Despite not loving red rooibos, I thought I’d try the green stuff. This is my first experience with it.
The dry odor is sweet, very sweet. Surprising. Nothing like red rooibos. It… um… smells, to me, exactly like orange Tang.
I liked orange Tang as a kid, but fortunately, this smells very different in the cup. It actually has an odor slightly reminiscent of green tea. Slightly. The odor in the cup is actually not very strong… I was concerned that I’d brewed it too weak, until I tasted it.
The flavor has a grassy note and a back-of-the-tongue sweetness that is surprisingly like green tea – although this may only be because I haven’t had real green tea in ages. This certainly isn’t a green tea substitute. It has its own charm… sweet and almost fruity, but there is also a warm flavor of alder wood, as if I were drinking from an alder cup. There’s also a tiny bit of astringency, barely noticable, but it helps keep the sweetness from being overwhelming.
I don’t normally like light-bodied, fruity teas, but this one is a keeper. I’d like to try a different green rooibos and see how much variation the flavor has.
