The tea loved by detectives
Summary
Rooibos is only grown in Africa and harvested once a year. Now, it's available in India with some great options
Some years ago, at a tea expo in Mumbai, there was a Japanese lady busily stirring tea on a stove. She called it matchai and served little cups of it to all who stopped by. All I remember of it was that it looked like pistachio milk and was warm and sweet. It was made with matcha and milk.
This week I was reminded of it because of a few unusual chais I got to try. One was a chai I carried back from Sri Lanka spiced with chilli rather than pepper. I have tried another version of it, a black tea with bhut jolokia (Aromica, ₹400 for 70g and Ketlee, ₹250 for 50g). They do remind me of rasam, making for a comforting cup when you have a nasty cold. Then a friend gave me a tin of chai tea mints she picked up at Trader Joe’s in the US. It has black tea with cardamom and peppermint and seems to work quite well. And yes, you can taste the chai. But the one I was waiting to brew was a rooibos chai that I have been holding on to for some time.
Like so many fans, I heard about the rooibos from The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith whose protagonist Mma Ramotswe favours it greatly. It’s also known as the bush tea and is a South African speciality. While it doesn’t belong to the Camellia sinensis family, like tea, it goes through a few stages of processing before it’s ready. It also lends itself to blending but unlike tea, it’s caffeine-free.
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In fact, rooibos’ fame can be credited to McCall Smith. The No.1 Ladies… has 24 novels and the first one was released back in 1998. In an interview McCall Smith has said that a few years after the series began, a rooibos exporter from South Africa sent him a thank you note—exports had gone up 70%. Another crime fiction author, Ian Rankin, was introduced to rooibos on a book tour to South Africa and decided to make his protagonist Inspector Rebus, a rooibos drinker. That fictional detectives favour it has boosted its antioxidant appeal.
I have enjoyed the rooibos when I’ve tried it but never actively sought it. But the Rooibos Chai (Luxmi Tea, ₹595 for 100g) blended with cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and cloves was an attractive one. It makes for a very refreshing brew, a minty-refreshing aftertaste accentuated by the cardamom and cloves. I brewed it plain, with water just off boiling, and a 3-minute steep. Halfway through the cup, I added some milk, and it accommodates it very well—even looking just like chai. I must say though that I preferred the plain version. Still, for those who love chai but want to cut back on caffeine, this is such a great alternative.
Rooibos is grown only in South Africa and harvested once a year, so it’s great to see it available in India and in so many flavour options. Chado Tea ( ₹499 for 50g) and TeaCupsFull ( ₹390 for 50g) offer plain Rooibos while blended versions are also available, with vanilla (Luxmi Tea, ₹595 for 100g), chocolate and ginger (Infinitea Originals, ₹1,200 for 100g), and sage, licorice and vanilla (Karma Kettle, ₹400 for 75g). It also lends itself to iced brews and in cooking, as a spice rub or mix.
Tea Nanny is a fortnightly series on the world of tea. Aravinda Anantharaman is a Bengaluru-based tea blogger and writer who reports on the tea industry. She posts @AravindaAnanth1 on Twitter.
