teaplz Send Message

I got home from Christmas at my aunt’s house not too long ago, and I really wanted to tear into some of the tea I got for Christmas. But it was soooo late, that I definitely couldn’t have anything with caffeine. So I opened up this sample that TeaGschwendner gave me, complimentary with my order from them (and they included a personalized note and it was signed, by a real person). I figured, what the heck, it’s Christmas, and this is an Eggnog tea, and eggnog is pretty much THE Christmas beverage.

When I opened up the little resealable package, I was immediately hit with the scent of eggnog. Like, real, honest-to-goodness eggnog. If you had blindfolded me and put this under my nose, I would have thought there was a glass of eggnog near my face. It’s rich and creamy smelling.

This is the first time that I saw rooibos up close and personal, loose-leaf style. The only other rooibos I’ve ever had was that ROT Dream by the Fire blend, which I really didn’t enjoy. I could smell something similar in this bag to the ROT bag, so I figure that’s what rooibos smells like! Woodsy sweet.

Anyway, I steeped this up, and the resulting infusion was a beautiful sunset burnt orange. The smell coming off the liquod had a rooibos slant, but the eggnog was the dominant aroma. I’m not the hugest fan of eggnog, but I really do like Silk’s rendition of it.

On my first sip, I was quite surprised. It’s mild and smooth, and almost creamy-like. The eggnog doesn’t hit you until the tail end of the sip, and it tastes very convincing and natural. Like someone poured some eggnog into my rooibos. The effect was a bit uncanny and disconcerting. It’s a fairly sweet flavored tea, so I wouldn’t add any additional sugar (not that I ever add any to begin with). The eggnog flavoring definitely doesn’t overpower the taste of the rooibos, which I think I’m starting to get a feeling for on its own. I think I’m actually enjoying the taste. It’s fairly mild and sweet, even though it sort of looks like pencil sharpener shavings.

I sipped this with the boyfriend as we chatted about Christmas, and it just felt very snuggly and homey. I don’t think that I’d be able to drink this on a daily basis, for sure. It’s extremely seasonal. But it’s a really fun substitute for eggnog. One of those teas you curl up next to a fire on a cold winter’s night. And a perfect cap to this dreary Christmas evening!