Rooibos Chai

My Bostonian relatives sent me home with a bit of this to try and I finally got around to it today, I just find it hard to get excited about rooibos blends. Like another reviewer said: “it looks good, smells good, and tastes okay but has no body whatsoever”. That’s the problem with red rooibos in my opinion; it lacks depth and body, it’s completely flat and boring. Green rooibos I enjoy, but the more I try red rooibos blends the more I realize I just don’t like them.

mm this is a nice and spicy bedtime chai! Love a good decaf treat in the evening and this hits the spot. I didn’t skimp on leaf so I am getting full flavour – a big thanks to Erin for sending me this sample!

My first teavana tea! I’m not unimpressed.

Edit: my 101st tasting note! ee ^^ I guess I could go edit the last one and say 100… but this is how I roll.

This tea looks good, smells good, and tastes ok, but it has no body whatsoever. It’s kind of like the Natalie Portman of teas.

I’ve yet to find something to mix it with that fixes this issue.

I have this from a gift set and had no plans for it, until today when I woke up feeling queasy and nothing sounded good to drink, except this. Its the only rooibos in the house and has ginger to boot. I tried this only once over the summer, decided it lacked body and moved on.

Yesterday when I was sampling someone commented that the didn’t like chai because it tastes like medicine. They didn’t try the sample, but the comment befuddled me, until this morning. I kinda get some sort of medicine from this, maybe honey and lemon cough drops? Ricola? Heh, I could see blending this with Swiss Vervaine Melange for a Ricola inspired tea and I’m not sure if its genius or disgusting.

Anywho, its fine that it reminds me a little of medicine, as that’s what I need right now. Before I started logging this I was reading about one of 52 Tea’s Lemon and Rooibos blends and I started tasting lemon in the cup, like really sweet lemon (it was just after taking a bite of pb&j. But yeah, definitely taste the lemongrass.

So in short, I am grateful for this tea this morning, but its nothing I would buy or pick off the tea wall as a free beverage at work. I will probably blend this with Maharaja Chai Oolong and Taj Masala Black at home. And I will probably blend this with Swiss Vervaine at work today or tomorrow and see what my cohorts reactions are (they always make odd dessert blends for others to evaluate, I just bring in higher quality straight tea for them to try).

After watching Inspector Lewis being given cups of tea for over an hour, I was longing for a cup. I enjoyed Rishi’s Masala Chai quite a bit the other day so I was thinking a Chai sounded good. I went with the Rooibos Chai because it’s late and it has no caffeine in it. It’s yummy but less strong, in both spices and the taste of the rooibos.

Striped pottery mug. 1.5 tsp. Milk.

I have actually had this tea a few times, just forgot to log it. This was the first tea I ever had at Teavana and it hooked me. I don’t drink it often as I’ve moved on to some of their more complex teas. But I go to this one when I really want to relax or I’m not feeling well as the cinnamon is really nice and that’s all I can taste when I drink it, but I love the flavor.

Hello, cinnamon. :shiftyeyes: We meet again.

I’m always leery when I see cinnamon in the ingredients because it’s such an overpowering fragrance and flavour. I also get a bit irritated when I see it in chai (which I always do) because I don’t remember people generally putting cinnamon in chai while I was growing up; our primary “masala chai” ingredient was always ginger.

My suspicion proved groundless and I was happily surprised. While the cinnamon’s fragrance is evident, its flavour does not overwhelm every other. Even better, I could clearly taste both rooibos and chai, concluding that they are two great tastes that taste great together. Yummy.

Oh, and this rooibos chai is really soothing if you’ve got a bit of a sore throat or something.

This tea was ok at first. As I kept drinking it though, I started to get sick of the artificially sweet cinnamon flavour. I love a good cup of Chai but this does not come close. Needs more spices, less cinnamon. Reminded me of some Christmas Celestial Seasonings Tea.

Cinnamon is the taste I get from this one. It’s a great tasting Rooibos. I have to sweeten it up with honey. My five year old likes it too.

So here I am, the night before a big trip to San Fran. I’ve packed up all of my favorite teas. Now I’m checking to see what’s left behind. Here I find Rooibos Chai. I bought it recently before a night at work when I was in a bit of a rush. I don’t remember disliking it, but the aroma is strong and intimidating. I decided to brew up a before-bed-pot and settle in.

I actually enjoyed this more than I remember. I’m very new to tea so a description is hard to fabricate. The cinnamon is a bit strong, but a bit of milk settled that down. I find my mouth feeling dry after each sip. Other than that, it quiets the mind and body enough to hit the hay!

Teavana’s Rooibos Chai smells spectacular, but is a little weak for a chai. However, blending it with their Masala Chai (which isn’t my favorite, but works in a pinch) made for a fuller blend with a more subtle blend of spices- a new favorite from my small collections of Chais.

I don’t get all the negative ratings on this one. This is one of my favorite chais. I love the strong cinnamon flavor. I don’t think it’s too much at all, although I do add just a little Demerara sugar, as I do to most any tea (we southerners generally like our tea sweet, and hot tea is no exception). I typically don’t care for lemongrass, but I only taste a hint of it, so it doesn’t detract from the flavor.

I love this anytime, but especially when I’m under the weather. It’s just a great relaxing tea and it seems to coat my throat, which feels wonderful when my allergies are acting up and making my throat scratchy. It’s just a really smooth cup of tea that makes you feel good all over.

Again, caught off guard with the lemongrass, but I love it. The first time I tried it I only hate fake sugar and soy milk on hand and it was STILL excellent.

I absolutely want to try my rooibos chais after this. My only issue is that occasionally, bits of lemongrass will fall through my strainer and that’s just..eugh.

To begin with, I love chai teas! I under-steeped as a recourse to cut back on the overwhelming cinnamon on this 2nd attempt at tasting this tea. It is a bit more understated this time around. Although, afterwards it made me physically ill. Overall, not a fan of this tea but it came w/ the teavana starter pack and I thought I give it another try. If someone else enjoys this tea, I would be more than willing to swap or just give it away. I’ve only used 3 teaspoons out of the 2 oz.

Smooth Rooibos with the taste of chai spices moderated with ginger and lemongrass! Really refreshing and thirst quenching not too medicinal of chai teas

Edit: 2011-2012 batch of this rooibos chai is profoundly weak in the chai department and worst the lack of taste of the rooibos! Its brewed in the usual 200 plus degree range, filtered water with 1-2 teaspoon depending on the level of strength of taste. No matter what adjustments made its still weak…disappointment but expected. The popular this tea and importantly its cheap price of 3.80 per 20z in teavana is all the more attractive to stock up, but prone to changes especially with teavana. Price hikes and lack of quality ain’t gonna save their fortunes!

Having this tea tonight before going to bed instead of my traditional Foxtrot. I’m coming to notice some strong trends in the types of tea I like and they are: cinnamon, chai, or a good black tea (like dragon pearls). So I was pretty excited to find a rooibos chai so I could still have chai and cinnamon before going to bed instead of loading myself up on caffeine. I am loving this tea. Thanks again to Brandice for introducing me into tea. I am officially hooked on tea now. Today I even got another friend of mine to start trying some tea and she got some tea from Teavana. I can’t wait to hear what Yvette has to say about her tea trials..

One of my staples. I love the lemon grass. To me it is not too strong but just right. I love drinking this with a little honey and a dash of cream. Its a nice treat at night.

This is my least favorite Rooibos Chai. Even though lemongrass is the last listed ingredient, it’s all I taste. Not a fan.

A yummy late afternoon sip with milk & some chunk sugar. If I need a more vibrant drink I’ll blend it with JavaMate with a couple of peppercorns throw in the steep.

Oooh! This is so great with some toast and fruit at breakfast. This Rooibos Chai has moved up the list to one of my top 5 daily teas