Honeybush Vanilla

Back in the day, I’d thought I’d save something special to taste for my 500th tasting note and then write something really thoughtful and penetrating about it. Oh well, c’est la vie.

After finishing off the rest of my Adagio chocolate honeybush sample, I decided to give the vanilla a go.

I didn’t smell vanilla when I opened the little tin. In fact, I wasn’t sure I smelled anything other than honeybush until I opened up the plain honeybush for a comparison sniff. There’s definitely a difference, a stronger scent to the vanilla version, but it’s kind of a sharp, tangy smell that isn’t what I’m used to in vanilla anything. After steeping, the aroma is very herbal but it’s kind of a stretch to find the vanilla. I wonder if my sample is too old to have held the vanilla scent/flavor? Possibly, though the chocolate wasn’t.

There is a subtle vanilla flavor but mostly I taste the honey-sweetness of the honeybush. It’s as though the vanilla brought out the sweet side of the honeybush and the chocolate brought out the woody side. Because I prefer sweet to woody, I’d expect to prefer the vanilla version to the chocolate, but I actually like the chocolate version slightly better. It just seems to have more flavor overall.

In any case, an interesting experiment in self-education about the many things one can do with honeybush, but not something I’ll return to.

Edited:

I bought a sample of this from Adagio because I love using it to blend teas. The tea itself is made up of the small red-brown splinters similar to that of a rooibos, with a vanilla aroma.

I brewed tea, hot, no additives for seven minutes. The tea itself is a little bitter, but plain, light, rooibos-esq, with vanilla flavor. As I said, it is unfortunately a little tart/bitter in the front. However, the vanilla flavor and creaminess makes it very good.

I like to blend this one with other teas. Mates, chais, anything spiced. Adding the honeybush vanilla just mellows out any overwhelming flavors, brightens any underlying flavors and adds an overall creaminess with a slight vanilla flavor.

Overall, pretty good, especially for blending.

Thus far in my experience with rooibos and honeybush, I’ve tended to prefer honeybush blends. There’s something I find quite “brassy”, if I can put it like that, about rooibos, whereas I find honeybush to be more naturally sweet and pleasing.

On opening the sachet, I’m overwhelmed with the scent of vanilla. It’s very strong, and reminiscent of whippy-style ice cream, if the essence was bottled and distilled. Vanilla extract is another thing that springs to mind — it has the same, slightly overdone, almost alcoholic-smelling vanilla-ness about it. Part of me quite likes the scent, and is off reminiscing about vanilla ice cream eaten on childhood summer holidays. Another part is concerned that it’s going to be overwhelmingly sweet and very cloying.

Brewed, the liquor is orangey-red, and the vanilla is much more delicate. It’s still an identifiable scent, but it’s lost some of the punch it had dry, which is no bad thing. To taste, it’s deliciously delicate and creamy. The honeybush base is smooth and substantial, and the vanilla adds a rich, heady finish. It’s almost like drinking hot ice cream.

I’ve been drinking a lot of kooky honeybush-based teas in recent months, and I’d almost forgotten what it’s like to drink a simple, straightforward blend like this. It’s not exciting or intriguing, but it is good. Sometimes, that’s enough.

First impression on the scent of the leaves – kind of weird!
It smells nothing like the regular honeybush – it has an artificial scent that makes it seem like something I would use as a glass cleaner.
It smells much better when it’s steeping. Actually fruity and appealing.
The flavor is so so – it definitely tastes like vanilla, but to me, less like vanilla beans and more like vanilla frosting. Which is fine! And some people might really like that.
Just not quite my cuppa :) I like the plain honeybush much better.

Tried this last night. It was okay…a nice caffeine free way to end the day but nothing super special.

I’m almost done with this sample, but it’s another sample I won’t be getting more of again. It’s hard to talk about honeybush without bringing up rooibos, especially in this case. Having had Adagio’s vanilla rooibos, I can easily say I prefer the rooibos over honeybush. I’m more of a rooibos fan as it is, but it’s not to say I don’t enjoy honeybush- I just think each herb has its own advantages and preferred flavor combination.

For me, the vanilla and honeybush are good friends, but not a perfect match. The sweetness of the honeybush competes with the vanilla. Each one is trying to outdo the other one. The rooibos’ earthiness, not its sweet cousin the honeybush, pairs far better with vanilla.

Today I’m drinking honeybush vanilla with a little bit of some fruit tisane- I don’t know the brand. The fruit tisane has hibiscus, currant, grapes, and other fruits. The honeybush vanilla gives it a hint of creaminess, and tones down the tart fruit flavor. I speak from experience when I say it is quite good iced as well.

The Vanilla is nice and strong in Adagio’s Honeybush Vanilla which makes it an enjoyable tea. Although I doubt I will be buying more beyond the sample as while enjoyable it is not one that I see myself wanting to drink that often, not to mention how easy it is to add a few drops of vanilla to a cup of brewed Honeybush tea.

Num nums.

Sweet but not too sweet. Refreshing.

The scent is of vanilla extract (it smells strongly like vanilla beans and bourbon.) It has a sweet, creamy taste. The vanilla flavour is a little too mild.

This is not something I’d pay for, luckily its the free sample I got with my big order. I don’t hate it, but the smell reminds me of wood chip mulch, and thats a bit distracting. I don’t get much of the vanilla, but having not tasted the NOT vanilla I don’t have a comparison point so I’m not sure. The smell definitly has a honey note to it before steeping, but once its steeped I only get that woodchip smell. I’ll use this up, and maybe try one other variety as a free sample on my next order out of curiosity to see if I like the style but not the flavor, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else.

It doesn’t smell too much like vanilla, but once steeped, has a sweet, creamy and warm vanilla flavour, not too strong, but nice.
A good tea for nights, but not one to have every night.

I wonder how does it tastes like with a drop of milk.

I loved this tea it was nice and sweet.

Got a honeybush sampler from Adagio, this is the only one i reordered in a larger size.

As others have said, this makes a great base for mixing in other teas. Especially good with the Chocolate Mate from republic of tea.

On its own, this is a little weak and bland. But, it’s great for mixing with other teas, especially anything with fruit. Could have more vanilla flavor. I do prefer the Rooibos Vanilla to this one, as it is stronger. Prepared with stevia.

Started off kinda meh, I wasn’t feeling the flavor and it was sort of bland. But as I made my way down the cup, it kept getting better and better, and then by the end I was hooked but it’s gone. BRB refill.

Single cup, 1 Truvia