Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong, Mate, Ceylon, Rooibos Blend
Where to Buy: Mad Pots of Tea
Tea Description:
If You Were a Tea, What Would You Taste Like?
I’m sure this is a question you find yourself pondering almost daily…. If you want your own Custom Blend or “PersonaliTEA” Make My Blend!
Taster’s Review:
Mad Pots of Tea has a few select blends for sale on their site, but what is more important is that they make your custom blend for you based on a short but interesting survey that you take prior to their master blender Madam Potts taking over and mixing up your specialized tea!
It is all based on your likes, personality, and a answers to the survey. Its as if she profiles you!
My blend is called Toasta Rica because I love Costa Rica, and I like toasty teas. My tea came in a nice resealable brown paper bag which I believe is from recycled paper (love it) and a lovely card personalized by Madam Potts which reads:
Words of Inspiration from your form:
Rainforest, Autumn, Rich spice scents, Costa Rica, Full-Bodied, Mediative, Toasty, Aromatic, Fruity, Spicy, Exotic, Intense, Earth Tones.
Which basically means keywords I had put into the questionnaire I filled out when I began my journey on her site.
Also there is a note that my blend has never been created and will never be created for anyone else! It is a unique tea – just like me.
Of course I have big cheesy smiles all around now!
The ingredients of my blend include: Imperial Oolong, Mango Ceylon, Yerba Mate, Rooibos, Ginger Root, Sarsaparilla, Damiana, Allspice, Coriander, Cardamon, and Stevia.
I do love a good chai and this tea has a true chai flavor to it but one thing I notice when sipping this tea is a wonderful black pepper note that just dances on the tip of my tongue – I LOVE black pepper! It is a sweet tea that has just the right amount of fruit notes to it without being too fruity and cutting through the intense tones of what I call my renaissance tea!
While you can’t get my exact blend, of course without asking me for it, I just want to say how in love I am with my tea blend from Mad Pots of Tea and I want to encourage any tea lover to give her method of finding the perfect blend for you a try!
Turn around on your blend is not fast. I waited five weeks from the time of order to receiving it but I am fine with that as it seems there was time allowed for the flavors to meld and the true beauty of this tea to develop.
I am thrilled with my blend even though my head was not thinking chai-esque the fact is chai is one of my first tea loves! Not only is this a chai tea but an extremely excellent chai at that! I have several chai teas from many companies here but this one is supreme!
Somehow Madame Pots hit the nail on the head with this blend not forgetting I needed something a tad bit fruity to break the monotony of the chai spices! I love that oolong was used as a base, I am an oolong lover through and though but I also love that some mate was added as I always need to get my energy flowing! I do not feel that any of these flavor components, although there are many strong elements in this tea, take over. Each flavor is getting its time in the Toasta Rica sun! Oh yeah!
Thank you Madame Potts!
Blood Orange Cranberry Rooibos from The Boston Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: The Boston Tea Co.
Tea Description:
A sweet-tart blend that is going to leave you dancing for joy! Now in a silk sachet you’ll be thrilled to take your new favorite tea with you wherever you go! Sip and savor this blend any time of day, it’s naturally caffeine-free!
Learn more about this rooibos blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a tasty rooibos blend that I find more enjoyable as I continue to sip it.
The cranberry and blood orange flavors are about evenly matched and play well together, offering a taste that isn’t too tart or too sweet. The finish is tangy from the berry and the citrus, and overall, I find the cup to be pleasantly fruity, and really quite smooth despite the tart and tangy notes. There is a really enjoyable smoothness to the flavor.
However, I do find myself wishing that I wasn’t tasting so much of the woody/nutty flavor of the rooibos. The autumnal nature of the rooibos does meld well with these autumn fruits, but, I’m tasting just a wee bit too much rooibos and not enough fruit for my personal taste. That’s not to say it’s bad or it’s good – it IS tasty – I just think it would be even more tasty if the fruit flavors were a bit stronger to help mute out some of the rooibos flavor.
Overall, an enjoyable cup of tisane, and something I’d drink again if it were offered. Not my favorite cuppa from The Boston Tea Co. … but it’s still a decent cuppa.
Rooibos Chai from Choice Organic Teas
Tea Type:
Rooibos
Where To Buy:
Choice Organic Teas
Product Description:
Thrill your senses with this naturally caffeine-free twist on traditional chai. We blend rich South African rooibos with the finest masala spices for a cup that’s warming, robust and subtly sweet. It’s a luscious treat that pairs wonderfully with milk and sweetener. (Caffeine Free)
IngredientsOrganic Rooibos*, Organic Cardamom, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Ginger, Organic Clove, and Organic Black Pepper *Fair Trade Certified™
Tasters Review:
I’ve been trying to get my life-long digestion issues under control – especially the last few weeks. I have read that Chai Spices as well as Rooibos can help with that. I’m grateful!
This smells like a sweet yet slight spicy chai post-steep. The color is a nice rich dark red-brown. The taste is sweet from the rooibos and slightly spicy from the spices. This is really nice! REALLY NICE – for a bagged chai! Probably one of my fave bagged chai’s as well as one of my fave rooibos chai in a bag, too!
I could see myself drinking this often! This one surprised me! If you see this on a shelf at a good price – give it a whirl!
I Want Some More from Rooibos Suite
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Rooibos Suite
Tisane Description:
The taste symphony starts with soft creamy notes of Kenyan coffee followed by a fruit crescendo with an Amaretto finale.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This tisane has a very unusual name … but it certainly piques my curiosity … will it live up to its name? We shall see!
My first impression (my first sip, when the tea is still fresh-from-the-teapot-hot): This is alright. Not my favorite rooibos blend. Not something that makes me say “I want more of this tisane.” But it might make me say “I want more flavor in this tisane.”
The description leads me to believe that I’d taste coffee, followed by fruit notes, and then an almond/apricot finish. I’m not really tasting that. I do get the coffee at the start of the sip, but it doesn’t taste creamy to me. It tastes like black coffee. Just after the coffee taste comes a sort of jumbled taste that possesses some of the left over roasted coffee notes and a woody/earthy kind of flavor. Not at all like fruit. The tail of the sip is sort of nutty, but not amaretto-ish. There is an undertone of saccharine-like sweetness throughout the sip. It’s not really bad … but, it’s not really all that good either. It’s just kind of … mediocre.
But I’m not one to simply give up on something at first sip. I’ve learned that sometimes, good things come to those who wait, so I decide to allow the cup to cool a bit to see what comes of it.
After allowing it to cool for several minutes, the flavor really isn’t improving a whole lot. After reading the ingredient list, I’m kind of disappointed, really. The ingredient list looks promising:
Ingredients: Luxury rooibos, red thistle, sour cherries, yogurt crisps, natural dried mango, natural flavors
But I do not taste mango, or cherries, or even the creamy taste of yogurt. I don’t know that I would really be able to identify red thistle if I tasted it because I can’t really recall tasting it before… so I don’t know about that. Even though I’m not a fan of sour fruit, the taste of sour cherries might be an improvement – it might brighten the flavor of the cup. The mango would add some nice dimension. But I am not getting any of these flavors at all. I taste only a roasted coffee taste that leads into a sort of jumbled taste that resembles coffee and wood and earth. Sort of.
Over on Steepster, I compared this tisane to vacationing at the in-laws (provided you actually like your in-laws) instead of going somewhere fun: It’s nice to get away and have some time off, but, really, there are things you’d rather be doing. This tisane is like that. It’s alright and certainly drinkable, but, there are other teas and tisanes I’d rather be drinking. It’s just very average, kind of boring … and a bit disappointing. I won’t be asking for more.
Love Flavored Rooibos from TeaFrog
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: TeaFrog
Tisane Description:
Our most popular Rooibos blend, the Love blend is an aromatic delight that you will not be able to resist! This tea is so good, we sample it at every show, and sell out at every show! The scent and flavor are simply to die for!
Learn more about this rooibos blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m generally pleasantly surprised when I come across a rooibos blend that I enjoy. And really, I don’t know why I should be surprised anymore, as I tend to find more that I actually DO enjoy versus those that I do not like. But usually, the blends that I do like are ones where the flavorings have managed to mask the flavor of the rooibos in such a way that it obscures the flavor of the rooibos entirely. It’s a more startling discovery, though, when I come across a rooibos blend where I can actually taste the flavor of the rooibos and I’m still enjoying what I’m tasting.
But this Love rooibos blend from TeaFrog has managed to do just that. I can taste the nutty flavor of the rooibos, and it works really well within this blend. The nutty flavor adds depth to the sweet, luscious orange notes and the lovely floral tones, without coming off as too funky or sweet. Instead, it is very evenly flavored and has a richness that I don’t often find with rooibos (which usually tend to taste kind of thin).
This is nice served hot, but I like it even better cold! I had intended on drinking it hot this evening, but, after taking a few sips of it, I got busy doing something and when I returned to my teacup, the beverage had gone cold. Rather than toss it, I added an ice cube or two, and sipped on this deliciously orange-y, nutty tisane. I like the balance, I like that I can taste the rooibos without tasting some of the funkier flavors of the rooibos, and I like that while it is sweet, it isn’t too sweet. Very enjoyable, indeed!