I’m fairly new to rooibos so I haven’t quite gotten accustomed to the taste yet. Despite my personal preferences, this definitely has good points. When I’ve had rooibos before, the pieces in the sachet were very flaky and dusty but this was sold is higher-quality mesh with larger twiggy pieces of the plant. It is has a very pleasant spicy smell with the distinct odor I tend to associate with rooibos. I brewed it for a shorter amount of time because I’m not a fan of the strength of herbal infusions. It seems like if I go to the recommended time in fruity infusion it is always overpowering rather than refreshing. Hence, I normally steep a little shorter with herbal/rooibos teas. I guess I’ve been drinking too many white and greens lately, because I was shocked how quickly the tea turned a beautiful deep chestnut color.
Unfortunately, the taste was what got me….but this may just be a matter of personal preference and not of poor tea quality. I drank it without any sweeteners and after it cooled quite a bit. I can’t remember where I read it before, but someone on here mentioned this tea tastes somewhat reminiscent of wax lips, and they hit the nail on the head! Unfortunately, I’ve noticed this is other rooibos I’ve tasted so I think it must be a taste I haven’t gotten accustomed to. But yes, waxy taste is actually very nauseating for me, and I don’t get nauseous very easily. Likewise, the scent of the finished tea also has a apple-like waxy smell to it. Honestly, I don’t taste much vanilla just the slightly taste of apple and cinnamon. The dominant taste is definitely the nutty flavor of the rooibos, which is quite good because I don’t like when I get flavors the overpower the base of my drink (yet also bad because rooibos isn’t my base of choice yet :p ).
I’d say it’s a fairly medium drink. At first it seemed watery but the more I drink it the stronger it seems. It seems silly but I can’t taste the fullness of a tea when it’s hot as much as when it’s cooled off a bit. Another nice thing is that the tea is very smooth, it goes down without any bitterness. Unfortunately, this (as well as other rooibos I’ve tasted) leaves a bit of an aftertaste which I don’t find pleasant. That wax-lips taste I talked about earlier. It also has a big of a medicinal taste to me…. Maybe I let it cool off too much and it is better hot.
Overall, this was a nice cup because the added herbs/fruits/etc. didn’t overpower the rooibos, leaves were much higher quality than expected, and there was no bitter final note. Still, it is very rare I can’t finish something, and this was one of those times. Made me feel sick
