Tagged: aspalathus

1. 01 The plant · 8 Apr 2026 Rooibos Has Nearly 280 Cousins, and Almost None of Them Became Tea The genus Aspalathus holds close to 280 species, nearly all found only in the Cape. Three relatives were once brewed as "stekeltee," and the historical record suggests rooibos itself is a surprisingly late arrival to the Cape teapot.
2. 02 The plant · 5 Mar 2026 Rooibos and Honeybush Are Not Cousins, Not Really Both are caffeine-free, both grow only in the Cape, and both get called "the other South African tea." Past that, they are two different plants from two different tribes of the legume family, two different mountain ranges, and two different antioxidants, and the historical record on how each was actually brewed is stranger than either box on the shelf lets on.
3. 03 The plant Fynbos Fynbos is the fine-leaved shrubland that covers South Africa's southwestern Cape and the ground rooibos calls home. What the shrubland is made of, why fire keeps it alive, and the protection and the threats the whole system now lives under.