54

When I opened the sealed bag, I did not remember what the tea had looked like when I had purchased it a few months ago. I was disappointed to see that the chamomile was finely grounded almost to powder and that there were not any entire flowers. A rooibos is usually always made up of small pieces, but this one is even finer than all the others I’ve had. Even the tiny holes of my new strainer are not small enough to prevent it from spilling into the teapot. And the strainer is quite difficult to clean as some pieces keeps getting stuck in the holes; I do not have this problem with any other rooibos I have which cannot endear this one to me.
Next let’s come to the tasting. The brew is not really clear, as a result from the dust spilling. The smell is quite nice, strong on chamomile with the sweetness brought by the rooibos.
The taste is ok, but keeps disappointing me.
Two months ago, while staying in a nice hotel in Malaysia, I had a chamomile after dinner that was the best I ever had; the following morning I discovered with pleasure Gryphon tea. This chamomile was just plain flowers steeping in hot water, but the taste was fresh, mild with no hint of bitterness or unpleasant aftertaste, well really perfect. I had not asked for the brand of the chamomile then, which I regret.
Since then my expectations have highly risen. And that’s probably the reason why I’m disappointed here. The hashed chamomile has a hint of something slightly bitter in it. And the rooibos base from Le Palais des Thés is too weak to add enough creaminess to compensate for it.
The verbena rooibos was a better blend than this one IMO.
I’ll try it iced though.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 6 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I’ve started drinking much more tea quite recently, almost completely quitting espresso for it!
I’ve been introduced to high quality tea by one of my best friend, MF Marco Polo addict since more than 20 years. I’ve only rarely bought tea-bags since then, preferring the quality-price ratio of loose leaves.
I drink my tea natural, without any milk, sugar or sweetener. I only add honey when a sore-throat is coming along.
I usually either brew a large pot at home or resteep my leaves at the office. I cannot seem to learn to master the use of a gaiwan in an elegant and not clumsy way…
My tea preferences :
- I really like flavored black teas, with a preference for fruity flavors, from a tangy Earl Grey to a real fruit smoothie-like tea. I’m trying some single origin unflavored blacks from time to time but always end up having trouble to finish them. I usually do not really enjoy the strong breakfast teas.
- I do not like chai or teas with strong spice flavors. Strange considering I really like spicy food, but not what I drink.
- I am quite afraid of pu-erh and lapsang souchong, though I probably have never drunk any real good ones and I’m quite sure it can make a huge difference… A few years ago, I had been introduced to scotch whisky and can definitely attest that you cannot say you don’t like whisky, if you’ve only drunk blended stuff and not tasted yet single malts. I hope to get the same happy discovery for those teas.
- I discovered very good oolong, without going through the step of drinking bad-one first, and really enjoy it, especially with a meal. I’ll definitely try some flavored oolongs in a near future.
- I’ve just started discovering white teas, which feels very delicate. The only problem is that those can be awfully expensive…
- I also really like rooibos which I discovered a few years ago while searching for low-theine/caffeine teas that I could drink at night without suffering from insomnia.
- As with green tea, we’ve had a long-standing difficult relationship. I’ve occasionally had some that were real smooth, refreshing and so very many that turned bitter very quickly. And I cannot stand a bitter tea.
- As for jasmine tea, I used to like it but have indeed drunk too much of some bad quality bitter brew, and now I even have problem finishing the high-quality pearls I bought in Beijing.
- Yerba Mate: I’ve had some in one blend and am quite convinced that I would never like that as bitterness is one of its main characteristics. I’ll try to avoid it like the plague.
- Herbal tea: I used to drink more or those before discovering rooibos; finding good ones is unfortunately really difficult – even in organic shops, the herbs sold are far from great.
I loathe artificial flavoring of any kind in any beverage or food.

I’m quite opiniated and try to leave room for further improvement and better discoveries, which explain why I haven’t rated any tea in the 95 and above range.
Teas above 80 are among my favorites
Between 60-80, I could or could not give them a second chance or recognize that they are made with high-quality ingredients though their taste does not please my buds.
Around 50, it starts to be rather bad and a not so pleasant experience to drink.
25 to 40+ cover low quality products that I manage to drink when nothing else is available.
Below that, it’s really vile and basically almost undrinkable IMHO.

Location

Singapore

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer