Rooibos and Honeybush: the Story Continues

Okay, so now you know all about rooibos and honeybush. Or do you?

Like black tea, rooibos and honeybush are oxidized, which gives them their dark red color and depth of taste. They are prepared like this because while South Africans have been enjoying both of these plants for centuries (if not millennia), the British are the ones who introduced them to the global market, and they thought they'd treat it like black tea (as it is often considered a tea substitute).

Well, if you don't oxidize the plant what do you get? Green rooibos and green honeybush, just like tea. I myself just tried them about a week ago, and I was pretty impressed.

First off, as with tea, the green varieties of rooibos and honeybush contain a much higher level of antioxidants. The green varieties are fairly hard to find (green honeybush especially so), so there understandably isn't an awful lot of research about these antioxidant levels, so don't buy into any hype about either of them being better for you than green tea.

Green rooibos

Now, green rooibos looks an awful lot like lemongrass. It tastes slightly vegetal, but not nearly as much as green tea does, and it retains a slightly fruity and tangy flavor. Interestingly, it has a faint licorice-sweet aftertaste (not the taste of licorice, but the sweet aftertaste you get when chewing on some of the root), which makes me wonder if it contains similar sweetening compounds as licorice root. I like it and recommend it. Just judging from my experience, it seems to have a more marked sedative effect than oxidized rooibos, so you probably shouldn't drink a quart of the stuff in one sitting your first time like I did just now.

Green honeybush, which isn't very green at all

I expected green honeybush to taste very similar to green rooibos, but it did not. First, the smell. Green rooibos smells like dried plant. Green honeybush, however, smells like awesome. It has a very tangy, fruity aroma—if I dare say, it smells sexy. The taste followed suit. It seems less sweet than oxidized honeybush, but I think it's just because the green variety is much tangier and acidic tasting (not TOO acidic, just MORE acidic). I find it best to subdue this beast with a dab of honey. What results is a really good tisane without the vegetal notes of green rooibos (but also, unfortunately, without a detectable licorice-sweet aftertaste).


You may be tempted to treat these like green tea and use water that isn't boiling. I've only used boiling water. It tastes fine, and the reason you use cooler water with white and green teas is because you'll fuck up the flavor by making the tea release all kinds of bitter tannins and by destroying more delicate flavor compounds. Rooibos and honeybush have no significant tannin levels, and if they have delicate flavors that require lower brewing temperatures, I doubt you'd notice them over the fruity and tangy flavors so prominent in them—ESPECIALLY if you brew them for 8+ minutes (which I recommend).

I bought my green rooibos and honeybush from Upton Tea Imports. I've found green rooibos from a couple other companies, but not green honeybush. Their teas are pretty damn high quality so far, I've found (I am not affiliated in any way with the company), so if you want to try either of these tisanes, you can't go wrong with them.