Name: South African Style Hot Cup
Total time: 8 min
Yield: Serves 2
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 2 Tetley Redbush Pure rooibos tea bags; 500ml freshly drawn water, brought to a full rolling boil; 2 wide strips of orange peel, white pith trimmed away (use a vegetable peeler); 1 small cinnamon stick, or a quarter teaspoon of ground cinnamon; 1 to 2 teaspoons runny honey, to taste; A splash of warm whole milk per cup, optional, for the traditional farmhouse finish; 1 star anise, optional, for a deeper spiced version

This is rooibos the way it's drunk in the Cederberg farmhouses, where the bush actually grows: a deep red, caffeine free cup brewed hard with fresh orange peel and a little cinnamon, then softened with honey and a splash of warm milk. It turns plain rooibos into something comforting enough to drink from breakfast right through the evening.

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the South African Style Hot Cup recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/rooibos/south african style hot cup/

Because rooibos has no caffeine and very little tannin, you can brew it long and strong without it ever turning bitter. This version uses Tetley Redbush Pure, Rainforest Alliance certified rooibos from the Western Cape, and takes about eight minutes start to finish.

⏱ 8 min 🍽 Serves 2 📊 Easy 📚 Rooibos Recipes

You'll need

2 Tetley Redbush Pure rooibos tea bags
500ml freshly drawn water, brought to a full rolling boil
2 wide strips of orange peel, white pith trimmed away (use a vegetable peeler)
1 small cinnamon stick, or a quarter teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 to 2 teaspoons runny honey, to taste
A splash of warm whole milk per cup, optional, for the traditional farmhouse finish
1 star anise, optional, for a deeper spiced version

Method

Warm a teapot or heatproof jug with a little hot water, tip it out, then add the rooibos bags, orange peel and cinnamon stick.
Pour over a full rolling boil. Rooibos is not a true tea, so boiling water draws out colour and body rather than tannin, which means no bitterness; a hard boil gives you the deepest red and the roundest, woody caramel flavour.
Steep for 6 minutes. Rooibos cannot really be over brewed, so give it the full time for a deep reddish amber and a proper body, and push to 8 minutes if you like it stronger.
Lift out the tea bags and press them gently against the side to release the last of the colour, then remove the orange peel and cinnamon.
Stir the honey through while the brew is still hot so it dissolves completely instead of settling at the bottom of the cup.
Pour into warmed cups. For the traditional Cape finish, top each with a splash of warm milk, which rooibos has the body to carry just like a strong Black Tea. For the cleanest, nuttiest cup, drink it black.

What you'll end up with: A deep amber, lightly spiced rooibos with a bright orange lift, gentle cinnamon warmth and a rounded, honeyed finish once the milk goes in. Caffeine free, and about a calorie a cup before the honey and milk.

Save / print

🛒 Made with this tea

Tetley Redbush Pure, 40 Tea Bags 100g£4.00