Backlog from Sunday.
This is the first time I’ve tried green rooibos on its own. I’ve had a couple of blends which featured it, but I’ve never tried it in its neat state before. The smell, at first, was discouraging. I find rooibos disturbingly brassy, but this smells somehow…swampy. The colour of the dry leaf was interesting, though. It is actually pale green and cream. I don’t know what I was expecting, but a small part of me was pleased that its colour lived up to its name. I think I thought it was just going to look like rooibos. And rooibos is red. Habit.
Anyway, this doesn’t taste as bad as it smells. It’s not exactly lovely stuff, but it’s not bad. The taste is hard to pinpoint. I want to say woodsy, but in a piney sort of way, or maybe sawdust. There’s something quite resinous and “green” about it. I also want to say nutty, but that’s not quite right either. It tastes similar to normal red rooibos, only…greener. Unhelpful, yes, but it’s so hard to put words to what I’m tasting. I think raw wood and resin, maybe pine, are as close as I’m going to get.
The liquor is a pale gold, so I drank this as is. I normally add milk to rooibos, but it wouldn’t work here. I can’t say I find it an enjoyable cup, but I’ve got a couple of blends in my stash that feature green rooibos, and I wanted to try it solo at some point so I have the experience to draw on when tasting. Educational, if not overwhelmingly pleasant.
