I have purchased a few herbal tisanes in the past year for those nights when I want to avoid caffeine. I wanted something that isn’t thin and pale beside my beloved tea but is also delicious without resorting to fake tasting additives or sweeteners. This offering is all organic.
First, the aroma really knocked my socks off. It is so lemony and sweet smelling. And then the taste holds up to the aroma! It’s a miracle! The texture is rich and broth-like.
The lemon flavor is coming from lemongrass and lemon verbena, and since the last ingredient listed is natural essence, I am guessing it may be lemon oil, but I could be wrong.
I grew lemongrass last year and I made a tisane from it, but it had a much thinner body than this, and since it was lemongrass alone, there were no layers of flavor as we have here.
Lemon is at the forefront in aroma and taste, but mint comes in midway and then lingers for quite a while. The rose is adding sweetness with the peppery rose notes and also is surely the source of the rich, creamy body that fairly coats the tongue.
I offered a cup to a family member standing by and promptly had to make another pot. Fortunately, this tisane resteeps well so I can enjoy it with abandon as often as I like.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Bellocq
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Simmer Down/The Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop
I’m not sure where this lil diddy has been hiding but I found it in my personal tea and tisane stash and knew that it was calling my name during our most recent snow storm!
Simmer Down from The Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop. How could you go wrong from a store situated in Philly and has a lovely Etsy shop to boot!?
If you are looking for relaxing and calm in a cup you have come to the right place! The ingredients in this blend of herbs include: chamomile, lemon balm, motherwort, peppermint, lavender, and passionflower. It says it’s designed to assist the body in alleviating stress and worn nerves. Since I hate winter weather AND snow…I thought I would put that to the test!
First and foremost I could smell the chamomile. Full disclosure? I’m not a chamomile fan…but…I won’t let that stop me from trying a tea or tisane at least once.
Upon first sip? I was pleased! It was more than ‘just chamomile’. It was nicely paired with the peppermint…and I’m a HUGE fan of peppermint, folks!
At this point…I’m a instant fan! The peppermint saved the day! The lemon balm helped with the follow thru on to the aftertaste of this herbal. I thought it was nicely played. The motherwort, lavender, and passionflower all played a small part and seemed to help round out the overall flavor but those three didn’t seem to be the starting players…more like 2nd strings…if you are into sports analogies.
Yup! I could see myself sipping on this tisane most evenings. It’s probably one of the top herbals I have tried in the past several months! Highly recommended!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: The Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop
Description
A blend of chamomile, lemon balm, motherwort, peppermint, lavender, and passionflower. Designed to assist the body in alleviating stress and worn nerves.
Very relaxing. This is calm in a cup!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Cinnamon Plum Berry Organic Botanical Blend/Storehouse Tea
Tart hibiscus and zesty cinnamon join forces with sweet plums and currants to form Storehouse Tea’s Cinnamon Plum Berry. The result is a very spicy brew with juicy notes in the background. It’s basically a berry chai.
The smell is delicious; however, the resulting drink doesn’t do it for me.
I was hoping for sweetness with a dash of spice — perhaps like a mulled cider — but the spices are like 90% of the flavor.
If spice is your jam, though, this might be the one for you!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Storehouse Tea
Description
Currants, succulent hibiscus, hints of plum, cinnamon and naturally sweet licorice root create a warm, full bodied and soothing Organic, caffeine free tea. Perfect served hot or brewed as mulled tea.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Organic Egoma Tea (Perilla Leaf)/Yumoni. . .
I’ll be upfront about this…I sat on this herbal tisane for quite some time before giving it a sip!
The herbal tea I’m referring to is the currently sold out Organic Egoma Tea (also known as Perilla Leaf) on the Yunomi’s website. Egoma is a kind of perilla leaf, related to the shiso perilla leaf commonly served with sashimi (raw fish cuts) at sushi restaurants. Because I follow a vegan diet I do not eat raw fish nor did I have much knowledge about this connection because of it.
What I did find out – thru my own personal research – is that Perilla is an annual plant native to Southeast Asia and Indian highlands, and grown in the Korean peninsula, Southern China and India.
Thanks to Wiki…I found out it’s an annual plant growing 60–90 centimeters (or 24–35 in) tall, with hairy square stalks with the leaves being 7–12 centimeters (2.8–4.7 in) long and 5–8 centimeters (2.0–3.1 in) wide, with a broad oval shape, pointy ends, serrated (saw-toothed) margins, and long leafstalks. The leaves are green with occasional touches of purple on the underside.
The flowers of the plant bloom on racemes at the end of branches and the main stalk in August and September. The calyx, 3–4 millimeters (0.12–0.16 in) long, consist of upper three sepals and the hairy lower two. The corolla is 4–5 millimeters (0.16–0.20 in) long with its lower lip longer than the upper. Two of the four stamens are long.
The research I found went on to describe the fruit, too, but because this tisane uses only the herb of the plant I will end my description there.
Because I’m always intrigued by what plants have to offer to the human body I then found out about the potential benefits. Perilla seeds are rich in dietary fiber and dietary minerals such as calcium, iron, niacin, protein, and thiamine – as well as – dietary fiber and dietary minerals, such as calcium, iron, potassium, and vitamins A, C and riboflavin. Perilla seed oil has anti-inflammatory properties, and perilla leaf components are under preliminary research for potential anti-inflammatory properties. Perilla oil, with one of the highest proportion of omega-3 fatty acids, is beneficial to human health and in prevention of various diseases like cardiovascular disorders, cancer, inflammatory and rheumatoid arthritis, and others.
As far as the specific leaf in this offering on the Yunomi website I found out that it comes from the Chasandai Tea Factory.
Onto the actual herbal tea bag itself! We’re talking about Shimane-grown Organic Egoma Herbal Tea Bags from Chasandai Tea Factory in the Shimane Prefecture region. It’s classified as a Finishing Factory, was established in 1911, has 33 employees, and the CEO is Akemi Miyo.
One of the reasons it took me a while before blogging about this is because of the aroma. To be honest, I really wasn’t digging it. Dry – it smelled a little like glue…glue and herbs, basically. I was a little afraid that the herbal flavor was going to be so intense I would have a hard time with it but I was WRONG! The flavor was fairly mellow. Sure it was an herbal but it was a nice herbal. A comforting herbal tisane…that I didn’t have a problem at all sipping on. It was even a little sweet, a little savory, and possible even a little croissant-like. Those were my first impressions, too, and the more I sipped on it the more I enjoyed it.
This is a classic case of NOT pre-judging it purely based on aroma. Shame on me, eh!? I should have known better because I hate the smell of Valerian Root but LOVE the benefits. I think I will throw this herb and tisane offering in that category of ‘things I need to add into rotation but might need to plug my nose while steeping’.
I’m looking forward to more herbals like this. I might make it a personal goal to find other new-to-me-herbals to blog about here at SororiTea Sisters.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Yunomi
Description
- Name: Shimane-grown Organic Egoma Herbal Tea Bags
- Net weight: 12g (2g x 6bags)
- Ingredients: Shimane-grown Organic Egoma leaf
- Supplier: Chasandai Tea Factory
- Location: Shimane Prefecture
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Root Down Tisane/SwallowTail Tea
Herbal blends and I love and hate each other. Sometimes I just want to devour everyone in sight and other days I just can’t even make myself. I’ve been in the first group lately and have been waiting for the right day to try this blend on for size. With today being a bit of a cloudy wonder, I thought this blend might brighten up my afternoon a touch.
To get things started, let’s chat about what all is in Root Down Tisane. This particular tisane is a blend of dandelion root, nettle leaf, cinnamon bark, orange peel, spearmint, and licorice root. I am not a huge fan of licorice root so I am hoping that particular blend stays more in the background.
I went ahead and brewed this up with the traditional parameters for an herbal but decided to go with a lighter steeping time because of the ingredients in this blend- Brewed up with water at 212F and allowed to steep for about 4 minutes, This blend was exactly what I needed to get over these cloudy blues.
The dandelion root, nettle leaf and spearmint are the leaders of the flavor pack with this herbal blend greeting you with an herbaceous, smooth, and refreshing first taste. Towards the middle of the sip you start to see the orange peel and cinnamon bark make its presence known while at the very end and after taste you get the force of the licorice root. Even not being a fan of the licorice root I don’t so much mind because it literally is the last bit you are tasting. All of the other flavors truly are dynamite together.
Best part about this blend is that each time you sip, there is this transition of flavors from each of the ingredients. Not overly herbal but enough so I know what I’m drinking. I can see this blend being the perfect companion to possibly a touch of honeybush or even chamomile to give the flavors a bit more to go off of.
Regardless, I’m really enjoying this experience and am looking forward to trying this blend iced in a few days!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Swallowtail Tea
Description
Perfect for the Cold Season or an after dinner treat, this signature tisane was artfully crafted as a warming and supportive infusion.
Hand-blended organic nettle, dandelion root, orange peel, licorice, cinnamon, and spearmint.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
