My wife and I go into a Starbucks yesterday to redeem a holiday gift
card with a given balance. I read the fine print. It said no cash
refund. We ordered Tazo Chai tea which was a buck more than Chai tea
latte. It didn' taste like tea, chai or the more expensive cream for
that matter. I probably saw more business in 45 minutes than my local
tea shoppe gets all morning. We got the last dirty little table. Two
guys at the front of the store in the nice leather chairs both looked
like extras from BrokeBack Mtn. Yup pointed boots, pointed hats and
enough silver to make a Navajo happy. The Western apparel stores in
town can't stock enough colorful coordinated cowboy outfits for the
urban professional whose parents told them Midnight Cowboy was the
prequel to Deliverance. It wasn't my money.

Jim

PS: The lastest wrinkle in Rooibus is adding flavors just like tea.
You don't like the taste just keep adding crap till you do and tell
your friends you gave up coffee for something healthier.

wrote:
> The past two times I've been at a Starbucks in Canada, I've ordered a
> cup of "African Red Bush" tea, which is a new addition to their teabag
> keyring. It's a new option in their selection of non-tea teas (i.e.
> herbals).
>
> The name gave me confidence it was Rooibos. It even looked like Rooibos
> in the bag; the color was the same, etc. But it tasted absolutely
> horrible and so unsettling that I thought there's no way it could be
> Rooibos.
>
> But upon reflection, I think it might be lemon-flavoured Rooibos.
> Overly lemon-flavoured. It was like drinking pure acid. Now, I know a
> lot of people like any kind of tea with lemon in it (read: idiots), but
> this was beyond the pale. It was like drinking a gobstopper or sour
> patch kid candy.
>
> I just wanted to ask because maybe some of you actually drink Lemon
> Rooibos on purpose, and you could tell me if the Starbucks monstrosity
> is in fact that. Otherwise, what on earth could "African Red Bush"
> possibly be?
>
> I just can't get my head around it -- it didn't have that flavourful
> Rooibos aftertaste at all. It tasted like coloured water with half a
> gallon of lemon juice in it.