What with the dropping temperatures and snow I’ve been drinking a lot of hot tea. There is plenty of rooibos tea here in Germany, and in fact they have a blend of rooibos and caramel that is awesome (can you get that in the U.S.?). But I haven’t found any rooibos chai, which I’ve been craving. I’ve made my own blend before, but I lost that recipe, so this time I tried this one, with modifications.
Obviously, I used rooibos rather than black tea, but I upped the dosage to 2-3 TB to make it stronger, since rooibos can be a little weak. I also added some black cardamom (and when making the second batch had no green cardamom left) and subbed fresh nutmeg for the allspice. I had no anise, so I left that out. I used fresh orange peel rather than dried. It turned out really well. I didn’t realize that the ginger is what gives it such a nice bite, so if you want spice, use plenty of it. I used fresh ginger, but I’ll have to make a big batch of a dried version recipe so I can have the tea whenever I like.
Let me know if you see a rooibos caramel blend in the U.S. so I’ll know if I need to stockpile it before we leave Germany.
We’ve never heard of rooibos chia. Is it some form of tea or something else? Sounds like there were a lot of etours in that formula before you were finished with it.
GD Bob
Yes, it is tea. Rooibos means “red bush,” and it is a kind of herbal tea from South Africa that tastes a little bit like regular black tea but has no caffeine. You can serve it with milk and sugar like black tea. Yes, I changed several things but in essentials it’s similar to the original. Chai (rhymes with “bye”) is a spicy Indian tea served with milk and sugar —-it is usually made with black tea.