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Since this next taste test on my tea journey was another Rooibos, I was curious to see if that super-strong off-putting smell would be the same in this one or if it was the result of another of the ingredients in the previous Rooibos mix. Well, I’m going to assume that the smell comes from the Rooibos itself, because this one too smelled awful to me—like some kind of harsh spice, almost like walking into one of those super-smelly Christmas stores on steroids. It’s way too strong to enjoy sniffing the dry mix, though this time I could also smell a bit of woodsy almond wafting around in there.

I prepared it as instructed at boiling, steeped for 5 minutes and again I used my half measurement – 0.75 tsp for my 12 oz cup, instead of the recommended 1.5 tsp per 8 oz.

The tea itself after steeping came out a dark orangish red and still smells slightly bad. I’m sorry, I just can’t get past that smell. Again, the smell makes me rather scared to try it, but I’m still hopeful since the poor smell didn’t translate into a bad cup of tea on my previous Rooibos experience.

The verdict—this tea again tastes so much better than it smells. It’s a mild flavour, not at all bitter, but I can’t really pick out any individual flavors—certainly no spices like the name would suggest. Goes down smooth (especially while hot) and there was no need for sugar to sweeten it up. Plus, with it being caffeine free it makes for a good 2 am experiment.

Would I buy this tea again? I don’t know. I didn’t knock my socks off, but it also wasn’t a bad experience.

Cup count (12 oz) from 8g sampler size: 1. Still plenty more tea in the sampler for later.

So, I was craving this tea tonight, which so far has been my favorite of the three Dollar Tea Club teas that I’ve tried. I even decided to up my rating on it slightly from 65 to 70, because I initially marked it down for its lack of the promised maple flavor, but 65 feels somehow low if it’s good enough for me to be craving it.

Made it in my preferred method as determined in my previous trials: 0.75 tsp of dry tea steeped in my 12 oz cup, instead of the recommended 1.5 tsp per 8 oz. Interesting to note, this time I ended up with a fairly large, mostly intact purple flower in the mix. My google searches tell me this might be the mallow flower listed on the ingredients. I wonder how that might affect taste as I don’t believe such a flower was part of my first two rounds of this tea. I’d say the one flower amounts to around 20% of the total dry tea I used.

It’s fascinating to me that in teas like this, there can be variation from cup to cup that may lead to a whole new experience. It’s rather exciting.

Anyway, I steeped it at boiling for 2 and a half minutes, then added sugar. I did try a sip before adding the sugar just to see if the flower fiasco had a major impact on the bitterness—if it did, it didn’t cut the bitterness enough for my tastes. I then later re-steeped the tea 5 minutes for a second cup.

Updated cup count (12 oz) from 8g sampler size: 3 (+ 4 re-steeps). I’d say there’s enough tea left for another two cups or so, not counting re-steeps. I do enjoy the fact that since I don’t do well with strong flavors, this 2-3 cup sample makes for more of a 5 cup sample in my case.

This is my first experience with a Rooibos and I’m not sure if it’s that I’m smelling or another of the ingredients, but something in the tea smells insanely pungent to me and it’s an overwhelming smell that my nose doesn’t agree with—especially while dry. It leaves the same kind of sharp spice in the air like a cinnamon or something, it’s hard to describe and I don’t think I recognize the scent.

Anyway, in measuring the tea to be steeped, I was super hesitant to even use my normal half measurement, but I went with it anyway for a first attempt. I used 0.75 tsp for my 12 oz cup instead of the recommended 1.5 tsp per 8 oz. Even with it just sitting next to me for the 5 minute steeping time I can smell that “smell” in the air. (Recommended steep time was 4-6 minutes at boiling, so I went with that.)

The tea came out a dark reddish brown and to my great surprise the taste wasn’t nearly as strong as it smelled. It is actually fairly mild, but fine for someone like me who doesn’t really like strong flavors. I’m glad I didn’t let the scent scare me off. The plain tea doesn’t taste bitter at all, but has a weird mouth taste/feel to it. The only way I can describe it is, the air it leaves in my mouth after each sip reminds me of the freezing gel they use at my dentist’s office—fortunately without the actual freezing.

Would I buy it again? Maybe. It wouldn’t be at the top of my list, but I do appreciate the fact that it goes down smooth until it’s pretty much completely cooled down (then the flavor kicks up a bit) and that it’s caffeine free.

Updated cup count (12 oz) from 8g sampler size: 1. Still a lot more tea in the sampler.

Since last time this tea seemed a bit weak on the fruit flavor, I decided to up my previous amount of 0.5 tsp of loose tea to 0.75 tsp for my 12 oz cup in hopes of more pieces of fruit being steeped with the tea. My plan however backfired and I only managed to get one piece of fruit this time around instead of three like in my previous effort.

The plan was to steep the tea like normal (for three minutes), then pick out and toss the fruit bits back into the tea while I drank it to see if it added more of the fruit flavor to the water, but yea. This one lone piece of fruit now has a lot of responsibilities on its shoulders. Interesting side note: The fruit floats. Not sure why this surprised me considering the tea in the infuser also floated, but my brain told me the fruit should sink, so yea…

Anyway, I made the tea slightly below boiling again since 90C was the suggested temperature, and to my happy surprise, the added 0.25 tsp of tea didn’t make it too bitter to drink—though it still is kind of bitter. I’ll admit I was slightly worried about adding more tea and thought that sugar might be needed this time around, so I’m happy to report I didn’t need to add any sugar!

Do think I’ll go back to my original 0.5 tsp for future cups though. Because the tea (especially as it cooled down) was a bit too strong for me. And that one lonely piece of fruit didn’t seem to have any effect on the flavor. Ended up refilling my cup with hot water after I drank half the tea to mellow it out a bit. Broke down and added some sugar in the end too.

Would I buy this tea again? Probably not. It’s drinkable, but “not my cup of tea” as they say, especially as it cools down and the flavor ramps up.

Updated cup count (12 oz) from 8g sampler size: 2. Still a bunch more tea in the sampler for future experimentation…