Swaziland Rooibos

Steeped up tonight as a caffeine free blend to enjoy while painting my nails (matte “Barney” Purple and Gold) and watching Death Note since they just added that to Netflix! I was going to start season two of GoT but I couldn’t pass up Death Note since I’ve been telling my friend Robyn I’d watch it for years now. I’m on episode 3 right now; it’s decent. I’ll finish it (and Tyrell and Tre will complain I’m putting off GoT) that’s for sure. I don’t have any character(s) I feel really attached to yet, though.

So this tea is in The Box, but I already happened to have a sample of it from VariaTEA so I just used leaf from that sample instead of the box sample. It seemed much more logical. I really had no clue what to expect from this one; there’s no ingredients list or product description here on Steepster and I haven’t seen many reviews for it from people – and the picture is even kinda fuzzy. So I was totally going in blind. When I measured it out I was pretty surprised to see lots of fruit; I was actually thinking the bits in the picture were little caramel cubes.

Taste wise; this is definitely fruity in a citrus heavy way. I felt like I was drinking a woody lemon tea similar to Della Terra’s Lemon Chiffon but without the cream element. There are other flavours here too; but they’re hard to put my finger on. Rose or something else floral? And then I want to say a nutty quality. But it’s weird!

SWAZILAND WHAT ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE!?

I still have one more cup of this left to try and I’ll leave it rating less until I’ve had it because right now I’m just sorta straight up confused!

Dude.
Swaps are taking over my entire life right now.
Thank you VariaTEA for including this tea in our swap!
Ahh DRINK ALL THE ROOIBOS!!!

I actually only picked this tea up from out of the package because of the name. Dude, Swaziland? Sounds way cool :)
Thank you Rachel for giving me so many rooibos teas, and actually helping me at least try to cut caffeine out of my nighttime routine haha.

Accidentally weighed out 4g of this even though I’m using my 8oz mug, Ahh well, at least I love all my rooibos like super way overleafed and oversteeped :)
It smells interesting. Like nice, sweet south african rooibos, but I definitely smell hints of flora… and cinnamon? I think it’s just my nose playing with me hahah
Okay seriously, I feel like it’s a good thing that I added too much tea for this mug. After like 5 minutes, I tasted it and it’s just leafy water. I don’t know, I’m just weird with my rooibos okay
IT’S GOOD! I like it a lot! But I’m probably going to let this steep for another like 10 minutes :)

It’s a really nice rooibos. I really like the sweetness of the rooibos, and yet there’s a bit of a punch with the fruity flavours. Yep. It’s good :)

So I have a timolino and I loved it then one day I made SoHo Blend in it when I was back home in Toronto and something about that tea tasted off and metallicy. I poured that out and cleaned the timolino only to forget it at home (the Toronto home). When I finally got it back with me in Montreal, I noticed it was very discolored inside and despite soaking it with baking soda & vinegar, soap, etc. I couldn’t get it clean and any tea I made had the same metallic flavor as the SoHo Blend. Then I was given the awesome idea by many steepsterites to use polident tablets. Amazingly, they returned the timolino to its original condition and yet, this tea still tastes rather metallic. I have never had this tea, or any other rooibos teas from this company, so it is possible that it is the tea’s fault but I am more inclined to believe the timolino is the culprit here.