Murchie's is more than a tea merchant.  This  Canadian company has been selling coffee, tea, spices and condiments for almost 120 years.  Their website is basic, but fun.  Spending time there is sort of like visiting a Williams-Sonoma store. Both businesses brag that they are picky; they procure and sell only the highest quality merchandise.   But unlike Williams- Sonoma, just about everything in Murchie's product line is affordable, (for someone at my income level, anyway.)

I am constantly grateful for the many, reasonably-priced teas offered on website's like Murchie's.  Tea is important to me, and I won't drink just anything.  Red rooibos is one tea, (technically, it's a "tisane",) I shy away from.  It always tastes like vanilla, no matter what other flavors are blended with it.  It is so sweet-smelling, it strikes me as sour.  Sometimes I wonder if there is a component akin to vinegar in this high-anti-oxidant plant. 

Unlike most red (fermented) rooibos, though,  this one smelled smooth, fruity and floral.  That  olfactory rush of yeast and vanilla was absent when I set out to prepare this drink.  I was pleased to anticipate a red-bush blend that might turn out to be different.

And it was.  Like almost all rooibos, this version brews up in boiling water and can stand around and steep for up to five minutes.  (The longer I steep rooibos bits, the higher the risk of making vinaigrette!)  The yeasty, fermented, vanilla taste was present, but for only a moment.  It gave way to a complex, floral, fruity, and balanced flavor.  Pomegranate, I think, does magic things to teas and tisanes.  I've yet to try a blend that includes it I didn't like, including this one.  I rate it a 8.8.

 

— To purchase Murchie’s Tea and Coffee Pomegranate Rooibos, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular tea, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.

CJ Teaviews.com Reviewer » Read more about this reviewer on CJ's profile page. » Find a list of recent posts by CJ.

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