TeaNecromancer select Send Message

This new trilogy of medication for my allergies and asthma are annoying. The side effects are just bad enough to make me really uncomfortable, but not bad enough that I can justify stopping them. Plus being able to breathe again after who knows how long is great. It will take some getting used to and with any luck the side effects will start to balance out soon.

Today’s tea is from Just Organic Tea, Just Relaxing Red, a straight Rooibos tea from the land of South Africa. Did you know that the plant that produces the lovely little leaves (Aspalanthus linearis) is actually a legume? There is your random plant fact for the day. I had my first run in with Rooibos back when I was 17, my coffee shop haunt had this great Rooibos smoothie, I was sad when its limited run ended because I became hooked on it. The aroma of this tea is very typical of a Rooibos, it is woody, sweet, a bit sharp, and a rich caramel sweetness. Rooibos has a very acquired aroma I feel, there are times I crave its woody sweetness, other times it gives me a headache.

The brewed leaves (hey these surprisingly didn’t all end up outside of my steeping basket, win!) have a very woody quality with a strong sweetness and a really rich caramel presence. It smells like a really high quality Rooibos. The liquid without the little red leaves is woody and richly caramel, it smells yummy!

Not surprisingly, it tastes yummy! The taste is woody and rich with strong notes of caramel and sweetness that reminds me a bit of vanilla cookies. Like all Rooibos (crap, what is the plural of Rooibos?) tea it gives the mouth a dry feel, however it is milder than most ones I have sipped. One thing I will give this Rooibos credit for is its richness and heaviness, it tastes just like the Rooibos in the smoothies I drank as a teenager, so happy nostalgia points for this tea. Chilled the caramel notes become much stronger and the tea becomes a bit sweeter. In case you can’t tell I really enjoyed this Rooibos, in fact it might be the first unblended Rooibos that I have really enjoyed in a while.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/06/just-organic-tea-just-relaxing-red-tea.html