African Rose Herbal

Thanks go to Andrew at Simple Loose Leaf who provided me with a $50 credit to use towards their subscription service. This was the second tea that I was sent in my six month plan.

I should have loved this tea. Rooibos, Honeybush and Rose… these are a few of my favorite things. Sadly I didn’t, in fact, I actually had a very negative experience with the tea which I feel isn’t just a matter of my tastes, but a fault with the tea itself. While some floral teas lean towards the delicate side and really showcase the ingredients I think this particular tea takes its floral nature to the extreme. Personally, I felt it tasted like potpourri which was incredibly disappointing because floral teas tend to be among my favorites. On the plus side, it does resteep well and I was able to make three cups of tea from one serving of leaf. However, even the third steep was undrinkable, the rose flavoring was still overpowering.

Ultimately the most drinkable cup I was able to produce with this leaf came about by accident. I somehow managed to misread the temperature on my hot water pot and steeped my final cup 195°F for 1m30s which is well outside the steeping guidelines I was provided. I still found it to be overly floral and not entirely appealing, but I was finally able to taste some of the sweetness from the honeybush base. Perhaps this tea has more potential with lower temperatures, but it will have to wait awhile before I find out. I still have 2oz remaining of this blend, so I’ll save that as a project for a rainy day.

Come read the full review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2013/11/5/tuesday-tea-african-rose-herbal-simple-loose-leaf.html

If you’re considering an order with Simple Loose Leaf use coupon code NSYSELECTION25 to receive 25% off.

I got this in Ost’s stash sale. I was a little uncertain about it since it contains Rooibos which I don’t really care for, but I’ve been looking for more floral herbals so I decided to give it a try. It’s certainly an appropriate tea for St. Valentine’s Day. It smelled overwhelmingly floral in a way that reminded me of soap, but it tastes really good. It’s sweet, with a prominent rose flavor, and a lingering aftertaste of rose and honeybush. I’m not sure why, but I’m often surprised when I find a flavor that works really well with honeybush. This certainly does. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good rose herbal tea!

This tea doesn’t quite go with a chicken stir fry but on its own it’s quite good. It does, however, go quite well with a cinnamon sugar bagel. I’m quite amazed at how much the flavors are battling for dominance. The rooibos tries it’s hardest but the rose always comes out on top. The smell too is overtaken with rose. I’ve tried it hot and cold and while i think its slightly better warm, it doesn’t make the rose flavor any less immense. This is tea 1 from the traveling tea box.