Cream Caramel Rooibos

So I received this as a free sample from Zen Tea Life, and I was pleased to try a new rooibos and also to compare it to DavidsTea’s cream caramel rooibos. Dry, it smelled nice and caramelly, a good start. I was wary of brewing it so long, but the package said 5+ minutes, so I did 7. The steeped smell is still caramel, but I used the wrong steeper haha and there are bits floating all in my tea, didn’t use the fine enough strainer. Ah well, they’ve settled at the bottom to not bother me :)

Wow, this is caramel. This is super sweet, I actually am surprised it’s so darn sweet! This flavor goes very good with the rooibos, the caramel is definitely the strongest, but the rooibos is an excellent base. When compared to Davids, I think this one is doing the caramel much better, it’s stronger and sweeter!

Overall, this is quite nice! Definitely sweet, definitely desserty! A nice before bed tea, especially when I’m craving sugar. Haha, I currently am having Tostitos though, which is kind of offsetting the sweetness, oops my bad! Anyways, this is a very tasty rooibos, and I might have to order a bit of this in the future!

I think this is one you have to be very careful with when measuring out the leaf. You have to make sure you get enough caramel pieces and I think it does better with a little bit more leaf than less. The first time I had it I underleafed it and it tasted of slightly sweet watery rooibos. This time I used 2tsp for about 11oz of water. It came out smelling like nutty skillet toffee. The rooibos is still there contributing a little dryness and a nutty woody note, but the flavour is of vanilla cream caramels. Pretty nice tonight.

This is a good dessert tea. An after dinner treat. It is sweet and caramel like, with just a tad bit of cream. The rooibos base is certainly apparent, but it isn’t too woodsy.

I was fully prepared to not be that impressed with this. Every tea company has a caramel cream rooibos. And I made a cup of this once before, and I think I only half finished it. But I wanted something to sip in the evening, and it wasn’t offensive, so I brewed up a cup. Dry scent was pleasant, but nothing that special. I decided to try and eat one of the caramel bits and it was kind of gross and fake tasting. So, anyway, to stop being negative, this turned awesome when brewed. For like, 10 minutes. Do it long, it won’t hurt. Also, I feel like my water hasn’t been hot enough in general, cause I don’t remember all the caramelly pieces melting like they did this time. It brewed up really dark and amazing smelling. So much richer than the dry leaf. Add a little sugar and…man, that’s good stuff. Like I’m actually eating caramel. Get on this, people!

What did I do wrong? This smells lovely out of the package, and I steeped it for 6 minutes (plus all the floaties that my strainer missed). All I get is faint caramel notes, and little else. It’s a basic rooibos. Another cup and I added some Truvia, and sipped it cool… okay, it’s a bit sweeter now, and the caramel is lingering at the back of my mouth. I still don’t get it, this is just meh, at best.

Used all of my 10g to make this pot, and I doubt I’ll buy it again – unless someone can convince me I’ve done something horribly wrong here.

Day 5 ADVENT CALENDAR

I’m loving trying new loose leafs and finding new tea companies I never would have heard of if I didn’t participate in this project!
I double steeped a tablespoon to make a big 54 ounce pot – I had three cups. my roommate had two, and we refrigerated the leftovers for breakfast this morning. This tea was great – I loved that there were no notes of bitterness in it – it was smooth – I feel like I"m one of the few people I know that actually enjoys rooibos teas – this was a good one – I am sure I will order this at some point!

I had a travel mug of this on the bus this morning. It was nice to sip on and stay warm. It is not great, but not bad. I added milk and sugar. I really like when rooibos is slightly more flavor. I got hints of sweet caramel, but nothing too convincing. Not my favorite.

Thank you, TeaTiff, for the sample of this and other caffeine-free options! I needed some variety in my cupboard!

This was really yummy! I could taste the creaminess and light caramel flavor, but it wasn’t overly powerful…simply smooth and delicious. It’s a nice tasty treat for late afternoons/evenings. I enjoyed it very much!

Eh, nothing really special. The caramel isn’t strong enough to hide the woodsy Rooibos flavor, which I don’t mind anyway. Just wouldn’t buy. But thanks for the sample, Mandy! (:

This smells incredible, sweet and buttery and creamy. I want to dive in.
This is nice sweet, creamy rooibos. And the little caramel squares are such a cute touch. The creamy caramel takes front stage while the woody rooibos supports the caramel in a way that reminds me even more of browned caramel.