Traditional Medicinals offers a variety of tea blends to help ease whatever ails you. I got an opportunity to try their Raspberry Leaf blend. I most often encounter raspberry leaf as a component in other tea blends, but this time I am brewing up a cup of pure raspberry leaf on its own.
Raspberry Leaf is supposed to help ease the discomfort many women feel during that time of the month. I can’t speak to how it affected my discomfort, but I can reflect on its flavor. This tea brew up a yellow amber color and tastes, mildly fruity and slightly nutty. It has a surprisingly full mouthfeel, with just a hint of black tea astringency. There is a slightly more vegetal aftertaste that I don’t prefer, but it mellows out nicely when mixed with a dash of honey.
I like this tea as an herbal alternative to the usual herbal tea suspects of ginger, mint, and chamomile. The ease of their sealed tea bags makes this an easy choice to pack when traveling or stash in your desk at work.
Browsing the Traditional Medicinals catalog, I see many other flavors I want to try and ailments I would like to treat. Even if the healing effects are more mental than physical, I love the comfort of a flavorful cup of tea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Traditional Medicinals
Description: Of course, the delectable fruit of Rubus idaeus is a well-known and well-loved summer treat, but it’s the raspberry leaf you’ll find in this tea. With a silvery under leaf that is reminiscent of the moon’s glow, European and Native American women have used raspberry leaf for thousands of years for menstrual support, menstrual cramps and during pregnancy as a healthy tonic to help prepare the womb for childbirth.* We love this tea for its gently nurturing properties, and its robust taste, which is reminiscent of a delicate and mildly fruity black tea.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Immunity from Virginia Tea Company. . . .
As the weather turns colder, it becomes a great season for brewing warm tea. But it also tends to become a season for germs as well. Meet both needs with a cup of Immunity from Virginia Tea Co. With several powerhouse herbs that boost your immune system, like echinacea and elderberries, this cup is good for both your mental and physical health.
Fragrant ginger and cinnamon are the first notes I smell in this blend. Those two herbs tend be a cornerstone of most chai blends, so their spiciness is familiar and warming, without the caffeine of black tea. Upon my first sip, the fruitier flavors of elderberries and tart echinacea fill my senses. The sweet, dark berry flavor of the elderberries lingers the longest on my tongue, with the ginger and cinnamon just a flash of spice in the scent. If you’re not a fan of chai flavors, don’t worry, this one is much more fruity than spicy.
This herbal tea is pleasantly earthy, and not overly sweet or artificial. This would be great on its own or brewed with honey if your throat it is scratchy and your morale is low. I love the idea of a more berry-based blend for those under-the-weather days. I have so many lemon and chamomile restoratives, this Immunity blend adds the perfect variety to my get-well tea cupboard.
Whether you feel a cold coming on, or you just want to be prepared for the season, order up some Immunity from Virginia Tea Co. and stay warm and healthy this cold season.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Virginia Tea Co.
Description:
As our body’s first line of defense against all illnesses, it is safe to say that our immune system is worth a great deal to us. This blend of ginger, cinnamon, echinacea, elderberries, and eleuthero root are perfectly combined to give your immune system the boost it needs.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Daily Support from Lipton Teas . . . . .
Lipton, yes that Lipton with the red tagged black tea bags. Lipton has a series of new wellness teas and the SororiTea Sisters are checking them out. This time, I’m tasting Daily Support blend. This blend features turmeric, echinacea, ginger, and green tea.
Turmeric seems to be everywhere when the new year rolls around and people make new resolutions about living healthier and cleaner for the new year. Turmeric comes up as one of those spices with lots of healthy properties like reducing inflammation and boosting antioxidants. I’m not a doctor, but I like trying new tea flavors so I took the plunge and brewed a cup.
Tumeric on its own can be a bit too strong and bitter. It is spicy, but more reminiscent of curry powder than chai spices. I find I like tumeric best when paired with ginger, like it is in this Daily Support blend. Their spiciness compliments each other, bringing out the sweet heat in the ginger and the earthier spice of the turmeric.
I’m a spice-lover when it comes to tea, so I would say that this blend could use more ginger and turmeric to suit my tastes. However, if you’re not into a hot-spiced blend, this might be a nice surprise. The ginger is at its sweetest, with gentle honey and lemon undertones, and just a hint of the more savory turmeric in the aftertaste. The green tea itself gets lost under these two powerhouses, but you don’t miss it.
I’ve had great success with tumeric ginger lattes at my local coffee shop. I’ll have to try this tea with some frothy milk next time for a cozy, creamy cup of spice. No matter how you brew it, this is a perfect warming cup for turning over a new leaf and giving your body and mind some Daily Support.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green tea
Where to Buy: Lipton Teas
Description:
Conquer the day with new Lipton Daily Support Herbal Supplement with Green Tea, which contains Turmeric, Echinacea, and Ginger. As an excellent source of Vitamin C, this herbal infusion helps support your body’s natural defenses*. Carefully selected botanicals are blended with green tea and orange essential oil that make every cup delicious. Enjoy a cup of Lipton Daily Support to supplement your varied, balanced diet.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Kenyan Purple Tea from Kenya Purple Tea
Eventho Purple Tea is becoming more popular these days here are Sororitea Sisters we still have a short list of Purple Teas represented and we are very pleased to add Kenyan Purple Tea from Kenya Purple Tea to that list.
On Kenya Purple Tea’s ABOUT US Page it states: Necessity is the mother of invention. Kenyan tea growers have been plagued by the ever-falling prices of black tea which has been traditionally grown in Kenya since 1903. In the recent years, the global market for black tea has been saturated. At the end of 2014, prices were down to near-historic lows and that is when Kenyan tea growers said ‘Tosha Tosha’ which means Enough is Enough in the local Swahili. A good number of Kenyan tea growers are now switching to grow a newly discovered tea, the Kenya purple tea. It turns out that apart from its delightful purple color and being a great thirst quencher, this type of tea has greater health benefits than either green tea or black tea.
This info was enough to make me want to learn more, try more, and seek out more Purple Teas out there! With the Purple Teas I have tried so far I agree that they certain do help quench your thirst and Kenyan Purple Tea from Kenya Purple Tea falls in that category. The flavor is somewhere in between a black tea and a green tea. Personally, I think the flavor favors green tea more but I can see nods to both sides.
Kenyan Purple Tea from Kenya Purple Tea has a very pale infusion color but that doesn’t mean the flavor is faded! It’s quite delicious! Again, Kenyan Purple Tea from Kenya Purple Tea, has a more green taste, but I really like that about this offering!
Kenya Purple Tea also offers the first of its kind BOTTLED Iced Purple Tea which I think is a wonderful idea especially from a marketing stand point in the USA. I look forward to seeing Purple Tea get even bigger over the next several years and wish the growers of Kenya the very best!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Purple Tea
Where to Buy: Kenya Purple Tea
Description:
Recent studies on Kenyan purple tea indicate that this new tea has high levels of anthocyanins which are known to have powerful antioxidant properties. The medical benefits could include the following:
Fat Burner
Boosts fat loss through accelerating apoptosis (cell death) of fat cells through the catechins contained in the tea.
Anti-oxidant
Mops up free radicals in the body that may cause lifestyle diseases e.g gout, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer etc.
Anti-ageing
Prevents degeneration of body tissue and cells.
Anti-carcinogenic
Induces death of carcinogenic (cancer) cells.
Heart Health
Reduces the risk of coronary heart disease.
Disclaimer: The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. The Kenyan purple tea is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Pocketful of Posies Herbal Tea by Adagio Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
A relaxing, naturally caffeine-free herbal tea blended from blackberry leaves, chamomile, peppermint, hibiscus, lavender flowers, and rose petals.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is an herbal tea from Adagio’s Sunlit Blooms collection. It’s a floral blend, containing whole chamomile flowers, lavender and rose petals. It also contains peppermint, hibiscus, and blackberry leaves. Judging by the dry leaf, the main constituent is blackberry leaves, which are green and fluffy, rather like raspberry leaves. The other ingredients seem rather sparse.
I used 1.5tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 4 minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor is yellow-green, which is doubtless testament to how little hibiscus is actually in this blend. The scent is deeply herbal – predominantly chamomile and lavender as far as I can discern.
To taste, this is a mild, lightly floral blend. Rose is clearly there, and lavender, although both are less pungent than might be expected, and don’t make the cup taste “perfumey” in the way they sometimes can. Half of me appreciates this, as teas with heavy perfume-like flavours can be rather cloying. The other half is wishing for a bit more flavour, as the overall effect is rather thin-tasting. The chamomile emerges a little towards the end of the sip, adding a honey-like sweetness that works well with the floral flavours. It’s a pleasant enough cup, if a little bland and weak. It’s like this tea is lacking in personality.
I’m really not sure what the blackberry leaves are adding to this blend, other than bulk. I appreciate that they have reputed health benefits, but I would have liked to have seen the other ingredients in greater quantity, as they impart the flavour this blend is sadly lacking. This one would make a pleasant pre-bedtime cup, if you’re after a caffeine-free blend with mild, relaxing flavours, but it’s not really one I’d purposefully seek out at other times of the day.
