Good news for tea aficionados: it is no longer necessary to embark on an epic journey like Chinese famous ancient explorer Zheng He to savor the aroma of African herbal teas. Those who suffer from the beverage's addiction can now enjoy the unique flavor of South African rooibos in the very center of the Chinese capital.

In a small and exquisitely designed café, hidden among the Xiang'er Hutong in Beijing, a barista can ease your craving with a cup of high-quality rooibos. He's added a touch of originality that adds to the experience. A local favorite is the chappuccino, a clever twist on the classic cappuccino, with rooibos leaves in place of coffee beans.

"When we promote rooibos, we like to tell our customers that rooibos is not really tea. We emphasize its decaffeinated property, and so we are able to sell it to people who like the atmosphere of cafés, but are too sensitive to caffeine," says the propagator of this unique hot beverage in China, Zhang Yipeng.

Coming from east China's Shandong Province, Zhang, 32, lived and studied in Cape Town, South Africa, for many years. After returning to China in 2013, she created the Smash A Cup brand with two friends to introduce this healthy and caffeine-free beverage to Chinese tea drinkers.

Zhang is only but one of the many entrepreneurs that have made it their mission to bring this unique South African beverage to China over the last few years. Introducing a foreign tea into the well-established, age-old Chinese tea market is a major challenge that these entrepreneurs intend to address with ingenuity and innovation.

Out of Cape Town

Rooibos - which means "red bush" in Afrikaans - is a fragrant, floral and sweet herb. The earliest use of rooibos can be traced back to the first inhabitants of the Cederberg Mountains in the Western Cape Province, who favored it for its beneficial and versatile medicinal properties.

Although it is commonly known as a tea with a distinct mahogany red color, the rooibos is actually an herb. It was during her stay in Cape Town that Zhang knew about this herb, and decided to bring it back to China. After seeing demand grows for the product, she decided to open her own shop, Big Small Coffee, in Beijing's Xiang'er Hutong. She now supplies more than 300 coffee shops around China with rooibos products.

According to Zhang, a massive selling point in favor of rooibos is its health benefits. Due to its high content in quercetin, rooibos tea has been linked to anti-allergenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties, according to a study from the European Journal of Pharmacology in 2008. Drinking rooibos on a regular basis can also help ease hypertension and inflammations.

Taste-wise, rooibos is a surprise for Chinese customers, said Zhang. Although some customers may feel that the drink lacks "strength" - which is due to the fact that its tannin content is much lower than Chinese green teas - others are seduced by its softness.

"Our female clients, especially, appreciate rooibos very much, because they like its sweet, silky, soft taste," Zhang told ChinAfrica.

New cool vibe

The coming challenge for rooibos will be to expand its market place in China, transitioning from its actual nested market to widespread popularity. For this, popularizing rooibos among young Chinese consumers will be critical.

Papp's Tea, a premium tea brand created in 2015 by American Martin Papp, is a young startup that seeks to make tea a cool and fashionable product. Rooibos has become a special asset for the company, because - paradoxically - it is not tea, and therefore is a great product to introduce to people who may have little enthusiasm for drinking tea.

 Papp’s Tea is one of the companies providing single origin rooibos tea in Beijing

"What makes rooibos exciting is that it's an herbal tea, so it has a very unique smell and taste, in addition to being caffeine-free," Jerrod Weston, Papp's Tea Chief Experience Officer, told ChinAfrica. "Rooibos is intriguing, it's something different, and it's one of our signature teas, so it does make us special."

In their colorful Sanlitun tea shop, at the heart of Beijing's shopping area, rooibos rubs shoulders with the great Chinese teas - Pu'er, Longjing and Oolong - in addition to other international big names.

Another asset of rooibos is its versatility, as it mixes well with other products. Rooibos has become a central ingredient of Papp's Tea's most popular tea blends, such as the Chill Out Tea, which, as its name indicates, relies on rooibos' relaxing properties.

"These is really no excuse to not drink it, it's just a fantastic beverage that has no side effects; it's just tasty!" concludes Weston.

Some way to go

However, the greatest difficulties Zhang, Weston and other rooibos sellers in China must face are not in China, but at the other end of their supply chain - in South Africa.

"The biggest challenge we face is not in customer acceptance, but in ensuring product supply from South Africa. While the global demand for rooibos tea is growing, including in China, we are sometimes concerned that we will not be able to buy the quality products we need at a reasonable price," said Zhang.

Rooibos does not grow outside of South Africa's Cape region, which gives the country a de facto monopoly on the market worldwide.

According to a 2013 report by the South African Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, South Africa produces around 12,000 tons of rooibos per year, of which about half is exported to more than 30 countries.

Figures released by the South African Rooibos Council (SARC) in 2015 said the main export markets were Germany, the Netherlands and Japan. Chinese mainland accounted for less than 2 percent of global rooibos sales, with a total of 91 tons imported, which puts the country in 10th place on the list of export destinations.

But despite the current small share of China's market, local producers have great ambitions for the future.

Rooibos currently represents 10 percent of the world market for herbal teas, but this is expected to grow once the Asian market becomes more familiar with the product. Suzanne Herbst of the SARC said prospects are particularly bright for green (unfermented) rooibos leaves, which are a natural choice for Asian consumers with a traditional affinity for green tea.

Herbst said the SARC is also making efforts to increase the visibility of rooibos tea in China and is actively collaborating with the South African Embassy in Beijing in this area.

During the South African Week in China held in Beijing on September 9-13, 2016, people in attendance were able to enjoy a variety of rooibos tea provided by the SARC. Rooibos tea samples were also distributed through the gift bags given by the embassy.

Zhang and her team joined in the fun at the South African Wine Tasting and Product Exhibition, also part of the South African Week. Behind her stylish stand, one could see her introducing new flavors and new products - and bringing a little piece of South Africa's sunny Cape region - to a new generation of tea drinkers in China.