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Rooibos Yerba maté Blend by Samovar
Origin: Organic, shade-grown yerba maté and organic rooibos blended in the U.S.
Flavor Profile: A blend of mellow, woody rooibos and pungent, bittersweet maté with complex notes of spice, earth and forest.
Tea Story: Rooibos is a caffeine-free, antioxidant-rich herb from South Africa. Yerba Maté is a high-caffeine, antioxidant-rich herb from South America. Both have traditional uses in herbal medicine and in daily consumption. Both are gaining loyal followings in the U.S. for their distinctive flavor profiles.
Our blend of Rooibos Yerba Maté is slightly heavier on rooibos than yerba maté, so it is lower in caffeine than our Sweet Yerba Maté and mellower than our Peppermint Yerba Maté. The dry aroma is pungent and bittersweet, with pinewood sweetness.
It infuses into a deep, slightly cloudy orange brew with assertive scents of dry leaves, wet wood, molasses and earth with aspects of roasted barley, mineral, medicine and clove cigarettes. The taste is bittersweet, with notes of dried redwood, oak and pine, toasted bran, fresh-tilled clay and cinnamon-anise spiciness.The aftertaste is bittersweet and woody, with the mouth-feel of cinnamon tannins and cracked black pepper. This blend is organic certified, and the yerba maté was patiently shade-grown for a smoother, less bitter taste.
Samovarian Poetry: South America meets South Africa. Deliciousness ensues.
Food Pairings: Rooibos Yerba Maté is pairs resplendently with spiced, non-creamy sweets or bittersweet vegetables. Sweet pairings include flaky apple Danishes, crisp Bartlett pears dipped in yellow-curry-spiced semi-sweet chocolate, cinnamon-molasses oatmeal with raisins, or spiced pumpkin bread.
Savory options include steamed kale with ume plum marinade, red cabbage or asparagus sautéed with mirin wine and ginger root, oven-roasted turnips, parsnips and rutabagas, or roasted hard gourds, like butternut squash, spaghetti squash or pumpkin.
This is an interesting pairing. A rustic flavor to it that is woodsy, nutty, earthy and slightly vegetative. There is kind of a nutmeg and clove taste in the background too. Sweet, but not a sugary or honey-like sweetness, but also not the saccharine-like sweetness from rooibos. This is more of a toasty tasting sweetness.
Not a lot of bitterness to it, not a lot of sweetness. Just a pleasant cuppa!
This tasted too much like I imagine coffee would for me to take any pleasure from it.
