Vital Organic Rooibos

Form: Stringless Square Tea Bag
Company: Vital Organic
Price: $6.48 (50 tea bags)
Rating: 8.5/10
What They Say: Vital Organic Rooibos Tea is a versatile herbal tea with a satisfying, real tea flavour that you can enjoy any time of the day or night – a cup of natural goodness.
Review: Rooibos is not actually a tea in the sense that it doesn't come from the Camellia Sinensis plant (which is the plant all real tea comes from; black, green, white, oolong). Rather, this tisane/herbal tea comes from the Aspalathus Linearis bush, found exclusively in South Africa. Rooibos (pronounced 'roy-boss', sometimes called 'red bush') has been popular in South Africa for generations, yet only recently has this 'tea' made its way to the west. Whilst originally consumed with milk and sugar in South Africa, the vast majority of western drinkers prefer it without milk; sugar, honey and lemon are popular additives however. As far as herbal teas go, this is as close as one will find to a totally caffeine-less alternative to black tea, as the taste is very earthy. I once thought of the flavor as being the taste equivalent of pouring red dust from the earth from one's hands into the breeze and I still stand by that extravagant assessment. The flavour is a full bodied one; rich but not at all fruity. The beauty of this tea is that it cannot be over steeped; no matter how strong you want the tea and how long you leave the tea bag (or tea leaves) in water, the effect is never detrimental and there is never a trace of bitterness. This tea is perfectly nice with no sugar whatsoever, even after being steeped for longer than usual. Of course, however, I preferred it with my usual one and a half, non-heaped tea spoons of sugar. I've never had this with milk and don't really plan on doing so…yet I've heard that it tastes fine.
The Vital Organic brand of Rooibos is one I've been familiar with for some time now. This is truly my safety tea…I have at least one cup a day and it has never let me down. Having said that, I have tasted nice Rooibos blends, but for the price, this is certainly a wise choice. For the record, the rating system I'm employing from this point on in regard to branded teas is comparative to other blends of similar tea (in this case, this blend of rooibos is 8.5/10…whilst other blends may be closer to 6 or 7). On a similar note, rooibos also makes a delicious iced tea.

"Sail me on a silver sun where I know that I'm free. Show me that I'm everywhere and get me home for tea" – George Harrison (from It's All Too Much by The Beatles)