I like cranberry, orange, scones and butter, but for some reason I’ve been eying this sample from LiberTEAS with trepidation. Probably because of the honeybush, which I’m not sure if I like yet. I know I definitely do NOT like rooibos (it makes me nauseous, unfortunately), but honeybush is missing a lot of that medicinal quality. Still, I don’t have enough experience with it to say “I like this” or “I don’t like this.”
Well, I decided to be brave last night and give it a go! The first steep I did for 6 minutes, since it says 6-10 but I was nervous about leaving it in for so long. It smells like toast with marmalade, so this tea and I were off to a good start! The flavor, however, was a little lacking. Just a hint of orange, no “scone” or cranberry whatsoever. There was a lot of buttery goodness that had kind of a heavy mouthfeel, but in a pleasant way. The honeybush was innocuous, and this tasted like a generic orange herbal with some butter thrown in. The second steep I did for 10, and the flavors came out much stronger: the orange was bright, and the honeybush more prominent which lead to a kind of scone-y texture. Still no cranberry though—there were 2 dried ones, but apparently none of the flavor leeched out. The butter is definitely my favorite part of this tea, and while it was an enjoyable cup I am still on the fence about honeybush (though I am leaning towards “it’s okay, but not something I would reach for often”). I do, however, want to immediately pick up the Pancake Breakfast… seriously, the butter part of this was sooo good!
