Rooibos Do it yourself Flavoring?

[seian]

A while back I picked up a good bit of unflavored rooibos for making my own chai (which has been nice) but I've go some leftover I'd like to try flavoring.

Aside from dripping a little flavoring like vanilla in the freshly brewed cup, is there a way to flavor the rooibos *before* brewing that isn't going to compromise the tea (make it soggy, encourage mold, etc). If anyone's got a recipe on how to do it, I'd love to read about it.

[Lana Y]

I love putting orange zest and cinnamon sticks in mine

[seian]

Now that's a thought. I do love the orange rooibos. And I suppose if I wanted vanilla, I could chop up a vanilla bean into a container of the tea and let it sit a while...

[Ric]

A while back I picked up a good bit of unflavored rooibos for making my own chai (which has been nice) but I've go some leftover I'd like to try flavoring.

Aside from dripping a little flavoring like vanilla in the freshly brewed cup, is there a way to flavor the rooibos *before* brewing that isn't going to compromise the tea (make it soggy, encourage mold, etc). If anyone's got a recipe on how to do it, I'd love to read about it.

Buy some dehydrated fruit and add it to the rooibos before you steep.

[JamesBeach]

One of the great things about tea (or in this case, tisanes) is that it is highly flexible in how you prepare it. Originally when I started drinking tea, I was interested in buying it in all of its flavored varieties. I have since strayed away from that thought considerably. Instead, you can pretty much drop any spice, fruit, etc. into the infuser with the tea or tisane to add its flavor. I have found that you don't really have to coat the tea in your additive, rather it just needs to be present in the infuser.

So you can take cloves, cinnamon sticks, dried fruit, ginger root, and whatever else, grind it up a little in a pestle and mortar, and toss it in with the rooibos. It works well, in my experience. And this way, you can adjust to taste. Too weak? Add more!

[krismuse]

I like to mix rooibos with chamomile before bed. The flavor is different, and it puts me to sleep in no time.

[Ric]

I like to mix rooibos with chamomile before bed. The flavor is different, and it puts me to sleep in no time.

That sounds like it's worth a try.

[Zoomie1973]

The jasmine rooibos is my favorite. The biggest problem is I get a weird sense of deja vu when I drink it, and can't figure out where I have tasted it before.