Organics, South African Rooibos, Loose Leaf Tea, 16-Ounce Bag (Packaging May Vary)

I really like this brand. Ordered a few times, same quality and good delivery.

Initially, I began drinking rooibos (pronounced "roy-boss or roy-bus") tea (it is sometimes called "red tea") as a replacement for coffee as my physician had instructed me to quit all caffeine due to benign tumors. Then after about a month of drinking it, I discovered that my familial tremors had disappeared! Mind you, I had been caffeine-free in my life before & still had the tremors. I had been drinking rooibos just as I would coffee, which was strong and about 4 to 6 cups per day (I do add about half of a teaspoon of honey to each cup as it seems to enhance the flavor to me). After some research, I found that aside from the high antioxidant level, native South Africans have a long history of using rooibos for neurological issues among other things. I'd been to so many doctors, including the Mayo Clinic, over the years in an attempt to rid myself of this benign, but socially embarrassing condition to no avail. So many people in my family had this condition, but for me, it prevented me from becoming an actress. How could I try to hand another actor an item & have it waggling wildly in the air?? I couldn't, even though I gave it a try & some directors tried to work around it, but in the end, I selected another vocation. I'd purchased bulk rooibos from other tea vendors in the past, but much of it was dry and pale...clearly had been sitting around awhile; some came with bits of stem in it...ick; and once, I had received some that had pebbles in it! I shudder to think how THAT happened! I'd heard good things about Davidson's Tea and thought I would give them a try. Needless to say, they are a high-quality company and every bag has come vacuum-sealed. It now comes in a resealable, cushioned (for shipping) bag. Nice! When you open the bag, it has a nice, rich, floral aroma with a good color and ONLY leaves! LOL. When I found their product offered on Amazon, I added it to an order I was already placing with Amazon. It arrived in exactly the same quality and condition as it had from Davidson's. Then an even better thing happened! Amazon, in conjunction with Davidson's Tea, began offering automatic shipments with a discount! Now, I don't have to even give it a thought. It's there when I want it and if, for some reason, I need to delay a shipment, I can with just a click. Easy peasy! I love being able to determine how much or how little tea I want to use rather than having it already in tea bags. For drinking, I bring to a boil three quarts filtered water and then add four rounded tablespoons of Davidson's rooibos tea. Let it steep for about 15 minutes (remember, I like it strong!) then strain it through a coffee filter in a wire handheld strainer into a pitcher and then keep it in the fridge ready for however I choose to drink it. If I want it hot, I just pour it into a cup and "nuke" it and add a bit of honey. This tea is SO delicious! A cup of hot tea with just a bit of honey added and a medjool date to eat! It's definitely a mood-altering experience. Heavenly! Also in my research, I found that this tea has antiseptic healing properties and that you can use it as a poultice on minor wounds; which I have done with success. I've used it as an astringent as well...tightens the pores! Even if you don't want rooibos tea, I would HIGHLY recommend Davidson's Tea Company for ANY of their products.

Keeping in mind that not everyone likes everything that everyone else likes.... I had read a few years or so back that the Davidsons Organic South African Rooibos was good and had placed a bag on my Wish List, because while I was interested in trying something new I was hesitant to spend $15 to do it - not that it's a lot, but I needed to read a bit more before I purchased. A friend checked my WishList and gifted me a bag (I have awesome friends!). My first real foray into loose tea, I probably over-thought the process, over-researched, made myself nuts and it was probably 2 months before I actually tried it. A month or so of experimenting to find what I liked.... And I liked it. A lot. Wanting to try other brands because why not I did just that, other reputable brands as well as mass-marketed ones, also tried some blends that I didn't care for - I even bought a box of bagged (I know, I know) Rooibos because I was out of loose and I had a jones for some. That was the last straw. I got through the box, because I hated to waste it but it took longer than it should, bringing me no joy to drink it. I ordered a new bag of Davidson's Monday and I had it Tuesday (thanks, Prime!). This is a big bag, and I dumped it all into a freshly cleaned giant Ball Jar - the tea rests right at 6 cups measured on the side of the jar. Now, keeping in mind what I said about not everyone likes everything that everyone else likes if you love tea, try *this*. If it's not for you fair enough - move on to another. There is no shortage to experiment with. I make a heaping tablespoon (and I mean *heaping* - and I also mean tablespoon that sits with your forks and knives, not the culinary measuring kind) in a big ceramic mug, letting it steep in freshly boiled water for "about" 5 minutes (did I mention I initially made myself nuts overthinking the process in the beginning?). I use a stainless steel strainer from a competing tea company - you may be able to guess which if you look at the photo closely enough - I've had it about 3 years and it's done me solid. Back to the tea itself. I love the color. I love the smell - it reminds me of summer afternoons when I was a kid after we'd mowed the fields and the scent of the hay drying in the sun. I love that this is a hearty, creamy tea. It's not bitter at all. I use just a tiny drop of raw honey and a plop of cream - I have had it without also, but this is a comfort beverage for me and I prefer it the other way - it goes down smooth and I want another. I grew up loving tea and I was always a one-and-done drinker, but not with this. Experiment with it. Try it. See how it is for you. I am glad I checked out other things, but I am content to come back to this and stay with it.

First things first. Drinking this tea will not help you read people's thoughts. I just got tired of looking at reviews with titles about how good the tea tastes. So as long as you're already here, might as well finish reading this review (I'll be brief, trust me). This is a huge bag of South African Rooibos tea at a price that I've NEVER seen it at before. A tin of 36 tea bags (Republic of Tea brand) from Whole Foods would set me back around thirteen bucks. That's two ounces of tea, total. Then I'd order the favorite brand in South Africa, which is Five Roses. 80 tea bags, six ounces, for eleven bucks. Not a bad price. And then there's Davidson's. One whole pound. Organic rooibos red in the most bland, boring packaging every. For only fifteen bucks. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy. Just 16 ounces of loose rooibos tea leaves. Do the math. You're not going to find rooibos at a better price per ounce, period. It's a good thing we're not talking grams, because I'm starting to sound like someone's plug. And I don't want anyone trying to smoke this. It's DELICIOUS. I make it using one of our Teabloom brand loose leaf stovetop pitchers with a stainless steel infuser. It tastes just as good, if not better, than any other rooibos I've had in the past. I even shared some with family that had never tried rooibos before. Honestly, I thought they wouldn't like it. We're talking dyed-in-the-wool Southerners that only drink sweet tea, the kind with enough sugar to put you into a diabetic coma. I figured they would think it tasted, I don't know... Weird? But they loved it. I had a hard time believing it, but they actually liked it. I said I would be brief. My bad. Bottom line is this. It tastes awesome. It's super affordable. And I know it's got all sorts of health and nutritional benefits and blah blah blah I don't care, I just love the way this stuff tastes. Will you love the way this particular tea tastes? I have no idea. In fact, why do we even pay attention to other people saying whether they like the taste of something or not? I can't get two people in our house to agree on the same type of pizza to order. Point is, the only way to find out if you'll like it, is by adding it to your shopping cart, and checking out. So when you're done reading my not-so-brief-but-I-honestly-thought-it-would-be-brief review, place your order for it. Buy it today, you'll get it in a couple of days. Seriously, stop reading and order it now.

I like this organic rooibos tea. I drink it with cinnamon and it seems impossible to oversteep. It's energizing even without caffeine. I try to drink a cup a day even though I also drink green tea, hibiscus tea and coffee daily too.

Not as strong as another brand I've purchased. However is good