Frank's Apple Cider Rooibos

Another tea from the amazing Doulton. I’m not nuts about rooibos, but I’ve always been hunting for a tea that really nails the apple flavor. I love apples. But I’ve never found a tea that really tastes like apples. So if this delivers, I’m willing to put my rooibos prejudice aside.

The color of the steeped tea actually looks a lot like apple cider. It smells like cinnamon and apples (which is a good sign). Upon sipping, I get cinnamon and spices right away. I also taste the tobacco-esque rooibos right away – not cool. I’m not punched in the face with apple, which is what I was really looking for. The apple is there, but just barely. I’m kind of disappointed. I’d say that this tastes like plain cider, not apple cider. The aftertaste is also lacking any trace of apple.

I do so love apples.

P.S: After 10 months of pounding the pavement, I finally got a job! And as an added bonus, I get to be around books all day!

Yes…. I just found this in the back of my cupboard yesterday…
and it’s ok. The apple flavor is about as week as normal since no teas are as apple-y as I want them but, the cinnamon is nice and strong.
So I’m liking this better than other apple/cinnamon teas on the sheer niceness of strong cinnamon.
other than that though… bleh

I got this when I was hunting for an apple flavored herbal — it’s not what I was looking for, as the overall experience is more cidery than appley, but is nice in its own right. The dry rooibos mix has a smell that I think might be rum, though I am not much of a hard liquor drinker. In any case, it’s an alcoholic beverage I’m smelling. That aroma mellows out some to a more appley, hard cider sort of smell once brewed. Interestingly, this aroma doesn’t come through in the flavor of the drink, which I thought, being a dominant smell, it would. The apple in the flavor is fairly subtle, but it isn’t masked by the cinnamon as I’d feared it would be. In fact, the cinnamon takes a back seat, which is unusual in my experience. Usually if cinnamon is present in the ingredients it isn’t shy about announcing its presence. The fact that it doesn’t here is a nice a change. The apple comes through the most in the aftertaste.

I can’t comment on the rooibos aspect, as I’m still not sure I know what rooibos tastes like. I’ve only had flavored rooibos blends. I’m going to have to get some unadulterated rooibos so I can have a frame of reference.

Great Tea.