Scheherazade shared this with me, and it was one that I didn’t even know that I was interested in at all! Only once I had it, it turned out that I was.
I had the black version of MP through a swap years ago, and I seem to recall that I rather liked it. At the time I didn’t understand why a rooibos version even existed, because I didn’t care for rooibos at all during that time. Later on I forgot all about it. It’s not a blend that you see around on Steepster a lot after all.
It’s weird actually, that period. It lasted several years. I started out quite liking rooibos, both unflavoured and flavoured. Then I suddenly couldn’t stand the stuff no matter how it came. That went on for years. I even gave all my rooibos blends to Husband back when he was still Boyfriend. Then Cteresa sent me a rooibos blend with vanilla and strawberry I think it was, which I dutifully tried because I feel that when someone shares something with you, it’s polite to at least give it a go with as open a mind as one can muster, even when it’s something one doesn’t expect to like very much. So I tried the blend Cteresa shared with me and was promptly knocked clean off my feet and I gave a score of 90-something points.
So now, suddenly, I rather enjoy rooibos blends again, although I still don’t care for unflavoured rooibos. That tastes a bit like chewing a pencil.
And I’ve clean forgotten where I was going with this.
Anyway, I can’t remember what goes into a Marco Polo blend on any base, but I think it was something with chocolate and strawberry. I believe there was a third thing, but I can’t say what it might be.
Well, it smells like chocolate and strawberry and rooibos, so so far so good.
It also tastes quite like strawberry, but not so much like chocolate. I’m getting a bit of that on the swallow, but otherwise it just tastes fruity.
I have previously elaborated on my difficulties with chocolate flavoured blends, so all in all I found this a remarkably pleasant blend.
Although it seems to have given me hiccups.
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I am going through exactly what you described! Perhaps it is a typical progression of tea appreciation development? I started out liking rooibos—in fact, it’s what made me think I could get into tea—then I really started liking true teas and rooibos qua rooibos no longer seemed to measure up, started to take on all sorts of unpleasant characteristics, etc. Now I’m back to where I can appreciate a good rooibos blend, but for me that usually means I can’t really taste the rooibos as a separate flavor, and I usually prefer green rooibos blends to red ones.
I’ve only had one or two green rooiboses, so I can’t honestly remember much about what they taste like. I do seem to recall not being terribly impressed last time I had one. Mind you, I did drink ‘real’ tea LONG before I ever tasted a rooibos.
I am going through exactly what you described! Perhaps it is a typical progression of tea appreciation development? I started out liking rooibos—in fact, it’s what made me think I could get into tea—then I really started liking true teas and rooibos qua rooibos no longer seemed to measure up, started to take on all sorts of unpleasant characteristics, etc. Now I’m back to where I can appreciate a good rooibos blend, but for me that usually means I can’t really taste the rooibos as a separate flavor, and I usually prefer green rooibos blends to red ones.
I’ve only had one or two green rooiboses, so I can’t honestly remember much about what they taste like. I do seem to recall not being terribly impressed last time I had one. Mind you, I did drink ‘real’ tea LONG before I ever tasted a rooibos.