Vanilla Rooibos

Even as a latte this tastes like minerals and musty root (licorice or chicory?). Not much vanilla, and I’m not loving this rooibos either.

It’s a full leaf tea that can easily survive two infusions, maybe more. It smells a bit like potpourri, which might not be a terrible thing…if you like that sort of thing. It’s a bit overloaded with flavors and they are easy to identify: licorice, peach, cinnamon and some sort of wildflower waft up from the cup. I can’t help but think of an executive washroom or a Glade candle. Still, it’s a pretty good tea for what it is.

Used two sachets per 14 ounces boiling water, steeped for 5 minutes. Decent tasting tea, but there are tastier varieties of rooibos out there.

I’m presuming this is the vanilla tea Scooters Coffeehouse uses. It’s real good. Vanilla without any sort of bitter aftertaste or being too sweet.

Tea picked up from Starbucks this afternoon — I guess Starbucks is still carrying Tazo tea despite their recent acquisition of Teavana. There was supposed to be a guest speaker beofre our class today but I just found out that the speaker called in sick, which is annoying because I’M STILL SICK and made it to class an hour early for nothing.

So about this rooibos, it’s not bad. I mean, you either like rooibos or you don’t. But as far as rooibos blends are concerned, it’s a bit un-inspired. I definitely get the vanilla but not so much the other ingredients. I’m accustomed to drinking my rooibos teas with soymilk and I thought this was a lot better with two coffeemate creamers and a sugar packet added. I definitely think this would be nice as a latte.

Great Canadian Traveling Teabox Round 3:

This was my first pick out of the teabox because by the time I got home and opened it up and sorted everything, it was already pretty late. This, being both caffeine free and in a tea bag, seemed like the simplest of options. Unfortunately, it really wasn’t the best way to start off as this tea isn’t great. The first sip was slightly sweet but the subsequent sips all devolved into a competition between medicinal rooibos and a cloying artificial sweetener/stevia type taste. Thank you Janelle for the chance to try this tea but it most definitely was not for me.

Good flavor. Light on the vanilla and heavy on the Rooibos. I think it would make for a wonderful latte with pure Rooibos concentrate.