Honeybush Vanilla

I had the last of this tea last night.

I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t order from Teavana again when there are so many wonderful tea companies out there. It just felt wrong, knowing what I know about how they make their workers sell, and how high their prices are.

I wound up getting some Honeybush and some Vanilla rooibos from Mountain Rose Herbs. I’m going to mix them, and cut a vanilla bean in them. I’ll feel much better knowing that I’m buying from a company that not only sells delicious tea, but that I believe in.

This is hard to review… I generally don’t love honeybush, there is something floral almost soapy in the aftertaste that makes me generally avoid them. On the other hand, I am obsessed with vanilla… So given that this is actually really cheap for Teavana (and in general…) I figured it was worth a try. It has sat in my cabinet for a while, I think I even sent some off in a swap at some point… But today is the first time I actually taste it.

I have had a long day, and I have an even longer day ahead of me. Tomorrow I have to give classes (I volunteered to do it for 4 weeks…) to a class of 5th graders from low income families at 7 am and then go to work, somehow live through the day (with tough meetings, of course…) and then get home at around 9pm… I am not looking forward to it… Caffeine usually has no effect on me, but to be on the safe side I took it as an opportunity to try this herbal tea…

Dry, it smells delicious. Very vanilla and very creamy. The honeybush floral notes are in tail end of the scent, but not too strong… All in all a pleasure to sniff at. The redish bits of honeybush have a few brown pieces mixed in, I assume that is the natural vanilla pieces that it supposedly has.

I brewed it in a dark mug, so I couldn’t really sea the color of the brew. It still smelled very good. The vanilla and cream were predominant with the honeybush in the background.

Tastewise, plain there was too much honeybush going on for my liking… Sooo…. I made it a late! And it was delicious. It tasted just like vanilla Nesquick I used to drink (or rather still do once in a while as a guilty pleasure…) when I was a kid. The honebush was still there, but it was played down and almost covered up by the vanilla and cream.

I am happily sipping the rest of my tea while I dread waking up super early tomorrow… Well… It’s for a good cause! : )

Ninavampi sent this to me, and I’m certain I’ve tried it hot at some point, but as it doesn’t appear that I wrote about it at the time, I honestly can’t remember what I thought of it. I can’t have thought it was particularly outstanding, as I’m sure I would have been able to remember that.

Instead of another round of hot, however, I made the rest of it in a cold brew, which I initially thought was slightly odd. That only lasted until I got over the fact that it’s a honeybush base, not a tea one.

The vanilla comes out very nicely in the cold brew and it mixes well with the slightly wooden flavour of the honeybush. I find it’s at it’s very best when it has just come out of the fridge and is still as chilled as possible. The honeybush starts to take over a bit as it warms up.

Yeah, just a short one here. Those wigsaws don’t do themselves, you know!

This came as a Christmas gift from my brother with 3 other Teavana teas, I am tempted to tell him I don’t need any more tea but it’s hard to pass up tea gifts, isn’t it?

I’m not a big expert on honeybush, I’ve just had a few that came from 52Teas. I think its more appealing than rooibos but it seems to be more rare.

I let this steep for over 6 minutes by accident, my cup came out really dark. The resulting flavor seems to me like carob. It reminds me of Teecino which I don’t really mind. The vanilla is a nice addition here (but not really prominent) and then I ended up adding almond milk which doesn’t seem to be as good for tea as my usual Silk soymilk. It does have a pretty sweet aftertaste which is good for a dessert tea.

It is acceptable but I doubt I’ll be clamoring for more when the current supply runs out. I am inspired to look for some more honeybush teas now, however.

Blended 1.5 tsp of this with 1 tsp of Azteca Fire and brewed for 10 minutes with boiling water. Perfect, absolutely perfect. Oh, and the smell pre-steeping is a lot like flowery Fig Newtons, according to my roommate. I’m running low—oh dear.

A nice, simple tea I enjoy drinking at night to wind down. No weird woody flavor, but there’s something in there besides pure vanilla. It’s not unpleasant, I just can’t identify it. I’ve heard this is a great tea for mixing, I’ll have to try it!

I am a major sweets fan. Actually, I’m really a fan-atic. If I hear about a naturally sweet tea, I’m there! The sales person at our local Teavana store placed the huge open cannister of this tea under my nose while she waved the lid to force the incredible aroma of this blend up my nostrils. I was immediately sold!

While brewing this tea, a wonderful sweet smell filled the room. It wasn’t distinctly vanilla or honey, but a nice combination of both. After six minutes of steeping at 212 degrees, a rich dark amber color appeared.

The flavor of this tea is incredibly smooth and sweet. The vanilla is not overpowering and the taste is very natural. The honey flavor is definitely active and integrates perfectly with the honeybush and vanilla. The aftertaste is sweet and lingers with no bitterness to report.

This is a delicious sweet herbal tea. I also tried brewing it with an equal portion of Teavana’s Spice Of Life tea. That produced an AMAZING sweet, nutty, and fruity blend! This Honeybush Vanilla tea may become my go-to variety when I feel the urge to sweeten up ANY of my morning teas.

I haven’t been able to shake this cold. I don’t know where it goes when it leaves me, but after a brief vacation it always seems to slink back in just enough to reduce my ability to properly taste food, no more and no less, which is rather cunning…any more and I might be compelled to seek proper treatment to kick it for good.

Having been therefore naughty in my reckless consumption of things I can taste — i.e., some chai with milk that assuredly does not help my mucus situation — I am prescribing myself some tea to remedy what some of my other tea has done to me. This sounds irresponsible, but I count it as a twofer.

This was an interesting choice. I think I overdid the amount of tea that I steeped by just a hair, but it didn’t really suffer for all that. The first cup was not as good as the second…it seems like the sweetness from the vanilla accrues, and the squeaky-clean mouth sensation that it left behind seemed as though it wanted some (I can’t believe I’m saying this, because I rarely like it) very subtle mint, or some other sort of ‘cooling’ addition. That last could just be because I’m still a little bit under the weather, I don’t know. I’d like to try it iced, and can see combining it with all sorts of teas for that little extra bit of sweet. Not my first pick for an evening tea, but a nice option to have, and it seems to live up to its end of the ‘keep my pipes clear’ bargain.

Another gift from mum! Thanks mum!

MMM I LOVE THIS! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Sweet and smooth, the vanilla is perfect. It’s got the right amount of rusticy rooibos flavor to even out the sweetness to the right level. This is what I want before bed. I will have lovely dreams tonight!

I also brewed this in my fancy new Teavana single serving tea strainer thingy. What a great invention! I am a happy camper.

Dry, this tea has a beguiling honeyed vanilla scent that draws me in without any of the chemical notes I often pick up in Teavana blends. The honeybush is a delightful bottom note – rich and supple – and I could turn this tea into little potpourri sachets and be quite happy with it. :)

A 6 minute brew yielded a dark amber tea that smells most powerfully of honeybush with lighter vanilla accents. This tea is naturally sweet, but I did err on the side of indulgence and added a little sugar – yes, I’m one of those sort of people.

I find this tea to be very comforting – it has deep, almost roasted flavours that intermix with the vanilla seamlessly and spreads a brief warmth after drinking that’s reminiscent of light ginger notes. (and it tastes pretty good with Fritos…who knew?)

This is my go-to tea for homework, studying, coding…anything that requires focus and would be negatively affected by me snacking all over it. My only issue is that it’s a Teavana blend; I’ll need to look into finding alternative sources for this flavour/mix.