Honeybush Orange

How is it that I have no notes on this? I know I’ve tried it, and even if I didn’t remember that, when I opened the sample tin up half of it was gone. Usually when I try something for the first time I write a note to record my first impression so that I don’t bias my tongue, and if my opinion changes I write another note. Hmmm. Very suspicious.

Be that as it may, I also remember having fallen out of infatuation with honeybush, which was around the same time I fell out of infatuation with rooibos. I would rather drink a decaf tea or a fruit herbal blend than their woody cousins if I’m looking for something without caffeine.

But that sort of makes me sad, in an extremely illogical way. I admit that I feel sorry for the honeybush still in my cupboards. Does anyone remember the IKEA commercial about feeling sorry for the lamp? (If you don’t, you can see it here):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEBV1TUfxXM

This one is one I feel doubly sorry for because as honeybush goes it tries pretty hard. Once you get past the unfortunate eau de baby aspirin coming from the tin that is the orange flavor and that is not improved by the wet-rattan honeybush scent, things look up. After steeping, the aroma is mellower and more of an undifferentiated citrus. More lemony than orange to my nose, though if I try really hard I can get some orange.

The flavor is actually pleasant. The woodiness that I don’t love about honeybush isn’t very evident in the sip, only in the aftertaste, and there’s a light orangey flavor that has some depth to it, almost like a mandarin orange. Really, if I cast aside my prejudice, this is honeybush I can appreciate.

Maybe I didn’t write a note for it before because I was so counfounded that I actually found a honeybush I didn’t have to give at least an orange face to?

This is a fairly unremarkable tea in my opinion. The orange flavour is quite subtle and takes a backseat to the honeybush base. I do like straight honeybush, though so I found the sweet orange accent to be rather nice. Maybe I just need to steep it for longer.

I haven’t had honeybush in a while, I got this to try out in one of my Adagio blends but I think the orange is too light for what I was looking for. This is tasty but I’m not sure I’d purchase again, the orange there enough. I’ll try some longer steeping and see how that goes.

Tea: 2 tsp
Water: Filtered, a little under 16oz
Additives: None

It smells like fresh oranges. The sweet, fruit flavour goes very nicely with the honeybush. It’s also good with the rooibos almond.

The orange flavor is very light. Overall it’s an okay tea and pretty good iced.

The orange flavor is fairly subtle in how well it blends with the honeybush’s sweetness. If you are looking for a strong orange flavor this is not for you but if you like honeybush and think some extra orange flavor notes would be good, then this would be a good tea for you.