I found this old sampler tin and have been in a chai mood lately as the cold (and very windy!) fall weather sets in here, so I decided to finally try a cup of this tonight. The aroma of the dry leaf does remind me a bit of Mexican cocoa, as I do pick up a faint chocolate aroma, with a much stronger spice smell, namely cinnamon and cardamom.
The flavor is a little flat for me… I’m not sure if it’s the age, or if maybe I should’ve overleafed this just a little. The spices have a nice flavor and are very warming, but the base feels very weak to me, somehow, like the rooibos itself doesn’t have any fullness to it, and the chocolate is getting completely overwhelmed. The cinnamon, clove, and cardamom notes are very bold but I’m a bit let down that the rooibos itself, cocoa, and fruity goji berry notes are pretty much missing… right now I sort of feel like I’m drinking spices in a cup of water.
This was a pretty large sampler so as I work through it I’ll try upping the leaf and seeing if that creates an improvement, but I’m pretty disappointed at the moment. But considering the age of the sampler by the time I’ve finally gotten around to trying it, I feel some of the blame has to be on me and I can’t judge it too harshly.
Flavors: Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove, Spices
