Besides sounding fun to say aloud, rooibos is one of the tastiest and richest caffeine-free teas available. I’ve explored just a handful of rooibos teas in the past, this Teapro Rooibos box was greatly appreciated!
In this review I’ll give you a rundown of what’s included, how to brew the teas, whether it’s worth the cost, and where you can get your hands on it.
Quick Summary
A very simple box with 4 classic rooibos teas to brew. It also comes with a tea gift. And while the gift kind of fell flat, I have enjoyed drinking the rooibos teas. They also make great tea bases for your own blends, so they’re bound to get used up quickly.
I’d recommend it for: those that love rooibos or need a caffeine alternative to black tea.
Pros – strong and tasty flavours!
- Tea is fresh and flavourful
- Great caffeine-free option
Cons – lacks diversity.
- 4 teas are all very similar; only 1 is flavoured.
- Infuser gift included is terrible for brewing rooibos.
What’s in the Box?
This one arrived on time. Teapro can always be trusted to deliver month in, month out. Remember, these boxes don’t fit through your letterbox, so you need to be home to collect them from the postman. They arrive via Royal Mail (in the UK) and don’t need to be signed for.
In this month’s box:
- 20g Pure Red Rooibos
- 20g Lemon Rooibos
- 20g Pure Green Rooibos
- 20g Pure Honeybush
- Glass Teapro-On-The-Go Bottle
- 1x sticker for April subscription
- Rooibos tea booklet with details about the 4 specific teas included
If this is your first Teapro box, you’ll also receive a tasting wheel, sticker booklet and 3-piece glass infuser included. Read my review for those in the June 2019 teapro subscription review.
Rooibos Tea Booklet
The booklet in this Teapro subscription box is a very educational one. It’s filled with info about the history, processing, grading and harvest times of the rooibos included. This was not something I knew about before, so it was certainly nice to read.
However, I don’t feel like it is particularly valuable information. There’s nothing here that I couldn’t find online with a quick Google search if I wanted.
The best Teapro booklets come with unique recipes for the specific teas included, brewing tips, and genuinely useful info that you couldn’t find elsewhere.
Teapro-On-The-Go Bottle
Teapro gifts are always hit and miss. Some I use every day since opening the box (like the thermometer) and others have ended up in the recycling bin (like the lolly mould in the fruit box).
This gift, the Teapro-On-The-Go bottle falls somewhere in the middle. It’s a simple design with 2 glass jars secured in the middle with a plastic rubber seal and metal mesh. It’s deceptively small, as you’ll realise when you fill it with water and discover the smaller compartment can’t be filled as well as the large compartment.
Once you’ve put tea and water in the respective places, you screw them together and flip them upside down so the water flows through the tea leaves and brews.
Problem 1 – it doesn’t flow very well. It gurgles. And I spend a few minutes twisting it back and forth to get those last air bubbles through the filter.
Problem 2 – the filter holes are too large for rooibos! I’ve tried it with various tea types and it just does not work for very fine tea leaves, like rooibos. For white tea buds, whole leaf, and fruit tisanes, it’s absolutely brilliant however.
So, I do like this gift and I do use it frequently (it fits nicely in the fridge door) but it’s just silly to put it in the rooibos box!
Teapro Rooibos and Honeybush Tea Reviews
The amount of rooibos or honeybush you get in each sachet is a decent amount. It’s as much as I had expected. I find that rooibos is a bit lighter than traditional tea leaves, so that 20g is actually quite a bit. Plus, the flavour of rooibos is quite strong, so you only want 1 teaspoon per cup at most.
Let’s not forget that you can resteep the rooibos too. There’s no reason why this single tea box can last you a year, if you’re only have a cup or two per week.
Pure Red Rooibos
- Amount: 20g
- Flavour notes: Sweet, nutty, woody, cayenne, caramel
- Brewing instructions: 1tsp, 100°C water, 2 minutes
- Quality: Excellent
This is the classic. It’s just pure red rooibos tea with that traditional flavour. The aroma has more spice in it than other rooibos teas I’ve smelt before – the usual woody and nutty notes are accompanied by a strange warmth, like cayenne pepper.
Once brewed, you’ll love how these rich caramel notes pop out in the aroma too.
As for the flavour, this tea is good as a replacement to typical black tea. It has that smooth, warm, and rich quality that’s just like a black tea but with an extra nutty note.
If you’re a fan of Assam tea, you’ll appreciate the malty rooibos flavour too.
Lemon Rooibos
- Amount: 20g
- Flavour notes: Sweet, zesty, refreshing, nutty, lemon candy
- Brewing instructions: 1tsp, 100°C water, 2 minutes
- Quality: Excellent
This was the rooibos tea I was looking forward to most. It was also the most disappointing.
Dry aroma notes that drift from the bag are lacking in lemon but at least there’s an acidic note that hints at something more than plain rooibos. It brews into a classic rooibos tea with all the flavour notes I’ve described for the tea above. The pieces of dried lemon peel add a refreshing tone to the tea, but they don’t impart much flavour.
It’s best to add a slice of fresh lemon to this tea after it’s brewed to boost that lemony note. It actually goes quite nicely with the rich rooibos notes!
Pure Green Rooibos
- Amount: 20g
- Flavour notes: Green tea, grassy, sweet, astringent
- Brewing instructions: 1tsp, 100°C water, 2 minutes
- Quality: Excellent
This one didn’t make a great first impression. The aroma was much like the red rooibos, but a little bit mustier.
Yet once it had brewed into a light gold colour, I was transfixed. It has a green tea aroma with fresh, grassy, and bright notes. As for the flavour, it actually lacks any strong notes. It’s smooth, sweet, and light. Fresher than the red rooibos but still with that malty and nutty quality rooibos is known for.
While red rooibos is a great caffeine-free alternative to black tea, this green rooibos is not a good alternative to green tea. It’s just too rich and heavy.
Pure Honeybush
- Amount: 20g
- Flavour notes:
- Brewing instructions:
- Quality: Excellent
I’ve had a truly excellent honeybush tea from Adagio Teas in the past, which I think has ruined me for any other honeybush! This offering from Teapro has an odd dry aroma. It should be sweet and light, just like honey, but instead it had an odd astringency to it. Combined with a hint of sweetness, it reminded me of balsamic vinegar.
Once it brewed, however, it did deliver that rich gooey honey aroma and flavour you expect. Unlike rooibos, there’s not much malt going on here. It’s smooth, light and very sweet. It doesn’t overpower your mouth like the rooibos teas do.
For that reason, this is my favourite tea from the set, even though it has a lower rating thanks to that initial poor aroma.
Is This Teapro Box Worth the Cost?
Yes, I believe this Teapro box is worth the cost if you buy it as part of the monthly subscription. I don’t think buying it separately would be worth it though.
While the amount of rooibos you get is good value for money, if you were to buy this box separately, you’d be left with a tea gift that you can’t actually use. Whereas, anyone with multiple Teapro boxes will discover that the on-the-go bottle is perfect for using with other tea types and will be quite happy with it.
Final Verdict
Yes, I recommend this box. If you’re a Teapro beginner and have subscribed monthly, this box is excellent as it provides a useful gift, lots of interesting info, and 4 very basic rooibos teas to get used to.
For the tea expert, I don’t feel like there’s really enough here to excite you. However, you could use the rooibos teas to create your own blends (the next 2 Teapro boxes contain some herbal and fruit teas that would blend well) so it is still worth staying subscribed for this month.
Check out this box on Teapro or search for rooibos teas on Amazon to find these teas yourself.