Honeybush Vanilla

Added some honey to this today, just to see what would happen. It becomes far too sweet, is the answer. Not a great success. I think I’m going to go back to drinking the rest of this sample just as it is. It’s not a favourite, but at least it’s drinkable that way!

Back in the day, I’d thought I’d save something special to taste for my 500th tasting note and then write something really thoughtful and penetrating about it. Oh well, c’est la vie.

After finishing off the rest of my Adagio chocolate honeybush sample, I decided to give the vanilla a go.

I didn’t smell vanilla when I opened the little tin. In fact, I wasn’t sure I smelled anything other than honeybush until I opened up the plain honeybush for a comparison sniff. There’s definitely a difference, a stronger scent to the vanilla version, but it’s kind of a sharp, tangy smell that isn’t what I’m used to in vanilla anything. After steeping, the aroma is very herbal but it’s kind of a stretch to find the vanilla. I wonder if my sample is too old to have held the vanilla scent/flavor? Possibly, though the chocolate wasn’t.

There is a subtle vanilla flavor but mostly I taste the honey-sweetness of the honeybush. It’s as though the vanilla brought out the sweet side of the honeybush and the chocolate brought out the woody side. Because I prefer sweet to woody, I’d expect to prefer the vanilla version to the chocolate, but I actually like the chocolate version slightly better. It just seems to have more flavor overall.

In any case, an interesting experiment in self-education about the many things one can do with honeybush, but not something I’ll return to.

Edited:

I bought a sample of this from Adagio because I love using it to blend teas. The tea itself is made up of the small red-brown splinters similar to that of a rooibos, with a vanilla aroma.

I brewed tea, hot, no additives for seven minutes. The tea itself is a little bitter, but plain, light, rooibos-esq, with vanilla flavor. As I said, it is unfortunately a little tart/bitter in the front. However, the vanilla flavor and creaminess makes it very good.

I like to blend this one with other teas. Mates, chais, anything spiced. Adding the honeybush vanilla just mellows out any overwhelming flavors, brightens any underlying flavors and adds an overall creaminess with a slight vanilla flavor.

Overall, pretty good, especially for blending.

Before I start, thanks to JennyFur for this one!

Well. I’m sick. Not throw-up sick, but sore throat just want to chill in bed sick. I decided to opt for some tea. I was sick earlier this week and got some earl grey and that didn’t help at all :( I saw this and the “honey” and “vanilla” caught my eye. Also, it looked small enough to be able to be steeped in my Aladdin travel mug. Perfect!

I steeped 1.5 tsp in 12 oz of water for the recommended time and temp of 5 mins @ 212. Gotta let it cool a bit first :P

First sip:
Well, there is a ton of debris in my cup. I don’t blame the tea, it was nearing the end of the bag. I’ll just make sure to leave a few sips left so I don’t drink up that debris. This brewed such a pretty dark amber, like a thick honey (fits the name :) ). Time to drink! Mmmmm, light and smooth, good for my throat. It tastes good too. A tad on the weaker side, though. This may be going on my reorder list! We’ll see

Finishing off the cup:
As I finish this, I am starting to get mixed feelings. There is a taste in this tea that just doesn’t hit the spot. Despite that, I like this tea because it is smooth and light enough that it doesn’t irritate my throat. Maybe I’ll get a different flavor honeybush. I like apricot jam so maybe I’ll get a sample size of the honeybush apricot.
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Overall, I enjoyed this one because it was good on my throat. However, there was a flavor that didn’t seem right. I’ll try another flavor of honeybush and see if that “fixes” the problem. I have enough left for another cup so I will maybe have that tomorrow if my bad throat persists.

First impression on the scent of the leaves – kind of weird!
It smells nothing like the regular honeybush – it has an artificial scent that makes it seem like something I would use as a glass cleaner.
It smells much better when it’s steeping. Actually fruity and appealing.
The flavor is so so – it definitely tastes like vanilla, but to me, less like vanilla beans and more like vanilla frosting. Which is fine! And some people might really like that.
Just not quite my cuppa :) I like the plain honeybush much better.

Tried this last night. It was okay…a nice caffeine free way to end the day but nothing super special.

I’m almost done with this sample, but it’s another sample I won’t be getting more of again. It’s hard to talk about honeybush without bringing up rooibos, especially in this case. Having had Adagio’s vanilla rooibos, I can easily say I prefer the rooibos over honeybush. I’m more of a rooibos fan as it is, but it’s not to say I don’t enjoy honeybush- I just think each herb has its own advantages and preferred flavor combination.

For me, the vanilla and honeybush are good friends, but not a perfect match. The sweetness of the honeybush competes with the vanilla. Each one is trying to outdo the other one. The rooibos’ earthiness, not its sweet cousin the honeybush, pairs far better with vanilla.

Today I’m drinking honeybush vanilla with a little bit of some fruit tisane- I don’t know the brand. The fruit tisane has hibiscus, currant, grapes, and other fruits. The honeybush vanilla gives it a hint of creaminess, and tones down the tart fruit flavor. I speak from experience when I say it is quite good iced as well.

The Vanilla is nice and strong in Adagio’s Honeybush Vanilla which makes it an enjoyable tea. Although I doubt I will be buying more beyond the sample as while enjoyable it is not one that I see myself wanting to drink that often, not to mention how easy it is to add a few drops of vanilla to a cup of brewed Honeybush tea.

Again, brewed a cup, started off bland, only getting better as I made my way down the cup. This seems to be the only tea I’ve got that does this. Still a great anytime tea. Needed it to destress. XP