TeaEqualsBliss

3! “Smells like strawberry and cream” lol:) That’s what I call a “well duh!” tea. Those are good:)

LOLOLOLOLOLOL! Well, duh! hahaha! Yes, yes…it is…silly me!

So..what is the difference between rooibos and honeybush? I had the impression they were the same thing.

Rooibos, which is only grown in South Africa, is Afrikaans for “Red Bush.” It’s actually green when ground but they allow it to oxidize which turns the leaves to a red color. Rooibos, of course, is not actually tea since it does not come from the Camilla Sinensis herb, native to China. It contains about 20-30 times more antioxidants than green tea, including about 8 times more vitamin C than a cup of orange juice. It contains 14 different types of antioxidants and it’s organic and naturally caffeine free. It’s an anti-inflammatory, so it’s used to reduce swelling in joints. It’s also commonly used around the world to soothe colicky infants, since it contains amylase, an enzyme that’s naturally found in the saliva of adults, but babies don’t produce it until between 4-5 months. It’s also great for urinary tract infections.

Honeybush comes from the Cyclopia herb, also only found to grow in South Africa, it’s also red in color and ground to about the same size as Rooibos. It’s also caffeine free and high in antioxidants. It has a similar taste to Rooibos, but it’s actually a little sweeter. The health benefits are almost exactly that of rooibos. They each contain a good bit of iron and are used to remedy anemia. They both calm the nervous system and are used as a sleep aide. They also detoxify the skin and aide in the reduction of skin ailments, like eczema.

That’s about all there is to it.

Thanks for the thorough explanation :D I found it quite helpful!

Another thank you for the great explanation! :)

I don’t like red rooibos… and haven’t tried green or either red or green honeybush- but I think I need to since eczema runs in our family!

I have green and red rooibos. To be honest, I do like the red rooibos better, only because it’s sweeter. Green rooibos is dusty and earthy. In fact, its the only tea I have, that when I open the bag and pour it into the giant tin I have for it, a giant poof of green powdery, tea smoke shoots into the air and I cough, heh. I honestly prefer my rooibos’ teas to contain some type of flavoring, like Belgian Chocolate or Bourbon Street Vanilla. Believe it or not, I sell green rooibos almost exclusively to male customers, I think because men usually like earthly, twig tasting teas, I guess they think it puts hair on their chest or something. Heh.

I have enjoyed both red and green depending on what they are each paired with. I know Renee at da.u.de uses Green Rooibos primarily because she isn’t fond of Red as much. I have enjoyed the 3 blends I have tried of theirs so far!

Then again…I like manly teas as well…lol…just no bacon (says the vegetarian) :P

But if it’s VEGAN bacon… then again lapsang souchong isn’t too much different.

The other day a guy bought half a pound of green rooibos from me and was so excited because he said he can never find it anywhere, most tea companies only sell the red, how often to run across the green?

I think Green is becoming more and more popular but I think it really just has the potential to keep growing! I haven’t seen to many creative blends featuring the GREEN Yet…only a few…and what I have had I have liked. I have also had a few Green Rooibos Chais…thought they were crazy until I tried them…weren’t too shabby…

Oh, I have a green rooibos blend called Desert Blossom, it’s green rooibos and cactus flowers, I’ll send you a sample. I use it in making my Rooibos Mirage, which is a special blend I make using green and red rooibos, with organic orange peels, peach and bourbon street vanilla.

Awesome!! :) Desert Blossom is a great name, btw! Rooibos Mirage…all I can think of is the Mirage in Las Vegas…which I should be able to visit in Sept!!! Can’t wait! I love it there!! Woot! Sounds like another goodie!!!!! Daniel…you have some great stuff!

Danke! I’m jealous, I’ve never been to Vegas. But I would love to go someday. Years ago, when I first got into the tea business, I was the general manager of the first Teavana franchise store, at that time they had left the franchise and became their own corporation. That was when Teavana only had two stores. Shortly after we broke away from them, they got a group of investors worth over $50 millon to come in and build stores across the nation. We use to buy a tea called Rooibos Tropica, from a tea wholesaler, but Teavana was a bigger fish and purchased a lot of tea from them and told them ‘not’ sell it to us, so that’s when we first blended Rooibos Mirage. It was meant to be a replacement for Tropica. I’ve honed it over the years and it’s funny, cause the the other day, I tasted from rooibos tropica from Teavana and I actually think our mirage is better that it now.

Oh!!! I’m intrigued! :)

Wow, my grammar progressively got worse in that comment…

I’ll send ya some.

Haha! That happens to me a lot Daniel. That’s why I want an edit button instead of just a delte button. And sometimes even they mysteriously vanish.

I knew what you meant! LOL :P

I find that when I’m telling long stories and I’m attempting to type as fast as it’s coming in my head, that the grammar becomes worse and worse. And God knows I’m way too lazy to proof read. :P

nah…proof reading-shmoof-reading! lol

I normally notice it just after I press “send”.

BA in English Lit gal/future librarian sez: it’s all good! In my first linguistics class the professor hammered it into our heads that “all grammars leak” and it’s futile to try and put hardcore rules on everyday language (both spoken and written). Business/school papers should observe the rules, but beyond that the only thing that matters is that the meaning of what you say is understandable.

All this is to say that you were completely understandable Daniel Mann and I found the story really interesting :D

Of course, there’s always those little things that bug me, like when people use the wrong ’there’s. Heh.

@ Rabs…I love your professor already….heh