Pulling this bag out at random from the continuing multi-chapter saga that is the Numi variety pack, I recognized the name right away from having consumed Trader Joe's rooibos+honeybush tea. The teas I've tried from the variety pack so far have been either disappointingly lame or very good. This falls into the latter bin. I haven't had pure honeybush before, and came away impressed.

Two things now are readily apparent:
1. The TJ tea is mostly rooibos, through simple process of elimination. That's because their blend tastes mostly like other rooiboses (sp?) I've had, and this pure honeybush here from Numi—both in dry form and brewed in-cup—is much darker, different-smelling and different-tasting, with a good deal more body.
2. I've come to like plain (unflavored) rooibos a little, despite its initially offputting, broom-like, haystraw smell and taste; yet after just one bag, I now prefer honeybush a great deal more.

The honeybush tea turns a deep, slightly red-tinted brown color almost immediately, and the flavor is not as grassy or earthy as rooibos. Instead it offers a surprisingly and strongly fruity taste—reminding me of a fruit-flavored black tea without the bitterness. What fruit(s)? The closest approximation I reckon is some blend of prune plums and raisins...probably some other lesser components too. It tastes very faintly like Dr Pepper, which is my favorite carbonated drink by light years. However, I doubt the Waco pharmacist who invented Dr Pepper in 1883 included honeybush as one of his 23 flavors.

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