Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea & Tulsi
Where to Buy: Teabox
Tea Description:
This Organic Herbal Tulsi Green blend is one of the first products aimed at combining the health benefits of green tea with Tulsi (Holy basil) leaves.
A work of art and science as it is a classic India-style masala (spice) tea with the best of all worlds: Darjeeling tea, fresh Indian herbs and spices.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Hmm … different. This Tulsi Green Indian Chai Tea from Teabox isn’t exactly what I think of when I think “chai” but it’s still pretty tasty.
The base is composed of a Darjeeling green tea and tulsi. I definitely taste the tulsi in this – it’s warm and has distinct peppery notes with notes of basil and whispers of crisp mint. The tulsi gives this cup a distinct herbal flavor.
I find that the green tea flavor is a little less discernible. It’s definitely there and I can taste it, but it’s not a strong presence and has a difficult time asserting itself in the presence of the tulsi which seems to really dominate the cup.
The same is true of the spices. I can taste warm spices but they’re difficult to really pick out and say, yep, I taste this or that spice. I can taste notes of clove. Every once in a while I taste a note that reminds me of cardamom and every once in a while my palate detects nutmeg. Because of the strong tulsi notes dominating the rest of the flavors, it’s difficult to determine with certainty what spices are in this blend and Teabox doesn’t mention on their website or on their ingredient list, which mentions only “green tea” and “tulsi.”
This is a warm and comforting blend though. It’s not particularly spicy – again, the tulsi is probably the ‘spiciest’ of the flavors that I taste. But it’s a cozy sort of blend with which to unwind. I do wish that the green tea was a little more assertive and the spices more expressive in this cup, but, as it is, I enjoyed what I drank.
