Rooibos cocktail craze goes international

With the rising popularity across the world’s cocktail capitals of London, New York and Cape Town, the Rooibos cocktail has been dubbed by mixologists as this season’s favourite party mixer.

Popular Rooibos-inspired cocktails on drinks menus include gin and Rooibos, bush tea and tequila and a muddle of berries, vermouth, Rooibos and crushed ice.

Bartenders are moving away from overly complex mixes and are creating interesting flavours with a few key ingredients, such as Rooibos.

Big liquor brands have also cottoned on to the trend and have launched various tea-based drinks and variants in recent months.

Ernest du Toit, spokesperson of the SA Rooibos Council (SARC) said given the fresh, full and natural flavour profile of Rooibos, you don’t need a lot of different ingredients to achieve the perfect cocktail.

“Rooibos tea is an easy and effective way to boost any cocktail. A lot of subtleties of Rooibos tea play well off of vodka and specifically gin, since the latter has a lot of the same characteristics as the tea,” he said.

While most cocktails are often packed with just as many calories as a doughnut, Du Toit pointed out that swapping calorie-rich ingredients for Rooibos – which contains no fat or carbohydrates – offers not only a great slimming alternative, but also contains disease-preventing antioxidants, which protect against cancer, heart disease, and strokes.

Try any of these Rooibos-inspired cocktails that are sure to rock your party:

Fire and Spice tea cocktail

Ingredients

· 3 cups of Rooibos Chai tea

· 1 cup of cranberry juice

· 120ml vodka

· 30ml Limoncello

· Cranberries and/or thinly sliced lemons for garnish

Method

· Pour 3 cups boiling water over 2 tbsp Rooibos Chai tea

· Steep for 10 minutes, and then strain

· Refrigerate until cold. (To chill instantly, brew tea in 1 1/2 cups water and strain over 1 1/2 cups ice)

· Combine chilled tea with 1 cup chilled cranberry juice, 120ml vodka, and 30ml Limoncello

· Shake over ice. Serve well chilled in martini glasses, champagne flutes, or short tumblers. Garnish with cranberries and/or thinly sliced lemons

· Makes 4 cups (1 litre)

Rooibos Liquor

Ingredients

· 750ml Brandy

· 2 cloves

· 2 sticks of cinnamon

· 750ml strong, hot Rooibos

· 600g white sugar (750ml)

· 25ml honey

Method

· Add cloves and cinnamon to the brandy, shake the bottle and allow it to infuse overnight.

· Heat sugar and Rooibos tea over moderate heat until sugar has dissolved.

· Boil uncovered for 20 minutes.

· Remove from heat and stir in honey.

· Remove cloves and cinnamon from the brandy.

· Add the brandy to the tea syrup and mix well.

· Pour into sterilized bottles and seal.

Strawberry punch

Ingredients

· 750ml strong, cold Rooibos

· 1litre apple juice

· 1litre granadilla/ passion fruit juice

· 1litre strawberry juice

· 2 bottles (750m leach) of sparkling red grape juice

· 1 punnet of strawberries, sliced

· 1 orange, sliced

· Fresh mint leaves

Method

· Mix Rooibos, apple, granadilla and strawberry juices and chill.

· Add chilled sparkling grape juice.

· Garnish with strawberries, orange and mint.