If you're trying to kick your coffee addiction stay away from this tisane rooibos! It has Ethiopian coffee- which I have never even heard of putting into a tea, much less a tea that is supposed to be caffeine free. Irony. So I am not going to lie to you, I think its pretty awesome that Rooibos Suite put Ethiopian coffee in their tea- and it totally won them the 0.5 points that I reserve for originality. This tisane is also pretty rockin' for me because it puts the things that I really like all together into one tasty blend. The only thing that I would have possibly added to this rooibos was English toffee, because I love that too.

I brewed this rooibos in my breville tea maker (awesome for the notorious over-brewer) at 212 Fahrenheit for 5 minutes (the package says 3-7). A seven minute brew draws out a wood/nutty flavour that is quite fantastic. However, I liked the five minute brew better for its well roundedness. The butterscotch is subtle, sweet and smooth. It seems as though the butterscotch lightly coats the rooibos and they brew together in harmony. The flavour is a butterscotchy rooibos blend, which is truly the best setting in which I have seen rooibos displayed. The coffee sunk out of the strainer (due to its very small ground size) and to the bottom of my thermos, so it developed the flavour throughout the day getting slightly stronger each hour, but never overpowering the whole cup- as I was concerned about. If they planned that, it was clever, if it was accidental, they were lucky. The calendula adds a little bit of tang that cuts the sweetness nicely so that the drinker can enjoy all aspects of all ingredients within this rooibos blend.

I would call this a crowd pleasing tea, because most people, novice or expert, would enjoy the robust and complex delivery of this most excellent rooibos. I would certainly entertain in fall and winter months with this tea by my side.

— To purchase Rooibos Suite To Die For, 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.

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

---