Vanilla Cake Batter Rooibos

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BESTEST TEA TWIN IN THE WORLD, ROSWELL STRANGE!!! IN HONOR OF YOUR BIRTHDAY I AM HAVING CAKE (or at least the batter)!

The dry leaf of this tea seems so festive with sprinkles and coconut slivers and silver sugar balls. It seems like it would be a huge punch of flavor. With that said, in a hot brew, all those festive elements leave the tea pretty scummy and the rooibos takes over as the predominant element. The sugar adds sweetness but that just makes it sweet rooibos. Perhaps this would be better the cold brew route?

I went ahead and ordered a full 2 ounces of this one and I’m glad I did! I shared a pot with my sister over a game of Dominion last night and it made for the perfect indulgent evening treat: light as a cloud caffeine-free vanilla sweetness with none of the dreaded woody rooibos aftertaste. It’s even better with a splash of milk!

Sadly, this would be the 1st tea that I don’t like at all by a Quarter to Tea. I think though…maybe I will try a lower temp…and I might consider getting another sample of this.
It isn’t terrible, but just…bland.

Yes, pretty much like vanilla cake batter frolicking on top of red rooibos. Enjoyable.

That said, this tea is very much in the same family as QTT’s Snowflake rooibos and DT’s Birthday Cake, Creme Caramel, and even maplely Oh Canada.

A teeny bit different, yes. But very much the same.

Edit—now that I’ve read the notes of others, I am wondering where my strawberry flavours went. Nope, none in this cup.

My order from A Quarter To Tea came in yesterday, and by the time I got home it was definitely too late for any of the caffeinated blends I got, but this one sounded perfect for an after dinner tea!

I can be iffy about rooibos but this sounded so good I took the chance anyway. The woodsy rooibos flavor is there in the background, but not too much. To me, it’s just enough to add a little extra substance to the tea as a whole. There is a sweetness, but I’m not getting specifics, like vanilla, strawberry, etc. I want to try steeping this longer to try to get more of those flavors out, since I did go for the shorter end of the suggested steep time (right at 8 minutes), and I also want to try this with just a bit of milk to see if that changes anything.

Yet another sample from A Quarter to Tea – thank you! This is a fun rooibos blend – strawberry, coconut, marshmallows and plenty of sprinkles. I’m not sure if the name is accurate but it sure is tasty! The rooibos is a little woody and also reminds me of BBQ, so this might not be the best rooibos to use for this blend (wouldn’t a honeybush base for this blend be awesome?!) But this is a great no caffeine nighttime treat. Definitely some sweet strawberry there (but sometimes rooibos tastes like that on its own), a flavor that reminds me of frosting or whipped cream… so maybe this is like a strawberry cake or strawberry shortcake? The flavor was probably even better after eating a handful of candy corn. :D The second steep had the same flavor from the lovely goodies but somehow the rooibos was less woody and BBQ like. A perfect blend if only the rooibos would change.
Steep #1 // 1 1/4 teaspoons for a mug // 6 minutes after boiling // 2-3 minute steep
Steep #2 (next night) // couple minutes after boiling // 2-3 minute steep
http://www.etsy.com/shop/AQuarterToTea

I hope everyone has a great Halloween!

noms. this was a tasty afternoon tea today – overload of sweet, vanilla deliciousness to keep me from eating things i shouldn’t haha

I’d like to start off by saying THANK GOODNESS these teas aren’t over flavored. This is actually one of a few teas I’d consider to be not quite flavored enough… but I think a lot of that is because I don’t like rooibos :P as much as I am trying. It tastes like the sexy twin of chamomile… which is basically saying rooibos = rose scented poo, so I like blends that are strong enough to null it out.

The flavoring on this though is amazing! It’s a buttery vanilla + strawberry. So yes yes yes! It was a little herby straight, but a touch of almond milk smoothed it out so the strawberry could shine! I like the strawberry in this, it’s very fresh tasting, but still a little jammy. It reminds me of some flavor of childhood I can’t quite pin down. Maybe strawberry shortcake?

Love the flavoring. Total A
What is holding this one back is my dislike for the rooibos base. But I knew that going in to it. It’s enjoyable, I’m just not a rooibos person. But I will learn, and I think Quarter to Tea has some good examples to help show me the way to the Rooibos Fan Club. I would def buy more of this (because I’m learning to not caffeine at night and this is one of the better tasting subs so far) and look forward to trying more from Quarter to Tea.