Orange-vanilla isn't a rooibos flavoring I had tried yet, but it's a favorite in general, both for black tea and going back to the childhood Creamsicle days. It's also labeled as naturally flavored. Therefore, even though I ordinarily wouldn't buy a 40-pack of a new tea taste-untested, I figured a gamble on this offering from Whole Foods. It worked...this is one of my favorite flavored rooibos teas.

The dry-bag scent is quite well-balanced between rooibos and orange, with a hint of vanilla, and representatively foretells the actual flavor. Somehow, the in-cup aroma and wet-bag scent lose much of the orange and are heavily rooibos-weighted, but the orange cream blend comes back in the flavor and aftertaste. None of the flavors are weak at all, after 3-5 minutes of brewing that turns the liquid a good, dark bromine-red color characteristic of quality rooibos.

All in all, this was a remarkably flavorful, smooth, rich drink, rather uncharacteristic of store-brand rooibos teas in my somewhat-limited experience with them. At a cost of only about 11¢–12¢ per bag retail as of this writing, the value in the 40-pack is excellent if you like fruity rooibos teas. Hotels and cafes that want to offer a good-quality but inexpensive rooibos to their guests should consider this tea.

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