Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Tisane Description:
The latest addition to our popular dessert teas are these cupcake teas! Available in Red Velvet Cupcake, Carrot Cake Cupcake and Strawberry Cupcake.
I love carrot cake, whether it’s in a loaf or in cupcake form. What I don’t like is that “some” people always feel the need to add raisins to what is already perfection. Don’t mess with success people! And what I do like about this rooibos tea version, is that you get all that lovely carrot cake goodness with none of the calories (and no wrinkled little grapes!). The dry leaf has a delicate aroma of carrot cake spices. The brewed cup is full flavored and fabulous with the smell of just baked carrot cake.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Simpson & Vail has an all-new line of cupcake inspired teas that they’ve added to their dessert tea collection, and I’m so excited to be able to try some of them, because I not only love tea, but I adore cupcakes, too. These cupcake teas let me enjoy them both without all the calories!
But I have to admit I was a little skeptical about the idea of this carrot cake cupcake rooibos. I have tasted some cupcake flavored teas in the past, and even a couple of carrot cake flavored teas … but, I still find myself a bit leery about them … carrot taste … in tea? That might be a little too weird, even for me.
However, this is really tasty! I taste notes of cinnamon along with a hint of fruit as well as the carrot taste. The carrot is sweet, and melds really nicely with the green rooibos which has a lighter, fruitier taste versus the red (oxidized) rooibos. I think the green rooibos was the right choice to use as a base here, because the fruity notes seem to tie in with the carrot-cake-like flavors.
The sweetness of this cup seems to lend a sort of cake and frosting kind of taste to the overall taste. I don’t know that I’m tasting a definitive “carrot cake” kind of flavor here – but, then again, I don’t know that I’m not. I just know that as I sip and I taste the medley of flavors and how they work together, my taste buds get a sense that I’m drinking liquified carrot cake.
This is really yummy, and it’s an ideal way to enjoy carrot cake without indulging in the calories!
Vanilla African Redbush Tea from MarketSpice
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: MarketSpice
Tisane Description:
The addition of Vanilla flavoring and Chamomile to our standard African RedBush provides a rich and satisfying cup of tea. Add honey for that extra zing. High in anti-oxidants and naturally caffeine free.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a really nice vanilla flavored rooibos blend. Normally, chamomile is not my favorite thing, but, I like the addition of chamomile here. It adds just enough of something different to the cup to keep it interesting.
The aroma of the dry leaf is quite distinctive. It smells of tobacco – like the pipe tobacco that my step-mother would buy for my dad as she attempted to encourage him to smoke a pipe. She liked the smell of pipe smoke. I am not particularly fond of the smell of the smoke, but I liked the smell of tobacco (is it called “raw” tobacco when it’s not smoked and still in the package?)
But I’ll be honest, it throws me off a bit when I smell that fragrance in a tea. I find the smell of pipe tobacco pleasant but it doesn’t smell like something I want to consume, you know what I mean? But, once it started brewing, the aroma became much more like rich vanilla and less like tobacco.
The flavor is very pleasant. It has a smooth, creamy vanilla taste with a hint of nutty rooibos in the background. The woody tones of the rooibos come out as well, and I like the way they meld with the vanilla notes. The chamomile is very light, but I can taste that hint of apple-like flavor from the chamomile.
Overall, it’s a very enjoyable tea. I especially enjoy it later in the evening while watching TV, it’s got such a relaxing quality to it. Very nice!
Campfire Blend Tea from Whispering Pines Tea Company
Tea Type:
Black Tea/Rooibos Blend
Where To Buy:
Whispering Pines Tea Company
Product Description:
This is an amazing wake-up tea — A dark fiery blend that smells and tastes like it was pulled straight out of the rockies, Campfire Blend uses 11 different black teas as the base and mixes that with rooibos, orange peel and spices to create a taste and aroma unlike anything you could ever imagine…except for maybe the whisper of an ancient campfire and the cry of a lone wolf on a cool autumn night.
Tasters Review:
The Product Description states this has 11 different black teas? My attention was grabbed! Plus Rooibos? I was even MORE interested! AND Spices and Orange Peel? Let’s just say THIS blend had me at “Hello!”
When I asked Brenden which 11 black teas he used he told me he was sworn to secrecy – which I can totally understand and appreciate! BUT…then he told me (and let me pass it along to our readers) that Campfire Blend uses Glen Arbor Breakfast as the base tea. Glen Arbor Breakfast is made with 2 keemun teas, 7 ceylon teas, one lapsang souchong, and one assam. YUP! I’m totally excited about this blend!
It smells smoky and orange-E. The color of the liquor is that of a rooibos but also a medium-dark brown combined.
It’s smoky but not overly-so…not like a straight-up Lapsang Souchung but still very nice and fitting to the name. The mesh of 11 black teas in the base are interesting…something I have never tasted before! That I like and appreciate all of the thought that went into it.
I can taste the orange and it’s lovely. Again, not overpowering but I’m happy it’s present. The spices seem to mesh really well with each other as well as the black tea base. I can’t pick out one spice over the other(s)…it’s a nice combo – that’s for sure!
It’s earthy and woodsy…true to it’s name, too! It’s slightly sweet which is a nice surprise. It has a sweeter-maltiness to it, too! I REALLY like that!
It also has a very subtle taste of mineral/rock type taste…reminiscent of Wuyi Rock Oolong, perhaps.
I really like this because it is so different. Also because you can tell a lot of thought and work went into it. It certainly lives up to it’s name…CAMPFIRE BLEND.
I’ve had some really nice email conversations with Brenden at Whispering Pines and think Brenden is great! Whispering Pines has some wonderful offerings with creative combos and nifty names but the quality is top-notch as is the customer service! The email correspondence is great and I can’t wait to write another review for one of their teas! Stay Tuned!
Rooibos Tiramisu from Trail Lodge Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Trail Lodge Tea
Tisane Description:
Have desert in a cup! This rooibos tea combines the flavors of chocolate, caramel, and hazelnuts.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve tried a few tiramisu flavored teas and tisanes, I even attempted to capture the flavor of tiramisu in a tea at one point. This tisane comes the closest to tiramisu … at least of all the ones that I’ve tried … including my own attempts!
I taste the coffee notes, and it melds harmoniously with the flavor of the hazelnuts, to give it a roasty-toasty, nutty kind of undertone to complement the flavor of the rich chocolate and sweet caramel. All the components of this blend marry very well, to create a very unified flavor that tastes like tiramisu. It doesn’t taste like “deconstructed” tiramisu … it tastes like tiramisu that you might indulge in at an Italian restaurant.
The overall flavor is creamy, sweet, and decadent. Really luscious! It makes a perfect dessert tisane that you can enjoy any time of day because it’s *almost* caffeine free. I say “almost” because I’m not really sure how much caffeine the coffee beans add to this, but, I can say that I don’t feel it over-stimulating me … it feels very comforting, actually, in much the same way as chocolate and caramel comforts me.
This is oh-so-delicious! I’d recommend this one to even those who usually dislike rooibos, because I don’t taste a strong “rooibos” flavor, and what little I do taste seems to meld with the nutty tones of this tisane so well that it doesn’t really stand out. An excellent dessert tisane!
Secret Garden from SerendipiTea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos & Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: SerendipiTea
Tisane Description:
Escape for a short while to a secret place for which you only hold the key.
Ingredients: Chamomile (Organic), Lavender (Organic), Peppermint (Organic), Rooibos (Organic), Rose Petals (Organic)
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This is the third tea/tisane from my June Steepster Select Box, themed “Around the Clock.” Of the three teas in this month’s box, this was the one I was least excited about, but as it turns out, I really am enjoying this … so much so that this one could easily become a permanent fixture in my cupboard. Yes, I like it that much!
One glance at the ingredients suggest that this is the evening tea of the Steepster Select Box: soothing, naturally caffeine-free chamomile and lavender, cool peppermint, and sweet rooibos and rose petals. This is definitely a tea made for bedtime.
I really like the way the ingredients work together in this blend. The rose and peppermint offer the strongest flavor, but, they also balance each other out so that it is neither too rosy nor too minty. The chamomile is subtle, but offers a sweet, apple-like flavor in the background. And thankfully, the lavender is not overdone here. I love lavender, but when lavender is too strong it imparts a very perfume-y taste, and while this is strongly floral, it doesn’t taste of perfume.
The rooibos is not a strong flavor here, and I’m okay with that too. It does offer a slight earthiness to the overall flavor, somewhat nutty and woody, but, these flavors manage to meld together with the stronger floral essences and create a very pleasing taste. The overall cup is definitely on the feminine side – sweet with exotic floral tones – and I find that helps to give the cup an almost nurturing effect.
I feel very calm and relaxed after sipping on this tea, and I find this enjoyable enough that I could easily enjoy this on a nightly basis. It’s really quite nice!