Raving About Rooibos

I quit caffeine when I had a baby. That is basically like stealing a crutch from a crippled person. It isn't just the temporary alertness I have missed. There's nothing like a warm cup of tea to soften the blow of a stressful day.

Thankfully I was introduced to Rooibos Tea by my naturopath. I'm a natural health nut, so you can imagine when I heard about the benefits of Rooibos I was quick to jump on the bandwagon. Rooibos is higher in antioxidents than Green Tea. Take that free radicals! It is found in South Africa and is used for its anti-inflammatory and anti-allergenic properties. Rooibos is thought to bring relief to insomnia, colic in infants and skin disorders like eczema.

It was a novel idea to me to give tea to my infant but Rooibos is full of goodness for our little ones. The low level of tannins in Rooibos prevents problems with iron absorption. Levi loves drinking Rooibos straight up, but it's easy to add flavor with a bit of maple syrup, or my favorite sweetener, agave nectar.

Loose leaf Rooibos can be ground very fine in a coffee grinder and used to make yummy latès. Now that summer is here, I'm mad for Rooibos iced tea. Here's my yummy iced tea recipe:

Seep three teaspoons of loose leaf Rooibos in boiled water, until water is a rich, brown colour.
Once the tea is cooled, squeeze the juice of three limes into the tea and then leave the limes in for flavour.
Add agave nectar to sweeten.
Put in some ice cubes.

A nice variation is to put in mint leaves or a few sticks of lavender.

Enjoy!