Rooibos Grapefruit Mint

I needed something a little bit lighter than my usual palette. This seemed to do the job. The steeped leaves have a fresh and citrus scent. It reminds me of a cold can of Fresca in the summer time. The aroma of the liquor smells very minty. The flavor tastes of juice. It has a delicious and soothing quality. The rooibos adds a heavy base for the flavors to lie on. You can taste a smooth mixture of mint, grapefruit, and juicy vanilla. I like it and this would be a perfect cold brew in the spring time.

Hidden Gems Tea Box: A big shout out to Anlina for organizing this box for our enjoyment!

Coming home to this and my first teapot waiting for me in the mail was a wonderful way to end a crazy week.

I think I underleafed this one. It doesn’t seem to carry much flavor. I’m getting a strange fruity flavor and then at the very end of the sip something that feels like mint as a tickle in my throat. I think I’ll hang onto this one and use the rest of the leaf for another pot and see how I feel about it when I attempt to overleaf it.

Cooking TTB #1

So I have to prefix this review with the warning that I really don’t like grapefruit… so why did I start my digging into the TTB with this sample? Honestly I just couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning to start trying all the delicious teas and was therefore after a rooibos or herbal due to the late time of day… AND I’d told myself that I had to take advantage of this TTB and make sure I tried a bunch of things that I wouldn’t usually pick out for myself. This tastes a little bit like watered down berroca or a lemon orange vitamin tab (without the effervescence) oh, and a hot version of above… which doesn’t really work for me… but again, I’m did mention that I’m really really not a grapefruit fan right? so maybe thats the problem???

Waiting until it cools to see if the flavors develop a little better…

Mmmm ok, once cool I get more of the mint, its got a much more refreshing taste and is less medicinal. I could imagine drinking this one iced at the lake house on the patio in the middle of summer but alas I don’t have one of those! Its a nice tea but really not something that I would usually pick out or something that appeals to me personally but I really appreciate the chance to try it!! Back to the box it goes!

Cooking TTB #5

This was a weird experience….

I was super-duper excited to try this based on the smell. It was so wonderfully grapefruity. However, once it was brewed, I made an association that I now cannot unmake…and because of that, I’m thinking I won’t rate this. So…Halls makes those Defense Vitamin C drops that taste like lemon, orange, and grapefruit. This tea reminds me exactly of those grapefruit lozenges, which therefore reminds me of that weird acidic feeling in the back of your throat right when it is about to get scratchy and painful but isn’t quite there yet. Yeah. Not awesome. This probably would have been a lot better if I hadn’t thought about that…

Cooking TTB #19

This tea had such a unique combination of flavors, I couldn’t resist trying it. But honestly, I was also a bit afraid of it. There are so many ways it could have gone wrong…too much mint, a woody flavor from the base, or an intensely tart/sour flavor from the grapefruit. But I was pleasantly surprised: this is a delicious, refreshing tea! I chose to drank it cold and I couldn’t believe how smooth and creamy the flavor was. The mint and grapefruit blend seamlessly and the base doesn’t poke through at all. This would be an amazing summer iced tea!

Mmm last night’s cup was heavy on the grapefruit and light on the mint, with a vanilla note in there too. Very tasty. The mint mostly appeared at the end of the sip.

I think this time I used more leaf than usual.