Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Jennifer’s Tea Garden
Product Description:
Relax the mind, body and soul with this blend of soothing botanicals. Chamomile, St. John’s Wort and Ginko help to relieve the stress and tension of daily life while lifting your spirits. Naturally Caffeine Free.
Ingredients: mistletoe, bean peels, chamomile, organic honeybush, organic lemon myrtle, St. John’s Wort, lemongrass, gingko, anise, nettle, birch leaves, natural flavors, stevia leaf.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! This tastes really good!
I really wasn’t expecting it to taste so good. A quick glance at the list of ingredients told me that this would be an herbal blend, and my mind immediately envisioned a medicinal tasting liquid. But, this really doesn’t taste medicinal at all. It doesn’t even taste like a typical herbal blend. It tastes sweet and fruity and could make just as nice a dessert tea as it would a tisane to promote relaxation.
Back in my tea blending days, I created an herbal relaxation blend, and if I am to be honest … even it didn’t taste this good. Sure, I enjoyed the flavor of my own creation, and up until now, it had been the best relaxation blend I had tasted. But this one is even better.
The flavor is sweet, fruit-like (it tastes like apricots to me) and there is almost a creamy vanilla-y taste in the background. I don’t taste a strong presence from the chamomile. The lemongrass and lemon myrtle offer soft citrus tones that compliment the apricot notes that I’m tasting. The anise provides a sweet, licorice-like tone that isn’t sharp like I usually find anise to be. This tastes subtle and sweet. I’m not even getting that disagreeable taste from the stevia!
This is HANDS DOWN the best relaxation tisane I’ve yet to encounter.
Be Well Blend from Tea Chai Té
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Tea Chai Té
Product Description:
Medicinal elixir with rooibos, cardamom, cherry bark, slippery elm, licorice root & clove to relieve sore throats and stuffy sinuses. A terrific evening tea as well. Organic.
Taster’s Review:
As I mentioned in another recent review, I am trying to avoid catching the flu. This is another tea that I’m drinking a lot of lately to help in that quest.
This blend is a little on the medicinal side, but I don’t find it brackish at all. On the contrary, it’s actually rather tasty! The licorice root is sharp and sweet without overwhelming the cup. And, I can barely taste the rooibos – just a slight woodsy tone in the background. In fact, had I not seen the rooibos in the blend (and of course, read the above description), I would not have known that this was a rooibos blend.
The real stars of this cup are the cardamom and clove. I like how they invigorate the flavor of this cup with their warm spicy tone. As a result, this comes across a little like a spice melangé rather than a functional tea. It’s really quite pleasant, with the medicinal taste being more of a background characteristic rather than something that hits you right up front.
This tisane has an agreeable sweetness to it that I choose to augment with a little raw honey. This seems to emphasize the nutty tone to this cup, and makes it even more enjoyable to sip.
Flu Fighter from CaryTown Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: CaryTown Teas
Product Description:
Organic Flu Fighter Blend is a soothing medicinal blend that is designed to help your body fight infection.
Reputed ingredient properties: Ginger root and Lemon Verbena to calm an upset stomach, Elder berries & flower, Cardamom, Chrysanthemum and Holy Basil to boost your immune system and fight infection and reduce fever, Chamomile to sooth an aching body, Linden flower for nasal congestion and Hibiscus, which is extremely high in vitamin C.
Taster’s Review:
My husband has been sick for a few days; he has the flu. I don’t want the flu; but I don’t like needles, so I avoid shots whenever possible. Flu shots are optional so I don’t get them. I think I’d rather risk the flu than get a shot. That being said, I still don’t want to get the flu, so I am hoping that this tea will help out!
The first time I brewed a cup, I steeped it for only five minutes, which is my usual maximum steep time when it comes to teas with hibiscus. However, after those five minutes, I can barely taste the hibiscus. There is a hint of tartness that accents the elderberry flavor. This tisane has a very light taste and texture – and usually with a hibiscus blend, the texture is quite thick.
Which leads me to think that this tisane is safe for a longer steep time! For my second cup, I steeped it for a full eight minutes, and the flavor is much stronger. Even so, the flavor of the hibiscus is not the most dominate flavor here. There is – of course – some tartness from the hibiscus, and a little more thickness to the body than with the first cup, but the hibiscus did not overpower the cup the way I thought it might! What a delightful surprise, this tisane!
There is a bright, lemony flavor in the background of this tisane, and a sweet-tart berry taste in the foreground. I can taste hints of a minty-like taste from the tulsi (holy basil) that sort of weaves its way in and out of the sip. There is a slight warmth from the ginger and cardamom – not much! – and it gives it a very soothing effect. Adding to that sense of calm is the chamomile. The ginger and cardamom flavors develop as I make my way down the cup, but even by the end of the cup, the taste is not strongly spiced.
Before I tasted this, I expected it to taste quite medicinal, but it doesn’t. It does have a herbal-y taste to it, which is to be expected, but, it doesn’t come off as medicine-y, it is more like a pleasing chamomile tea that one might enjoy at the end of a long day to encourage a feeling of tranquility.
I do recommend a little drizzle of honey with this blend – honey is not only loaded with antioxidants, but it also enhances the flavor as well, which is a little bland without the honey. But with just a little honey, I am finding this to be a really enjoyable drink.