Earl Grey Rooibos

#ProjectTeaWall

The other iced tea that I had the same night I had Super Charge; after that tea I wanted something familiar/comforting but still wanted to cross something off the list. This was the perfect solution because I’m not only very familiar with Earl Grey but I’ve had rooibos versions of Earl Grey before as well; just not from DAVIDsTEA.

This is great iced; really smooth and very strong bergamot notes. Without the black base of a traditional Earl Grey the bergamot REALLY takes over the cup and completely masks the flavour of the rooibos so it’s all your tasting. The only thing I’d really want to change, personally, is add a bit of vanilla or cream to it so it’s more London Fog/Cream of Earl Grey like and a bit less one dimension. You can always add some milk too to sort of get the same affect, though. That’s just nitpicking, as well.

My on shift routine I’ve sort of settled into is something strongly caffeinated at the start of my shift to sort of transition from job #1 to job #2 and not burn out immediately, which is working, and then for the end of the shift I’ll make something without any caffeine so that I’m not up all night and can pass out right away at 11ish when I get home from work/the bus home. Gotta get up at 6AM every morning for Job #1; so sleep is important. I’m liking this routine thus far.

Friendly reminder that I’m not currently numerically rating DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently seasonally 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 regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

This tea is amazing! Personally I think it is better than the original earl grey and has bonus points for being caffeine free! It is a nice balance of all ingredients and doesn’t require milk or sugar (for me at least)

I find this tea is a very finicky one that demands a lot for me to sufficiently enjoy it. I use about half as much of the dried tea as I normally would for any other tea, steep it shorter, 2 to 2.5 minutes and drink it before it cools. If I accommodate all of these elements, it’s a more positive drinking experience but I’ve discovered this only through several batches I could barely finish. I found my high hopes for a lovely Earl Grey that could be enjoyed any time of day rather disappointed. I’m generally quite comfortable and prefer drinking Earl Greys without cream or sugar. I feel like this Earl Grey rooibos is really astringent and bitter by itself though. I think I’ll stick to my Earl Grey black teas in the morning if this is the closest I can come to a non-caffeinated version.

This is neither terrible nor spectacular but somewhere in between. The rooibos seems the strongest element followed by the bergamot and the tangerine. They are fairly well blended together. I find myself wondering how good this would be iced.

I brewed three tsp leaf in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 200 degree water for five minutes.

This tea is seriously tasty! It is best with milk and some vanilla sugar in my opinion, but then again, I’m in love with London Fogs. I think the bergamot oil is stronger in this blend than almost all Earl greys I’ve tried. the rooibos is a great base because it never gets astringent or bitter like black teas. The rooibos actually adds some sweetness with goes well with the citrus. One of the things I noticed is that it steeps very dark, about the same colour as the tea leaves themselves. The aroma is a bit floral, hinting at rose

Really thrilled over this tea, but not because of the taste. Let’s talk chemistry! Especially since I’m quite literally procrastinating going over my orgo while writing this.

I’m an earl grey lover through and through and had never had a rooibos when I visited DAVIDs last fall and mentioned this in passing to the girl behind the counter. I was there for blacks and herbals, and hearing of my love of the earl, she hit me up to try it with the rooibos twist for my late night cravings. I’ll try anything once, and it’s a beautiful tea, but it wasn’t hard to figure out why I had drunk around this when found in my cupboard this morning for my next sip-down.

I opened the bag. What is that? Mint? With earl? Ugh. The dry scent, for me, is off-putting and certainly does not give off that lemon-cloud-rainy-sky feel that I’ve come to appreciate in an earl. Which made me consider: what is rooibos? Is this the scent of a rooibos? Is this what I can expect it to taste like?

A quick office hour with Professor Wikipedia and I see what we’re working with. A familiar word highlighted in the “you-have-clicked-here” purple flagged me down, and we’re off. Cinnamic acid is found in the leaves and stems of the rooibos legume, most familiarly found today in cinnamon, has a honey-like odor (check!) and is one of two major flavor components of cinnamon. I’ve spent the past two weeks working with acids—including this very one—turning them about into esters on paper and look forward to attempting one in lab, so this is a happy fun chemical coincidence that I didn’t expect.

I love cinnamon—cook with it nearly every week—but I’m not certain this flavor profile pairs well with earl grey. Many tea companies and drinkers seem to feel otherwise, and that’s great. I will say that the mint-like scent turns to give more of a cinnamon flavor once brewed and that I found this much more sippable than the dry had me expecting it to be. I sipped this along with a little whole milk and sugar, as prescribed on the package, which I think likely helped it along for me in the taste department.

I’m ordering a few more rooibos this week from Bluebird Tea Co. via tea-sipper (thanks again for doing this!) and looking forward to see how rooibos fares without treading on my beloved Earl.

This tastes pretty terrible on its own. It’s a little better with milk, but nevertheless leaves this weird aftertaste that clings to my tongue. Like an artificial orange candy.

I was hoping I could find some good non-caffeinated teas for night sipping at DAVIDsTEA but it’s not really working out so far. All their flavoured teas need to be rinsed –– maybe rinsed twice. Sticking with Lupicia and Alice’s Tea Cup from now on.

I love Earl Grey and I am not a huge fan of Rooibos. In the end, it’s a good blend, but I’ve found I like the Vanilla Rooibos much more – so that will be my go-to evening tea…

Not bad. Its nice for those who love earl grey but want to cut down on caffeine.

I love Earl Grey blends, but oddly didn’t enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. It was still good, mind you, but there was a hint of… something in my cup that just tasted a little off. Maybe it was the rooibos (lord knows I have an up and down relationship with that). I wish they weren’t discontinuing the decaf earl grey, as I like that blend much better – I think true Earl’s are meant to be of the black tea family.