Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Organic caffeine-free honeybush with organic sweet cinnamon and apricot flavors. This is a tea the whole family will love. We made a similar rooibos blend with these flavors for a 52teas blend years ago. It was my wife’s favorite and received the name, “Sheri’s Blend”. One of our tea bar customers took one sip of that tea and exclaimed, “It takes just like Christmas!” Personally, I think this honeybush blend is even better.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I remember really liking the Sheri’s Blend from 52Teas which was a rooibos based blend with the same flavors of apricot and cinnamon. And as weird as it is for me to admit, I think I liked that blend better than I’m liking this Cinnamon Apricot Iced Honeybush Tea from Southern Boy Teas.
Maybe it’s the “iced” part, because I am of the firm belief that I prefer honeybush over rooibos so I don’t think that’s the issue with this. Then again, maybe it is the rooibos – maybe rooibos just goes better with the apricot and cinnamon flavors than the honeybush does. I don’t know.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like this tisane. It’s tasty. But its not as tasty as I remember Sheri’s Blend being. I remember tasting a good, strong flavor of apricot that tasted true to the fruit, and here, I’m having trouble finding much apricot flavor at all.
The cinnamon is really dominant in this blend. I taste mostly cinnamon and it seems to be masking the flavor of the apricot a bit. After drinking about 2/3 of the glass, I start to pick up on the apricot notes, but they’re still not as strong as I’d like them to be.
The cinnamon is the top note, with mid-notes of honeyed nutty flavors and a low note of apricot. It’s a tasty blend, but if you’re looking for a strong apricot flavor, this tea isn’t bringing that for me. But if you like a really nice cinnamon flavor that’s a little sweet and a little spicy – kind of like the cinnamon you’d sprinkle on your breakfast toast – this tea delivers!
Overall, a tasty iced tisane, but I’d like it better if the apricot were more pronounced.
On the 4th Day of Christmas … from 52Teas
Ah… Patience. As a child, I was often told “patience is a virtue” in response to whatever it was that I wanted and wanted that instant. I like to think of myself as a patient individual, but I am finding it quite difficult to maintain my composure with these tea samplers from 52Teas.
But, so far, I’ve managed to deal. I try to keep myself occupied and not to think about that cute little red box. (The presentation on these sampler packages is fantastic, by the way!)
But, since today has finally arrived… I need wait no longer! Today’s tea of the day is…
SHERI’S BLEND
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Product Description:
Back when I first started blending teas, before I went into business, I created this amazing, caffeine free blend of red rooibos, apricot pieces, cinnamon and marigold flowers. It was and it remains my wife Sheri’s all time favorite out of everything I’ve created. It also happens to be consistently our number one bestseller at Zoomdweebies.
I also think I got the best comment I’ve ever heard on a tea blend before with regard to this tea. A customer took a sip and exclaimed, “This tastes like Christmas!” I’m not sure where that came from, but I was happy to hear it.
Taster’s Review:
I was so happy when I opened this package this morning and saw that it was rooibos! I was hoping that it would be a caffeine free blend, because I am a little sleepy and I would very much like to head back to bed for a nap after I get my youngest daughter on the bus this morning, and I didn’t want caffeine to stimulate me.
But I doubt you tuned in here for that information … Let’s move on to the tea!
This is a tea that I’ve tasted and reviewed previously, but it is one that I’ve been out of for a few months now, and quite frankly, I miss it a lot more than I thought I would! This is one that has really grown on me. I liked it just fine from the first time I tried it, but since that time, I have grown rather fond of it. Is it my favorite from 52Teas? No. But, it is an excellent rooibos blend!
The cinnamon and apricot work very well together – so well, in fact, that they pretty much mask the flavor of the rooibos which is just fine with me. I do get an occasional “rooibos” flavor that crosses my palate, but, the flavor of the rooibos is not the primary focus of this blend.
The apricot is sweet and has a very authentic flavor, and it is well seasoned with the cinnamon. The cinnamon really livens up the flavor of this cup. The apricot is really delicious, but it is the cinnamon that gives this tea its pizzazz! Without the cinnamon, I think this blend would be rather ordinary.
Not that ordinary is bad, mind you, but, when it comes to 52Teas, I’ve come to expect something out of the ordinary! And, it would seem that they deliver on that expectation – time and time again!
Now … my thoughts begin to wander to what tea is next in my box of Christmas wonders from 52Teas …