Rooibos Caramel

Sipdown (1954)!

This was a freebie from my last Adagio order and it was… fine?

I find the rooibos that Adagio uses has a bit of a medicinal and earthy taste to it, and I actually enjoy that quality a lot in some of my favourite Adagio blends (ex. The Woman) but it’s not appropriate as the foundation for a caramel tea. The bigger thing, though, is that this is just another caramel tea that’s too thin in taste and texture to ultimate pull off caramel for me. Too many fruity top notes and not enough dark sweetness. Needs to taste more brown, if that makes sense.

So, it was a fine tea but not a memorable tea and not my perfect caramel tea.

This is a tea I remembered enjoying years ago, so I bought a sample of it in my last order. Maybe my tastes have changed. I really don’t get caramel, just a not super great rooibos. It’s mildly desserty, but it doesn’t really stand out. I had it with milk, and it was decent, but I certainly won’t buy it again. It’s lacking the richness and sweetness that the name indicates.

Caramel is the first thing you smell when you open this bag f tea. Sweet glorious caramel! before adding anything special, I tried it plain with just your basic sweetener. Sugar. It was nothing special in my books, but when i added my nondairy cream it became a pretty good desert tea!

Open the bag and the intense caramel aroma hits you. Once steeped, this tea has a nice smooth caramel flavor. This, unlike Adagio’s Caramel black tea, is all caramel. Love it!

This was my first loose leaf tea ever, as well as only my second taste of rooibos. The first was a very poor bagged tea, so how happy I was to find that it wasn’t rooibos that I found unpleasant but just the poor brand and quality of the previous tea.

Caramel is the dominant smell, but the taste is a wonderful combination of sweetness, caramel, and a hint of actual rooibos that I would liken to a good quality tobacco. It’s a heavy tea with a full flavor, which has been comforting during these colder months. I found that sugar wasn’t needed, as it was sweet on it’s own, but I think it’d be nice with a dash of milk or cream.

The only reason I didn’t rate this higher was because I found it almost too rich. One cup was enough for me, and I feel that this would be a “once in awhile” tea. If you really love caramel though, you may end up drinking this every day!

I really like this! It smells wonderful and tastes nice and rich! This one is definitely going to get mixed with other stuff quite often. I love that it is caffeine free so that I can mix it with other flavors for a dessert tea at night just as easily as adding it for flavor in the morning.

I hated this tea when I tried it a couple of months ago. But now I like it! I think I wasn’t adding enough sugar before :P

There is a very good sugary feel to this, and a distinctive caramel flavor. This is best hot, with a bit of milk. However, it is likely a tea many brands would do just as well.

The scent, I must discuss the scent first! This blend, resembling coarse ground redwood sawdust, will fill your kitchen with the rich, heady scent of the finest quality caramel you can imagine with a little hint of orange. My partner said it reminds him of pipe tobacco…which is a good thing. Who doesn’t love that smell?! While steeping, the water is a rich, dark red and as time elapses, the color changes into a rich, deep caramel brown. I was amazed that this tea retained the scent once poured and sans sweetener, it tastes like a little cup of heaven…a perfect blend of caramel and a tinge I can only describe as round. This tea has earned a permanent spot in my tea cupboard.

This is one of the better Rooibos teas I’ve had. Bourbon vanilla and vanilla berry truffle still beat it, but not by much. It’s exactly as advertised—the smell and taste of delicious caramel, with the rooibos as a vehicle.