Rooibos Vanilla Chai

I picked up this tea as part of Adagio’s Chai Sampler and while I’m not generally a fan of red rooibos all the positive reviews made me curious about this tea. Drinking it, if it weren’t for the reddish colour of the tea, I wouldn’t be able to tell this had a rooibos base as it blends so smoothly with the spices as to be barely discernable. It’s a well mixed chai and the spices are nicely balanced if a bit heavy on the cloves. The vanilla gives the tea a surprising smoothly-sweet note, so much so that I’d say that this doesn’t need sugar at all. Very nice Adagio!

The scent of the loose tea is super cinnamony with with serious chocolate overtones and vanilla notes. I have no idea where the chocolate is coming from but I really like it.
I tried it neat first, but I usually drink chai with milk.
Brewed up it still smells mostly like cinnamon. I am slowly coming around to cinnamon but it’s not my favorite. I’ll try to to be biased :)
Neat, this has way too much cinnamon for me. I didn’t taste any of the rooibos here. With milk and sugar, it’s not a bad drink. I won’t re-order it, but it wasn’t awful (yup, rousing praise. I just really don’t like teas with too much cinnamon. If you like cinnamon, this would probably be the tea for you).

I got an order from adagio, which included some rooibos samples. Those who know me will be thinking, “why did she get that? I know she doesn’t care for rooibos.” And you’re right!
I don’t dislike the flavor, it’s that one piece that always manages to somehow get stuck in my throat…akckckck

So why did I buy this (and a few other samples)? Because I’m trying to cut my caffeine back in the evening a little, but I still want to drink something.

So with this tea I did not have the “ackckck” experience, I’m grateful to say. But the tea was pretty lame.

I’m thinking a chicory chai might be interesting…hmmm…

So smoothly blended is this chai rooibos blend. I drank the cup up quite quickly. Thanks oOTeaOo for the sample of this. I will be ordering some with my next adagio purchase for sure. The spices are just how I like them, and the vanilla sweetens it just enough so I don’t need to add any sugar or any cream.

I’ve been hunting around for a caffeine-free masala chai for a while now. I always seem to want those sorts of flavors right around bedtime. So when I noticed adagio’s rooibos vanilla chai it was as if the sample button clicked itself.

I just made this using the now semi-famous, popularized by takgoti, stovetop preparation method. This is the first tea i’ve done “chai style”, so I don’t really know if i’m reviewing the method or the tea. Oh well. I used rice milk.

Note- I just realized how rambly this whole thing is.Lots of tangents going on. I’m quite tired, but I wanted to log this right away.

Rooibos doesn’t have a whole lot of flavor for me. I think of it as being sweet and earthy with a flavor that, although it’s one I find pleasant, isn’t all that strong. I think the sweetness gets overpowering before the distinctive flavor, but I might just be doing it wrong. I have a history of forgetting about rooibos (and other herbals as well) while they steep, leading to times of well over 10 minutes. When it gets too strong, it has this extreme sweetnessand syrupy quality that makes me think there’s added sugar [please note that I’m generally not a fan of sugar in tea, so the thickness is unsettling]. Anyway, the point is that the rooibos really doesn’t come through as a flavor, but instead as added sweetness and body.

The spices seem more balanced than what I’ve had before. The cinnamon is definitely strong, but so is the ginger. My sister and I took a few minutes to decide that cinnamon is dominant, but only by a little. The spices are unified, but not homogeneous. It’s just sweet, spicy goodness.

I was just thinking that the vanilla just lent itself to sweetness and creaminess, smoothing the spices. Now that I’m at the bottom of the cup, though, the vanilla is definitely present. It’s a bit too sweet for me, but my sister found it delicious. I might have tasted rooibos right here, also, but I can’t tell. I’m not disappointed in the least, since I’m interested in the spices.

The only thing I’d do differently next time is to add less sugar. I guess 1tbsp is too much for me, since I’m not a fan of soda or juice. My victims found it to be perfect, so I’m wondering if I can add half of the sugar to the pot, then tell people to add more if they want to.

I want to try everything chai-style now!

ETA- I should note that I used 2tbsp of sugar for what turned out to be about 3 servings. It wasn’t 1tbsp per cup, exactly.

This a good substitute to the Chai black tea from adagio if that’s your primary vendor and you are looking for something that gives you that spiciness but doesn’t keep you awake if you are sensitive to caffeine. Not the greatest out there but still good, specially on chilly nights.

I’d recommend adding more vanilla infused Rooibos if you have some at home to have a better ‘base’ to the flavors.

This tea was very good. I’ve had it a few different ways, and feel that it is enjoyable most of the ways. As I have stated, I enjoy spiced teas hot, I do not like them once they cool or when they are iced. So, I had all of these teas hot, and drank the whole cup before it cooled to room temperature.

The first way I enjoyed this tea was hot with no milk and no sugar. The spices were prevalent and blend well with the Rooibos for a rich Chai. This way however, I feel the spices overpower the vanilla and it gets lost.

So, I tried it again, hot with no milk and some sugar. Adding the sugar lessened the blow of the spices and allowed for the subtle hint of vanilla to shine through the spice. This was probably my favorite way to enjoy this tea.

Finally, I had the tea hot with milk and sugar. This way was also enjoyable as the sugar softened the spices and the milk helped to meld the spices with the tea to make a smooth spiced infusion.

I especially liked this tea because it was so versatile. You could have the tea a multitude of ways and each one enhanced an attribute of the tea without compromising the tea as a whole. However, as per usual with chai, I cannot enjoy it cooled, nor can I resteep without sacrificing flavors and for no fault of it’s own, the tea loses points for that.

Continuing the rooibos theme, tonight I decided to try another of my adagio samples: rooibos vanilla chai. Cinnamon, ginger, orange, clove and cardamom are the ingredients, so I’m expecting a pretty conventional chai in terms of smell and taste. On opening the sachet, I can see that the orange pieces are actually quite large and generous. I like the combination of orange and rooibos, so that’s a welcome discovery. Orange is the dominant scent, but I can definetly identify the clove and cardamom. The cinnamon and ginger are less pervasive, but I imagine that’s what’s wontributing the generic “spice” scent that comprises the backbone of this tea. I can’t detect the vanilla at all in the dry leaf, either by sight or smell, so I’ll be interested to see whether, or how, that develops when brewed.

I’m going to drink this conventionally for a chai, with milk and a piece of my now much-loved crystal sugar. Brewed, the vanilla scent comes through much more clearly, and my overall scent impression is of oranges and cream with a light undertone of spice. To taste, though, I get predominantly clove. It’s a little odd, but not entirely out of place. I can taste the vanilla, orange, and cinnamon, but they remain fairly resolutely in the background. I guess I’m kind of wondering whether the taste here is a result of the two whole cloves that went into this particular serving. I’ll be a little more careful next time, for the sake of finding out.

What impressed me most about this tea is that I kept forgetting I was drinking a rooibos, and found myself judging it on the basis of a black chai. It takes a lot to deceive me where rooibos is concerned, so that’s a really strong point in its favour as far as I’m concerned.

This is a pleasant, convincing chai. Overall, I think I’d prefer it brewed as a latte, so I may try that this weekend. I’m impressed, though. There’s definetly more to this tea than I was expecting!

im steeping this now so i will be logging as i go with this tea :)
so this will be my first Rooibos. i got this in the chai sampler 4 pack. in the tin it smells very nice but there was something off about it but not in a bad way it was one of those smells that reminded me of something as a child, and now that i think about it i remember what it was (ill tell you if your interested so those who are not dont have to read it)
i picked this one because i wanted to try something different i had laying around and im making my fiancee a cup of vanilla so i thought id have a vanilla too but not the same.
the color of this tea is so pretty it makes me wish i brewed it in my clear glass mug and not my christmas mug. i did a taste test like i do with all my teas without sugar and it was a very pleasant flavor just not to the sweetness i usually like but i didnt have to add as much to get it to what i like. the liquor smells just like the “leaves” (is Rooibos leaves?)
the flavor is comforting :) id say this was a good decision on my part.

Sugar: 1Tsp

So I finally got around to trying this. Yummy and spicy in a good way! I made this the quick way. The rooibos doesn’t come through enough, but I think its because rooibos is not a very strong herbal in taste, and the spices overpower it. I added sugar but I think milk might help. I love Adagio’s Vanilla Rooibos so the addition of the spices is a plus.

Overall a great tea! I can’t wait to experiment with it.

Again, a friend of mine gave this to me a while ago. I don’t have much of it left, so I figured I better write a review before it’s totally gone.

She made this one for her babyshower and she made it iced! It was really good! I was surprised. At that point in time, I didn’t drink iced tea. I still struggle to drink iced tea, but not as much now as I did then. So, when she said she was making an iced tea, I was leary of trying it. But, I wanted to be polite, so I tried it. I didn’t expect that it would be so good, considering the chai flavour. Most of the time when I think chai, I think hot, not cold.

Anyway, so she gave me a bunch of this one, and I’ve been slowly drinking through it. It is a lovely chai tea. I love the spicy punch it gives. It isn’t as ‘heavy’ as a black tea. It tends to be a lighter chai taste, but that’s not to say that it is weak. The different base just makes it a bit… different.

I absolutely love this one. I’ll have to get more of it once the current tea collection has dwindled a bit. I have far too much tea for me to drink. I must get through some of that first.
I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting a good chai tea that isn’t a black tea base and that wants a good flavour too.

Super short review as I’m pressed on time but agree with others that the vanilla in this is just not so present. But the tea is fair and the spices definitely cover the rooibos taste. That said, the tea remains a bit bland for my tastes. Next time I’ll try brewing longer – maybe that will solve the problem.

I steeped this straight up, just like a regular tea (no milk, no sugar, no lengthened steep time, etc.) and I was pleasantly surprised by a well balanced tea that has a nice spicy kick to it without being overpowering or overly aggressive.

The aroma has a good amount of spice to it, though I’d say that the taste is stronger than the aroma would have you believe. The color is also fantastic, with the rich, golden/caramel color coming through from the rooibos.

The vanilla leads the flavor, with an initial sweetness that’s supplemented by the rooibos base. The spicy flavor hits you a moment later, with a bite on the sides of your tongue, and a woodsy spice towards the back of your mouth. The aftertaste is a peppery spice that lingers until the next sip, and really adds to the experience.

Overall, I would say that this is a really enjoyable tea, and one that I’m going to try different steeping methods with to see if I can bring out even more of the complex flavor.

When I opened my sample tin, there were a lot of big chunks of stuff on top, and the rooibos had filtered to the bottom of the tin. I stirred the tea up to distribute the ingredients better before brewing. I made this with frothed milk and honey.
Rich, strong and soothing, with a nice balance of spice. This was great after coming home from a late choir rehearsal.

I agree with previous tasters that the cinnamon is strong with this one. I’m okay with that, since I like cinnamon, and this will do if I’m in a evening chai craving pinch… which happens more often than one would think!

The rooibos is not very noticeable with these spices, which is why I think this is a very successful mixer in other tea blends.

This is a pretty decent chai from Adagio. I tend to prefer chai with black tea versus a rooibos blend. But this isnt bad. Very mild chai which is probably due to the vanilla in this blend. Having it iced this time its pretty tasty.

Wonderful chai. Great mix of flavors. I could drink this all day. Oh wait..I have.

A nice chai alternative. Normally, not a huge rooibos fan, but this is nice.

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.

I’m just not feeling the love with this one.