Pisces

deep breath So this is my first rooibos tea, ever. No, really. I’ve been a little put off by the descriptions of red tea, ranging from sour wood to pencil shavings to sweet bark, and would not have mustered up the courage to order any on my own. Fortunately, I ordered the zodiac sample set from Adagio, which includes quite a few teas mixed with rooibos. For today, I picked out the Pisces blend, which is a blend of plain rooibos, orange black tea, and “just a touch of chamomile”. Three teas I’d normally never order on their own.

I opened the tin and noticed that is smelled minty. Or like rotten oranges. Or like a mix of vapor rub and blackened rotten oranges. Not pleasant. Also an appetite killer. But I managed to work up the courage and poured the little wood bits into the steeping basket, and let it steep for 5 minutes. Now that I have the actual tea in front of me, it smells less like mint and more like orange. But yucky orange…not citrusy, and slightly spoiled. Taste is thankfully lighter and tastes like mostly like wood and faintly like orange. It’s not horrible, though. While is smells a little sour, it doesn’t taste very sour.

Should I add sweetener to this? Can I add sweetener to this? I pour in a little Splenda. Hey, this actually doesn’t taste that bad. Well, it kind of tastes like Splenda-water with an aftertaste of wood and orange. But it’s not bad. It’s actually kind of good.

But the smell. Oh, the smell. Miss Princess Purrfect aka Wendy the cat jumped up to smell this, the first time she’s ever done that for a brewed tea. And her face, when she smelled this…it wasn’t just offended, or taken back by the steam, like she normally gets when she sniffs hot food. No, her nose actually scrunched up and she looked disgusted. That is the first time I’ve ever seen her make that face. Actual disgust, not “whoa wtf is that” or “ugh how dare you offer me that”. Disgust.

Wendy darling, I empathize. I’ve almost finished the glass, but that smell…I don’t know if I can handle it. Perhaps I’ll get used to it if I steep it another time? For now, though, this goes into my “swap” pile.

When I was little and would get really sick with anything that left me pale and without an appetite, Jello and ramen noodles were staples in our house. Occasionally, these illnesses would arrive during the colder months, like they do. When they did my mom would occasionally make Jello, but instead of refrigerating all of it to make it wiggly, she’d leave it part of it warm and serve it to me in a little cup.

This tea isn’t as brightly hued as Jello is, nor is it as sweet. The Rooibos is definitely the main flavor I get out of this, but when I swish it around in my month, I get a little bit of that orange Jello flavor on the tip of my tongue. It also lingers in the aftertaste in a pleasant way.

The chamomile is extremely subtle. Subtle enough that it won’t be a deciding factor as to whether I want to drink this tea or not on a given day, which is how I like it.

I’m actually surprised that I enjoy this tea as much as I do because when I opened the tin and smelled it my first thought was, “Oh, Paul Rudd. Why are you so cute?” because I have I Love You, Man running in the background [Sleappin’ da byaaayss, mon!]. But my second thought was, “AHHHH, VICKS VAPOR RUB!”

However, in a surprising turn of events, I quite like it. And I’m a Pisces, so it all seems very fitting. I’ve got a running list on a post-it that I have stuck to my monitor for the next order I’m going to put through for Adagio, and this one just got added to it riiiiight…now.

I picked this up in my first sampler set from Adagio Teas and saved it for last in my sampling. Right off the bat I was a little hesitant due to chamomile, which if I’m being honest I’m not a huge fan of (due to the fact that most blenders over due it). The blend itself looks awesome though. The red rooibos and black tea mixture offers a very unique look while the addition of the chamomile flowers just says “sexy” all over it. I steeped for four minutes as a safety zone, may need to be a little longer. The color of steeped tea is a deep red orange, beautifully classic for those familiar with Rooibos.

Enough about the looks!

This tea is alright. The rooibos is by far the most prominent flavor in this tea. Unfortunately while the orange black tea aspect of the blend desperately desires to be enjoyed by your taste buds, it never fully gets the chance as the chamomile comes in quickly smoothing out the taste for a calming aftertaste. Personally I want this tea to be more dynamic than it actually is, however if you’re a fan of calm chamomile teas this may do it for you. Enjoy.

Okay so I’ve had this sample sitting in my cupboard for a few weeks now and to be honest I was kinda hesitant of it by the smell and me and rooibos can go either way. There’s not really much to say about this tea blend it taste mostly of rooibos and the nose to it smells like apples to me (I know it says orange) but I get apple for some strange reason but mostly just rooibos and I think I just figured it out maybe the orange mixed with the chamomile creates an apple smell hmmm. It’s not bad but it’s not something that I would ever crave. So I will rate it according to the accuracy of Adagio’s description and not by my own feelings (which are subjective and would therefore be very low)

Another tea bought because Adagio was out of the one I really wanted, but that I turned out to really like anyway. I got a free sample of the Cancer tea the first time I ordered from them and loved it. I wanted to order an actual tin but of course at the time they were out so I looked around, found the Pisces blend to look agreeable enough, and purchased. I’m glad I did, I’m nearly out of it now. I like to brew it pretty strong and the flavor seems to more or less hold up as it cools down, but I don’t think I would want to try it iced.

For being mostly a Rooibos and flavored black tea blend, this is pretty light and refreshing. I’d liken it to a gentle warm breeze on a cool spring day. Most of the flavor that comes through is the rooibos, but the chamomile and orange are there if you look for them. One thing about premade blends that I’ve noticed is that for some reason the ingredients seem to separate in the containers. This usually has chamomile on the top, then a layer of rooibos, and then the black tea, then the rooibos again. I’ve noticed the same with my bag of Foxtrot, the chamomile is somehow always at the top of the bag and I have to shake it to get to the rooibos and mint. Why does chamomile float when it’s mixed with dry ingredients?

This Pisces blend from Adagio was one of the first loose leaf teas I’ve ever bought. I don’t recall if I’ve had it before, but a recent inventory and cleaning out of my tea cabinet showed that I hadn’t even tasted it.

This blend is an odd mix of rooibos, orange black tea, and chamomile. There’s also a few orange rinds thrown in to add a citrus note.

Now it may just be the proportions, but the rooibos overpowered the black tea, which is perhaps a good thing (all the caffeine with none of the kick). But then, there’s chamomile. Combined with the orange rind, there’s a slight citrus aftertaste.

It’s not a bad tea, but it’s not good either. It’s just OK. I could probably get the same effect with a bag of Lipton and a strip of orange peel.

I was really craving something sweet this afternoon, and I headed right for my tin of Pisces. Steeped for a much shorter time this go around and the result is really pleasurable. The orange notes are stronger, but the rooibos flavor is dominant. I still can’t get an understanding of the chamomile taste. The flavors blend into a sweet, light tea that satisfies the palette.

Received this as a free sample with my Adagio order. Nothing real special. I’m a big fan of chamomile, but this blend didn’t really wow me. Rooibos is very prominent, which I am generally a fan of, but the orange takes over a little bit too much. Not the worst tisane around, but definitely not a must have.

This is an excellant tea. Light and slightly fruity with sweet notes to boot. Its best if its brewed no longer than 3.5 minutes in almost boiling water.

This is one of my new favorite teas. I take a sip and just smile and say “mmmm” each time, involuntarily! It is such a nice mix of bright flavors with a deep sweetness of rooibos (which I love). I do have to say, if you do not like rooibos, you will not like this blend. It is the primary taste, but since I enjoy a cup of straight rooibos, I’m glad it’s one of the main flavors. I don’t really taste black tea or chamomile, individually, but that’s okay with me. I like my blends to taste like a whole new tea, I don’t need to be able to pick out the individual elements.
Bonus: this rebrews quite nicely. It also doesn’t seem to overbrew, which is good for me, since I do not like picky teas.