Vanilla Rooibos

Another one headed to Liberteas :)
See previous notes :)

I’ve had this for a while, but I keep forgetting to log it when I drink it. Mostly because when I am enjoying it, it is later at night and I’m not sitting at the computer … but I was determined tonight to write the note!!!

This is one of those teas that tastes better than it smells. When I first opened it, it kind of had a tobacco-y kind of scent, and I like the smell of tobacco (so long as it’s not burning in a cigarette) but, not to drink … you know? I mean, it’s a pleasant smell, but it’s not something I’d think “mmm…that’d be good to drink.”

But, like I said, it tastes better than it smells. It tastes of vanilla, first and foremost, with a hint of apple-y chamomile. I taste a bit of the woody tones from the rooibos, but it melds nicely with the vanilla notes. Overall, it’s a very pleasant tisane – and it’s really nice to have on hand for those evenings when you want something smooth and easy to sip.

Generous sample from TeaEqualsBliss.
This smells like pipe tobacco!
The dry leaves, and wet, as well as the tea brewing.
But,good quality pipe tobacco.
Something my father would sit outside on a summer’s eve and smoke.
Beautiful red in color.
Tastes mainly of Rooibos, a twang of vanilla on the back of the tongue.
I might play around with this tea.
Maybe mixing some of this with a Chai I have.

This is another favorite tea of mine.
It’s not nearly as creamy as the Red Rocks, but it does have a stronger vanilla flavor. The hint of chamomile is a pleasant surprise. It blends very nicely with the vanilla and rooibos.
For me this tea is quite a bit sweeter than most of the vanilla rooibos I’ve tried. This may be an important consideration for others.
Some thing else to ruminate on is price. This particular vanilla rooibos is one of the cheaper teas. Red Rocks is considerably higher priced. I have found that it is just a good steeped 4 or 5 times as the first. Red Rocks falls a bit shorter on that. I get 3 good steepings with it.

The smell reminds me of pipe tobacco; a rich vanilla scent.

While brewing, it smells much of the same, only with a bit less of vanilla.

With some milk and a bit of sugar, tastes very much like a vanilla rooibos: simple, comforting, woody vanilla.

This would probably be great iced, though I prefer my tea warm. It’s too cold out for me to be in the mood for iced tea, so perhaps I’ll save a bit for the warmer seasons to ice.

This is one of the lamest rooibos blends I have ever had. It is labelled as “true vanilla” (vanilla rooibos blend). I didn’t notice it had stevia in it until later that day when I went to through out the package, but I didn’t seem to get a stomach ache from it, so that is good news. The stevia was unnecessary IMO, and I couldn’t taste it anyway.

The rooibos is very woody and tannic, it tastes like really cheap rooibos that is overly processed or is very stale. A bit of vanilla, but it doesn’t really add anything to it. I couldn’t taste any chamomile at all.

I’m always a big fan of vanilla rooibos. This one is creamy and mellow, maybe a touch of smoke in there. And since I got it at Pike Place, drinking this always brings me back there. :) I’ll probably be resteeping a couple times on this wet cloudy night after all this springtime storming.