I’ll admit it – I sniffed this for a while. It smells creamy and like a tart raspberry or unripe blackberry. Oddly enough it brings to mind a thick, heavy but faintly lemony custard. I have no idea why this is making me think of lemon custard because I don’t think I’m supposed to. But I am. I should probably concentrate on the berry thought but I keep going back to lemon. Anyway. I smell a bit of warmish almost spicy that might be the rooibos. But it also might be the unripe blackberry so I’m going to say I can’t really catch any rooibos.
Once the hot water hit the leaves though, gak! Sour and berry and sour and wood and sour and rooibos all over the place. Noooo! But I shall soldier forward and wait for it to brew! Fortunately, once it has been fully steeped and put into my cup, the rooibos smell is much milder. The smell reminds me of this morning’s Marco Polo with a blop of custard in it. Not that I’ve ever put custard in my tea. I wonder if adding a little sugar would turn the custard into creme brulee because that would be awesome. Anyway, the rooibos is an infrequent back note hiding behind the custard. And now I’m just smelling it to put off sipping so here we go.
Huh. This is… pretty bland. It tastes maybe like a fourth steep of Marco Polo with a custard edge to it. How is this possible? As it cools, a little more flavor pops up but we’re talking third steep of Marco Polo or maybe a fairly week second steep. There is custard and berry and water. That’s pretty much what I’m getting. The flavors mesh nicely with the custard a little more towards the front and the berry a little more towards the back, but they overlap and flow well. And don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that there is virtually zero evidence of rooibos. But a little more flavor would not go amiss.
Okay, I refuse to rate this right now because I’m so mixed. If I can brew this tea where it actually tastes like a first steep and not a second, this could be pretty freaking awesome. But right now? Yeah, no so much.
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YAY! It’s still here! Forgot to hit post, travelled away and then discovered that the comment wasn’t there. Lots of back-buttoning later, here it is!
Is this a pure rooibos base? It sounds so intriguing! Custard and berries and CUSTARD for crying out loud! It doesn’t sound like it’s very rooibos-y…
I must remember this for France!
Did I mention custard?
Yep, a pure rooibos base but very little rooibos in the taste. Actually, very little of anything in the taste, dang it. Just faint bits of berries and custard which would be so awesome if it were stronger! I just… wanted more. It could have been so great! So sad. I have enough leaf left for maybe two or three cups so I will continue to attempt getting taste from this. Fingers crossed! (And awesome on the comment still being there – why does that never happen to me? So jealous!)
Oh, and I got distracted by the sad lack of taste thing but maybe you can find a MF place and have a cup of this while you are in France. And then if you get a stronger taste from it, you can pester them to see what I’m doing wrong and then there will be custard tea for everyone! (Okay, mostly for you and me and maybe a couple others that have this tea but still).
Yeah, I just saw the second post. Hmm… Hmmmmmm…. I think I’ll still look for it in France though. I’m not sure I can get my mind to let go of OMG if I don’t. :p
YAY! It’s still here! Forgot to hit post, travelled away and then discovered that the comment wasn’t there. Lots of back-buttoning later, here it is!
Is this a pure rooibos base? It sounds so intriguing! Custard and berries and CUSTARD for crying out loud! It doesn’t sound like it’s very rooibos-y…
I must remember this for France!
Did I mention custard?
Yep, a pure rooibos base but very little rooibos in the taste. Actually, very little of anything in the taste, dang it. Just faint bits of berries and custard which would be so awesome if it were stronger! I just… wanted more. It could have been so great! So sad. I have enough leaf left for maybe two or three cups so I will continue to attempt getting taste from this. Fingers crossed! (And awesome on the comment still being there – why does that never happen to me? So jealous!)
Oh, and I got distracted by the sad lack of taste thing but maybe you can find a MF place and have a cup of this while you are in France. And then if you get a stronger taste from it, you can pester them to see what I’m doing wrong and then there will be custard tea for everyone! (Okay, mostly for you and me and maybe a couple others that have this tea but still).
Yeah, I just saw the second post. Hmm… Hmmmmmm…. I think I’ll still look for it in France though. I’m not sure I can get my mind to let go of OMG if I don’t. :p