Once upon a time, I had sad news to give, and I was up all night thinking of how to break it. The next morning came with a pretty rough headache, but also the right words to say. Good thing this headache curing tea was in to ease some of my mental turmoil!
It’s got lots of pulverized leaves, I can recognize lavender and chamomile and there’s definitely spearmint in there too, though there are lots of fragrant flowers I can’t ID.
Virginia Tea Co is a Kickstarter crowd-funded company, whose done all the herbal medicine research so we don’t have to. They also source fair trade ingredients, and that’s a relief too.
When I tasted this, it seemed bitter to me, almost tasted like aspirin. Was it my conscience affecting my taste buds or was this just not my cuppa?
A few weeks later, I served some to a friend who’d been having a lot of headaches and thought he might benefit from it. He often describes himself as having “the palate of an eight-year-old”, but he liked it!…. After adding Paula Deen amounts of simple syrup…. in about 15 minutes, he noted his head felt less tense, and later that night it hadn’t come back.
Well now we know Mary Poppins had it right, a (few) spoonful(s) of sugar helps the medicine go down! I know that some folks are sensitive to OTC pain relief options, or prefer not to use pharmaceuticals and this is a great option for them.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Virginia Tea Co.
Lavender, feverfew, chamomile, skullcap, and spearmint are blended together to help fight those awful headaches. They do this by relaxing your mind and allowing for better thoughts to enter.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Don’t judge a tea by it’s company name! Jasmine Green from Chai Kai . . . .
Honestly I was feeling a little unsure about Jasmine flavored tea from a company named CHAI Kai, but this departure from their standard has good company with a group of other tempting flavors in their shop, so I’m putting my trepidation and bias aside… for now.
Looking at the loose leaf here the green tea leaves are finely rolled and I see small delicate Jasmine blossoms but there is a definite, not overpowering, floral scent to the blend. These little buds really pull their weight!
The leaves expanded a great deal after being brewed for three minutes at just under 160F and have a slight nutty scent to them. Will all the flavors remain after a resteep?
The liquor is a caramel color and is less fragrant than the dry leaves, hopefully the infusion trapped the flavor in the water! Without sweetener it has a gentle earthy green tea flavor with a short floral aftertaste. The jasmine impressively survives resteeping, FLOWER POWER!
Despite my misgivings from it’s name, this blend really does the Jasmine/Green tea genre justice. I guess that’s why they say “don’t judge a tea blend by it’s company’s name”…
If you’re enticed by British teas like this that defy preconceived biases, they’re offering 20% off EVERYTHING in their store with the coupon code: WINTER20!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Chai Kai
Freshly picked Jasmine Blossoms are placed in layers amidst the leaves of this beautifully made Chinese Green Tea, imparting their sweet, perfumed aroma as they dry. Also available in Teabags.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Ashwagandha Root in Atman Tea Co. . .
When it comes to trying new flavors, sometimes ignorance is bliss, but once you have a strong mental image of something associated with a flavor, you’re done for. If you’d like to pretend you were with me during this mystery tasting, imagine Mr. Bean, but with more eyebrow wiggles and puckered lips, and that would be an appropriate approximation.
Upon receiving this pyramid tea bag (just the perfect blend of fancy and convenient) from Atman Tea Co, I was ready to test those taste buds. After a 2 minute brew at 160F, this pyramid really surprised me for a number of reasons! First and foremost, these tea leaves are FLA-VOR-FUL (sorry for caps yelling, but that’s how my mouth felt). I can’t imagine I over-brewed this with such a low temp and time. Follow-up tests with an “independent” second party (ok,ok my Dad) supported my initial findings.
Then I wondered where this smoky taste was coming from. Was this a Puerh? A mate? I’ve never known those to end with an astringent apple flavor. The dry leaves were so innocuous. And it can’t be from sweetener, because I added none. Really loving my wonderful new year’s resolution right about now. Hmmmm, internet sleuthing we go…
Hello, hello Gunpowder green tea, (BOOM! Found it), and ashwagandha root (aka Indian ginseng). So this has some medicinal value to it, and I’m sure if you weren’t feeling 100%, this would have just-enough taste to it, but for me right now its overwhelming.
Hmmm ashwaganda, haven’t heard that one yet, what’s its etymology? Oh, **SPOILER ALERT** , it literally translates as …. “horse smell”… Well great, now my one militant vegan friend is going to harangue me for enjoying a tea that smells like animals. Uh oh and now that I sip more, I’m envisioning Seabiscuit rather than Jasmine and Gunpowder green…. aaaand I’m done for, gotta put it down. But at least I’ve consumed an anti-stress drink while the haters gonna hate hate hate hate. **SPOILERS OVER**
What have your experiences with ashwagandha root been?
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green/Herb
Where to Buy: Atman Tea Co.
This expertly crafted custom blend consists of Ashwagandha Root and Jasmine Green Tea. Ashwagandha reduces stress while combating fatigue. Jasmine Green Tea eases anxiety, calms the mind, and boosts mood. The resulting flavor is subtly sweet with a tasty undertone, which emanates a beautiful aroma. Together they make the most delicious and relaxing herbal tea one could ever brew.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Blueberry Custard customized from BlendBee.com
Confession: I’m completely fine with drinking alone…. Tea, of course 😉 But drinking with friends offers some undeniable benefits – laughter and memories made, more importantly a spread of tastebuds that offers better insight than just one picky tongue.*
There are so so many beautiful ingredients in this custom Blueberry Custard from Blendbee, I needed all the help I could get to do it justice! First off, I highly recommend using a clear brewing system (gravity steeper or mason jar) to be able to fully enjoy the making of this majestic Purple infusion. (Fortunately I had just cleaned the hard-earned tea patina off mine with baking soda and vinegar, so it was even more beautiful than my usual cuppa!)
Between the three of us sipping, only one added sugar and it really took away from the innate sweetness of this mix, hmmm better off just trusting the blend maker on this one. Some of us were crazy about this tea, but others found the herbals to be unpalatable. So we looked into what exactly were imbibing…
With Blendbee, you can create your own mix weighing anywhere from 1 oz to ½ pound. You start with a choice from 15 tea bases, and here they chose the China Green tea.
Next there are over 90 categorized ingredients to choose from (though it’s recommended to stick below 8). Must be a tough decision from all those options! This blender chose 7:
Earthy and pungent category: yarrow flower;
Mild and fruity category: elder berries;
Herbaceous herb category: strawberry leaves;
Mild and nutty category: ashwaganda root;
Mild and herbal category: agrimony herb, and coriander seed;
And one uncategorized, marshmallow root.
Next the website offers additional extracts and flavors (up to 3 per blend). Here the blueberry and custard flavor extracts were used. (It was argued at one point that this put the ingredient count to 9, above the recommended 8, but that person is a stickler for semantics and didn’t like the tea anyway, so read that with a grain of salt).
Some of these herbs strike me as acquired tastes, beyond that, I would’ve preferred having actual blueberries instead of the extract, though I didn’t see it as an option (yet) and the extract probably consistently offers more flavor in a smaller space.
This organic blend featured so many different flavor profiles, it was a… memorable… experience for well-developed sippers, and newbies alike.
*The best part of sharing with friends is finding a loving home for leaves that aren’t your favorite (yet). Thanks H.R.!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: BlendBee
Description:
Create custom teas, with more than a hundred quality and organic ingredients to choose from.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Mao Feng from Global Tea Hut. . . . .
My holidays started early with the surprise receipt of Global Tea Hut’s Magazine and tea tin subscription from Taiwan.
I’m the type of person to read the manual first before trying something new, and was a little worried that this 80 page magazine would require me to brush up on my rusty Mandarin, but there were no parts lost in translation! It was both poetic and relatable, mixing Chinese tea history and culture as well as modern processing techniques used for the very Mao Feng Tea I was about to taste.
This months sample of bright colored organic buds and leaves from China’s Yellow mountain brewed into a clear liquor. After brewing there is an aroma of browned butter and a remarkable hint of sweetness – the lingering scent on a lovers sweater.
The sipping flavor was muted, but the long-lasting, sweet aftertaste was wholly unexpected! This is perhaps the purest tea I’ve ever consumed.
Reading the magazine along with my multiple resteeps, I felt a very meditative connection to this experience. There was even an invitation to contemplate the Personality (qi) of the tea. The care that went into its preparation and the lingering feeling of comfort I felt drinking it, led me to think of this Mao Feng as the embodiment of love. A very special surprise indeed!
When you subscribe, they offer to send a free gift to anyone. This company has won itself a great deal of my appreciation. I’d highly recommend their subscription for anyone who wants to learn more about teas, or who enjoys non-flavored leaves. Recently they’ve also started an App to connect Tea enthusiasts from around the world.
The tea by itself is a treat, but there is something even more beautiful in making a connection to the growers. It’s exciting and grounding at the same time. Is this Zen?
Here’s the scoop!
Loose Leaf: Green
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!