International Tea Day

Published Dec 15, 2016

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Today is International Tea Day, so take a sip and enjoy your favourite brew.

Tea is an emotionally territorial beverage and the way you brew and drink your tea is a personal preference that might not be shared.

In South Africa, it was the British that influenced our tea culture but we also have the humble rooibos tea which has real Mzansi flavour.

For the past 11 years, scientists from the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) and Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) have been involved in studying how rooibos protects against inflammation in skin cells, since chronic inflammation is one of the hallmarks of skin cancer development.

The Cape Town Spirits Company also recently took a different take on rooibos and created their own Rooibos Red Gin.

According to the winemakers: “Cape Town Rooibos Red Gin is infused with organic, handpicked rooibos to extract the essence of this remarkable plant.”

Gin is a cheeky way to cheers International Tea Day but the rooibos in this spirit gives it a medicinal but earthy flavour from the aroma to the very first sip.

There’s a special gift box available at Checkers Liquor stores and it includes Fitch & Leedes ginger ale which is the perfect mixer for this gin.

If you like your tea in other surprising places then why not try a Green Tea flavoured ice cream.

Recently launched in Cape Town, Baskin Robbins has a green tea flavour that is tart and still light on the tastebuds which manages to not overpower the creaminess of what you’d expect from an ice cream.

For more information on rooibos’s check out www.sarooibos.co.za

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