Topic 3 of 6
The process
A night and a day in the drying yard, then the grades.
Also in The process
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- ArticleThe Rooibos Nobody Drank Is Dyeing Sneakers in Tokyo
- ArticleNot Every Plant Cut Into a Rooibos Harvest Is Rooibos
- ArticleRooibos Sweats in Heaps for 10 to 14 Hours Before Sun-Drying
- ArticleHow Rooibos Is Graded, and Why a Finer Cut Tastes Stronger
Explainer · The process
One night in the drying yard
How a cut branch turns red, from mid-afternoon to the next evening. Move along the clock.
About 00:00 · day oneThe sweatThrough the night the heap is watered and turned about every four hours. It sweats for 10 to 14 hours at 34 to 38 °C and turns from green to deep amber. The trade calls this fermentation; it is oxidation by the plant's own enzymes.
Cut and bruised15:00–15:45
The bush is cut. The cutter chops branch, leaf and stem into lengths of 1.5 to 5 mm and bruises them.
Watered and turned15:45–19:00
From mid-afternoon the heaps are watered, turned and aired several times before evening.
The sweat19:00–05:30
Through the night the heap is watered and turned about every four hours. It sweats for 10 to 14 hours at 34 to 38 °C and turns from green to deep amber. The trade calls this fermentation; it is oxidation by the plant's own enzymes.
Pressed at dawn05:30–06:30
Around dawn the heap is pressed, so its own coloured liquid runs back through the pile.
Dried in the sun06:30–15:30
It is spread thin to dry in the sun for about nine hours, until its moisture is under about 8.5 percent.
Sieved, graded, steamed15:30–18:00
It is sieved and graded, and every batch is steamed at about 160 °C for 90 seconds.
Clock times are approximate. The durations, temperatures and measures are the recorded ones.
Explainer · The process
Four grades
The same cut leaf, sorted by how much of it is long needle, short stem and broken bits.
Superior
Long, even needles, with very little stem or broken material.
- Leaf and stem
- Long, even needles; very little stem or broken material
- Colour
- Intense red-brown
- Aroma
- Full and rounded
Choice
Somewhat shorter leaf, with a little more stem.
- Leaf and stem
- Somewhat shorter leaf; a little more stem
- Colour
- Good
- Flavour
- Pleasant, less intense
Standard
More short stem and broken pieces.
- Leaf and stem
- More short stem and broken pieces
- Colour
- Less even
- Aroma
- Milder
Industrial
Mostly stem and broken leaf.
- Leaf and stem
- Mostly stem and broken leaf
- Aroma
- Subdued
Everything filed under The process
- ArticleSome South African Wine Uses Rooibos Instead of Sulphur
- ArticleSomebody Fed Rooibos to Nine Hundred Tilapia
- ArticleThe Rooibos Nobody Drank Is Dyeing Sneakers in Tokyo
- ArticleNot Every Plant Cut Into a Rooibos Harvest Is Rooibos
- ArticleRooibos Sweats in Heaps for 10 to 14 Hours Before Sun-Drying
- ArticleHow Rooibos Is Graded, and Why a Finer Cut Tastes Stronger
- ArticleRooibos Extract Starts Fading the Moment It Is Made
- ArticleRooibos Ferments in the Open, So Processors Heat It Before It Ships
- ArticleThe Cut That Used to Take All Day