Tick Tock Original Rooibos, 80 Tea Bags 180g
Rooibos carries no caffeine because it is not tea at all, rather than because the caffeine has been stripped out of it. That distinction is worth knowing for anyone who has been handed a decaf and lain awake anyway. It comes off a shrub, it pours a deep red-brown darker than black tea at the same strength, and it drinks warm, woody and honeyed with nothing added to sweeten it. There is no tannin in it either, so the commonest mistake in British tea making is simply unavailable here: leave the bag in for a quarter of an hour and you get a stronger drink, not a ruined one. Give it five minutes rather than three, because it builds slowly. Milk suits it. The real work it does is the evening, in a house where somebody stops drinking tea at four and does not want a hot herbal smell as the alternative.
Tick Tock Original Rooibos, in brief.
Tick Tock Original Rooibos is the plain red bush from the brand that put rooibos in ordinary British kitchens, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the caffeine-free box that actually solves the evening.
Rooibos is its own plant rather than a herbal blend, so the cup has colour, body and a long honeyed finish. It has no tannin in it, which means it cannot go bitter: five minutes, or fifteen, and leave the bag in if you forget.
Tick Tock Original Rooibos is the most useful caffeine-free box you can put in a British kitchen, and the reason is that it is not a herbal infusion pretending to be tea. Rooibos is its own plant, a shrub from the Cederberg in South Africa, and it makes a drink with colour, body and a long sweet finish. Peppermint and camomile do not. That difference is why a household that stops drinking tea at four o'clock can switch to this and not feel it has switched to hot water with a smell.
The other thing worth knowing is that rooibos has no tannin in it, and tannin is what makes ordinary tea go bitter. Which means the single commonest mistake in British tea making is simply not possible here. Leave the bag in. Leave it in for fifteen minutes if you like. You get a stronger drink, not a spoiled one, and that makes it the one box in the cupboard that survives being made by somebody who is not paying attention.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Common questions are answered in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Tick Tock
Tick Tock is the British brand that did most to put rooibos in ordinary kitchens rather than in health-food shops, and it has sold it under the same plain name for long enough that a lot of people call the drink Tick Tock rather than calling it rooibos. The range runs to green rooibos, flavoured versions and Earl Grey rooibos; this is the plain one, which is where anybody sensible starts.
The tasting profile above is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Genuinely caffeine-free: not decaffeinated. Rooibos is a different plant from Camellia sinensis and has no caffeine to remove, so nothing has been stripped out of it.
- It takes milk: which almost no caffeine-free drink does. That matters if what you actually miss in the evening is a milky mug rather than tea specifically.
- What it is not: not black tea, not a herbal blend, and not a decaf. It will not taste like a cup of builder's tea and it is not trying to.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 100 degrees, freshly boiled.
- Measure: one bag per 200ml, or one bag and a longer brew for a mug.
- Steep: five minutes minimum, longer is better, and there is no upper limit.
- Service: clear, with milk, or with honey.
- Storage: sealed, dry and dark. Rooibos is a robust dried plant and holds its character for a long time; an eighty-bag box is not a race.
- Best with: honey on toast, malt loaf, dried apricots, or plain digestives late in the evening.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Tick Tock Original Rooibos, 80 Tea Bags 180g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Tick Tock
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
Sourcing and packaging details are printed on the current UK pack; the brand page carries the fuller story.
The taste profile
How does it compare
Rooibos is brewed hotter and longer than tea, which surprises people who have been taught to be careful with delicate drinks. It is not delicate. The plant gives up its colour quickly and its sweetness slowly, so a three-minute rooibos is a red cup that tastes of not very much, and a six-minute one is the drink you were after.
The Evening Cup
The Pot, And The Children's Cup
Made with this tea
The Long Evening Mug
How to make The Long Evening Mug with Tick Tock Original Rooibos.
- 1 bag Tick Tock Original Rooibos
- 250ml just boiled water
- A splash of milk, optional
- Honey, optional
- Pour 250ml of just boiled water over one bag.
- Leave it for at least five minutes, and eight if you can wait. The colour arrives in the first minute; the flavour takes the rest.
- Leave the bag in if you get distracted. Nothing bad happens.
- Drink clear, or with a splash of milk, or with a spoon of honey.
What you'll end up with: A deep red-brown mug, honeyed and woody, with no caffeine and no grip. The most common mistake is brewing it like tea and giving up after three minutes.
Red Cappuccino
How to make Red Cappuccino with Tick Tock Original Rooibos.
- 3 bags Tick Tock Original Rooibos
- 100ml just boiled water
- 150ml milk, dairy or oat
- A dusting of cinnamon
- Brew 3 bags in only 100ml of just boiled water for 10 minutes, to make a dark concentrate.
- Heat and froth 150ml of milk.
- Pour the milk over the concentrate and dust with cinnamon.
What you'll end up with: A South African cafe standard, and the closest thing to a milky coffee that contains no caffeine at all.
Iced Rooibos Jug
How to make Iced Rooibos Jug with Tick Tock Original Rooibos.
- 6 bags Tick Tock Original Rooibos
- 500ml just boiled water, plus 500ml cold
- A sliced orange
- Plenty of ice
- Brew 6 bags in 500ml of just boiled water for 10 minutes.
- Lift the bags out and top up with 500ml of cold water.
- Chill, then serve over ice with slices of orange.
What you'll end up with: A jug that keeps three or four days without souring or going bitter, and needs no sugar. Better than any iced tea for a table with children at it.
Rooibos Poached Apricots
How to make Rooibos Poached Apricots with Tick Tock Original Rooibos.
- 4 bags Tick Tock Original Rooibos
- 500ml just boiled water
- 250g dried apricots
- A cinnamon stick and a strip of orange peel
- Brew 4 bags in 500ml for 10 minutes, then lift them out.
- Add the apricots, a cinnamon stick and a strip of orange peel.
- Simmer gently for 15 minutes until the fruit is plump, then cool in the liquid.
What you'll end up with: Fruit poached in something sweet that contains no sugar. Rooibos can be reduced hard without turning bitter, which is why it works here where tea does not.
Rooibos Ice Cubes
How to make Rooibos Ice Cubes with Tick Tock Original Rooibos.
- 3 bags Tick Tock Original Rooibos
- 300ml just boiled water
- An ice cube tray
- Brew 3 bags in 300ml for 10 minutes, then cool completely.
- Pour into an ice cube tray and freeze.
- Use them in the iced jug above so it does not water down as it melts.
What you'll end up with: Ice that strengthens a drink instead of diluting it. Worth doing with rooibos specifically, because the cubes never carry the bitterness frozen tea does.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Rooibos | The whole of the blend | Everything in the cup: the deep red-brown colour, the woody honeyed sweetness, the round body and the long finish. Nothing is blended in alongside it. |
| Tannin | none | The reason this cannot go bitter. Tannin is what turns an over-brewed tea hard, and rooibos has none, so a bag left in gives a stronger drink rather than a spoiled one. |
| Caffeine | none | Rooibos is not the tea plant and never had caffeine to remove. This is caffeine-free rather than decaffeinated, and nothing has been stripped out of it. |
| Plant per bag | 2.25g | Our arithmetic on 180g across 80 bags. The brand's 40-bag pack works out to the same weight per bag, which cross-checks the figure. |
Pack: Tick Tock Original Rooibos, 80 Tea Bags 180g; a naturally caffeine-free rooibos infusion, GTIN 5032558003030. Store sealed, dry and dark. Read the ingredient declaration, any certification marks, the bag material and the best-before date off the current UK pack.
Characterising components shown. The origin is stated at country level only, because rooibos grows commercially nowhere but South Africa. No health claim of any kind is made on this page.
Sourcing & blend. Tick Tock Original Rooibos, 80 Tea Bags 180g is put together by Tick Tock, the British brand that did most to move rooibos out of health-food shops and into ordinary kitchens, and which has sold it under the same plain name long enough that many people call the drink Tick Tock rather than calling it rooibos. The range runs to green rooibos, flavoured versions and an Earl Grey rooibos; this is the plain one. Our assessment of the cup rests on the pack format and the brand's published description.
What's in Tick Tock Original Rooibos, 80 Tea Bags 180g, and what isn't:
- In: rooibos in a bag, at 2.25g a bag, with nothing blended in alongside it.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: a plain unflavoured rooibos, so there is nothing to sweeten or colour. All the sweetness in the cup is natural to the plant, which is exactly why it needs no sugar.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Tick Tock Original Rooibos, 80 Tea Bags 180g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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