Saturday, December 5, 2015

Sugar and Spice Black and Rooibos tea

Black and rooibos blend
Amoda Tea

All organic ingredients: Ceylon, rooibos, orange peel, cardamom, cinnamon, all-spice, elderberries, peppercorn, ginger, licorice root, vanilla, brown sugar extract, orange extract.



I stumbled across Amoda Tea on Twitter when they were working on a monthly subscription package. Now, I've gotten a preview with their all-organic November Tasting Box!



It's a slim little box, nicely packaged with four tea blends of different caffeine levels, biodegradable tea filters, and tasting notes.



 
Included are Amoda Tea's new blends: Sugar & Spice, Oolong Gone, Lime Green with Envy, and a Spring Clean herbal.

Since it's the Christmas season, I had to start with the spiced tea. I've never tried a black/rooibos blend before. We have an air stagnation warning and burn ban here south of Seattle, and the dense, low fog is making me crave warmth.



The dry tea smell just leaps from the bag. It takes a couple sniffs to identify orange peel and vanilla as that extra punch to the brown cinnamon. It's deliciously sweet but with cardamom and elderberries to keep it rooted. The ginger and licorice, which is often too strong in blends, are supporting undertones and not overpowering.



I'm brewing the Sugar & Spice in my small Brown Betty. The steeping directions call for freshly boiled water at 4-5 minutes, so I'll go with 5 min. I've pre-warmed my teapot to appease the Welsh tea gods, and my iPhone timer is at the ready. I like my tea strong, so I'm using 2 Tbsp and about 10 oz of water.

Toasted aspects come out in the liquor smell, like cardamom and peppercorn, with cinnamon following. There's a licorice root influence when the tea cools down. It's deep red like rust.



The first taste reminds me that this has rooibos. I had expected a bolder black tea flavor. Orange wafts from the cup. The wet leaves have some visible squares of unfurled black tea, plus the expanded spices and orange bits. It's sweeter tea than I normally drink, so I'd reserve this for after a holiday dinner.

The November Tasting Box is a lot of fun. I'd use it to try new flavors just for fun, or then commit to larger volumes of tea with the free shipping currently offered to subscribers.

This tea was provided by Amoda Tea.

6 comments:

  1. Interesting. Thanks for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading! I'll publish reviews of the other teas in the box, too.

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  2. Replies
    1. The black tea/rooibos combination is probably what makes it the most unusual!

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  3. Interesting post Bethany! I wonder how it taste, I haven't tried this before.

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    Replies
    1. It's good! On the lighter and sweeter side though.

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