Rooibos Earl Grey

I have A LOT of samples from Adagio. When I first started avoiding such high caffeine levels, I ordered their decaf, rooibos, and herbal sampler packs. I have, like, 16 little tins, plus a large tin of the jasmine rooibos (the first nocaf one I liked). Now that I’m letting myself have a little regular tea every day, I’m not going through them like I had been, and I am realizing that I will still have a bunch of these tins after I am back in the caffeine way.

To remedy this, I’m fixing pots at a time, which is using up these little tins with a quickness, and is also getting me back in the habit of continual tea consumption. Yay. :) So I have a whole pot of this. I’m sweetening with agave, and it’s like candy in a cup. Earl Grey candy, that is. :)

I got this a while ago but decided to leave it at work so I would have something Earl Grey-esque to have in the morning. Sure it’s Rooibos based but not noticeable in the smell amongst the dry blend, instead I am picking up an orange perfume. I love orange but this is just too perfumed and dry, not completely disgusting but a bit of a let down.

It smells a little fresher and lighter once steeped and the perfume is toned down and does not overpower the orange and bergamot scents. It smells more like an Earl Grey now definitely.

Flavour wise this is a little citrus bitter and sweet but very perfumed and dry. The rooibos is not coming through very much but it at least keeps the blend light enough to be drinkable. As far as an Earl Grey goes this is an interesting blend that I’m sure someone will love but for me it’s too strong and perfumed. A bitter Earl Grey is a non enjoyable Earl Grey.

Now you can see why I left this at work…

This has a super strong scent – I’m guessing it’s the bergamot? Upfront info: I’m trying to give Earl Grey, a tea I’ve never loved, a second chance.
To me this just tastes like rooibos though. Really nice red rooibos. I’m woefully uneducated on earl gray, I just know it’s never been my favorite (back from bagged tea days), so I’m not sensitive to bergamot, but I’m not tasting it.
A really nice cup of rooibos tea though! But then, I’m a red rooibos nut :)

I love Earl Greay. I have come to this conclusion after drinking several varieties of Earl Greys….just thought you should know that.

And I love rooibos.

So therefore I love this Rooibos Earl Grey.

Very strong flavor. Very wonderful flavor.
I love the citrus scent when you open the bag & then you get that little floral note behind it. Very mellow. Very delicious.

Read the blog about it here –
http://teatimewithsunny.blogspot.com/2012/02/adagio-rooibos-earl-grey.html

Overall, I enjoyed it naked…no sugar or any sweeteners or honey. Just Rooibos Earl Grey in the raw. It made a wonderful pot that I enjoyed to the last drop.

Thank you Adagio! You’ve done it again!

Not a fan of this herbal at all. I like gourmand rooibos blends or plain rooibos.

Was dying to try and earl grey tea I had ordered but with the time of night decided to go with the Rooibos Earl Grey since it doesn’t have any caffeine. I found the tea very light and refereshing and now I can’t wait to try a true earl grey.

Very orangey and citrusy, this is more like a citrus rooibos than a rooibos earl grey. Perfectly pleasant, but I won’t seek it out.

I did not enjoy this tea. I don’t like the way the earl grey flavor tasted with the rooibos. It was cloyingly sweet which did not go well with the floral tones. Maybe rooibos isn’t my thing.

I really wanted to try Adagio Teas, and I had one of those free $5 gift cards, so I decided to get a sample pack of this, and it cost 75 cents in total (with shipping. I was so happy). I had really wanted a non-fruit or chamomile or peppermint decaffinated tea because my mom’s allergic to chamomile, and doesn’t like fruit teas very much, and we have a lot of peppermint right now. So I decided on this tea because we both love earl grey and rooibos.
I really like this tea. It sort of is a mini war, because the rooibos is so flavorful, and there is a nice amount of bergamot in here. But it works somehow. It’s sort of like you can taste both the rooibos and the earl grey at different times, but not really working together? I still really love this tea though, and will probably get more of it. I sort of wish there was more bergamot, because I love the bergamot flavor. Still, it’s yummy.

I love all things earl grey, and really all things bergamot in general. This tea has a lot of great qualities, and extra points for being caffeine-free so that I can enjoy it in the evening.

Visually, this tea is gorgeous. The little specs of blue cornflowers are delightful to look at. I did notice that it’s about time I invested in a better quality infuser, as my current ones allow a good portion of the finely ground loose leaf tea to simply fall into the water. If anyone has any recommendations, drop them in the comments.

The taste is great! Plenty of bergamot, but the rooibos profile is definitely not to be dismissed. I agree with some of the other descriptions that were listed: wet wood, root beer, anise (as an aside, I noticed that “wet dog” is one of the flavors in our database…I hope I never have to use it in one of these reviews). These are all great descriptors that work well with this tea. There is some orange/citrus as well that’s quite lovely.

I don’t often comment on the mouthfeel of teas, but I will say that this one felt particularly silky.

I enjoyed everything about this tea thoroughly and look forward to drinking it again.