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South African Wild Rooibos Loose Leaf Herbal Tea

42 reviews
$10.99
$10.99
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17p per cup

Style

The real South African Red Bush. Beyond organic, this Rooibos is harvested completely wild in its indigenous habitat in the Cederberg Mountains.

Naturally caffeine free.

Tasting Notes

A richly delicious infusion with deep earthy notes, bright red berries and cedar. Can be beautifully enhanced by the addition of a twist of lemon zest. If you enjoy sweetening your tea, Rooibos turns to caramel with a delicate drop of maple syrup.

Cost Per Cup

17p per cup based on 2.5g of tea per 150ml of water and 2 infusions.

Origin

Cederberg mountains, Western Cape, South Africa

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Recommended Infusion Guide

  • Quantity

    Use 0.1 oz of leaf per 5.5 fl oz of water.

  • Temperature

    For the optimum infusion use 212°F water.

  • Time

    Infuse for 1 - 3 minutes, tasting regularly.

  • Infusions

    You can infuse this tea at least twice. With each careful infusion, different subtleties of flavour are revealed.

1 3

More infusion tips

How to infuse your tea is very personal, and these are just our recommendations based on experience. Please experiment with these variables to your heart's delight. These are our recommendations, not hard and fast rules. The most delicious tea is the one you love.

Our guide uses a standard tea cup size (150ml/5.5 oz) as a measure, please adjust the quantity of leaf accordingly for less or more water. Our whole loose leaves are of such a high quality that you can infuse our teas at least twice, and the second infusion is often better than the first, with different flavours revealed as the leaf softens. If you prefer your tea stronger, add more leaf, don’t leave it for longer (this will just make it bitter).

RED BUSH

Rooibos

This is no ordinary tea harvest. But then Rooibos (Afrikaans for 'red bush') is no ordinary tea. Strictly speaking a legume, the needle-like leaves produce a deeply delicious caffeine-free drink. It has been used as a medicine to cure innumerable ills and drunk for pleasure for many thousands of years by the people of this area.

HORSEBACK

Bush Tea

This is real bush-tea - it's beyond organic and indigenous. To protect the delicate ecosystem of the Cederberg Mountains it's harvested on horseback with machetes, ensuring no damage is done to the fragile local environment.

This is sustainable farming at its best.

LOCAL HERO

Dr Frikkie Strauss

We source it from a farmer who is also the local GP - Dr Strauss. He is an amazing man who is not just interested in saving people but the environment and the endangered local Cape Leopard.

An extract from "Infused: Adventures in Tea"...

Hangover Rescue Recipe

It's our wild rooibos, sweetened with a bit of maple syrup, brought alive by a squeeze of lemon juice or a spritz of lemon zest and balanced, like a salty caramel, with a single grain of sea salt. It's smooth, deep and mellow and, goddamn it, I think it really works. Rooibos has been used for thousands of years by local tribesman in Africa to treat dehydration. The maple and the salt provide the necessary electrolytes to make it isotonic.

Use 3g of rooibos tea per 150ml of boiling water and steep for three to five minutes. Strain and stir in: half to one teaspoon of maple syrup, according to preference; a squeeze of lemon; and a flake of sea salt. Add a twist of lemon zest on top.

When I'm particularly crushed by a hangover, crushed so small I feel like a little girl lost in an IKEA car park in a strange city as night falls, I use vanilla rooibos.

You don't have to buy a flavoured rooibos. Some synthetic vanilla flavourings come from by-products of the wood-pulping industry and the natural ones might come from the anal glands of beavers. (Okay, the beaver bum juice is a rare one you're unlikely to stumble across, but it is a ‘natural' flavouring.) It's safer to just use vanilla pods.

Fill a glass jar, (I use one with a wired, flip-top, rubber-sealed lid) full of rooibos. Take a vanilla pod and cut it open lengthways, as if opening the belly of a fish. Stick it in the jar so that it’s entirely submersed in the rooibos (cut the pot into pieces if you need to). Put the jar in a cupboard you use regularly and leave it for a couple of weeks, giving it a shake every time you see it. You can use a zip-lock bag instead, but I’ve found glass is better at holding the flavour over time. The good stuff has so much flavour, you want to keep it at its best. And the really good stuff is wild.

Shipping, delivery & more...

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**In special cases where custom fees have been unexpected we have retroactively refunded these in select cases. As of the 15th February 2023 (the start of IOSS) we have discontinued this process.

What is IOSS?

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Up until the 1st July 2021, no import VAT has to be paid for commercial goods of a value up to EUR 22. New VAT eCommerce rules abolished this provision as of 1st July 2021. Thus, from 1 July 2021, all commercial goods imported into the EU from a third country or third territory is subject to VAT irrespective of their value.

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IOSS facilitates the collection, declaration and payment of VAT for sellers making distance sales of imported goods to buyers in the EU. The IOSS also makes the process easier for the buyer, who is only charged at the time of purchase, and therefore does not face any surprise fees when the goods are delivered. If the seller is not registered in the IOSS, the buyer has to pay the VAT and usually a customs clearance fee charged by the transporter.

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