Organic Ginger Citrus Rooibos

Description

Organic South African loose leaf Rooibos with a Tropical Twist. Smooth, full bodied, with notes of ginger and citrus. Excellent hot or iced. Naturally caffeine free.

Health Benefits of Ginger

Ginger is commonly used to treat various types stomach ailments, including motion sickness, morning sickness, colic, upset stomach, gas, diarrhea, nausea caused by cancer treatment, nausea and vomiting after surgery, as well as loss of appetite. Other uses include pain relief from arthritis or muscle soreness, menstrual pain, upper respiratory tract infections, cough, and bronchitis. Ginger is also sometimes used for chest pain, low back pain, and stomach pain.

Lemongrass: Health Benefits

Lemongrass has many compounds, minerals and vitamins that are known to have anti-oxidant and disease preventing properties.
The primary chemical component in lemongrass is citral which has strong anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties. Lemongrass inhibits microbial and bacterial growth in the body, helping to prevent and cure bacterial infections in the colon, stomach, urinary tract and respiratory system.

Its leaves and stems are high in folic acid and essential vitamins such as pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine (vitamin B-6) and thiamin (vitamin B-1). Lemongrass also contains many anti-oxidant minerals and vitamins such as vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, zinc, calcium, iron, manganese, copper, and magnesium.

Lemongrass can act as a diuretic and is highly effective in flushing toxins and waste out of the body; improving the function of many different organs including the liver, spleen and kidneys.

Lemongrass is used as a calmative agent; to help them deal with anxiety and nervousness. People who suffer Insomnia report its ability to help them rest and sleep deeply.

Health Benefits of Orange Peel

Hesperidin is an antioxidant found in oranges and there are very high levels of it in the peel. Hesperidin helps protect the heart by lowering blood pressure and regulating cholesterol levels. Orange peel will help to reduce chronic inflammation in the body, which can help with many different health conditions like heart disease, arthritis, and cancer.

Rooibos: Health Benefits

Find out how rooibos can improve your health here.

Rooibos History

Through the 17th and 18th centuries, European travellers and botanists visiting the Cederberg region in South Africa commented on the profusion of “good plants” for curative purposes. In 1772, Swedish naturalist Carl Thunberg noted that “the country people made tea” from a plant related to rooibos or redbush.

Traditionally, the local people would climb the mountains and cut the fine needle-like leaves from wild rooibos plants. They then rolled the bunches of leaves into hessian bags and brought them down the steep slopes on the backs of donkeys. The leaves were then chopped with axes and bruised with hammers, before being left to dry in the sun.

The Dutch settlers to the Cape developed rooibos as an alternative to black tea, an expensive commodity for the settlers who relied on supply ships from Europe.

In 1904, Benjamin Ginsberg, a Russian/Jewish settler to the Cape, riding in the remote mountains, became fascinated with this wild tea. He ran a wide variety of experiments at Rondegat Farm, finally perfecting the curing of rooibos. He simulated the traditional Chinese method of making very fine Keemun, by fermenting the tea in barrels, covered in wet, hessian sacking that replicates the effects of bamboo baskets.

In the 1930s, Ginsberg persuaded local doctor and Rhodes scholar Dr. Le Fras Nortier to experiment with cultivation of the plant. Le Fras Nortier cultivated the first plants at Clanwilliam on the Klein Kliphuis farm. The tiny seeds were difficult to obtain, as they dispersed as soon as the pods cracked, and would not germinate without scarifying. Le Fras Nortier paid the local “volk”, some of whom were his patients, to collect seeds. An aged Khoi woman came again and again, receiving a shilling for each matchbox filled with seed. She had found an unusual seed source: having chanced upon ants dragging seed, she followed them back to their nest and, on breaking it open, found a granary. The attempts by Dr. le Fras Nortier were ultimately successful, which led Ginsberg to encourage local farmers to cultivate the plant in the hope that it would become a profitable venture. Klein Kliphuis became a tea farm, and within ten years the price of seeds soared to an astounding £80 a pound, the most expensive vegetable seed in the world. Today the seed is gathered by special sifting processes, and Klein Kliphuis is now a guest farm.

Since then, rooibos has grown in popularity in South Africa, and has also gained considerable momentum in the worldwide market.