Winter Tale – Fruit Infusion

Brew & Taste

Winter Tale tea has a dark orange to mahogany color and smells sweet and fruity. Of course, you'll also find traces of cinnamon and vanilla in its aroma. The taste is similar. The overall impression is honey-sweet, with a touch of juicy citrus, cinnamon and vanilla. If you focus on the flavor, you may discover attractive traces of almonds.

Origins

It's called redbush tea, it's not actually a tea, and you'll love it. We're talking about rooibos, the fermented twigs and leaves of the Cape tea tree (Aspalathus linearis), popular especially in South Africa. But as its fame is spreading around the world, you can now find rooibos on the menu of almost every tea shop, café, or restaurant. The best quality rooibos goes to EU markets, especially Germany.

The Redbush, or cape tea tree, is a drought-loving shrub. It grows only in the mountains of South Africa, mostly in the south-western Cape of Good Hope Province, it has very special soil and light requirements, its seeds are spread by ants and sprouting is aided by frequent forest fires. It is also interesting to note that rooibos has been used by people thousands of years ago to make drinks. The earliest available ethnobotanical records date back to the 19th century and note that rooibos was a traditional drink of the people of the Cederberg, a mountain range located about 300km north of Cape Town.

The under 2m tall bushes are usually harvested by workers in autumn. It means heading to the hills with pruning tools and big sacks. They take the young twigs and their needle-like leaves to processing plants where they chop them into smaller pieces and ferment them. Fermentation is controlled, with farmers monitoring the temperature, moisture, color and aroma of the material. Once it reaches the necessary parameters, they dry the rooibos in direct sunlight.

This "tea" (not quite a real tea) is popular both for its honey flavor and for its high content of valuable substances such as polyphenols and vitamin C. Rooibos is prepared in a similar way to other teas – the infusion can be flavored with sugar, honey or milk.

Let's also briefly mention the oranges, whose flavor in Winter Tale tea is definitely not to be missed. The fruit of the Chinese orange tree (Citrus sinensis) is a source of vitamin C, B vitamins and the antioxidant beta-carotene. They also contain potassium, magnesium, calcium, zinc and iron. It is said that a single orange tree can produce up to 8,000 oranges! Over 40 million tons of these juicy fruits are harvested annually worldwide.

Tea packaging preview

We pack our teas in a strong, zip-lock aluminum packet which allows you to easily re-seal its contents. This container protects the quality of the tea against humidity, light or foreign odors, all of which could noticeably affect the quality of the brew.