Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Juniper Ridge
Tea Description:
Our Sage and Mint tea has the rich, earthy, minty flavor that made it a favorite tea for many of the Native American tribes and early settlers of the Southwest. Made from all-natural ingredients wildharvested in the bright, sunbaked, giant-boulder desert country of California.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a very unique tea. I picked this up from one of my fellow SororiTea Sisters- thelastdodo a while ago. It is such a interesting sounding tea I just had to try it.
So I steeped this up per the instructions on the bag, 195F-3-5 minutes and threw in a few tea bags. I let it steep and then dumped in some ice for an iced tea. Took a sip. . .Wow, this is oddly refreshing!
When I opened the bag, I noticed that there was a sweet savory smell to the tea. There are only two ingredients to this one. . . sage and mint. Both flavors stand out strong and mingle together in an intriguing way. You pick up the savory aspects from the sage and the sweetness from the mint. Very nice and like I said, refreshing. This would be great if you are camping outdoors or just enjoying nature. Makes me want to plan a spur of the moment trip!
Can’t say this is a favorite or one that I will grab again and again. But I can say I am enjoying this. I know of a few tea friends that would probably enjoy this more than myself so I will share this with them.
White Sage and Wild Mint from Juniper Ridge
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Juniper Ridge
Tea Description:
White Sage has a rich, earthy, minty flavor that made it a favorite tea for many of the Native American tribes and early settlers of the Southwest. I like to sip this tea during the wet winters here in Northern California and let my mind drift off to the hot desert country where White Sage grows. So many backpacking trips over the years in that beautiful, sunbaked country—maybe I’ll just sit here in the shade of this Palo Verde tree and let some of the afternoon heat pass while I nod off to sleep with the smell of Wild Sage in the air . . . Now you can enjoy this classic Southwestern tea and dream your own daydreams of the big rock, White Sage desert country.
WILDCRAFTED FROM THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS OF THE WEST · 10% OF PROFITS DONATED TO DEFENDING WESTERN WILDERNESS
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I grow sage in my garden – tons of it, so I could easily say it is one of my favorite herbs. This tea has such a perfect aroma and I know they are using quality sage in this blend.
Normally I would not be that excited to try a bagged tea, but anything that says SAGE on it is something that peeks my interest! I had never heard of this tea company before but thanks to Anne, my SoroiTEA Sister, I was lucky to try this tea! Thank you Anne!
When I visted the Juniper Ridge website I was delighted to see they sell other items as well. I love essential oils, hand crafted soaps, colognes, and such, so I spent some time really pouring over their site. I love their devotion to wilderness see more info here.
For a bagged tea, this bag packs quite a punch! It has a lovely, delightful, sage flavor, and a minty, but not overpoweringly mint taste. Now keep in mind I do love mint, almost as much as sage, so its not like my taste buds are delicate to a mint flavor, this may be far more minty to you than it is to me, but what really speaks to me is that the mint, being somewhat of a strong flavor element, does not take away from the excellent sage in this tea.
There is also a nice spiciness to this tea as well but not like a chai, more like a black pepper note, and it also tastes like the sage may have been roasted a little.
This tea is quite relaxing. I mean really very soothing, centering, grounding, a perfect tea for meditation or before bedtime. There is something about drinking a tisane from nature, that is pure and unadulterated.
I love how this tisane makes me feel, warm, cozy, light hearted, relaxed, and happy.
An experience everyone should have.
White Sage and Wild Mint Tea from Juniper Ridge
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Juniper Ridge
Tisane Description:
White Sage has a rich, earthy, minty flavor that made it a favorite tea for many of the Native American tribes and early settlers of the Southwest. I like to sip this tea during the wet winters here in Northern California and let my mind drift off to the hot desert country where White Sage grows. So many backpacking trips over the years in that beautiful, sunbaked country—maybe I’ll just sit here in the shade of this Palo Verde tree and let some of the afternoon heat pass while I nod off to sleep with the smell of Wild Sage in the air . . . Now you can enjoy this classic Southwestern tea and dream your own daydreams of the big rock, White Sage desert country.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This tisane has a very rustic feel to it … from the packaging (the labels are printed on recycled kraft paper, which give them a rugged style) to the aroma (earthy sage and mint) to the flavor.
This tisane boasts a fairly simple combination of sage and mint. But, I don’t think I’ve ever tried a sage and mint tea until I tried this one from Juniper Ridge. I know I’ve had teas with sage in them, and definitely teas with mint it them, but I don’t recall trying a blend of just sage and mint. Simple, yes, but also simply delicious!
Not surprisingly, it is a very minty tisane. The wild mint gives it a cool, crisp flavor, and it is definitely the strongest flavor of the cup. But the sage comes in beneath the mint and provides a nice earthy tone with a warm, peppery tone that arrives toward the end of the sip. It is a very enjoyable contrast of warm and cool flavors.
I find this to be very soothing to sip as I start to wind down for the evening, and yet it has an invigorating flavor to it that would be a nice, caffeine free pick-me-up in the afternoon if that’s what you’re after.
Douglas Fir Tip Tea from Juniper Ridge
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Juniper Ridge
Product Description:
When my first herbal-medicine teacher had us try Douglas Fir tea on a class camping trip, I thought it would taste, well, like a tree. I was pleasantly surprised, however, by its refreshing, lemony flavor and sweet, forest-like aroma. This tea is made from 100% Douglas Fir spring tips from the coastal mountains of Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Nothing else has been added to it, so you can experience the pure, wild taste and foresty aroma of this distinctly Northwestern wild herb delicacy.
Taster’s Review:
This is definitely one of the more unusual teas that I’ve encountered in a long time. It is so unusual – at least to me! – that I was quite unsure if I really wanted to try it. I am glad that my hesitancy finally gave way though, because, I am really enjoying this tisane.
This tea smells like outside. I mean… seriously, it smells like my back yard! I live in the Pacific Northwest and the Douglas Fir Tips that were harvested to make this tea were harvested in this area (as well as Northern California). I’m surrounded by Douglas Fir trees!
But it doesn’t taste the way I expected it to taste. Not that I really knew what I expected it to taste like. I guess I expected it to taste like wood. Like smoke, maybe? Or perhaps even a little damp (it sometimes gets a little damp up here) But it doesn’t taste woody, or smoky or even damp.
The overall taste is light. It has a sweet lemony taste to it as well as a background of a mint-like flavor. But… it isn’t quite mint, if that makes sense. It is as though someone attempted to duplicate the taste of peppermint and wintergreen and didn’t quite make it, but got real close. It tastes winter-y and fresh.
What this really tastes like to me is the way the air feels when my husband and I visit the Columbia Gorge. We get out, walk among the trees and enjoy the crisp, clean air. And that is what this tastes like. Crisp, clean and fresh. Slightly sweet and invigorating – like a walk through the woods!
I like this tisane, and it is one I am very glad I had the opportunity to taste. I like it so much, in fact, that it is one that I could see myself keeping in stock – it has such a refreshingly different flavor!