I may have been unfairly maligning green rooibos; this is plain red rooibos with blended flavor, but it possesses the exact same “synthetic” taste I was complaining of in the Teavana blends. Looking over the ingredient lists, methinks “natural flavors” are to blame; but Tea Laden is at least upfront about theirs.
This is very sweet, almost like a fruit soda. Actually, that’s almost exactly what the synthetic taste common to all these blends is: I don’t know if it’s an actual ingredient, but it tastes like artificial sweetener (Splenda, aspartame, etc.).
