I was digging through my cupboard for a comforting dessert tea today and was reminded that I’d ordered a set of 3 about a month ago that had totally slipped my mind. Usually I put untasted teas on the kitchen table so I remember to try them before putting them away, but for some reason the Valentine’s Day set went straight into tea storage. They were a total impulse buy (I had a 30% off badge + free shipping on the sneeqpeek sale, so it was dirt cheap) that I regretted once I got them. The only one I was actually interested in was the raspberry chocolate one—I don’t like rooibos and I don’t really care for peach tea either, so I just kind of shoved them out of sight.
But this pretty pink tin caught my eye today, and I looked at the ingredients: rose petals, chocolate, vanilla, cream, and almond?! I love all of those! Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad. There is one dessert rooibos that I LOVE because the flavors mask that weird medicinal taste. And this tea did smell great, like a latte in a tin. So into the tea pot it went, and the result smelled amazing. Almond + vanilla smells (and tastes) just like marzipan, which is actually pretty hard to capture in tea form. At first sip this is heaven—chocolatey, creamy, marzipan goodness with a gorgeous floral undertone. If the rating was based on that first taste this would be a 100 for sure: it was perfection. But after I actually swallowed, total medicinal rooibos took over my palate—not mild medicinal, but “oh god I just chugged cough syrup” medicinal. Disgusting! I let the tea cool and added some milk and that quality took a back seat to the magical flavor combos, but it’s still there sadly. Just a hint, but enough to make me question if I actually like this tea.
