, it’s a nice inexperienced or black tea substitute.
Rooibos is touted as a medicinal herb for a lot of situations – pores and skin issues, allergy symptoms, diabetes, bone well being, ache, weight reduction, abdomen illnesses, and coronary heart well being – and but few research have confirmed these claims.
As to advantages for the pores and skin, nonetheless, I lately realized about this from a good friend, an impact I hadn’t been conscious of earlier than. This good friend favored rooibos a lot, she drank it every day for a month. Throughout that point, she started to get compliments on how nice her pores and skin regarded. Usually fairly white, her pores and skin tone evened out and was brighter. For some cause she stopped consuming the tea and observed her pores and skin flip a bit pasty-white once more. When she resumed rooibos, once more her pores and skin tone improved.
Certainly, rooibos incorporates antioxidants, enzymes, and chemical compounds that scale back irritation and assist the pores and skin look youthful. One in every of these is alpha hydroxy acid, often contained in pores and skin therapies and chemical peels, that helps scale back nice traces and wrinkles. It additionally has a soothing impact that reduces redness and irritation. As effectively, the zinc content material of rooibos can assist relieve eczema and pimples. And, in fact, being excessive in antioxidants, significantly polyphenols, rooibos helps battle free radicals that speed up the getting old course of.
Rooibos additionally incorporates calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and excessive ranges of vitamin C. Supposedly the anti-inflammatory properties of rooibos make it helpful for arthritic ache whereas its bioactive flavonoid, chrysoeriol, works as a bronchodilator to assist relieve wheezing and coughing attributable to allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma. It additionally incorporates the bioflavonoid, quercetin, which might forestall allergy symptoms from being triggered. Certainly, I’ve a number of sufferers who’ve skilled large allergy aid from simply taking quercetin. Additional, its vitamin C content material apparantly helps restore collagen and connective tissue within the joints. You’ll have to attempt it for your self to see if you happen to understand any of those advantages.
Research have been performed on the antioxidant, aspalathin, in rooibos to counsel it could have anti-diabetic results, serving to steadiness blood sugar, enhancing insulin resistance, and rising glucose tolerance. Nevertheless, human research have but to be performed to substantiate this.
To make rooibos tea, steep the leaves (1 tablespoon/cup water) or teabag for 10 minutes earlier than consuming. Milk is commonly added as effectively.
