African Autumn

It’s the first day of autumn, so I picked this for that reason, and also since it doesn’t have caffeine. It’s a rooibos tea, I don’t really taste that. Its mouthfeel is a trifle dry, but it’s not overly acidic. Hard for me to differentiate the hibiscus and cranberry flavors—there’s just a nice deep note. The citrus is mildly above that. Smelling the tea, there’s a subtle sour note, but I didn’t find that when I was drinking it. A nice, mild tea, especially if you don’t want to drink something caffeinated in the evening. The tea itself is a lovely coppery color liquid—and the tin it comes in is a nice coppery color, too!

I got a nice big tin of tea bags as a gift from friends. It’s not bad. There is definitely a zing of hibiscus in it. I do not like hibiscus. To me it is too sour. I could taste the spices in it though, and that helped.

Boy, I am in a mood to not be satisfied by anything these days!

I found an unopened tagalong tin of this in my “small packets” tea drawer, from my last Harney order. I adore Harney’s little tagalong tins, they’re perfect to reuse for holding tiny items like knitting notions. And as with most things at Harney, they’re very reasonably priced. This one is a lovely burnt orange color!

This is a cranberry-orange rooibos blend, which sounds lovely. I wouldn’t say I’m a rooibos lover, but I do really enjoy it when it’s paired with certain flavors. B&B’s Rhubarb & Custard, for instance, is one of my favorites.

Anyway! Honestly this is fairly tasty, but I’m a bit disappointed by it. And that’s because I can’t really tell that it’s cranberry or orange. I think I’m mostly getting tartness from the hibiscus and the rooibos base? No specific cranberry or orange notes really. I’m still enjoying the cuppa and it still comes off a bit fruity and very autumnal because of the woody notes from the rooibos. But to me, it’s not cranberry or orange.

I think there’s a black tea version as well? I wonder if it tastes similar or if it has a better representation of the fruits. I love cranberry things, and I would love to have a yummy go-to cranberry tea…

I baked a loaf of cranberry orange bread this afternoon (don’t get excited; it was a mix) and can’t touch it because it’s to serve at work tomorrow—-but it smelled so good, I broke out its tea equivalent.

Previous reviewers don’t give it a lot of love, but I think it’s a nicely balanced triad of rooibos, cranberry, and orange. The berries aren’t tart, the orange isn’t bitter. I drank it outside in the glider watching my new little pot of lemongrass grow. (And once it does, wouldn’t that be a nice addition to this combo?)

I found a tin of African Autumn sachets in the back of my tea cabinet and lifted the lid for a whiff. It’s been four years since my last tasting of this tisane. Wow, the aroma of GREEN COCKTAIL OLIVE BRINE is overwhelming! Now this is supposed to contain orange and cranberry and hibiscus as well as rooibos, but the aroma was just so wrong to my sensibilities that it was a struggle to brew it up. But since I do like hibiscus and orange peel and cranberry—and green olives too (in food and martinis)—I pushed forward and steeped a cup according to Harney’s directions.

After the 5 min. steeping, the olive aroma had declined considerably. I was able to taste notes of orange and cranberry, and a touch of hibiscus in the lingering finish, so I’m raising my rating by fourteen points, for it having some redeeming qualities, but am still greatly disliking the flavor combination to the point of nearly being nauseated by it. And yes, there is taste of green olive in the finish, too. I have no idea what straight rooibos offers in the way of flavor, but it can’t be anything I like because this stuff is wretched. Your impressions may differ, of course, and I wish you luck if you try it.

Sipdown 159/397

Not a tea I would recommend, but not as bad as I expected given the ratings. This tea is sour, metallic and all around hibiscus-heavy when you first take a sip. I fully expected to pour my mug away. But I set it down, ate my meal (albeit a very strongly-flavoured one which might be why I didn’t mind the tea so much afterwards) and then came back to it, and lo and behold, it wasn’t that bad! The hibiscus had retreated somewhat to let the orange and cranberry flavours through, and a little of the woodsy rooibos too. It wasn’t one I’d drink again through choice, but I finished the whole mug and gave it a solid ‘meh’.

Thanks for sharing, KittyLovesTea!

This was gross. I ordered a sample for both my husband and I and tried it one morning because the description seemed like something he might like. Nope. I couldn’t even finish the cup. My husband also said it looked like a cup of blood. Which highly amused me. I did a second steep to try cold just to see and that tasted every bit as gross too.

It’s odd to me that the prevailing opinion on this tea seems to be that it tastes overpoweringly like artificial orange flavoring. I haven’t found this to be the case; in fact, I feel the cranberry and rooibos flavors overwhelm the orange. This does make for a tea that’s quite sour and astringent, so I’ve found it’s a bit too much for some people, even when sweetened.

I bought a large tin of this a while ago and forgot about it, it wasn’t until I was going through my bottom shelf earlier that I remembered it. Well it’s the start of Autumn so I suppose it’s safe to drink this tea now.

The bags are nicely see through and pyramid shaped, the rooibos smells a bit strong but with some fruit behind it. Not great but not bad.

Once steeped the colour is dark brown/red and smells strongly of orange and cranberry, it’s waxy and super sour. Not the nicest again but here goes nothing…

It’s milder than it smells thankfully, though the Rooibos is thick and made sour by the fruit after tastes. It tones down some of the natural sweetness of the Rooibos though it is still rather sweet (by my standards). Orange is dominating so really it’s Orange Rooibos rather than African Autumn, or what I perceive African Autumn to taste like. In other words it’s a special name for a non special tea.

I should add that it is drinkable, and as much as I adore orange it’s just too thick a base for my preference. Still I can finish the tin with relative ease, and I can look forward to re-using it once the bags have gone….that gives me some momentum to use them.

To be honest, I don’t understand the bad reviews but as well I’m just starting out and new to tea. I did taste a fresh fruit flavor but nothing that was orange, I did add a packet of sweetener to the cup.

I did taste cinnamon and other flavors that a Roobios has, and I was generally satisfied with the tea.