This is my first step into the land of Rooibos, and I am very pleased and excited.
At first it was too hot to drink (burnt my tongue again), so I contented my self to smelling it. Absolutely intoxicating. The vanilla was very apparent, but not cloying. The spices were layered and complex, and there was something lingering behind it. I’m almost sure it’s the rooibos, but as this is my first go at them I’m not 100%. Anyways, I had a hard time trying to describe it, I decided on earthy but in a less moist way.
Then came tasting. First thing that stuck me was the prickle of spice on my tongue, then the heady vanilla, and followed with the roobois undertones. Very mellow, very light astringency with a clean finish. I’m not usually a fan of vanilla chais because they tend to be very sweet to me. But this one tasted like vanilla should, not the usual sugar+vanilla extract.
An added bonus is of course that it doesn’t have caffeine, as I realized a bit late that I was drinking a mate/green tea blend at 10pm and was never going to be able to sleep. This tea however totally made me de-stress and wind down to the point that I’ve nearly fallen alseep typing this. Also, it was interesting to watch steep as it looked my strainer was bleeding.
Overall, I really enjoyed this tea and will almost certainly buy another container when my sample runs out.
