During my latest visit to Le Palais des Thés shop, I stumbled unto this new rooibos-herbal tea blend, which seemed created for me, as I often drink tea in the evening but have a low tolerance for coffeine and theine. I also have difficulties in finding good high quality fine tasting herbal teas, even in organic high hand brands/shops.
In comparison with other rooibos, I noticed the leaves are finer and therefore more numerous inside the teapot as they largely escape my tea ball. The Verbena also comes almost in dust form and definitely not in full leaves. The second brew always turns out really clear, much more so than the Mariage Frères, even though I use more of this one.
Regarding taste, the rooibos does not have a very strong taste and is rather bland and almost non-descript; however the Verbena really adds a nice and fresh twist to it.
It also tastes nice iced (after hot brew).
I rather enjoyed it, but prefer drinking some others and will not buy it back once the pack is finished.
This sounds very interesting! I love verbena and I think it might go very well with rooibos, very soothing. (maybe even with green rooibos? Now that is something I will try to make for myself). And it is MF rooibos, I find their rooibos base so nice.
Not sure if you know it, but you might like Mariage Freres Nil Rouge. It is (red) rooibos with mostly lemongrass, though there are other citrus and (IMO. maybe it is just me) verbena there.
It is not Mariage Frères rooibos, but Le Palais des Thés. As they flavor more heavily than MF, it’s quite difficult to assess the quality of the base; it seems pretty good though not as great as MF, but I am still comparing.
First time I hear about green rooibos.
Nil Rouge is one of my absolute favorites from MF; I am currently at half my second pack. I just have not reviewed it yet ;) I’ll check for Verbena next time I drink it.
I also love love Nil Rouge – and Marco Rouge as well. Need to restock from both, better stick to just one if only I could pick which one I love best (uh.. difficult)
Love those two and I find the MF rooibos always so good. About verbena in Nil Rouge, maybe not, I mean the lemongrass is the strongest thing, but there are so many different citrus there I would swear some is verbena.
Green rooibos is good! It produces a orangey liquid as well, only not quite as dark and not as “staining”. It´s more delicate, not bitter, less strong. Red rooibos has got more oomph but green rooibos is more delicate. I was sort of hoping Mariage Freres would make a Nil Rouge-Vert, LOL, though I guess maybe a green-red tea would not work too well. Maybe the language is one of the reasons, but not sure I have ever seen a french company make green rooibos blends. It was actually the first rooibos I ever had, from a health food store. I have had some green rooibos blends mostly from german sellers, and in tea bags from this south african company. I got some plain green rooibos from a local tea seller, I like it – and improvise some evening teas with it. I really like to mix some green rooibos with a plain lemongrass tea teabag, and mean to try also verbena now I got that idea, and lemonbalm maybe as well (A very popular tisane in my country!)
oh just to add, the south african green rooibos I was mentioning.
http://steepster.com/teas/carmien/19132-organic-green-tea-honeybush-and-green-rooibos-with-mint
nothing too extraordinary but nice and I confess I find the teabags so convenient for the last cup of tea of the day!