Cream Caramel Rooibos

So I received this as a free sample from Zen Tea Life, and I was pleased to try a new rooibos and also to compare it to DavidsTea’s cream caramel rooibos. Dry, it smelled nice and caramelly, a good start. I was wary of brewing it so long, but the package said 5+ minutes, so I did 7. The steeped smell is still caramel, but I used the wrong steeper haha and there are bits floating all in my tea, didn’t use the fine enough strainer. Ah well, they’ve settled at the bottom to not bother me :)

Wow, this is caramel. This is super sweet, I actually am surprised it’s so darn sweet! This flavor goes very good with the rooibos, the caramel is definitely the strongest, but the rooibos is an excellent base. When compared to Davids, I think this one is doing the caramel much better, it’s stronger and sweeter!

Overall, this is quite nice! Definitely sweet, definitely desserty! A nice before bed tea, especially when I’m craving sugar. Haha, I currently am having Tostitos though, which is kind of offsetting the sweetness, oops my bad! Anyways, this is a very tasty rooibos, and I might have to order a bit of this in the future!

I was fully prepared to not be that impressed with this. Every tea company has a caramel cream rooibos. And I made a cup of this once before, and I think I only half finished it. But I wanted something to sip in the evening, and it wasn’t offensive, so I brewed up a cup. Dry scent was pleasant, but nothing that special. I decided to try and eat one of the caramel bits and it was kind of gross and fake tasting. So, anyway, to stop being negative, this turned awesome when brewed. For like, 10 minutes. Do it long, it won’t hurt. Also, I feel like my water hasn’t been hot enough in general, cause I don’t remember all the caramelly pieces melting like they did this time. It brewed up really dark and amazing smelling. So much richer than the dry leaf. Add a little sugar and…man, that’s good stuff. Like I’m actually eating caramel. Get on this, people!

I usually don’t enjoy “dessert” teas, but the second steep of my first brew of this was wonderful and I LOVED it. It really tasted creamy and caramelly (if that’s a word). My taste buds were so happy and craving more of that sweet stuff. Subsequent steeps have not been as successful. Directions say 5 minutes, but perhaps longer is the answer? I’m not sure. (It’s 70/30 that I would order more of this.)