A Taste of the Green Rooibos Sampler

I’ve mentioned a few times that I’ve started drinking loose leaf tea. It’s been a couple months and I can say with certainty it was a good choice. My tea supplies last longer and there are more options available to me. I’m starting to get the knack of how long each type of tea needs to brew, which are better iced for their second steeping, and which need to be sweetened. There are a few bag teas I’ll probably always keep around (Lady Grey for example), but there’s a long list of loose leaf verities I’m looking forward to trying.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that my mother-in-law stealth-purchased me some Adagio tea sampler sets (orchard herbal, green rooibos and teas of Japan). I was turned on to the company when they sent me a message on Tumblr about their fandom blend section. The samplers have been really great, especially since I want to take advantage of their personal blend option to design some teas for a few of my characters, but need an idea of how the pieces taste before I start paring them together.

Last time I talked about the orchard herbal teas, which were the first I dug into. Today I’d like to talk a bit about the Green Rooibos sampler which includes the blends Green Rooibos, Green Rooibos Bonita, Green Rooibos Citron, and Green Rooibos Key West. Rooibos tea, sometimes also referred to as ‘red tea’ or ‘red bush tea’ comes from the rooibos bush, which grows only in the Cederberg Mountain range of South Africa. Green rooibos comes from the same plant but is processed differently.

Green Rooibos Bonita
I dipped into the green rooibos bonita first (without even trying the plain green rooibos). I was drawn by the mix of fruity flavors (strawberry, peach and citrus). The first thing I noticed was how fruity it smelled, but none of the fruits are particularly overpowering. It just has a nice aroma. I drank it with a tiny bit of honey to bring out the fruit flavors. It has a great green tea base, nice and light, followed by a fruity afternote. Here again, none of the fruits overpower each other or take prevalence; it has a nice fruity blend. I tried the second half of my first cup with milk, but it kind of muted and muddied all the flavors so I actually liked it better without. I have read that rooibos teas do not resteep well because they transfer so much flavor during the first steep, but I have never had trouble resteeping this blend. I just let it sit a little longer the second time (about 10 minutes).

From this sampler set, my favorite is a toss up between green rooibos bonita and…

Green Rooibos Citron
I have a thing for orange and other citrus flavors. (Do I get it from Domerin or does he get it from me? Hmm…) I’m actually surprised I didn’t try the citron first, but I had just finished tasting the blood orange and I didn’t want that fabulous flavor to overshadow this one. So I waited, and I’m glad I did. The green rooibos citron blend doesn’t have a specifically orange taste, it’s more a general citrus flavor, but it serves the blend well. When you sip this tea you get a nice citrusy flavor, but it isn’t overpowering (you don’t feel like you’re drinking a lemon), then a nice floral afternote. Once again, I tried the second half of my first cup with milk. Milk seems to bring out the floral flavors but really drowns the citrus. Since I think the citrus flavor is the star of this tea, I ended up not adding milk to any of my other cups. Once again, I use just a touch of honey to sweeten it and really bring out the fruity flavors. Like the bonita, it resteeps quite well if you give it a little extra time.

Green Rooibos Key West
I was so impressed with the green rooibos bonita and citron blends, that I was eager to taste the key west. This is supposed to be another fruity tea, boasting flavors of passion fruit, mango and apricot. Unfortunately, it didn’t taste fruity to me at all, striking me as floral instead. I actually have a hard time describing what this tea tastes like because none of the flavors really seemed to shine. It tastes like a mish mash; this tea tries to be everything and ends up tasting like nothing. When I added milk, it didn’t really enhance or detract from any of the flavors. Instead it made the cup seem creamier. This is the only tea from this sampler set that I actually liked better with milk, though I’m not sure it really improves the cup much.

Green Rooibos
Finally, I came to the blend that originally drew me to this sampler; the green rooibos in its ‘default’ state. Having never tasted it on its own until this point, the flavor surprised me. I’ve had a love afair with red rooibos tea for a long time. It’s rich and fantastic with a touch of honey and a sprinkle of milk (bonus if you can add a bit of foam!). It makes an amazing ‘london fog.’ The green rooibos is lighter with grassy overtones, yet still manages to be rich, smooth and flavorful. I love it! I’ll probably add it to my ‘always have if possible’ list of teas (which is growing quickly). I know exactly how I like this tea, so I never bothered trying it with milk, just a couple drops of honey. Now there’s an afternoon of relaxation!

Three out of four is a pretty stellar track record (and the key west isn’t really bad, just not the kind of tea I’d go out of my way to buy). If you like green tea and/or rooibos tea, I highly recommend checking out some of Adagio’s green rooibos blends. But the best is yet to come as I haven’t yet mentioned the green teas. :3 My absolute favorite!