Tea and Popcorn: Part One

This week I gave a workshop on tea to a South Asian community kitchen. I was incredibly intimidated, but I gave it my best. Here's the thing--I was supposed to talk about herbal teas, but I know from experience these women love their masala chai. Well, I decided to try to talk about both "real" tea and herbal tea. I love chai and I know it's good for you, so I decided to research what people call "herbal chai."

Herbal chai usually refers to chai without caffeine that is made with rooibus or dandelion tea. There are still spices in herbal chai, but there might be extra medicinal herbs added such as burdock root and echinacea. The women in my workshop were incredibly curious about "red tea" or rooibus tea. Rooibus means "red bush" in Afrikaans. It is tea that is made from a plant that grows in a specific region of South Africa. During apartheid sanctions it was not available in Canada. I saw it first in England, where it was marketed as "children's tea." It is sometimes spelled "rooibosch" from the old Dutch, and I have heard it pronounced three different ways: rooee-bus, ROY-bus, and ROY-bosh. I was surprised to hear the plant Aspalathus linareas is in the legume family. It has a high anti-oxidant content and the great thing is it does not become bitter if the leaves sit in the water. I make a pot in the morning and drink it all day, even when it becomes cold. So far, it is believed to be entirely safe to drink. Furthermore, it does not contain caffeine and has a calming effect.

One thing that's a bit confusing is that although this tea is commonly known as red tea, it also comes in a green form, that is tea leaves that have not been oxidized. I actually prefer green rooibus because it has a slightly more savory, grassy flavor, but it is quite hard to find. So mostly you will see rooibus advertised as red tea, with shops serving red chai, and even red lattes, which are also delicious as rooibus does marry well with milk. It also goes well with a variety of other flavors including mint, chocolate, fruits, and florals such as rose petals. My son loves rooibus chai and my husband likes a rooibus with some berries in it. Once you have some basic red tea you can add your own ingredients to your taste.

For an activity, I set up the women with bowls of dried berries and cubes of candied ginger. We made tea chains that would be lovely infused with rooibus tea. The berries were: currants, goji berries, cherries, physalis (ground cherries or cape gooseberries), cranberries and blueberries. So we had lots of antioxidants for a cleansing tea. We used dental floss as string because it is hygenic and strong and we made tags for a label at the end of the tea chain. While the ladies made their tea strings, I passed out popcorn and started to prepare some chai.