The Tea Scoop

Teas Etc: Mango Nut

I really have to pray that when I have children, they don't have nut allergies. Because I seriously love nuts of all kinds.  Peanut butter is one of my lifetime weaknesses.  To the point where just thinking about it makes me want to abandon this post to go make some peanut butter toast. But I will resist that temptation until I finish my review of Mango Nut from Teas Etc.  I know, I know, I'm doing a lot of rooibos and herbal reviews lately.  But there just happen to be a lot in my stash. I have not abandoned camellia sinensis, not by far.  You don't see all the tea I'm drinking that doesn't get reviewed.  

So, Mango Nut.  It's a blend of green and red rooibos from Teas Etc with coconut pieces and macadamia nut and mango flavoring.  It looks a little bit like summer.  Teas Etc recommends using it to make ice cream, and if I had an ice cream maker, that would be a wonderful idea.  The rooibos in the blend is deliciously full bodied and stands up well the the flavoring.  The macadamia nut is the prominent flavor with a bit of toasted coconut floating around the edges.  I can't really taste the mango, but this is a delightful blend nonetheless.  

Now, I'm feeling a strange urge to make peanut butter cookies with macadamia nuts...I wonder why?

Talbott Teas: Ruby Slippers Blend

I have a very dear friend who loves the Wizard of Oz.  Beyond loves, actually.  The Wizard of Oz is to her what tea is to me.  So in my latest tea swap, when I received the Ruby Slippers Blend in celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the film, I excitedly tore it open to try to see if it was something that she would like.  

It is a rooibos blend with rose petals, cornflower petals, strawberries, and vanilla extract. Upon opening the package, I could smell the delicious aroma of berries and cream.  After steeping, that scent remained in the ruby-colored liquor.  And indeed, it tastes delightfully of fresh strawberries, now long out of season.  A little bit of sugar (a very very little bit) helps to bring the vanilla flavor forward.  Very tasty. 

Alas, I cannot find the tea for sale anywhere.  Talbott Teas does not have it on their website, and I also checked the Warner Brothers website, in case it was being sold with their merchandise.  If anyone has come across it, I would love to know so I could order some for my friend. 

Rooibos Earl Grey from Adagio

It never ceases to amaze me how many endless variations of Earl Grey there are.  Read my review about Adagio's take on a rooibos version over at the Tea Review Blog

Haute Chocolate from Teavana

If you walk into Teavana and order a hot chocolate, most likely you are going to be disappointed. But if you order this drink without a fancy French accent, it sounds pretty much the same. Tastewise? Something completely different.  Teavana's Azteca Fire, while spicy, definitely has the sweetness of chocolate. But this particular rooibos is a much fuller bodied blend and not too much sweetness. Like I said, this is no substitute for hot chocolate. Please don't stop reading, because this tea is so much more. Full-bodied, spicy, rich. Utterly moreish. 

The great thing about rooibos is that it blends with anything.  In this case, rooibos is blended with chicory, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and cacao. The hearty flavor of the tea comes from the chicory which has been used as a coffee substitute when coffee was unavailable or too expensive. The spiciness from the ginger and cinnamon kept me sipping and lingered well after the tea was gone. 

This is a great after dinner tea, especially as a replacement for caffeinated coffee.  

ZT The Final Chapter: ZT Vanilla Rooibos

My journey through South Africa via bottled rooibos iced tea has been quite interesting.  I learned about a new natural sweetening agent, inulin, which is apparently a form of insoluble fiber.  I learned how delicious plain rooibos could be over ice.  I learned that honey and ginseng make great ingredients in bottled iced tea. 

As for the vanilla?  If you love strong vanilla flavor, this is definitely something for you to taste. Opening the bottle was like walking into a house filled with the teasing aroma of baked goods in the oven. The taste wasn't far off from that either, sweet and vanilla. The rooibos all but disappeared under the vanilla's dominance, which I found to be a little too sweet for my tastes. However, I have noticed that many people prefer their tea sweeter than I do, and I think this tea is perfect for vanilla lovers with a sweet tooth. It tastes rather like a tea-flavored creamsicle. 

The final verdict on ZT? Loved the plain and honey-ginseng varieties, and recommend vanilla and lemon to those who are drawn to those flavors of bottled tea in general. 

ZT Strikes Back: Lemon Flavored Rooibos

I have recently become acquainted with a South African gentleman who has been drinking rooibos for as long as he can remember. Apparently, that's all they drink there. He complained to me that we can't get the best brand of rooibos here in the states (Eleven O'Clock), but the next best thing is Fresh Pak. He told me that they like to drink it straight, or extremely strong with lots of milk and sugar. I'm pretty sure that he would find lemon-flavored rooibos to be utter heresy. 

Now, I love lemon in tea.  A squeeze of lemon into Lipton's (yes I know) iced tea just cries out of summers on my grandmother's screened in porch, drinking iced tea out of dixie cups on her chaise lounge. Unfortunately, I have yet to find someone who can bottle anything similar.  They are usually too sweet and have so much lemon one can hardly taste the tea around it. 

ZT's Red Tea is an improvement. It only has 6 grams of carbohydrates and no sugar (remember, it's sweetened with inulin.) On the other hand, Snapple's Lemon Tea has 21 grams of sugar and a whopping eight times the number of calories in ZT. Lipton's has slightly less sugar but is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. ZT is not quite as sweet as the competition (keeping in mind that this is a rooibos and the others are black tea) and I find it more refreshing. However, it is not nearly as delicious as ZT's plain rooibos and the honey ginseng that had me raving recently. 

Tea Experiment Week: Experiment Two

It's been rather cold here lately, especially since our heat pump is broken, and I am longing for summer.  Nothing says summer like a big bowl of peaches and ice cream, so I thought perhaps I would brew up a nice hot version of that to warm me up. 

I took a nice vanilla bean black tea and mixed it together with a nice rooibos peach, then brewed it with a teaspoon of rock sugar. Then I divided it into three cups, unsure of the best way to achieve the cream part of peaches and cream. 

In the first cup, I added nothing, to see if the vanilla flavor would shine through and add a little creaminess.

In the second cup, I added just a splash of milk.

In the third cup, I added Coffeemate, less than a teaspoon's worth.  I know, the scandal of using Coffeemate.  But I didn't have soy or other dairy alternatives available, and sometimes milk does funny things with fruit teas.  

The results: I liked the plain version a lot. It was very subtle, and not as peachy as I expected with two parts peach to one part vanilla.  I think if I make it again, I'll add even more peach. The great thing about rooibos is that it's not really tea, so it never gets bitter.  

The Coffeemate version was also delicious, if you were looking for something really sweet.  It came the closest to achieving the bowl of ice cream effect, but it still was not as peaches and creamy as I would have liked. 

The milk version tasted awful, and reminded me why I never put milk in fruity teas.  

I would love to try this with vanilla soy milk, and am going to try to remember to pick some up at the store next time I go.