Love

Orange Creamsicle. It totally smells like that today! It ‘brewed’ very deep reddish brown.

YUMMY.

It’s the ROOIBOS of the DAY, folks!!!!

Here is what I know…I like this tea. The problem is I don’t know why. Just something about it works, it is definaely one of the more unique of roobios tea blends I have tasted. Not sure if I think love maybe this should have been called…Lust Flavored Rooibos. :-)

CAIT sent me this and I think I’m getting along with it better than she is. While she got menstrual blood, I got fig newtons. I’m not sure that the flavor of “love” can be distilled into a rooibos blend. The envelop that TeaFrog uses calls it “Love Flavored Rooibos”. The ingredients include rose and orange, but I am not picking up on them (at least not so far). The dry leaves smelled like root beer, which was delightful but the brewed tea is a bit of an anticlimax. Is the TeaFrog presenting us with some sort of a Zen Koan about the flavor of Love? And more powerful than the tea itself, the name has me regressing into a Burt Bacharach kind of mood and I hear Dionne Warwick warbling “The Look of Love”. “I can hardly wait to hold you, feel my arms around you”—I think that was before she was a psychic friend.

A tea that gives me a Proustian moment cannot be all bad; but the previous tea I sipped led me to Florence Italy in my mind, which might be a better place to be than my old bedroom when I thought that Dionne Warwick was the epitome of sophistication and that Burt Bacharach was the bard of love!

Here we are again with the orange-flavored rooibos.
I was kind of scared that I would be unable to distinguish between it and the Gingerbread Orange when I first smelled it just because the orange flavoring came through soooo strong. On steeping, the orangeness just got stronger and yes, the color is quite dark, but I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say blood (of any kind) is evoked. For one thing, blood is just not that transparent. (Blood is thicker than tea, ahahahahahaha ahem)

Fortunately, I can definitely taste a difference. his is VERY floral tea, but the rooibos still manages to be quietly present in the form of a nutty undertaste which I think goes quite well. Basically, it leaves me with the feeling that flowers should sprout up whenever I breathe out.

So far this is definitely edging out the other teafrog rooiboses I have tried.

Aside time! I forgot to mention this when my order first came in, but I had a total huh moment when the package came in and I saw that the recommended temperature for the teas was 100/80/etc degrees and then I remembered. You Canadians and your crazy measuring systems that make actual sense! (I suppose that should be You rest of the world and your crazy measuring systems that make actual sense)

I added this sample on a whim to my Teafrog order, mostly because of how highly they recommend it. Boy, am I glad I did! I’m not even a big fan of orange flavored things, but this is really delicious. It’s not tart-citrusy, but like a very sweet orange and cream flavor. The bright red color (yes, it is very…. vibrant) is deceptive, because the flavor is quite mellow. But strong! I got two good steeps out of this, which I consider impressive for a flavored rooibos. The second was weaker, and more orangey than creamy, but still good.

The high rating I’m giving here reflects the high-quality natural flavoring as much as my personal enjoyment – I was very impressed at that second drinkable steep – though I do plan to buy a tin now.

I would recommend this to anyone who doesn’t outright hate rooibos – the rooibos is still there, but not the primary flavor (much less so than in, say, Teafrog’s Fireside). A small warning, though: if you get a sample of this, the flavor is strong enough to escape the sample bag and contaminate other samples a bit during shipping, so… don’t get any other samples that would be ruined by a hint of orange ;)

The name makes me curious. Why would a tea be called Love? Aside from being TeaFrog’s most popular rooibos blend (imply that people love it), I couldn’t figure out the reason for the name. So, taking this initial assumption in hand, I had high hopes for this tea. Opening the package, I placed my nose at the opening and was assailed by a myriad of aromas, not the least of which smelled like the Fig Newton cookies I enjoyed as a child. It was different, yet delicious smelling.

The boiling of the water teases me as the scent of the dry rooibos wafts from the open teapot to my nose. Clock-watching begins as the time ticks toward zero…and toward tea time! Three teaspoons, two cups of water, and six minutes later I was ready to enjoy this aromatic treat. The package says to steep for 5-6 minutes, and I chose the upper end as I like my rooibos strong.

And strong it was! Wow, this tea brewed up a dark red, almost muddy complexioned. The ingredients are well balanced, as I can definitely smell the red rooibos in amongst all the other ingredients. It has almost a spicy aroma to it now. Taking my first (big) sip, the subtly fruity liquor, with a tinge of spice (possibly from the orange peel), flows quickly and easily over the tongue. The flavour is well balanced between the rooibos and the additions. This tea definitely leaves one eagerly wanting to take the next sip. While it seems to have a light mouthfeel, the tea leaves a strong aftertaste of the non-rooibos ingredients. It really is quite a delicious blend and seems to be a tea that one would enjoy on a cold day, as the other ingredients combine with the rooibos to create a brew that warms the body and mind. Sadly, more descriptive words fail me as I’m lost in the tasty flavour of this tea. I give it 75/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

This is absolutely just what I needed tonight. It’s dreamy.

Well so far my Rooibos tastings haven’t been all that successful. Clearly, from a personal taste stand point, it seems I’m pickier when it comes to those.

This one was interesting. The orange flavor dominates with a slight sense of sweetness remaining after a few sips. Smells like “Pot Pourri” which is not something I had ever planned to taste.

Overall fairly smooth, do not over steep as the orange flavor will turn into a bitter mess.

Melanie’s Review: “This rooibos blend from Tea Frog Tea is well named – I LOVE this tea!! According to Tea Frog: “Our most popular Rooibos blend, the Love blend is an aromatic delight that you will not be able to resist! This tea is so good, we sample it at every show, and sell out at every show! The scent and flavor are simply to die for!”….”

Read the full review at: http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/192/tea-review-teafrog-love-flavoured-rooibos/

Wow, I really liked this one. It was just what I needed to feel better today.

So…this is a mug of Love. And when I brewed it up the first time, I oversteeped and it came out murky and dark red — and I don’t know about you, but for me the thought of menstrual blood was kind of unavoidable. The tea didn’t smell in any way bloody, but I definitely had to nerve myself up for that first sip of hot, wet, blood-colored love! And while it turns out to taste sort of woodsy-spicy and a bit mild, context is so much; I really don’t think I can give this one a fair rating, or even a more thorough review.