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!
Tropical Fruit from Storehouse Tea. . . .
Confession: I’ve written two reviews for this tea. The first review was written longhand in my journal after a party where I made a few non-tea-beverage tactical errors. It said:
“This tea tastes like what’d it be like to receive a Care Bear Stare.”
The rest of it is, basically, incomprehensible, mostly in terms of handwriting. So I’m writing it again.
“Tropical Fruit” ‘s ingredients include organic orange peel, organic apple, organic rose petals, organic calendula, and natural fruit flavors. Apples, oranges, and flowers aren’t really all that tropical, but the result is still sweet and fun anyway. It tastes like very vivid pastels might taste. I’d probably qualify this taste as more of a “spring” than a “summer” (as the tropics might be), but the accuracy of title-to-flavor isn’t one of my major sticking points.
I’ve drank both of these samples iced. It seems fitting to enjoy the tropics with a cool beverage at your hand.
Cold temperatures also seem to bring out the sweetness in a tea, which I especially enjoy doing with rooibos. It brings out a velvety, vanilla-like quality that makes everything taste like a wash of ice cream.
Or, you know, the Care Bear Stare.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Storehouse Tea
Description
Combines natural exotic tropical fruit flavors with caffeine free, Fair Trade red and green rooibos makes this infusion deliciously refreshing and rich in anti-oxidants. Excellent iced.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Lavender with Love from High Garden Tea. . . .
I recently went to visit a friend of mine in Nashville– and of course, as with any trip, stops to local tea havens was #1 on my list. (Okay, maybe #2 after friend-reunion-bonding time. But second only to that.) High Garden is an incredible herbal apothecary tea shop, brimming with blends and jars full of single herbs, tinctures and tons of other goodies. You’ll find a ferments bar in the back (teas and treats to sample, and tons of fermented beverages– kombuchas, jin, kefir– and other refrigerated ferments filled the shop stock), and the walls are covered in vines and nature in order to evoke the perfect scene of Hufflepuff-common-room-meets-Mr.-Tumnus’-cottage. I was, understandably, in tea heaven.
In an effort to try as much as I could, I filled up a bag from their wall of samples, including this intriguing lavender-herb blend in the mix for a little bedtime relaxation cuppa. A unique blend of lavender, elderflower, chamomile, and jasmine, it’s truly delightful. It’s floral without being grandma’s-perfume-y, and herbal without being vegetal. It calls for quite a long steep, which only intensifies the harmony of the flavors. And this one made it far past a single steep for me, keeping the flavor strong even after the third, fourth infusion!
A delightful herbal, when all is said and done. Will I automatically restock this one? Maybe not, but that has more to do with the plethora of other single samples I have waiting in my half-unpacked luggage* now that I’m home!
*I mean, I pretty much had to leave all of my personal effects in Nashville in order to transport all my new teas home. That’s how travel is supposed to work, right?
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: High Garden
Description
Lavender flower, Chamomile, Jasmine, Elderflower, Rosemary
Not only an aromatic bliss of lavender and jasmine, but immune boosting components to give your body the love it deserves.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Energy Blend from Dave & Solomons Tea
Today I tried Dave&Solomon Energy Blend tea. I had been running around and needed a pick me up. When I first opened the package, it smelled earthy, a little floral-y, and very welcoming.
I believe this will be great as an iced tea. It has an earthy taste, it reminds me a little of chamomile, but different. The best way I can describe it is if chamomile and Rooibos had a little tea baby. The taste is nice and light, no sweetener needed.
The best part about this tea is how I feel. I wouldn’t say I feel energized as much as I feel calm and alert. And tranquil, but not sleepy. I will be making more of this, and trying it over ice for sure. It feels perfect for these last warm days of summer.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black/Herbal Tea
Where to Buy: Dave & Solomons Tea
Description
Get up and go with an invigorating cup of Energy . Energy, is a great tea to start your day, after meals, or to fight off that sluggish afternoon. Energy, has a robust earthy tone, followed by floral notes from the rose petals & lavender flower combined with a delicate citrus note from the lemongrass.
Ingredients: black tea, rose petals, lemongrass, lavender.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Part of Fortune from AstroloTea
I am trying the caffeinated version of this blend, which is also available as a caffeine-free herbal.
The instructions call for two teaspoons of leaf per cup of boiling water, but they recommend a four minute steep. I stuck to these parameters.
The tea is pale and fragrant, more earthy than floral. I do taste the Assam, and definitely the calendula and probably a hint of rose coming through as a faint, round sweetness. My tastebuds kept expecting licorice root, but the sweetness is much more low key than that.
My daughter said that this tasted like pumpkin to her – not like pumpkin spice, but like actual pumpkin. I can definitely understand feeling a squash vibe from it.
There are a lot of ingredients in this tea that I have never tasted on their own so I can’t say much about those, but I can say that I am not picking up on the jasmine, for those of you who are afraid this would be too floral for you! In fact, I don’t think of it as a floral tea at all, but rather herbaceous and earthy.
Overall it is really smooth and I think I would enjoy it iced as well as hot. That is a big consideration where I live, as it is over 90F even now in mid-September.
I would love to try the caffeine-free version as well. It would be a nice tea to sip on for a bedtime wind-down.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: AstroloTea
Description
Part of Fortune Organic Loose Leaf Tea is available as an herbal tea or caffeinated black tea blend.
The Part of Fortune is a point in your birth chart that can represent good fortune, wellbeing, success and health. The Part of Fortune tea blend is a lively and flowery medley of flavors, inducing a feeling of elation and prosperity. (Just a side note for you, the day I created this blend, I received my very first tea order! It sure worked for me!)
• Part of Fortune flavor descriptors •
light ~ herbaceous ~ mild ~ mellow ~ earthy ~ flowers
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
