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.