Happy blend from Wild Leaf Active Teas is described as a stress-buster meant to lift your mood and brighten your day. This herbal blend features chamomile, rose petals, and lemon myrtle as the main flavor profiles though there are other ingredients like tulsi basil as well.
This tea is driven by its chamomile base, with lots of gentle lemon-honey herbal flavors, made even sweeter with a bit of stevia in the blend. The rose petals are gentle, much to my relief, and add just a breeze of floral tones without getting too much like perfume.
I detect a some of the greener and earthier undertones from the tulsi basil, though I might have missed it if I weren’t looking for it. I wish there was a little more tulsi to help add some variety with all the sweet lemon and honey flavor.
This is a delicate blend, gentle and easygoing.
When you want the relaxation that comes from chamomile but want a blend with a little more floral flair, try Happy blend from Wild Leaf.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Wild Leaf Active Teas
Description:
Imagine all life’s favorites that make you relaxed and content. A cup of Happy feels a lot like that. A modern blend to cheer you up or chill you out, organic whole leaf Tulsi reduces stress and lift moods while Chamomile, Lemon Myrtle and Rose Petals brighten the spirit. A happy body and happy soul makes for a happy place wherever you go. Just to be clear, Happy will not magically whisk you off on vacation. That’s a different kind of Happy. But one can dream, and we’re glad you do. Sip it in deeply. Because this life is Wild.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Sunny Orange Ginger from Stash Tea . . . .
Cold and flu season has been upon us and I was hit not once, not twice, but thrice with a cold! I love citrus teas to open my eyes and make me feel better when I am flagging. I don’t have a cold right now, but I am looking for a new tea to keep on hand for sore throats and stuffy noses and grumpy eyes that are too tired to open.
Ginger and I have an uneasy relationship. In small amounts, it can add sparkle to other flavors. In large amounts, it is so hot I could cry! When I first steeped this, I thought I would be crying. And when I saw hibiscus in the ingredients (Now where did that come from? This was supposed to orange and ginger!) I was especially distressed.
Pleasantly surprised, I am! Ginger is the dominant flavor here, and it is hot enough to warm my throat up very nicely without burning. The orange is more laid back and stays in the background, just present. I wish it were a little stronger, but maybe I could add a little fresh squeezed juice to this. The hibiscus…well… I am happy to say that I wouldn’t even know it was there!
I think this is a good candidate for my feel better tea, but perhaps more so for tummy trouble than colds. I bet it would be good iced and sweetened, as well.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Stash Tea
Description
Each sip of this tangy, aromatic herbal tea is a delight for the senses. Zesty orange combines with fruity hibiscus and the sharp, lively flavor of ginger, creating a tea that is perfect for all-day sipping. Delicious with a touch of sugar and refreshing iced.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Headache Relief from Virginia Tea Co (with help from Mary Poppins). . . .
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!
Yerba Mate Mint by Choice Organic Teas . . .
I steeped this tea for 4 minutes at 175 degrees with one bag in about one cup of water.
The packet says to steep for 4-6 minutes but it smells plenty strong enough at 4 so I stopped there. Plus, since mint can get bitter if oversteeped, I didn’t want to wait too long.
It smells nice and minty while brewing. I can’t really distinguish it from plain peppermint tea by the smell. After steeping is over, the tea is a yellowish cedar-like color and not noticeably viscous.
First sip: Surprise! It tastes just like mint herbal tea–to me, anyway. Or at least not different enough that you would be positive there’s something else in there rather than just a variation on the minty flavor. (Maybe if I had prepared a cup of plain mint tea at the same time to compare against, that would have helped me pick out any differences, but alas–I didn’t think of that until it was too late.)
What that means is that this could be a clever way to have something caffeinated in the morning if you’re an herbal tea drinker and don’t care for green or black tea or coffee! Or if you only drink black tea with milk (like me) and are avoiding milk because you have a cold, but still need that caffeine boost. (I know that sounds oddly specific but it happens to me more often than you’d think!)
The mate isn’t roasted, I’m guessing, so maybe that’s why it doesn’t have a strong enough flavor to dominate this tea blend (after all, peppermint is a very powerful flavor and it’s hard to overcome that). So if you like peppermint tea, you’ll probably like this!
With sugar: It’s still good and minty, nice and easy on the throat (which means that it’s both good for colds and for vocal health if you’re trying to relax your voice and stay hydrated, although I guess caffeine is a little bit controversial where vocal health is concerned).
Overall this blend is both useful and enjoyable when prepared as a hot tea beverage, and it seems to have plenty of potential as a cold brew as well, although I didn’t try it that way.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Yerba Mate
Where to Buy: Choice Organic Tea
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Downton Abbey Lady Cora’s Evening Herb Tea from The Republic of Tea. . .
I smell Valerian Root…was the very first thing I thought when opening this single serve tea bag. Isn’t that funny that you can identify one lonely ingredient when it’s mixed in with others? Perhaps it’s because Valerian Root smells like feet – I don’t know! (Insert Sitcom Style Canned Laugh here)
Ingredients for Downton Abbey Lady Cora’s Evening Herb Tea from The Republic of Tea include: Lemon balm, linden flower, orange blossoms, chamomile, lavender flower, skullcap, passion flower and Valerian Root. None of which are on my personal faves list when chatting about or sipping on teas and tisanes but they seemed to work well here.
This caffeine-free blend of chamomile and lemon balm will calm the mind and body. The product description says these relaxing botanicals create a cup of tranquility that helps ease the nerves and is a nice bedtime herbal.
I still have yet to watch this series! I know – I know…what is WRONG with me, eh?
For those of you who don’t already know it’s an award-winning TV series, that has entranced millions of viewers and become a modern media sensation. Every episode is an explosion of drama, relationships and intrigue. Downton Abbey is home to the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants. From the pen of Academy Award® winner Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey is the most watched drama ever on PBS!
I wonder if this is one of The Republic of Teas’ most sipped on herbals?
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Republic of Tea
Description
This caffeine-free blend of chamomile and lemon balm will calm the mind and body. Relaxing botanicals create a cup of tranquility that helps ease the nerves. Nice before bedtime when a soothing cup is a welcome friend.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
