Another new tea! This is not part of the Valentine’s Day collection, but it did coincidentally also launch today online – it’s the tea I teased earlier in the week as the replacement tea for DT’s now retired Rooibos, and it’s going to be a Core tea…
This is such a unique and exciting tea to be coming into DT’s line up – and especially for a year round thing. I’ve been scouring tea websites for months now trying to see if there’s anyone else with something comparable, and I’ve come up dry. For a straight rooibos, this is delicious. Like, I’ve never been a big fan of DT’s old red rooibos – it’s very average/run of the mill for me in terms of flavour and I know that personally I always had a really hard time selling it when I worked in stores too.
This is just so cool though! Visually, it’s way more unique looking – you get to see all different sizes of rooibos leaves because when the plant is growing it’s not interfered with in any way; it’s just left to grow and do its thing up until the time it’s harvested. I know that DT has a lot of cool information that we’re going to be sharing about the background story on this tea, so I wont go into detail here – but let’s just say the story is VERY cool and may or may not involve donkeys…
In terms of flavour, I think this is much sweeter and smoother than DT’s previous rooibos. I’d never drink the old rooibos straight up, but I’ll make up a pot of this one to enjoy in the evenings. It’s got a nice mix of wildflower honey, red fruit, and hazelnut/almond notes and it’s significantly less mineral/peppery tasting. Still a touch woody, though. Almost, in a few ways, reminds me of honeybush too. I even see some loose resemblance in the dry leaf…
I imagine this still won’t ever be a “top” seller for DT – but I think it’s so much better than what we were carrying, and I honestly feel kind of proud to have something this cool on our wall. Definitely separates our rooibos from the run of the mill rooibos you’d be getting other places. Of course, I’m 100% biased here and I know that – so I look forward to seeing other people’s takes in this rooibos and reading plenty of reviews!
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
And now I’m curious about the donkeys