Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos & Honeybush
Where to Buy: David’s Tea
Tisane Description:
Looking for a taste of Canada? Try this red rooibos tea. It’s sweetened with (what else?) maple syrup and sprinkled with delicious maple leaf candies. Plus it’s 100% diplomatic (well, caffeine-free) and tastes great in both our official languages. With green rooibos, honeybush, caramel and toffee bits to shake things up. A truly authentic Canadian experience.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The brewed tisane smells scrumptious! It smells like a pancake breakfast and it’s making my mouth water!
To steep: I used my Kati Tumbler and added 1 1/2 bamboo scoops to the basket of the tumbler. Then I added 195°F water to the tumbler and allowed the tisane to steep for 10 minutes.
And it tastes a little bit like a pancake breakfast too. The nutty notes from the rooibos and honeybush add a “pancakey” like flavor to the rich maple-y notes of the flavoring. The toffee and caramel notes enhance the sweetness (this is a very sweet pancake breakfast, mmm-kay?)
But really, even though I’m getting notes of rooibos, honeybush, toffee and caramel, this tisane is really about the maple! Sweet, delicious maple. Not like the weird corn syrup with maple flavoring. This has a real maple-y flavor to it. It’s sweet and luscious!
If you’re a fan of maple, this is a tisane you should try. It has a very dessert-y quality (obviously) so it would make a tasty low-cal/non-fat substitute for dessert or a great treat for the sweet tooth late night craving! And it’s naturally caffeine free!
Chocolate Malt Flavored Honeybush Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
I wasn’t sure about this blend. I mean … you know me, I’m a chocoholic, so I LOVE chocolate, and chocolate teas are some of my favorite teas to be tasting. But, I have been kind of on the fence about iced chocolate tea. I don’t know why.
But wow! This is yummy!
It really tastes very chocolate malt-ish … but without the thick, rich ice cream-y texture of a chocolate malt. But the flavors are all there. It’s like sipping on a very thin chocolate malt.
It’s got a strong chocolate flavor (I like that!) and I can even taste the notes of malt. The natural nutty notes of the honeybush seem to accentuate the malt flavor. And I can even taste subtle notes of vanilla in there. It’s sweet and chocolate-y and just … so very yummy!
I like this a whole lot more than I expected I would.
To brew this, I brought a quart of water to a near boil: 195°F. Then I dropped the large tea bag into the vessel and let it steep for 9 1/2 minutes and strained the brewed liquid into my favorite glass 2 quart tea pitcher. Then I brought a second quart of water to 195°F and resteeped the tea bag for 12 minutes.
Remember, with honeybush, you can steep the leaves longer than you would steep the leaves of Camellia Sinensis because there are very little (if any) tannins in the honeybush leaves. You won’t get a bitter brew! The reason I go with a slightly below boiling temperature with honeybush (and rooibos) is because I find that if I go with a boiling temperature, I end up with a sort of ‘sour wood’ sort of flavor that I don’t enjoy. The slightly lower temperature eliminates this funky flavor. This little tip has helped me to enjoy honeybush and especially rooibos a lot more than I used to.
And I REALLY am enjoying this Chocolate Malt Iced Tea. It’s awesome!
Caramel Banana flavored Honeybush Tisane from 52Teas
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
One of the things I always love doing with our flavored teas is creating combinations that might be really messy or not look as pretty as something attempted in a real dessert. Case in point, this week’s tea. Caramel apples are abundant. Everyone knows about caramel apples, but why couldn’t you have a caramel banana? I imagine it might be messy and probably the texture would be odd–chewy, gooey caramel on the outside of a sweet, ripe banana. So maybe it wouldn’t be pretty and maybe the contrast of textures might be a bit odd, but I bet the flavors would be amazing. In fact, I’m so sure of it, that I’ve gone ahead and created a caramel banana flavored tea for this week’s tea. We combined caffeine-free organic honeybush, freeze-dried bananas, marigold petals and organic caramel and banana flavors.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This tisane smells pretty amazing. Caramel Banana? YUM!
And it tastes even better than it smells! Wow! The honeybush adds just the right amount of honeyed, nutty flavor. I love the way the honey notes meld with the caramel flavor. I’ve only had honey caramels a couple of times (here’s one of my favorite honey caramel confections) but those few experiences with honey caramel has left a very memorable impression. And I love the way the sweet, honey-esque notes of the honeybush marry with the luscious caramel tones of this tisane.
I love the idea of a caramel banana. This should be a candy that someone comes up with, like instead of peanut butter cups, how about caramel banana cups. Make like a creamy banana caramel custard with a thick ribbon of gooey caramel on top, and the whole thing is “cupped” in a dark chocolate cup. Or milk chocolate. I’d need to try both to figure out which tastes better. The top of the chocolate cup would be sprinkled in chopped almonds for a little bit of texture and maybe just a little bit of “salty” to go with the sweet. Does that sound amazing or what? I should work in the idea department of a candy company.
But I really like my “job” as a tea reviewer. I love trying new teas and tisanes, and it’s because of genius flavors like this. The banana is sweet and tastes amazing with the flavors of nutty, honey-sweet honeybush and indulgent, creamy caramel. Completely and totally yum!
This is delicious hot and it’s also really good as the tisane cools – it would make a great iced tea. To brew it, I used 195°F water and let it steep for 10 minutes. Remember, with honeybush, you don’t have to worry about it becoming bitter because of oversteeping, because it doesn’t have the tannins that Camellia Sinensis has … so you can steep it longer and get a lot of flavor out of the steep.
A brilliant cuppa!
Honeybush Herbal Tisane from Simple Loose Leaf
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf here.
Tisane Description:
A sweet, smooth honey-scented herbal tea, Honeybush is made up of the leaves, stems, and flowers of a bush native to South Africa. Honeybush provides a bit of a natural smoked flavor with a touch of a tart finish. It is caffeine-free, low in tannins and contains antioxidants, making it a delicious, healthy, and versatile beverage.
Ingredients: South African Honeybush Herbal Tea
Learn more about this tisane here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s Selection Club subscription program here.
Save 25% off when you sign up for the Selection Club. Use the coupon code SISTERSELECTION25 when you join. This discount is applicable only to the monthly Selection Club subscription and not the retail selection of teas.
Taster’s Review:
It’s not very often that I have a cup of straight-up honeybush anymore. Usually, I’m tasting honeybush as part of a flavored blend. But as I sit here, sipping on this Honeybush from this month’s box from Simple Loose Leaf, I find that I’m quite enjoying this! I’m enjoying it a lot more than I expected to.
In fact, as I was brewing it, my attitude was kind of glib. I wasn’t all that excited about it. I mean, it’s not like I’ve not tried pure honeybush in the past.
But as I said, it’s been a while since the last time I had a cup of pure honeybush. I don’t know for sure how long it’s been, but it’s been long enough to where I’ve forgotten just how tasty a cup of straight-up honeybush tastes.
It’s sweet and honey-esque. Hence the name. There is a nutty note to it, and a slight woodsy tone. The description above suggests a “natural smoked flavor” and while I can’t say that I ever remember that smoky note in the past, I am noticing it now. It’s slightly toasty. It enhances the nutty flavors, so perhaps that’s why the smoky/toasty note was indistinguishable in the past because what was “smoky” or “toasty” was also “nutty.”
It’s a very soothing beverage, and because it’s naturally caffeine free, it’s one that you can drink later in the evening without worry that you’ll start bouncing off the walls from a caffeinated buzz. And while pure honeybush is not something that I keep on hand regularly, it sure is nice to have a cup of it every once in a while, and I have Simple Loose Leaf to thank for reminding me of that!
That’s one of the reasons that I absolutely LOVE the Selection Club tea box that arrives from Simple Loose Leaf in my mailbox every month. I get five sampler size packages of high quality loose leaf tea in every box. Each month, these five teas are different, and every month, the box is a new adventure. It’s so much fun to receive this box every month!
Cinnamon Roll Flavored Honeybush Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
OK, so I have to admit that I’m less excited about a honeybush iced tea than I am a black iced tea. (Or should I say honeybush iced tisane?) Anyway, despite my less than enthusiastic attitude about this product, I am LOVING IT! It is really delicious and very refreshing.
The honeybush base is actually ideal for these flavors because the naturally sweet, nutty flavor of the honeybush creates a sort of bready/doughy flavor for the “roll” part of this taste experience. I can taste notes of butter that further accentuate the pastry flavor.
It’s sweet and gently spiced with cinnamon. I don’t get a heavy “icing” taste from this but I do get a light vanilla-y, creamy undertone to this that tastes a bit like the icing that would be smothered over a freshly baked cinnamon roll. I don’t think I’d want it to be a heavier icing taste, I like the way that the creamy notes here are softer in flavor than your typical mall-food-court cinnamon roll because while my sweet tooth gets happy at the thought of that sweet, decadent icing … it’s the part of the cinnamon roll that keeps me from indulging in cinnamon rolls very often – that sweetness becomes cloying too fast and I feel a little overwhelmed by the sweetness (and sometimes a little sick from it.)
This – on the other hand – is just right with the sweetness. This is the way I’d want my cinnamon roll to taste: lighter on the icing with a nice, well-pronounced cinnamon note and a satisfying, buttery pastry.
A really enjoyable iced tea. This is one that I could see myself ordering again.