Italian Blood Orange

For the first time since Monday, I actually am craving tea. So I’m going to go with it, do a little celebration dance and have a brand new tea. This is one of the free samples I got from Jade Teapot so yay! I’m actually the most hesitant about this one simply because… rooibos. But Samovar has convinced me that rooibos can be done well (thank you, Ocean of Wisdom) so I’m not going to automatically exclude all rooibos as I continue to search for good nighttime decaf tea-alternatives. And this one is blood orange flavored so that’s a point in its favor. I’m a sucker for anything orange and my grocery store has had some really great blood oranges lately so perhaps the stars will align and it will be love, right?

Okay, it’s not quite love but I might be able to develop a bit of a crush if given enough time. My biggest problem is the smell. Maybe one day I’ll get used to the sour wood smell and taste of rooibos. Until then, rooibos just makes me go ick. Fortunately, this rooibos also smells strongly of blood orange. Most of the time the smell of the citrus gives a nice sweet lift to the tail of the rooibos smell but every so often I catch overwhelming whiffs of orange and that’s fun. But the main smell is still rooibos sour wood and that made me a bit hesitant to sip.

But sip I did and it actually tastes a lot less rooibos-y than it smells. The rooibos and the orange tastes blend really well. No wait, let me take that back. The taste of the orange nicely covers the taste of the rooibos. It’s sort of like someone snuck in and spiced my orange with rooibos. The rooibos taste is there but there is no sour wood taste – just a dry, woody taste that I can totally deal with especially since it is wrapped in juicy orange. And I know the ingredient list has hibiscus, but it’s insanely light. Just a wee hint of tart that helps simulate the tart bite of a sweet orange.

So yeah, not sure yet if I’d order this but fortunately the Jade Teapot gives generous samples so I have several more sessions with this beastie to see how we will get along. I do kind of feel a bit like I’m taking bubblegum-flavored medicine though. You know that you are ingesting something icky that you don’t really want, but it’s flavored so there’s a secret part of you (okay, fine, me) that actually likes it. (And considering that rooibos is supposed to be an expectorant, that comparison is pretty accurate right now).

ETA: Second steep @ 8min. More rooibos woodsy but still not sour so bonus. Has a nice fresh-fruit orange aftertaste. I might actually like the subtlety of this steep more. Maybe.
2.4g/5.5oz

Like the others, I got my sample from the Jade Teapot. Unlike the others, I was having a harder time tasting the blood orange through the rooibos. I think that I’m more sensitive to the rooibos taste than most, making some teas that are amazing for others tasting overly woody to me. This tea was good, but not one that is inspiring song and visions of large orders.

I do just need to say that the free sample from the Jade Teapot was very generous and shipped quickly. I’m very much hoping I fall in love with one of my samples, because I want to give this company my custom. Thanks Jade Teapot for being awesome.

This is a sample I just received today from the Jade Teapot.

This tea smells like blood oranges, and tastes like rooibos tea with a nice strong citrus background. Italian Blood Orange leaves a warm citrus aftertaste that is pleasant to me. This is a great tea for the evening.

I really am enjoying having orange herbal and orange rooibos teas at night. They are calming and relaxing.

I just received my samples from The Jade Teapot (thanks btw!), and this was one of the ones I decided to sample.

The citrus flavor in this is amazing, it’s not too overpowering, because you can still taste the rooibos. But you can definitely tell it is a blood orange by both the taste and smell. The hibiscus isn’t overpowering, I think this makes for an amazing nighttime tea. I’ll write more on this later

The blood orange tastes seem to cover up the bad parts of roobios. Lightly sweet and very smooth.

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp, entire sample
Additives: none
Water: 12 ounces filtered boiling
Tool: Mesh basket strainer in cup
Steep Time: a little over 7 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: orange and something else I can’t identify
Steeped Tea Smell: woody honey orange
Flavor: sweet orange
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: citric tang
Liquor: translucent orange-red

This is part of the samples I got from the jade teapot. Although this tea isn’t a WOW tea, I will buy some in conjunction with other teas when purchasing there.

Post-Steep Additives: none

Resteep: weak and watery, threw out

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/jade-teapot-loose-leaf-rooibos-tea_21.html