180 Tasting Notes
I love my new Takeya Iced Tea Pitcher (bought from David’s Tea b/c it was cheaper than Amazon!) I mean, this is rooibos. Notorious for escaping all infusers. And yet, I cold brewed in the Takeya, hoping for the best… BAM! Checked it out this morning and it was perfect! No little particles had made it past the mesh infuser. All was good in the world.
Sadly… I wasn’t able to let this steep as long as I should have. Because of my schedule, I could have either let it steep for 7-8 hours or for 34. I find that rooibos gets syrupy-sweet when oversteeped, so I took it out after about 8 hours. It’s weak. Not a whole lot of flavor in this pitcher.
However, a few months ago, I cold brewed some of this (in a mason jar – this was before the Takeya) and let it steep for just over 12 hours. It was awesome.
So this failure was on me; not the tea. And certainly not the Takeya.
Preparation
I think this one’s growing on me. It’s a gross, drizzly day out, and I found myself reaching for this when I got into the office. Something about the hazelnut just screams “WARMTH!” to me. And I especially like in the early mornings. (Probably b/c it reminds of hazelnut coffee – it’s a smell association thing.)
This is one of the rare teas that I add cream to on the regular. I think it tastes much better with just a splash of half & half.
It’s a fun spin on a masala chai, and the candied fennel seeds are delicious if you pick ’em out for a little snack (if you feel so inclined.) Ultimately though, this is just a middle of road cuppa.
Preparation
Sipdown! That’s really all I have to say, haha.
That and… I tried half of my cup iced. I may have made it a little weak, but it was still pleasant. Though for some reason, it seems to have made the bitterness come out a bit more.
Cold-brewed all 25g of this in my new Takeya ice tea pitcher. (Hooray for new toys!)
It’s the perfect summer iced tea. Cool and refreshing. Mint is the prominent flavor, with a little bit of creaminess (I assume from the coconut), and – faintly in the background – a bit of juicy fruitiness.
The rooibos and fruit serve to make it plenty sweet on its own. No extra sugar or sweetener needed.
Preparation
Thank you to Adagio Breeze for the chance to try this one!
Unfortunately, I can’t find the online listing for this infusion anymore (no longer of the F&M site), so I’m kind of winging it here in trying to figure out what’s in it. Surprisingly, the coriander seems to be a minor component. There’s lots of “stuff” in this mix that I can’t ID — something that looks like cinnamon maybe? I’ll try to remember to take a close-up photo after work.
Steeped, the smell is pretty mild. Mostly just…generically sweet smelling. Color of the liquor is dark red, like a glass of Cabernet. It tastes sweet. Really sweet – and, sadly, artificially so. Not tasting anything that I can pick out as the clean, citrusy taste of coriander seeds, but I wonder if it’s just because my taste buds are too overwhelmed by sweetness to detect other notes.
As it cools, I’m tasting something tart that tastes suspiciously like hibiscus. Blech.
Decided to use the steeping parameters recommended by DavidsTea for their coriander tisane, and went with a long steep at 208 F.
ETA: Dug through the dry infusion, and I’m now 98.6% sure there’s hibiscus in there. Or else something that both tastes and looks an awful lot like it!
