Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Pluff Iced Tea on Foodzie
Product Description:
Pure Red Tea. Smooth, Naturally Sweet, Caffeine Free!
Batch Notes: Caffeine Free. Smooth and aromatic, with a lightly citric sweetness and rich character. Blends well with light sugar for the ultimate red iced tea. Geography: Harvested from the rugged Western Cape Province- windswept and mountainous, a diverse land that produces the world’s finest red tea. Origin: South Africa.
Taster’s Review:
I’ll admit that I didn’t have high hopes for this tisane, and that’s what has kept me from brewing it until now. As some of you are aware, I am not particularly fond of rooibos. I usually like rooibos alright when it’s part of a blend, but, pure, unflavored rooibos? Not so much. And that’s just what this is: pure, unflavored rooibos.
I hot-brewed this last night according to the instructions, using a little less sugar than called for (I used only 1/4 cup turbinado sugar instead of the suggested 1/3 cup). Each of these large teabags makes a half gallon of iced tea. After brewing this tea, I refrigerated it overnight to enjoy today.
The good news: This is not as bad as I thought it would be … it’s actually pretty tasty. It tastes light and sweet, with nutty and woody notes, and a hint of fruit in the background.
The bad news: I still get a bit of that “funky aftertaste” that I often associate with rooibos. But with a little sugar, it is less apparent.
This is not not my favorite iced tea (but they can’t all be my favorite, can they?) but it is certainly enjoyable. It has a light, refreshing taste, and it’s a nice way to keep cool without feeling weighed down with a heavier, caffeinated tea. And because it’s naturally caffeine free (and very healthy too), it’s one you can feel good about serving to the kids. Especially delicious when served with thin slices of lime.
Pure Southern from Pluff Iced Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Pluff Iced Tea on Foodzie ~or~ visit Pluff Iced Tea website for more information
Product Description:
Rich Black Tea, Naturally Sweet!
Tea Grade: Pure Broken Orange Pekoe. Batch Notes: Bright and Brisk,
Citrusy Notes, Rich Character, Naturally Sweet (no sugar required). Dark tones blend well with light sugar for the ultimate sweet iced tea. Geography: Single estate tea- mountain grown in rich, tropical soils that are known to produce the world’s finest iced tea. Origin: India.
Taster’s Review:
I remember my gramma used to brew sun tea in a great big jar out on her back porch. She would plunk eight to ten tea bags into the jar and fill it with water, and in a few hours, the tea was ready. After trying out these big “2 quart” size tea bags to make iced tea, I think my gramma would have thought these were a marvelous invention! It’s so easy to brew a half a gallon of iced tea with just one of these teabags.
Here’s how I made this batch: I brought 1 quart of water to a boil, and then I put 1 of these large teabags into my teapot, and carefully poured the boiling water into the teapot and let it brew for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, I added 1 quart of room temperature water to my iced tea pitcher (I don’t recommend ice cold water at this stage, because I find that the rapid drop in temperature causes the tea to become cloudy – this doesn’t affect the flavor of the tea, but, it just doesn’t look as refreshing!) Once the tea was finished with its brewing cycle, I removed the teabag and poured the brewed tea into my carafe with the 1 quart of water. (By the way, if you want a sweeter tea, add sugar to the hot tea before you add it to the cooler tea, and stir it until dissolved.)
And, as much as I love my gramma (and my many memories of her), I have to admit that this tea tastes better than the tea she used to make that sun tea (you know that bright yellow, white and red box of teabags you can buy in the grocery store? Uh huh… that stuff)
This black tea has a light sweetness to it and a distant fruit-like note. It tastes fresh and pleasant, with a brisk, snappy flavor. It is especially nice when paired with a thin slice of citrus (my favorite is a slice of lime). I like this fine without any sweetener added, but if you like a sweeter iced tea, this would take the addition very well.
These large tea bags from Pluff make a great pitcher of iced tea and they make it so easy too! And as a loving tribute to my gramma, I plan on brewing my next batch of Pure Southern as a sun tea. Of course, I’ll have to wait until the sun actually comes out. Right now, if I put it out on the back porch, it would be rain tea! I’ll be sure to drop a comment on this review when I do make the sun tea to let you know how it comes out!