I don’t discriminate when it comes to tea and coffee, I like them both, hot and iced, and I often find myself drinking one or the other depending on my mood. I was very intrigued to try a rooibos tea with real coffee beans mixed in the dry leaf. Visually, this blend is intriguing, with the fine red grains of rooibos mixed in with dark, roasted coffee beans and chunky cocoa shells.
The smell of this tea is amazing right from the start: there is the sharp, earthy, depth of roasted coffee beans, the sweet decadence of cocoa, and the bright vanilla nuttiness of the red rooibos. Without even brewing a cup, this tea smells like a mocha dessert or java ice cream.
Brewed hot, the cocoa and coffee take over, completely masking the rooibos. This can be a benefit– I’m not always in the mood for the particular taste of red rooibos, though its caffeine-free status is hard to beat. The brewed tea has a smooth mouthfeel, warming and coating my throat, and the sweet flavors almost trick my tongue into thinking we’re having dessert instead of tea.
Even with the coffee beans, there’s not as much caffeine in this blend as other black teas or full-on coffee, so there is more flexibility as to when you can indulge in Macchiato Dream. I’m not as ambitious as some SororiTea Sisters when it comes to building lattes, but I can already tell that this tea will be a winner when mixed with milk and sweetener.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Steeped Tea
Description:
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Tree House of Tea from Adagio Teas. . . . #TeaRex #MonsterBrew #RocketFuel
Beyond the wonderful madness of custom fandom blends on Adagio Teas’ website, they do have a few blends and custom sets of their own. I tried one of their more whimsical sets, the Tree House series. The vibrant, attractive designs of dinosaurs and monsters on the tins was enough to sway me into giving these teas a try. The Tree House series are all herbal decaf teas, and meant to be kid-friendly in style, contents, and taste. Fair warning: these teas brew up strong, fast, so feel free to keep the steep times shorter than you expect. It’s easy to stop the steep time as these teas are all already in silk, pyramid teabags.
This tea smells like Adagio’s Valentine’s blend, though this is a decaf version. The smell and taste are full of rich cocoa and dark berries. Even though cherries are a strong element of this blend, it does not taste like medicine. This tea is dark and full-bodied, almost makes you think it’s a black tea or a mate, but it’s all herbal. If you’re not into chocolate dessert teas, this might not be your favorite. But if you’re looking for a decaf version of the Valentine’s blend, this will be a winner.
Monster Brew
In the tin, this tea smells the most distinct from the three teas in Adagio’s Tree House series. This green rooibos blend focuses on orange and berry. It’s sweet with raspberry and blueberry flavors, but it never gets too syrupy, thanks to the bright citrus notes. Smooth, playful, and easy to drink. This blend has the perfect balance between sweet and sour fruits, and the right balance of a nutty rooibos base with more saturated berry flavors.
The strongest flavors in Rocket Fuel are apple and hibiscus. The hibiscus is subtle, but present, so don’t worry about it overwhelming the blend, but be cautious if you hate the flavor. The hibiscus adds pink to the brewed color, and gives a little pucker to this decaf berry blend. Luckily, there’s enough apple to keep the tea sweet and fresh without getting too tart. Apple is so often paired with cinnamon and spice, it was nice to just taste the crisp fruit and its natural sweetness.
This set is a great gift for a young tea-drinker, or a lover of fruity-decaf teas. Or just a nice gift to yourself– the colorful, illustrated tins will brighten anyone’s tea shelf!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal and Rooibos/Green Rooibos
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description:
Every cup of tea represents an imaginative journey. Our Tree House gift set helps build creative minds one cup at a time. Become an astronaut, scare away monsters hiding in your closet, and roam dinosaur inhabited lands without leaving your home.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Lemon Chiffon from The Love Tea Company. . . . #teaitforward
I got this tea as a surprise! It came in a “Tea It Forward” box, which is a program where you buy a box of 3 teas as a surprise for a friend, and the proceeds go to charity. The wonderful Cuppageek sent this to me as a gift for my general awesomeness! Here’s a pic of what I received.
Tonight’s pick is Lemon Chiffon. This rooibos/honeybush blend allegedly tastes like my grandmother’s cake. Since I didn’t have grandmothers that made this dish, I’m going to just have to wing this.
The lemon in this is strong, and a tiny bit bitter in a way that tastes “authentic.” It doesn’t have a fake sugar-lemon flavor. There’s also some lavender and pomegranate mixed in here, which lives it a little bit of a berry/flower kick.
I doubt that a grandmother would have mixed in pomegranate. But she should have; it’s a cool idea.
Overall, I think this blend is a tiny bit too tart for my tastes, but I think with a little bit of milk/honey, it’d be perfect. Give it a try!
Or help charity out and “Tea It Forward” to a friend who needs a pick-me-up!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: The Love Tea Company
Description
There’s a reason why we call this a brilliant blend. Remember that Lemon Chiffon cake that Grandma made? It’s like that, without the cleanup or pinches to your cheek. A rooibos blend that smells like you could eat it straight out of the jar. Since it has no caffeine, it’s the perfect compliment to any after dinner treat.
Caffeine Level: None
Steep 2 teaspoons @ 195° for 3 – 5 minutes
Luxury Ingredients: rooibos, rooibus tea, honeybush, lemon myrtle, lavender flowers, marigold petals, natural lemon and pomegranate flavor.
Allergens: None
**Priced for purpose means we cost-average our overall inventory and charge a single price per size for our fine quality teas. Our pricing is entirely based upon our mission to donate 25% of net profit to The Flagg Foundation for Mental Wellness. Due to the density of teas, weighted amounts vary from jar to jar. Every purchase of Love Tea is a direct donation to improving human health and happiness.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Oh Canada from DAVIDsTea. . . .
This rooibos “taste of Canada” tastes so much like maple syrup you could probably dunk waffles in it. And if I hadn’t given up processed carbs for Lent, I would absolutely do this and get back to you with how it went. Because I think this would work.
It’s a super-rich, super-realistic flavor with lots of rooibos sweetness layered with it. There are also hilarious maple leaf sprinkles. They’re like Canadian fruity pebbles of overbearing Great White North patriotism.
You’d drink this tea in a giant flannel before going out to construct log cabins by hand. You’d shave in the morning and a have collarbone-length beard by mid-afternoon. You’d ride a moose to your neighbor’s house, eat elk-meat burgers, and come home to sleep the 10 hours necessary to maintain all that Canadian ruggedness.
However, the best part of this tea (maple syrup!!!!) is also the tea’s main drawback (maple syrup????). As much as I love maple syrup, I don’t know if I want to drink a huge mug of it, you know?
If Oh Canada were an outfit, Tim Gunn would describe it as “a lot of look.”
I think of this blend almost as a “concept album.” Like that time Christina Aguilera released her sci-fi album, “Bionic“: Or The Flaming Lips’ “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.” Or that time Garth Brooks was Chris Gaines for a while.
David’s Tea wanted to explore what Peak Canada could possibly be. This is their result.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTea
Description
This super patriotic rooibos blend tastes just like maple syrup. Sweet!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Macchiato Dream from Steeped Tea. . . . .
IIf you’re trying to kick the coffee habit, this tea might be a middle-ground in your transition to tea.
It’s a low-key woodsy rooibos with coffee grounds inside it. You’re still getting those coffee notes, but also some wood notes, and a teensy bit of caramel.
But not a lot of caramel — if that was your selling point, I’m not getting a lot of it here. The description of the tea is “bold caramel flavor with coffee beans”, but I’m getting a much mellower cup.
The woodiness reminds me of clarinet reeds. My clarinet career was a spectacular failure, tea friends. I didn’t just “lack talent.” I was a bumbling, squeaking mess. Toward the end, I flat-out refused to practice because I believed it did no good. I hated every moment. I went down in a blaze of glory.
But I loved a fresh reed. That was a good time. I was constantly replacing those reeds. I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to my parents’ bank account for my reckless financial attitude toward those $2-a-pop reeds. They were the only thing that got me through. And they live in this rooibos.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Steeped Tea
Description
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!