Gentle Slumber Organic Tisane from Good Life Tea

Gentle_SlumberTisane Information:

Leaf Type:  Rooibos & Herbal Tisane

Where to Buy:  Good Life Tea

Tisane Description:

This blend of rooibos, chamomile and peppermint is powerful mix of herbs known for their calming effects.  Chamomile is the ancient herb from the Roman empire and has been used to bring about restful sleep. You can actually see the chomomile flowers in the blend.  Rooibos is a relative new arrival, only used in the last 200 years as a tisane.  Grown only in the Cederberg, South Africa rooibos is naturally caffeine free, and is loaded with anti-oxidants, which prevent a many diseases. It is the reddish brown leaves in the mix. The last ingredient, Peppermint has a huge calming effect on the stomach as a digestive and gives this tea nice finish which lingers for a bit. Peppermint is the green leaves in the tisane.

Enjoy this tea to bring calmness to your day or just prior to bedtime.  Because it contains no caffeine, its safe for children to enjoy. Create a nice evening ritual with this herbal tea.

Learn more about this tisane here.

Taster’s Review:

I know that I’ve often said that I’m not a big fan of rooibos and I’m also not a big fan of chamomile.  Oh, I like both of these herbs alright.  I’m just not wild about them and I can think of other herbs I like much better.

Like peppermint.  I like peppermint.  And what makes this Organic Gentle Slumber so tasty IS the peppermint.  The peppermint is the strongest flavor in the cup, so I can drink this tisane without tasting too much chamomile or rooibos.  Bonus!

But even though the peppermint is strong here, it isn’t an overpowering flavor.  There is some nutty flavors in the background.  A touch of honey like flavor. A whisper of floral tones in the distance.  And these flavors add a little bit of dimension to the cup so that it’s not all about the zesty peppermint.

And even though the peppermint is zesty, overall, I find the tisane to be soothing and quite relaxing to sip.  It’s a comforting drink to enjoy before bedtime and the chamomile and rooibos are both known for their calming properties.

A great choice to inspire a good night’s sleep!

Please Note:  the free sample offer is no longer valid.  Thank you for stopping by!

Ginger’s Island Fruit and Herb Tea from Good Life Tea

Ginger_s_IslandTisane Information:

Leaf Type:  Fruit/Herbal Tisane

Where to Buy:  Good Life Tea

Tisane Description:

Ginger spices up this tropical blend of dried apples, coconut, rose hip, hibiscus and lemongrass. Step aboard for your 3 hour tour and loose yourself in your own island bliss.

Learn more about this blend here.

Taster’s Review: 

More hibiscus.  Well, since this is another tisane from Good Life Tea and I had pretty good luck with the C of Tranquilitea tisane I hoped as I steeped this tea that my experience with this tisane would be as favorable as my experience with the C of Tranquilitea was.

This blend has a bit too much hibiscus for my liking, and that’s most of what I’m tasting.  If I can get past the tart, pungent taste of the hibiscus, I can taste subtle notes of ginger and lemon grass.

It is a rare occasion when I find ginger in a tea and it’s presented as a subtle spice, but here, the hibiscus is so strong that it obscures the flavor of the ginger unless I slurp the sip.  The aftertaste is tangy and there is some ginger heat to the aftertaste.  This warmth from the ginger gradually intensifies as I continue to sip the cup, but it never really becomes a strong flavor in the cup.

The same is true of the lemon grass and the other ingredients in this tisane.  I can taste them – very faintly – but most of their flavors are hidden behind the strong hibiscus notes.

Normally, I might blame this on over-steeping.  But I steeped this tisane for just five minutes in 195°F.  Usually, with a hibiscus blend, I steep for six minutes, but when I saw how robust the ruby color of the liquid was after five minutes, I decided to stop the steep process at five minutes.

In the note that I received from Good Life Tea, they indicate that this tisane is

…a fruit and herbal Tisane with Hibiscus, Rosehips, Coconut and Pineapple.  The tropical flavors are tempered and enhanced by ginger and lemongrass. 

I’m not getting much pineapple flavor from this tisane, nor am I getting much coconut.  Now that I am more than halfway finished with my cup and the cup has had some time to cool, I am starting to pick up more coconut and pineapple-y flavors (and I’m tasting more ginger now too), leading me to believe that this tisane is probably much tastier as an iced tea rather than a hot tea.

That said, I can’t help but think that this would be infinitely better without so much hibiscus in it.  If you’re a fan of hibiscus, you would probably find this tisane very much to your liking.

Not my favorite cup, but they can’t all be my favorite.  This one is better as it cools.  When it’s served hot, the tisane tastes strongly of hibiscus, but once it cools, the tropical flavors that are promised in the above description begin to shine through.

C of Tranquilitea Herbal Tisane from Good Life Tea

C_of_TranquilityTisane Information:

Leaf Type:  Fruit/Herbal Tisane

Where to Buy:  Good Life Tea

Tisane Description:

Luscious hibiscus flowers join with subtle citrus notes of lemongrass and tart rose hips. Add the superfruits and chamomile and you’ve got one bedtime immune system booster!

Learn more about this blend here.

Taster’s Review: 

If you’re a frequent reader of this blog, you’re probably well aware of my lack of enthusiasm for herbal tisanes that contain hibiscus and chamomile.  Well, this blend has both of them.  So as you can probably imagine, I wasn’t dancing the happy dance while I was brewing this.

But, it’s actually quite tasty!  A lot nicer than I expected it to be, for sure, and much tastier than I would have imagined.

This is the first tea that I’m trying from this “new-to-me” company, and along with the teas that they sent to me, they sent a letter.  In it, they described this blend this way:

This is a fruit and herbal blend.  It has a nice blueberry base with Chamomile and Lemon Grass.  The name is from a place on the moon where the Apollo landed – Sea of Tranquility.  The name is a play on words.  C is for the Vitamin C which the hibiscus and rosehips offer.  Tranquilitea is the chamomile.  It’s a great flower that promotes calmness and helps with sleep.  This is our second most popular tea.  The lemon grass is to give a nice, bright finish.  This mix contains a little bit of Amber sugar to mellow it out.

While I’m generally not crazy about teas that include sugar or sweetener, I have to admit that I’m kind of glad that the Amber sugar is there, because I think that this would be a bit too tart without it.  I’m not one who usually sweetens a tisane like this, and I know that if the sugar wasn’t there, I would have probably wanted to add a pinch of sugar to it to tame down the tartness.

That said, I do prefer to decide how much sugar I’m adding to my cup.  So, I’m kind of finding myself unsure of how I feel about this addition.  I’m glad that this wasn’t too tart when I took my first sip, but, at the same time, I’m not thrilled that sugar was added to the tisane.  But without dwelling on the subject too long, I’ll tell you about the rest of what I’m tasting…

This tisane is pleasantly sweet and fruity.  I’m liking the blueberry, and as much as I am not fond of hibiscus, I have to admit that hibiscus DOES enhance berry flavors.  And it does enhance the blueberry nicely.  I am getting the sweet blueberry flavor with a touch of berry tartness.  The lemongrass adds just a hint of citrus flavor and perks up the flavors.

I can barely taste the chamomile.  In fact, this would be the ideal blend for someone who doesn’t like chamomile but wants to drink chamomile teas for their restful/healthful properties, because like I said, the chamomile is barely noticeable as far as taste goes.

To brew this, I went with my go-to temperature of 195°F for herbals and steeped it for six minutes.  I find that six minutes was a good time – it delivered a really delicious blueberry flavor with light citrus-y notes without too much hibiscus-y taste or texture.

Overall, this is a pleasant cup of tea.  It’s soothing and sweet, with just the right level of tartness to it.   And to my surprise, as I’m typing this, I find myself becoming slightly drowsy from the tea!  That’s a big bonus in my book.