Teabag - Kalahari Reserve

Tea: Kalahari Reserve
Vendor: Kalahari Tea
Price: $3.50 / 20 teabags
Source: South Africa
Vendor Description: Kalahari Reserve is 100% pure red tea, selected from the tender tips of the Rooibos bush. With it's sweet, smooth taste, it can be enjoyed by itself, or with milk, lemon or a sweetener. Rich in antioxidants, red tea tastes great and is naturally caffeine free. It's the healthy drink you can consume all day long.

Teabag: This is another paper satchel style teabag from Kalahari Tea. There are lots of small rooibos bits in the bag. In general it seems like a very mundane red tea bag.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5 oz, 208F, 3 min, 1 teabag

1st Infusion: This tea produces a deep rich red color. There are hints of brown in the hue, but it is still a rather pure red. The aroma of the tea is very traditional for a rooibos tea. The flavor is also very characteristic smooth rooibos. It feels a bit sweeter than most rooibos that I have had and finishes with a light sense of astringency.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: Aesthetically the color of this tea is quite amazing. Unfortunately the methods of packaging that they use along with the paper satchel style teabags that they use don't really help them here. It would be better to use a teabag where you could more plainly see the color and appearance of the rooibos leaf. Aside from that though the tea is very characteristic for a rooibos tea, with the benefit of being slightly sweeter than most. This would be a good rooibos to try if you've never tried one before.

Teabag - Ginger Zest Sencha

Tea: Ginger Zest Sencha
Vendor: Kalahari Tea
Price: $.99 / 16 teabags
Vendor Description: Fragrant, Fresh Sencha and Bancha green teas are paired with the tingle of spicy organic ginger to create a refreshing and invigorating cup.

Teabag: This teabag is also another paper satchel type teabag. It has a very prominent ginger aroma to it.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5 oz, 1:15, 185F

1st Infusion: There is a rather prominent aroma to this tea. It is complicated and complex. The aroma reminds me of the detox infusion from Mighty Leaf. There are many detectable components to the aroma, but I can't single out very many of them at all. The only thing that I can really pull out is the ginger like portion of the aroma. There is a light sharp flavor to this tea, it is not very gingerly. It feels much more like a bancha than a sencha when evaluating the green tea portion of the flavor. The green tea is in the back of the flavor, but it is not offputting. The tea finishes with a light bitterness.

Rating: 3/10

Conclusion: This tea feels confused and muddled. Looking at the ingredient list I'm not surprised why. There is a mix of all kinds of things in it. It lacks clarity due to the complicated nature of it's blending. I would suggest finding something purer.

Teabag - Highlands Honey

Tea: Highlands Honey
Vendor: Kalahari Tea
Price: $3.50 / 20 teabags
Source: South Africa
Vendor Description: Our premium rooibos is blended with a delicious honey vanilla flavor to create a naturally sweet brew that is fully satisfying and completely caffeine free. Highland Honey Replaces Kalahari's Honey Red Tea. This tea now boasts a natural Honey Vanilla Flavor that still has less than 1 calorie and less than 1 gram of carbohydrates. Fans of Honey Red Tea just love this new slightly sweet version.

Teabag: Kalahari uses paper satchel type teabags (think Lipton). There is not much leaf in the teabag, but rooibos tends to not need much in general. There isn't a discernable aroma to the tea.

1st Infusion Parameter: 5 oz, 208F, 3:00, 1 teabag

1st Infusion: There is a very strong rooibos aroma to this tea. It reminds me of playdoh to a degree though. It is bold and sweet with hints of honey to the aroma. The flavor has a prominent honey flavoring to it. The flavor is very smooth and sweet which I would not have expected when first seeting the light red hue to this tea. The tea was quite light. There is a very mouth watering feel to this tea. It is best defined by it's smooth honey feeling.

Rating: 8/10

Conclusion: I've never been a huge fan of rooibos, but this one is quite surprising. There are a few things that I would like to see different about it, mesh pyramidal teabags for one. The other is the odditiy of the color of the tea. It seems very light altough the flavor doesn't pair off with this. The flavor is quite enoyable and the price is quite reasonable.