A man’s gotta have his tea.

It’s chock full of anti-oxidants, and with more and more people telling me I have hairline wrinkles, I need all the help I can get to stop the aging process.

So from my beloved South Africa comes Rooibos Tea (let me know if you find the official official website). Chock full of anti-oxidants, no calories and no caffeine. It’s a pretty decent drink - yes, the taste is a bit odd for your Earl Gray lover, but it’s very palatable.

I’ve been looking for Rooibos (literally translated means red bush) for a while, and the stash that I got with the package (see previous post) that my sister sent me, has tied me over. But being in the same packaging as the ill fated beer, has made the taste a little… odd.

The other day I was Kota Kinabalu’s newest operating-although-not-fully-occupied mall, City Mall, when my friend disappeared, only to re-appear with a box of Rooibos Tea. Obviously I struggled to contain myself, but somehow managed.

The tea was from, not where, Waitrose in the UK, packaged in Malaysia (with a big Made in Malaysia sticker on the box) - but we all know Rooibos only comes from one place: the Western Cape region in South Africa. So there.

Anyway, with a fresh supply of Rooibos, suddenly South African products were coming out of the woodwork in the most odd places. Giant stocks a variety of South African products (go Giant!), my corner shop, aptly named ‘Pick n Pay’ (a big chain supermarket in South Africa) has a range of fruits from South Africa, and even Merdeka Supermarket imports canned fruit and fresh fruit from there.

The best discovery though was this Red Lipton Tea. My friend Julia had been drinking it for ages before she discovered it was ‘Red Tea‘, actually made with Rooibos Tea. Of course, now it’s the drink of choice!

Grab yourself some, good stuff actually.

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Was going through my phone camera’s humble collection of pictures and discovered the pictures below.

My good-natured and well-meaning sister intended to surprise me for my birthday and mail me, amongst other things, a six-pack of Windhoek Lager for my birthday - bless her soul.

She undertook this project early in January, well in advance of my March birthday, making plenty of allowance for the notoriously slow delivery system.

Well, I didn’t track this package down until May, the 11th, if I can believe the date on the pictures. Actually, I only went to the post office a month earlier to inquire on my Sis behalf, as she had insured the package, and wanted to claim for it, fearing it had gone.

My cynical self thought that some thirsty post office workers somewhere along the line had discovered the loot and had treated themselves to some beer - it’s known to happen in the South African Post Office. But, my critics prove me wrong when the Kota Kinabalu Post Office phoned me to say they tracked down my package.

With expectations of cold Windhoek Lager with dinner, I set off the post office… the guy was a little scared to give it to me and eventually sent over his Superior to bare the brunt of what they thought would undoubtedly be outrage at the state the package was in. I had already written it off as gone, so I was cool, even when I saw this…

My first thought was ‘oh, I wonder why it’s in a sealed plastic bag’.

Once I cut through the industrial strength bag, the pung nearly knocked me off my feet and I nearly vomited right there, barely managing to contain myself. The package was quite obviously crushed, and it was wet and covered in mold.

I managed to get what was once a box off the contents with a pen, it was that wet and rancid. The cans had been crushed, exploded and were all empty except for two…

Ever the optimist I inspected the cans to see whether or not I would contract some horrible disease if I attempted to ingest any of the contents. I gave the biscuits and other things a wide berth and concentrated on the two intact cans…

Eventually only one can passed the test (not the one pictured) and only because I felt my tetanus shots were up to date. It was quarantined in a plastic bag and rode home in my car’s boot, but still managed to stink up my ride. After cleaning it and making sure the rust didn’t actually penetrate the can, it was chilled and enjoyed.

Thanks Sis!

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