Rooibos Jasmine

I absolutely adore jasmine – I’ve had it in herbal blends, green teas (I love pearls especially), white teas, oolong teas, and black teas. But until this evening I hadn’t tried jasmine rooibos.

A very interesting aroma to the tea. The Jasmine seems a bit stronger than I’m used to – but that is a good thing!

A nice flavor – a pleasant balance between rooibos – naturally sweet and nutty with woodsy notes – and jasmine – sharp, floral, and amazing! Yeah I did mention that I love jasmine right?

So far… I’m liking it.

This was one of the stranger offerings in my Adagio herbal sampler. Maybe it’s just me, but rooibos and jasmine just don’t seem to go together; I associated rooibos with sweet (chocolate, vanilla) or spicy (chai) but not florals like jasmine. Ah well, it’ll be an adventure right?

Uhm, not really.

I brewed this approximately to the package instruction although I was a little iffy on the water temperature (the tin said 180 degrees which surprised me as I thought tisane = boiling?). I don’t have a thermometer and I was feeling lazy (damn you paper writing!) so I just let the boiled water sit for a minute or so to cool down a little. Steeped 7 minutes with approximately 1 teaspoon of leaves for a cup of water.

Both the dry leaves and the liquor had a strong jasmine smell with maybe a bit of “woodiness” underneath that I assume was the rooibos. The taste? Pretty much zilch.

When I sipped while breathing in I got the strong jasmine floral scent, but it felt like my taste buds didn’t have anything to work with at all, no matter how much I slurped or swished. When I held my breath there was nothing indicating I wasn’t drinking hot water. Even when I exhaled after a sip the “after taste” was more the scent coming at my nose via my mouth then any true flavour.

I know jasmine teas in general are more about the scent then the taste but other examples that I’ve tried at least had some flavour. My taste buds feel left out.

This is what jasmine mummies and daddies warn their little jasmine buds about at night before they sleep. My kitchen smells like a garden and I feel like a cross between a vampire and a hummingbird.

You must, by now, have concluded that this tea is powerfully fragrant and has a very strong flavour. You’d be right on both counts: it’s like drinking a bouquet. If this is jasmine with rooibos (rooibos? what rooibos? there’s rooibos in here?), I reckon I’m in for an interesting experience when I steep the jasmine without rooibos.

Anyway, so ya, if drinking a bouquet doesn’t appeal, stay far away. I loved it; but then, I munched on rose petals when i was a kid. =)

I’m not sure why they call the scent of this tea ‘delicate’, because it’s a big and bold aroma that is only slightly diminished by a 7 minute steeping. There’s a bit of a medicinal taste to it, but in a good way. It also has a great color, and a strong jasmine flavor that’s not too sweet, but pleasantly soothing.

It was very floral smelling and had a unique taste. It’s one of those teas that you cant nail down the taste to a t, yet you still end up liking it.

I did not like this tea at all.

It was too perfume-y. While the tea is in my mouth, I don’t taste much but rooibos, but once I swallowed the tea, it left this very strong flowery taste in my mouth. The fragrant of Jasmine was just too strong for me. Into the trashcan. :(

Jasmine tea is good, and roobios tea is good. Together they make an interesting combination, but each entity loses that which makes it special.

I’m not a huge fan of rooibos tea, but I do love a good green jasmine. This tea is a lot more like green jasmine than red, and I’m a big fan of that!