Yogi, Chai Rooibos

The ingredients listed on the bag include: organic rooibos leaf, organic cardamom seed, organic cinnamon bark, organic ginger root, organic clove bud, and organic stevia leaf.

Over the years I have picked up a handful of Yogi bags from the try me free display at the local world food mart. I have never cared much for any of them once they were brewed. My expectations are rather low, even though I like all the ingredients except I could do without the stevia (it is bitter).

I open the envelope and the bag smells nice but seems a bit thin. The instructions say to use boiling water and a 5 to 10 minute steep. I went 7 1/2. The bag actually plumped up nicer than expected. The brew is a murky reddish brown, typical of rooibos.

Wow, this isn’t bad. The flavors are pretty well balanced. Ok, the clove seems a little more obvious but I am ok with that. I have never had cardamom by itself but as I understand it tastes similar to clove and cinnamon. The rooibos is present in the sip but acts more as supporting cast rather than the star. I am ok with that as well. There is a bit of numbing mouth feel that I am going to attribute to the ginger. This is much better than expected. A nice rooibos chai.