Hibiscus tea

• 1. Introduction

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  Hibiscus tea is a drink the color of crimson or deep magenta, steeped from the sepals of the roselle flower, known to botanists as Hibiscus sabdariffa. Its flavor is tart and strong, with a cranberry-like bite. Served hot, it is called a tea. Served cold, it is often called a juice. Behind that one drink sits a long trail across several continents, from West African markets to Cairo street corners to school gates in Thailand. How did a single flower end up with so many names and so many ways of being served? Where did it begin, who carried it across oceans, and what do people do with it when it arrives?

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• 2. One Drink, Many Names

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  In Burkina Faso and Senegal, the drink is called bissap. In Nigeria it is zobo, and in Ghana it goes by sobolo. People usually call it a juice when it is sweetened and chilled, though strictly speaking it is an infusion. The cold version is dark and purple-red, and it tastes slightly like grape juice. Many cooks add mint leaves, orange essence or ginger. Temperature changes with geography. In Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal, the drink is typically served cold, while in Egypt and Sudan it is often served warm. That Egyptian and Sudanese tradition has a name of its own, and an ancient reputation to go with it.

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• 3. Roots in West Africa

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  West Africa is where the roselle plant is native, and people there domesticated it long ago. The earliest use was for its edible seeds. Later, growers turned to its leaves and its calyces, which went into drinks and sauces. The source places the domestication in Africa, particularly the Western Sudan. West Africans have cultivated and used roselle extensively, and it appears in numerous sauces, soups and drinks. Markets across the region sell hibiscus tea, and dried flowers can be found throughout West and East Africa. Variations of the drink are also made in parts of Central Africa. The plant's chemistry explains its look. It holds organic acids, polysaccharides and flavonoids, and above all anthocyanins, the compounds that give the drink its purple-red color.

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• 4. Tea of the Pharaohs

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  On a typical street in Cairo, many vendors and open-air cafés sell karkadé, and glasses of it are poured both hot and over ice. Egypt and Sudan are the parts of North Africa where the drink is most firmly established. At weddings there, a glass of hibiscus tea is the traditional toast. The tradition is said to reach back to ancient Egypt, where people revered karkadeh as a restorative drink. It earned the nickname Tea of the Pharaohs. Its flavor was praised, and so was its vivid red pigment, which was used in dyes and in ceremonies associated with the gods. The same red that colored those ceremonies would later follow people across the Atlantic.

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• 5. Crossing the Atlantic

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  Enslaved Africans brought hibiscus to the Americas. The source says it was likely first cultivated in Brazil, where it serves both as a beverage and in traditional cooking. Today it appears as agua de flor de Jamaica, also called agua de Jamaica or rosa de Jamaica. People drink it in Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America and the Caribbean. It belongs to the family of aguas frescas, which are inexpensive drinks made from fresh juices or extracts, and it is served chilled. In Jamaica, a spice-infused version is a Christmas tradition, served with fruitcake or sweet potato pudding. In American soul food, hibiscus tea sits among the so-called red drinks tied to West Africa. Caribbean bissap and sorrel recipes arrived in North America with immigrants, and cooks there have largely adapted them with other spices native to West Africa.

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• 6. Asia and Europe

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  Outside many schools in Thailand, plastic bags of ice and sweetened krachiap are sold, and local markets stock them too. Thai cooks most commonly make roselle as a heavily sweetened cold drink poured over ice. Less often it becomes a wine. Some blend it with Chinese tea leaves at a ratio of 4:1 by weight, which means one part in five is Chinese tea. The drink is also enjoyed in Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia. In Italy, the name is carcadè or karkadè, taken from the Arabic word karkadiyah. Italians usually drink it hot, often with sugar and lemon juice or orange slices. It first arrived from Eritrea and became a widely used tea substitute when Italy faced trade sanctions over its invasion of Abyssinia. Elsewhere in Europe, it is an ingredient in mixed herbal teas, where blends with malva flowers or rose hips use it to deepen the color.

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• 7. Making Zobo

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  Nigerian restaurants and roadside stalls sell zobo, a local drink made from dried hibiscus leaf and other ingredients. The method is simple. Cooks boil the hibiscus together with ginger and garlic for less than an hour. Then they pour the liquid through a sieve, which removes the solids and leaves the zobo juice behind. It can be served hot or chilled. The finished drink is ruby-red, with a flavor close to cranberry juice. Ginger and garlic make the Nigerian pot distinct from the sweet, iced Thai bags and the lemon-brightened Italian cups.

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