Wabi by The Tea Emporium Rooibos Indian Summer Tea Review

Biodegradable vs. non biodegradable (Nylon teabag is on the right)

I decided to review the Tea Emporium‘s Wabi Rooibos Indian Summer tea today.  The sample that I picked up from the CRFA show.  The tea they gave me was in a triangular shaped pyramid teabag, and since it was a sample, the packaging didn’t indicate what the teabag was made from.  The website says it’s 100% biodegradable, but doesn’t provide any more information after that.  It’s most likely made from corn but I’m very paranoid when it comes to teabags, as I will not drink tea from a bleached tea bag or one made from nylon.  When you steep tea in a nylon teabag, the heat from the water will release harmful toxins from the nylon into your tea.  Not only that, but all this nylon creates a lot of waste as it is not biodegradable.

From Green Living Tips

These petroleum-based tea bags are not biodegradable – they’ll take many, many years to break down….However these are disposed of, they will cause problems – in landfill they’ll leach toxic chemicals into the soil and groundwater. If they wind up in waterways; bird and aquatic animals will consume them which can clog up their digestive systems and cause starvation.

Know thy tea

I decided to open up the teabag and steep the contents loose.  Please note I don’t recommend buying teabags and then ripping them open to steep unless the specific tea you want only comes in a teabag.  It makes more economical and environmental sense to buy loose leaf tea.  If you have teabags lying around though, I highly recommend this activity as it will give you a chance to examine what you are drinking.

Anyways, Rooibos Indian Summer is caffeine free is blended with orange, honey and berries.  There are no actual ingredients stated, in the loose tea, I saw apple pieces, what looked to be safflower petals, and rose hip.  I couldn’t make out what the loose leaves were.  I’m going to guess blackberry leaves.

Use a lid to drink this to prevent rooibos from sticking on your lip

The tea smells of oranges and berries.  The hue was very typical of a rooibos tea, a very mellow organgey brown.  The tea was to be honest quite boring.  Nothing stood out about it’s character.  The body was a little heavier than a green tea.  I actually opened another teabag and emptied the contents into the tea to see how it would change it’s character.  I found bits of camomile in the mix this time.  Another disadvantage to teabags, depending on which teabag you get you may miss pieces of the tea blend!  The Tea Emporium has a lot of spectacular teas (like their mate chino), but this isn’t one of them.

If you like a plain simple rooibos tea with a subtle hint of orange and berries this is the tea for you.

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