Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Local Coffee & Tea
Tisane Description:
Selby Select Rooibos Loose Leaf Tea is our custom blended Rooibos with orange peel and dried yogurt pieces. Created to celebrate the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, this is our perennial best seller. Each sip releases the aroma of sweet ripe oranges, followed by creamy notes on your tongue. You will think you are drinking Florida sunshine in a magnificently serene garden. Savor and enjoy!
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve had an interesting relationship with this tisane. The very first time I tried it, I didn’t really care for it. But the second time I tasted it, I questioned whether or not it was, in fact, the same tea that I had tried the first time around (I received the first sampling of this tea from a friend, the second I received as a sample direct from Local Coffee & Tea) because I was enjoying it. It wasn’t knocking my socks off or anything, but, it was pleasant, and nothing at all like that first cup I had.
Since then, I’ve come to really like this tisane. It reminds me very much of a creamsicle!
The orange flavor is bright and sweet, with just a hint of citrus tartness. It is a very vibrant flavor and it is contrasted with the creamy taste of vanilla yogurt. I think that yogurt was a perfect choice here (rather than using vanilla flavoring), because the yogurt is creamy without being too sweet. The rooibos is sweet, as is the flavor of the orange, and I think that adding a vanilla flavoring would have resulted in a very cloying beverage. As it is, though, everything tastes well balanced: just enough tart, sweet, and tang to please the taste buds.
The rooibos doesn’t lend too much of its woody flavor to this cup, and that suits me just fine. The rooibos does offer a warm nutty note to the cup that is especially apparent in the finish and aftertaste, and it melds nicely with the orange flavor.
This would make a remarkable iced tea in the summer – very refreshing and naturally sweet. I guess I like this one after all!