Tea Pick: Honeybush

This is an herbal tea for evenings, with a rich flavor and thick texture that provide a good substitute for caffeine. It comes from a shrub native to South Africa, though it is more full-bodied than a rooibos. While brewing, it has a smell that seems related to the baking of bread. You can read this informative report from alternative medicine advocates to see pictures of the bush, and learn that the indigenous people did not use it for tea, but the Dutch East India Company, when they settled in Cape Town, identified it as a substitute. It is probably good during an illness, but we should not allow that association to prejudice us against enjoying it when we are well. Before preparing it, allow boiling water to cool for a couple of minutes.

Comments

[Jeremy]

Have you tried stevia leaves in your tea? A coworker gave me some yesterday, apparently stevia (or sweet leaf) is used as a sugar substitute. I don't normally sweeten my tea, but I'm trying some leaves in my white tea as I type this. The taste is interesting... not quite like honey or sugar, hard to describe, but pleasant.

[Avery Palmer]

I haven't. I probably agree with the purist assumption that if a tea requires sweetening, it is not good tea. This does not explain why many other kinds of food perfectly fine on their own (sushi, hamburgers) always seem to require sauces and seasoning when I try them.