On Apr 28, 9:53*am, wrote:
> Ive watched several episodes of HBO's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective
> Agency where they drink rooibos or red bush tea served English style.
> Come up with something original. *The coffee pot is distinctive from
> the tea pot. *Yerba mate is drank from a gourd. *I have some red and
> green from my local tea shoppe. *Im not even curious to make a cup. *I
> only have some to cover my bases.
>
> Jim

My grandfather is a huge Sherlock/Solar Pons/detective/mystery buff
and apparently Rooibos is drank by a character in one of these novels.
He asked about it one time and I had some Eastern Shore brand teabags
of Rooibos, he loved them and now enjoys it often. Apparently in
whatever detective novel he was reading it was never referred to as
"Rooibos" but "bush tea." I'll have to ask him what the book was, but
I'm guessing it wasn't The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency so I'm
guessing they borrowed that bit from whatever book/series he was
reading at the time. He tends to read classics of the genre or
gasslight/Victorian England era stories so that's why I'm assuming
whatever he was reading pre-dates this.

The flavor is interesting, you have to not think of it as "tea" proper
and just drink it for what it is. There is no nuance or depth to speak
of. I have some really good green Yerba Mate that is lemony and woody
and I find more interesting than Rooibos.

- Dominic