Sweetfern Tonic Tea from The Algonquin Tea Co.

sweetfernTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Herbal/Functional Tisane

Where to Buy:  Algonquin Tea Co. 

Tea Description:

Delicious daily tonic formulated to assist every major organ in the cleansing of toxins. Immune boost and detox. Great iced tea. Tastes similar to black tea

Learn more about this tea here.

Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.

Taster’s Review:

The above description suggests that this tisane tastes similar to black tea.  And despite this ‘promise’ – I found myself still hesitant to try it because … well, because it’s a tisane.  And I know that I’ve mentioned more than once or twice my apprehension when it comes to tisanes.

But I finally decided that it was time to try it.  So, to brew this, I measured out three bamboo scoops of the tisane into the basket of my Breville One-Touch tea maker and added 500ml of water to the kettle.  Then I set the temperature for 195°F and the timer for 7 minutes and I let the tea maker do it’s thing!

I let it cool for a few minutes before taking the first sip.  And yes, it does taste a bit like black tea.  More accurately, it tastes like a ‘thinned’ black tea with herbaceous notes.  Like maybe someone took half a cup of black tea and topped it off with an herbal tisane.

It’s actually quite pleasant to sip.  And this tea has a few “pros” to it:  a) there’s no hibiscus!  Yay!  b)  it has echinacea which is a fairly well-recognized herb that boosts the immunity system.  c) it’s pretty tasty.

Unlike many tisanes I’ve had in the past, this tisane is more like a unified flavor of all the components.  That is to say – this tastes like one flavor and I’d find it difficult to discern the different flavors/ingredients of the blend.  I taste a gently warm flavor to it – like a subtle spice.  I notice a slight “root-beer-ish” kind of note that I attribute to the burdock.

But other than the “thinned black tea with herbaceous notes” – that’s really all I can taste.  I taste a thinned black tea, herbaceous flavors, warm, subtle spice and a hint of root beer.  It’s a tasty tisane.

The brochure from Algonquin that was included in this edition of the Postal Teas box suggests that tea is an effective “cleanser” or detox type of tisane and this is a detox tea that I wouldn’t mind drinking now and again because it does have that black tea + herbal tea taste to it and I’m finding it to be pleasant.

One thing I gotta say about Algonquin, their packaging is beautiful!  If I saw these packages in the store, I’d definitely be tempted because the artwork is stunning and as I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for artwork!  The packages that we got from Postal Teas are not as lovely as what I see on the Algonquin website, but if it wasn’t for receiving this 9th edition of Postal Teas, I probably wouldn’t have discovered the beautiful artwork!