Gingerbread Orange

This smells so yummy—like fruitcake, heavy on the cake (and I love fruitcake)!

I can taste the orange most prominently, then the ginger, then cardamom. It’s citrusy like candied orange rinds and spicy like mulled wine. A walnutty, gingerbread flavor arises as it cools. None of the woodsy sawdust of plain rooibos.

This is really a deliciously flavored rooibos. I am enjoying this!

Rooibos for the daaaaaay AND my last TeaFrog sample…no trying other rooiboses on the sly, me! I’ve got my eye on you. me. whatever. I chose this tea as one of my samples because the combination sounded interesting and, seeing no reviews up here, decided to find out what it was like for myself.

The actual tea smells overridingly of orange and maybe a little of almond, so my hopes are not too high to start out with. I’m not sure what gives gingerbread it’s distinctive taste, is it coriander? Because there’s some in here. Isn’t coriander dried cilantro? Cilantro is super tasty in like, salsa and stuff. You would think it would be ginger, what with the name and all. But maybe that refers to color?

Tea itself is…interesting. In a positive sense! The orange is still the dominant flavor, and the rooibos is not, I think, particularly noticeable. It’s weird because I feel like I get cardamon and almond individually but they don’t seem to blend that well together. I have no idea what coriander tastes like, I am assuming not cilantro because that would be weird. There’s a kind of creamy taste to it, almost giving it creamsicle properties until the other spices catch up.

But, the question is, is it gingerbread? The answer is…um. Does anyone else get the thing where they drink a flavored tea and they are like “this does not taste like the thing it says it does” and then they stop and are like “wait do I remember what the thing in question actually tastes like?” and then are full of doubt and confusion? Because I am trying to think of what gingerbread tastes like and it is just not coming to me. On the other hand, perhaps I am overthinking this and if the tea DID taste like gingerbread I would know immediately. I’m gonna leave this to cool for a bit and see if it doesn’t pull a thing like the Tiramisu did and all of a sudden start tasting like gingerbread when it’s cool.

Regardless of whether or not it tastes like gingerbread though, the important thing is, is it tasty? Yes, yes it is, but I think at the moment I prefer the Tiramisu. I place it in the: I will finish the sample with enjoyment but am unlikely to order more unless something crazy happens when it cools category.

I was a bit apprehensive of this tea because honestly, orange and gingerbread don’t necessarily sound like a good combination to me. However, after brewing this for a good long time I actually like this tea! I don’t know if I love it, but with a little honey it is smooth, rich, and only slightly citrusy. I’m not getting a ton of gingerbread but I am getting just enough to understand the name of this tea. The orange is really juicy and delicious though! I would definitely recommend at least trying this tea.

Mmm, rooibos, orange peels, almonds, cardamom, and coriander…this sounds like a delicious tea in the making! When I first opened the package, it was definitely the almond scents that struck my nose first. Then came sweet, slightly juicy undertones. In preparing this tea, I utilised a two-cup teapot, 1 tablespoon of TeaFrog Gingerbread Orange Rooibos (two times the recommended 1.5 teaspoon per cup), and freshly boiled water.

Pouring the water over the mixture, the dominant smell wafting up in the steam was actually orange. I felt this was a good sign, since the name of the tea is Gingerbread Orange. The recommended five minutes past, I removed the infuser, taking a moment to eyeball the tea. I could easily pick out the cardamom, coriander, and orange bits in amongst the rooibos. I was not too sure about where the almond was, but I knew I had smelled it earlier…oh, there are a couple of pieces. Whew. My nose has not deceived me.

I take my first sip. Hmmm, I can definitely taste the cardamom. It is coming through quite dominantly. I take another sip, and another, and finish off the first cup. My thoughts so far run somewhere along the line of it tastes spicy, as gingerbread does, but yet…this tea has not so far reminded me of gingerbread. The spiciness of the flavour is quickly followed by tasty orange, and then some almond-esque undertones. Not having fully felt that I understand this tea and all that it has to offer, I pour myself a second cup.

The deep orange-red, nearly rust, colour of this tea is quite pretty. As I sip this second cup, it seems that it follows much like the first. However, I am now beginning to follow the connection of the flavour of this tea to the flavour of gingerbread. This connection is especially prominent in the aftertaste, which is quite pleasant. I finish off the pot with a new outlook on this tea.

I think this tea would be a great treat any time of the day. I drank it in the morning and really enjoyed the experience, but I can see it being a lovely evening tea as well. If you are interested in this tea, I would definitely recommend trying some. I would rate it an 85/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

Another evening rooibos for me. I hadn’t actually drank a lot of rooibos before recently, and I think I’m starting to pick out the underlying base flavor in each tea I drink. I think I like it! The scent of this one reminds me of exactly what it’s called: gingerbread and orange. The taste is a little bit more orange than gingerbread, but there’s a spiciness behind it. I can taste the pink peppercorn, which I like deployed in this one more than in the another tea I’ve had before. I also get note of almond, and an overall baked goods flavor. Orange and gingerbread wouldn’t be my first thought to put together, but I think it works. It’s almost less like gingerbread than a tasty spice cake that you might drizzle with a citrus icing.

I am generally not a rooibos fan, but this one is drinkable. A good caffeine free choice for night time drinking. With this particular tea, I am left wondering “where is the gingerbread?” All I taste is orange, that’s not a bad thing, just wanted something more comforting.

I would rename this tea Orange Almond Cake, or something along those lines. There’s no ginger, which makes it very un-gingerbread-like. It is a pretty good rooibos, though, in the sense that you don’t really taste the rooibos itself. Hopefully that made sense.

Orange is the dominant flavour, with almond following right behind. I maybe get a hint of the cardamom, but I can’t distinguish the coriander from the rest of the blend (probably a good thing). There’s a nice sweetness to it which makes sugar unnecessary.

I thought the description sounded really good, so I ordered this as a sample. I find it a little strange that there’s no ginger in it!

It smells alright before it is steeped, but I don’t get any smell that reminds me of gingerbread. I definitely get the orange, but it isn’t overpowering. Overall, the taste was disappointing. I had high hopes for a comforting tea for cool weather, and while this is drinkable, it will probably be a last resort to try out. I’ll also add that I do like rooibos, so I don’t think that was a factor (as it seems to be with some people).