Vanilla Berry Truffle

Last tea of the night, so i figured I’d bust out my Persimmon Tree rooibos. I finished off the mint chocolate one i had from them a little while back, but this is still my favourite for sure. This is more like a creamy rooibos without being particularly berry but it’s tasty. And i don’t taste the rooibos so no complaints here. Well except for shipping to canada from this company but you know….otherwise it’s all good lol.

Note: if you hold the tea in your mouth the berry flavour comes out to play lol

Another tea from Sil. :)
So, when I opened the bag, I was like, “Oh crap…rooibos…meh…”
But I made a cup anyway. The aroma was a turn off for me, & the first couple of sips were a little to bright for me, too intense.
I almost dumped it out.
I’m sitting around watching old episodes of NCIS. I let the tea cool for a few minutes, taking an occasional sip, & it sort of grew on me a little, at least enough to drink the rest of the cup.
It’s wierd…I don’t really know how I feel about it. I have mixed feelings. The flavor has the intensity of cough syrup, that would be the combo of rooibos & hibiscus, then there is the fruity currant, which I like. There is a pleasant creaminess from vanilla & some white chocolate as well.
So I don’t really like it. There’s something over the top & fake about the taste, that lingers in the after-taste & gives me a queasy feeling.

Another sample from Sil! Thanks!

So I just decided to kind of half organize some of my teas, and ended up pretty much panicking because I have way, way, WAY too much, and I will never ever finish it all, and I have so much that I really need to put on a swap list, but I don’t have time for swapping right now because I’m horribly slow with even the tiniest, itty bittiest of swaps. My very outdated, partially updated list of teas, which has virtually no swap samples on it, is at about 300 teas. It’s also missing my last couple Butiki orders. And everything I have from Caraway, Kally, Upton, Simpson & Vail, Lupicia. Plus multiple Verdant orders. Any recent DavidsTeas. So that would undoubtedly bring it up to at least 400. And then, the swap samples. Which must total at least couple hundred in themselves. O.o What have I done…. :’(

Uhhhh so this tea, which I brewed up hours ago. Smelled crazily like honey as soon as the water hit the leaves; I nearly started drooling into the other cups I was pouring water into! Unfortunately, for me, the flavour just isn’t quite there. It has that sweetness that caramel creme rooibos’ often have (so, caramel/vanilla flavouring), and I’m kind of getting berry flavour, along with honey. But, it’s not really all that great. I’m also getting the scratchy feeling in my throat like I seem to do with many red rooibos blends (but not honeybush).

Overall, another tea I’m glad to have tried, but equally glad that I have a very, very small amount of…. :/

ETA: Re-steep, not so bad! Still lots of honey flavour :D

I just got this one over the weekend and am so happy to receive more Persimmon Tree Tea!!!! I have had great tasting experiences with the ones I have tried up to this point!

This isn’t overly scented. I can pick up on the berry notes but it’s hard to tell that it’s currant that plays the part based on aroma. I can smell the sweetness of the rooibos. I can smell a creaminess to it, too!

This ‘brews’ quite dark…almost like a Rooibos Black Tea blend. Perhaps the darkness is because of the currants, no sure.

When the mix of loose ingredients hit water or should I say the water hit the ingredients I can smell the currants more. It’s a nice aroma.

The flavor is really wonderful…here’s why…

The Rooibos is noticable but there are enough other flavors happening, too, that it’s not ALL ABOUT the Rooibos! The Hibiscus is barely there and I totally love that. THIS is what other companies should take note on! Hibiscus should be on the assist or even a subtle enhancer and not over done! At least in my book – I know others out there like it…just not usually my thing but this is NICELY DONE!!! The white chocolate is lovely. Again, somewhat subtle, but nicely done! It surely contributes to the overall creamy-factor! I can taste the hints of sweet, creamy, white chocolate, berry, and find it to be extremely pleasing and smooth! Velvety!

I like this much more than I thought I would! YAY! Another winner from TPTTC!

Jeez all I was doing was finding this on Steepster to open it up for my note and my boyfriend’s like, buying more tea? NOOOOO.

Though of course if this is any good, I will buy more than a sample in the future.

I can’t say I’m a big fan of this. It’s very subtle. And I mean that everything about it is subtle, the rooibos is not strong either. It smelled like it was going to be that way when it started steeping, so I’m glad that isn’t how it tastes!

A bit of milk and sugar definitely helps bring out some flavor. Before I was just getting vanilla and a bit of creaminess, and now the creaminess comes off more like white chocolate, and I can taste the berry. I really like the white chocolate, I think the vanilla also helps to get the flavor of it across in here.

Will I get it again? Possibly. But I have too many other teas to want to get this one right now. Really. I have plenty of other chocolate teas to get through first, but this is a nice treat. And like I said before, it’s really nice that the rooibos is kept in check, it’s a very nice balance of flavors once you can get them to taste a bit stronger.

I still haven’t figured out what is up with me and rooibos teas. I don’t like red rooibos flavour. However, they keep sneaking into my cart. It’s like I’m trying to love it, but it’s a hard sell. But also, I have so much teas with caffeine that I don’t have anything I can enjoy in the evenings, as unfortunately I’m very sensitive to caffeine. If I have a genmaicha at like 6 or 7 I’m up very late at night.

So Vanilla Berry Truffle (VBT) sneaked into my cart. Maybe it’s the white chocolate? Oh crap it has hibiscus, my mortal enemy.

DRY: sweet and fruity smell.. and rooibos smell. What have I gotten myself into? Generous on the white chocolate curls though, and I love white chocolate in teas.

STEEPED: Very creamy smell, hint of rooibos smell. Looks like the chocolate all melted down, tea is a cloudly redbrown.

TASTE: Milky creamy with a hint of red rooibos flavor. Fruity taste of currants and slight sweetness. Not tart or bitter.

WHO’D ENJOY THIS TEA: Peeps who want to try red rooibos. Someone who needs to be schooled in the use of hibiscus in teas.

COMMENTS: This has got to be the best use of hibiscus I’ve drank to date. I’m guessing the hibiscus twangs with the currant to give that fruitness without drinking liquid tartness of death. As always, The Persimmon Tree makes very good blends. VBT is very balanced with rooibos, creamy and fruity. Personally, I love the creamy elements the best. The creamyness is as if I added milk to my tea.

However, that rooibos flavor is still “uggg” to me, but the rest of the tea I enjoyed.

I had a sampling of this last night – by the way The Persimmon Tree has generous samples!
Anyway – it was really good – the aroma was amazing – the flavor just slightly watery for me so I added a slight bit of sugar in the raw and a decent splash of milk and I feel this brought the tea to life!
It was not bad at all before doing so but I liked it better with.

I am enjoying a cup of this rooibos blend this evening as I try to wind down after a long, exhausting day. (I am busy working on some holiday gifts)

This is a fun blend, with a delicious vanilla and black currant flavor. The hibiscus doesn’t overwhelm the cup. Neither does the flavor of the rooibos. It’s very pleasantly balanced.

Nice rooibos tisane: Creamy, slightly sweet, mercifully tame hibiscus.

First Sip Thought: “Creamy deliciousness!”

Smell: At first, the scent is very subtle but sweet aroma. The initial smell I receive from it is a bold vanilla along side with slight hints of sweet berries. I can’t say I really could tell there was white chocolate in the blend until I took a few sips, however I still found other flavours took over. Once the warm water hits the dried leaves, you will begin to adore the flavours taking up your home’s air.

Taste: An easy, soft, sweet vanilla taste that adds to the creamy factor of this blend. It has a lingering flavour to last for quite a bit. My favourite part about this blend is that the roobios is highly noticeable in the sips but not overpowering. I tried this blend twice – first without milk or sugar, and the next taste I decided to see how it may differ with the additions. With a pinch of sugar and splash of milk I found the flavours to be more evident. I would love to recreate this blend in a delicious smoothie, or latte – something good with a milky base. Being caffeine free, and a dessert tea I would recommend a cup before bed instead of hitting some sweets! Great substitute.

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