Rooibos Mirage

Orange, vanilla and… cactus? Really? So weird! And the smell is kind of weird, too. It’s simultaneously herbal, vegetal, citrusy and a little… crisp. I can’t tell if mixed in with all that is the sour rooibos smell that I detest so much or if it’s something more pleasant that I just don’t know how to properly register.

And now I’m going to say something I never thought I’d say. The sour rooibos taste is there but it works. It somehow blends into the orange, is softened by the vanilla and matches oddly well with the cactus (or at least what I recall cactus tastes like from the one time I’ve had it). It’s crisp, natural, smooth and fresh in a sharp, clean way.

This is definitely a different tea. I never would have thought that the flavors would work based on the description but it does. It’s pretty outside the norm but I could definitely see it growing on me. I’m kind of on the fence about whether I’d order it or not but the more I think about it, the more I think I would get it just to see exactly how much it would grow on me.

Thanks to TeaEqualsBliss for this share!

This smells herbally. I can smell the orange too tho!

This is sweet and floral and herbal and citrusy and almost plant-like but in a good way.
Very interesting, very different. Tastes good tho! I would drink again!

This has a very interesting aroma – I can smell the vanilla notes, the citrus-y notes, and some of the nutty tones of the rooibos. I am also getting some of the herbal-y scent that the others who have logged tea notes on this blend have mentioned. They meld together into this unified scent that is a little bit of everything. It’s different but it isn’t unpleasant. I like it.

And I am also enjoying the flavor. I like the combination of red and green rooibos, I think that the fruitier tones of the green help to cancel out some of the funkier flavors of the red. It has a nice creamy background from the vanilla, and the orange is fainter than I expected. I don’t know that I can actually pinpoint or describe the flavor that is emitted from the cactus flowers, but I can tell that there is something different about this. Almost a weird, sour flavor that hits the back of the throat. Again, not unpleasant, just unusual.

Overboard TTB

I was looking for an herbal of some sort today and found this. Another reviewer stated it had orange, vanilla, and cactus in it. I can’t actually confirm what is in it. It is a somewhat confusing melange of flavors with the orange slightly beating out the others. In all honesty, it’s not that great. At least it doesn’t have caffeine as I have jury duty tomorrow. I would rather do anything else but drive out to Riverhead on my day off for Jury Duty. Couldn’t those idiots schedule it when I have to work.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 5 min.

Overboard Traveling tea box

I totally over-did it on tea the last couple of days. Acid reflux from hell. Poo. Anyway, I figured a little rooibos wouldn’t hurt. This one was odd, unsweetened it doesn’t really taste like anything, sweetened I’m getting a faint creamsicle taste but it’s not obvious and could easily be confused as just sweet. Back in the box it goes.

Overboard TTB.

I’m not really getting anything from this other than a mild, slightly sweet rooibos. It’s not too bad for a rooibos, but I’m not tasting the flavors other people have commented on.