Do you already love loose leaf rooibos? Or maybe you’ve never tried it and wonder how you even pronounce it? (Answer: “ROY-i-boss“) Either way, you’ll immediately fall in love with our rooibos options. They naturally contain NO caffeine but lots of antioxidants, so they’re good for you at any time of day!

Scroll down and read more about our loose leaf rooibos adventures. Our goal is always to create the most beautiful and enjoyable tea and herbal blends for our CommuniTea Center family.

(Or, if you’re ready to purchase loose leaf rooibos, head directly to our web store!)

What is Rooibos?

If you want to get technical about it, rooibos is not “tea.” True teas (like black tea or green tea) come from the plant Camellia sinensis, while rooibos is actually Aspalathus linearis, a bush with needle-like leaves that grows in the Cederberg region of South Africa. You may also have heard of red tea, bush tea, or rooibosch (from the Dutch spelling). Yup, those are rooibos!

So it’s technically not a tea, but loose leaf rooibos makes a really delicious infusion. It has a naturally sweet, smooth taste, without some of the tannins or bitterness of true tea. Additionally, there may be notes of caramel and honey, or even smoky, earthy, or floral dynamics.

What are the Health Benefits of Loose Leaf Rooibos?

Rooibos has no caffeine but is super good for you. It has lots of antioxidants and polyphenols, so it may help prevent or reverse stress-related cellular damage (see this study, for example).

To simplify the science, your body naturally produces free radicals as a natural by-product of ongoing metabolic processes and immune system responses. However, a problem occurs when there are too many free radicals (due to stress or environmental factors like pollution, radiation, etc), and your body can’t keep them in check any longer. Therefore, the excess free radicals will damage cells and, over the long term, will make you more prone to scary degenerative diseases, like cancer or heart disease. However, antioxidants (like those found in rooibos) bind to free radicals, stabilizing them before they can do damage.

In addition, rooibos also contains important minerals like potassium, calcium, and magnesium. In fact, some children who are intolerant to dairy are given rooibos tea for the calcium content. So drink up!

Random Fun Fact:

Like black tea, most rooibos is oxidized. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that occurs when enzymes in the leaf react to oxygen in the air). Oxidation is what gives rooibos that deep red color.

However, some rooibos is unoxidized (like green or white tea), which makes it even higher in antioxidants. Because of its special processing, green rooibos is generally less common and more expensive than red rooibos.

Steeping Tips for Loose Leaf Rooibos

1. Serving size: Use 1 heaping teaspoon rooibos per 8 oz water
2. Water temperature: 205°-Boiling
3. Steep Time: 5+ minutes. Rooibos will not get bitter, so feel free to steep as long as you like!

To take the guesswork out, each package of CommuniTea Center tea has recommendations for preparing one serving of tea.  For further reading and steeping tips, check out All About Teas!

If you are interested in serving, retailing, or private-labeling loose leaf rooibos blends (or any other tea type/s), please visit our Wholesale Inquiry page.

CommuniTea Center’s Loose Leaf Rooibos Blends

(O) = contains 95% or more organic ingredients

• 90 Miles to Cuba (O)– $2 sample/$10 2oz

Key West is the inspiration behind “90 Miles to Cuba”! Snorkeling, exploring Ernest Hemingway’s house, zipping around on scooters–Key West is really fun! And, you can even visit a big sign at the southernmost point that says “90 Miles to Cuba.”

In this loose leaf rooibos blend, the zesty taste of lime meets the spicy tang of ginger. Additionally, lemongrass, tangerine essential oil, and licorice root round out the recipe. It’s spicy, tropical, and FUN!

Enjoy it either hot or iced…and imagine you’re on vacation!

• Apricot Dreams (O)– $2 sample/$10 2oz

“Apricot Dreams” has a base of organic ‪rooibos and its cousin honeybush. Not only is it a wonderful ‪iced tea‬, but it’s also a fabulous dessert tea that won’t interrupt your sleep at night!

The pear and apricot flavors are subtle, yet fruity and sweet. There’s also just a hint of citrus (lemongrass and orange peel) and a slight tart note from the hibiscus.

• One Love (O)– $3 sample/$10 2oz

One of our most popular blends, “One Love” is a fruity and tart rooibos that every “one” loves! It’s got blueberries, cherries, cranberries, currants, and hibiscus, with hints of orange, passionfruit, and mango–that’s a lot of fruity goodness!

Although it‘s quite tasty hot, we think it’s especially refreshing iced. Most of all, we like it with just a hint of raw, local honey to balance out the tart hibiscus.

♫♪♫ One Love. One Heart. Let’s get together and feel all right… ♪♫♪

• Rooibos (O)– $2 sample/$8 2oz

This is pure, organic loose leaf rooibos, special from South Africa. It’s very smooth and quite soothing–sweet, floral, and just a little earthy.

And More Tea Types

Plus, visit our web store for all our tea and teaware options…

Loose Leaf Herbal Teas

• Rooibos Blends
• Fruit Tisanes
• Wellness Tea - Thera-Teas^TM
• Herbs