Tisane Tasting

I got this wonderful little package of samples from Portsmouth Tea the other day, and I'm just getting round to tasting them.  I didn't want to venture in while I was still sick, as my taster would have been quite ... off. 

Today I'm trying the rooibos blends, a tisane, not technically tea since it's not Camellia sinensis, but that's word-quibbling. 

I've never had rooibos before.  I wanted to try it since it was mentioned in one of the past Carnival recipes, and piqued my curiosity.  According to Wikipedia: Rooibos means 'red bush',  is a member of the legume family of plants, and is commonly used to make a tisane (herbal tea).  It grows exclusively in the mountains of South Africa.  As to flavor:

The tea has a smooth, non-bitter flavour that is pleasant hot or chilled. The unfermented variety has a very mild "green" taste reminiscent of green tea but without the astringency; the fermented type is quite different, with a stronger sweet and fruity taste. The mild flavour of rooibos has made it popular in multi-ingredient herbal tea blends.

Well, I've only tasted these two blends, so I'm not sure about plain rooibos, fermented or not.  I'll have to get some and try it. 

Of these two that I HAVE tried, one is a thumbs up, and one a decided thumbs down. 

The White Chocolate Toffee is the most horrible stuff I have every tasted.  I have to admit my expectations may have skewed my experience.  I mean, c'mon, when you see something that says "white chocolate" and "toffee" you have your mouth set for a certain taste sensation. The second factor that turned me off was the smell.  It smelled like old, gone-bad fruity wine.  Is it possible for fermentation to go overboard into rancid?  Maybe it was just the wrong flavor combination for me.  I don't know, but in any case, I went ahead and made a cup to try, determined not to let my expectations or my nose make the final decision.  The taste wasn't as bad as my nose said it would be, but it still wasn't great.  Nix on the White Chocolate Toffee.

Now, the second rooibos blend was quite different.  Avalanche Rooibos Blend is citrus-y but light, not overwhelming, and it has a little peppery backbite which I like.  An altogether wonderful cup.  I did have to let it steep for longer than I would any of my black teas, about 8 minutes I think.  One thing I really like about Portsmouth is they give you instructions right on the tins for how much tea to use, how hot the water should be, and how long to let it steep.  A nice touch.

While I waited for it to steep, I poked around in it to see what it was made up of.  All kinds of little round things and pokey things and green and red things.  Pretty stuff.  According the website, it's "apple bits, lemongrass, ginger, orange peels, basil and red pepper".  Ummmm, and rooibos, right?

Inventors Needed
Here's a question for both coffee and tea drinkers who deal with different water temperatures ... how do you test the water?

I remember reading Fortune's water temperature destructions for the french press, and I know also that many teas are best steeped at water temps other than boiling.  I could get one of those stick thermometers, but I thought, wouldn't it be a great thing to have a water kettle that told you the water temperature???  So you let it boil, take it off the heat, and now you need to know when it's cooled to the right temperature.  I looked on the net and couldn't find anything that quite fit the bill.  I found one that you could supposedly set to the temp you wanted, but the reviews said the thing was fussy, had to be tested and calibrated because they're all different, and the dial wasn't exact. 

What do other folx use?

Well, anyway, that's enough reviewing.  I'm off to enjoy a second cup of the Avalanche.  No caffeine in it, but that's ok.  It's a citrus tisane kind of afternoon.

Comments

Got to Wittards in London. Pick up some loose leaf Rooibus. You will not be disappointed....

[Tom Parrish]

I like the Kalahari brand Highlands Honey, when you can find it.

[Claire]

I really like red tea. Actually, my current favourite tea is Red and White by Stash. If you can find it, I'd highly recomend it.
As for your heat question, I love strong,hot tea, so I'm probably a lot less picky about it then most people. I just do it by touch.

[Christine]

Thank you Stephanie! Thank you very much. :))

[Stephanie W.]

I'm glad you're feeling better! Your blog is one of my absolute favorites!

[Christine]

Clever, clever, thank you! I'm going to get one of those and try it out. And in the meantime, I've got the hubs working on an in-kettle solution. It won't be pretty but hopefully it will work. Then all we have to do is patent the thing. :)

[Katxena]

I use a polder probe thermometer to get my water to the correct temperature. You set it to the temperature you want, stick it in what you are heating, and it beeps (loudly!) when it reaches that temperture.

I just stick the probe in the spout of my electric kettle. Sometimes I have to prop it up or balance it on my teapot to keep the probe off the bottom of the kettle (so that I measure the temp of the water, not the element).

I'm making this sound way more complicated than it is -- it's super easy.