Almond Orange Rooibos

Wow… first tasting note for this one.. Being a newbie, not sure how I feel about that.

The sun is shining & the snow is finally melting away from the roads making me think it might be nice to get out and go somewhere without being beaten by the packed snow on the roads like the last few days have been. So pretty out.. Love the snow when it’s not so cold you can’t enjoy it and when it doesn’t interfere with travel (& school.. an extra week of Christmas break could make anyone stir crazy!).

I finished a cup of Chocolate Candy Cane from The Spice & Tea Exchange, a new favorite, a little while ago and went looking to try something else new. ColumbiaKate had asked if any of us that she sent samples to had tried her new Duck Dinah’s Tea yet, so I reached for the samples she sent. This one smelled yummy as I pulled it out of the package. Sweet, orangey, yummy goodness… very much reminds me of sweet orange cranberry bread. Sorry.. just couldn’t resist but to try this one first!

Upon steeping, the fragrance dulls a bit, but that’s ok… time to taste it. Reminds me of orange creamsicle, which is not usually a favorite of mine, but this is nice. Added a pinch of sugar after my first sip, smaller amount than I normally would use since it’s sweet fragrance lends to it feeling a need for less. The flavors of slightly earthy deep orange and cream both come through and neither are too strong (probably why I don’t care for a true creamsicle-that and a creamsicle is sooo sweeett!). Not sure I’m finding the almond, but it may be part of the sweetness I’m smelling, and it may give part of the creaminess as well, not sure.

I will have to try some of it iced to see if it would make a great selection for summer as well. If it keeps it’s flavors, I could see it being a nice treat rotated with my standard home made fresh spearmint iced tea.

This is the first tea I’ve found with orange overtones that appeals to me. Thanks Columbia Kate for sharing something extra and unexpected with your sample :)

Finally had a chance to sit down and give this tea some of the attention it deserves.

Thank you to Columbia Kate’s for sending me this sample to try.

Dry, the aroma is like opening up a bag of summertime. The orange creamsicle makes its presence known, in a very pleasant way.

I did 1 tsp for a little over 8oz, I think I will add more and steep longer next time. The aroma is still there, but the tastes are a lot more subtle. The rooibos comes through nicely and there is the after taste of the orange. The fruit flavors become stronger as the tea cools. I do get a bit of the almond as well. I bet this would be very refreshing iced at summertime.

Creamsicle in a tea, love this for the summertime nostalgia. Great idea.

I received a small sample of this tea, and its intense scent hit me as soon as I opened the mailer. It would make a lovely potpourri indeed! To me it has a heady “incense” quality that I love but seldom find in a tea, other than certain chais. Very sweet; very orange. Even now, several days later, the scent is still strong in the empty cellophane packaging.

On brewing, a lot of the intensity dissipated, but the scent and flavor were still very nice and became more pronounced as the tea cooled. I added a packet of Truvia, as I do to most of my flavored teas, which helped to bring out the sweetness.

All in all, a yummy tea! Thank you, Columbia Kate’s, for the sample. Thinking about ordering more of this.

I’ve been meaning to review this tea forever, but I’ve had such high hopes from the ingredients, I wanted to save it for a night when I could focus on it properly, so here it is! The first thing that hit me as I opened the bag was a delicious fruity scent, more citrus, followed by sweet nut. There were generous pieces of fruit and nut in my sample.

For some reason, as I took the steeper out of my cup, the wet leaf smelled more like grapefruit than anything else, is it just me?

The first sip was all orange flavor, tangy, with the almond and rooibos giving a nutty finish. Enough sweetness to make me want more, but not so much as to turn me off after a few sips. I would call it an overall “juicy” flavor, with nut coming in second, and maybe even a bit of cream in the end?

Huge thanks to Columbia Kate’s Teahouse for sending me a sample of this tea, I know it was a pain across the border!

Overall, this is as good as I was expecting, and I just wish I had more!

Happy Autumn! This is my last bit of the tea. It smells so good. There is a nice scent of oranges, and some almond. The almond comes out more in flavour along with the citrus. It tastes like really good scones. Now I need more.