Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Davidson’s Organics
Tisane Description:
Rooibos (“red tea”) is harvested from shrubs grown in the high elevations of the cape regions of South Africa. Rooibos has a full-bodied, rounded character, a slight sweetness, and blends well with green tea, black tea, other herbs and spices. Enjoy this red tea based chai with just the right hint of sweetness and spices. Delicious with milk and sweetener. High in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, Rooibos is well-known for its numerous health benefits and calming effects. And it’s completely caffeine-free!
Learn more about this chai here.
Taster’s Review:
As I’m writing this review, it’s rather late in the evening. A little too late to indulge in something caffeinated. Caffeine in tea doesn’t usually overstimulate me but, I am still cautious once it is past a certain hour, because I don’t want to take a chance that I’ll be kept up from drinking too much caffeine. So I decided to try one of my caffeine-free choices, and this Rooibos Spiced Chai is what I grabbed.
Hmm … it’s alright. Not the best rooibos chai blends that I’ve tried. I’m finding it to be just a wee bit thin, not just in body but also in spiced flavor. I taste cinnamon and cloves, but I didn’t taste any other spice notes, and I guess that’s because the ingredients only list cloves and cinnamon. I don’t really consider that to be a chai … but OK. For me to think “chai” I want some peppery spices, perhaps some black pepper or ginger. Some cardamom would be nice too.
But overall, it’s not a bad tasting rooibos chai. It has a nice, honey-esque flavor to it, and the nutty flavor of the rooibos seems to accentuate the warm spice notes of the cinnamon and the cloves. I like the way the earthiness of the spice plays with the natural earthiness of the rooibos. It’s a pleasant, warm and cozy type of blend, and I found it helped to calm and relax me, which is what I want this time of night.
I don’t know if I’d buy this again. It’s not something I’d put on my must have list nor would I make it a staple of my tea cupboard. But it’s tasty.
Organic Ginger Calendula Rooibos Tea from Spicely Organics
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Spicely Organics
Tisane Description:
Free of caffeine, but full of energizing ingredients! This tea is perfect for fine-tuning and focusing the senses, while also supporting healthy circulation. This tea is tangy, sweet, and a little spicy — the synergistic effect of this blend is perfect any time of day. INGREDIENTS: Organic Rooibos, Organic Ginger, Organic Calendula Petals
Learn more about this tisane here.
Learn more about the Spicely Organics Monthly Tea Membership here.
Taster’s Review:
I didn’t have big expectations from this Organic Ginger Calendula Rooibos Tea from Spicely Organics, to tell you the truth. It didn’t seem like all that exciting of a blend. It’s rooibos, ginger and calendula.
But, I’m finding myself enchanted by the ginger in this blend. It’s got a really zesty flavor. It’s spicy but not fiery hot, and I like the way it contrasts with the honey-sweet, woodsy/nutty flavors of the rooibos. It’s a very comforting taste: warm and cozy and something I’d like to curl up to on a chilly evening. It’s also quite soothing to the throat, so I brewed some of this for my youngest daughter who is getting over a cold, and it helped her feel better.
Calendula is essentially marigold petals, and they really add very little to the taste and texture of a tea or tisane. I’m of the opinion that the main reason that tea companies use calendula in their blends is to add some color, and I think that some companies use too much calendula in their blends, and if I were to offer any real complaint about this tisane, that would be it: there is a lot of calendula in this blend, maybe too much calendula.
That said, because calendula doesn’t add a lot of flavor or taste to the cup, I really didn’t mind the calendula in this blend. And I am really enjoying the combination of ginger and rooibos together … a lot more than I thought I would!
A simple blend, but it’s very enjoyable, and one I’d be happy to drink again.
Organic Love White Tea from Spicely Organics
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Spicely Organics
Tea Description:
This delightful blend, with its light floral essence and smooth minty finish, is perfect as an after meal pick-me-up or as a late night elixir to refresh the mind and enhance the mood. One pot can make the night sweet and reminiscent. Share it with someone you love. INGREDIENTS: Organic White Peony, Organic Rose Petals, Organic Lavender, Organic Peppermint
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about the Spicely Organics Monthly Tea Membership here.
Taster’s Review:
This Organic Love White Tea from Spicely Organics smells so amazing! I wouldn’t have thought that mint, rose, lavender and white tea would have made such an appealing aroma, but, it’s really quite lovely. White tea and mint … perhaps. Definitely rose, lavender and white tea. But, all four together? I wouldn’t have imagined it smelling so beautiful.
And it tastes quite beautiful too!
The peppermint is the strongest flavor of the four ingredients in this tea, but I’m happy to report that it isn’t an overpowering flavor. This doesn’t taste like mouthwash or even like a piece of peppermint chewing gum. It has a light, sweet peppermint-y note that mingles in a very pleasing way with the flavors of lavender and rose and white tea.
The lavender is especially subtle here, offering just a hint of it’s calming presence. Just enough to let you know it’s there, lulling you into a relaxing state. The rose is a gentle flavor too, and it isn’t a sharp rose flavor. It’s lightly sweet and floral. The two flowers seem to mingle in such a way that it offers more of a “floral essence” than a distinct, powerful flowery taste.
And that’s good, because this IS a white tea, after all. And White Peony tea tends to be a somewhat delicate tasting tea, and if the other components to this blend were too strong, they would create a taste that was all mint and flower. I like that I can taste the white tea, it tastes fresh, light and crisp. It is a perfect base for these other three flavors.
This is a really beautiful tea that seems to instill a sense of calm. And definitely a tea with which I could easily fall in love!
Organic Unwind Tulsi Tisane from Spicely Organics
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Tulsi
Where to Buy: Spicely Organics
Tisane Description:
Relax and restore with this tulsi based blend. Cinnamon and rose blend perfectly with tulsi to ease away any tension and relax after a long day. INGREDIENTS: Organic Tulsi, Organic Cinnamon Sticks, Organic Rose Petals.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Learn more about the Spicely Organics Monthly Tea Membership here.
Taster’s Review:
This Organic Unwind Tulsi Tisane from Spicely Organics has a fairly simple ingredient list – tulsi, cinnamon and rose – but sometimes simplicity works. It certainly did in the case of this blend; it’s really quite tasty.
Since there is no camellia sinensis or other ingredients that were likely to become bitter if oversteeped, I went ahead and steeped this for 10 minutes in 195°F water. The result is a flavorful cup that has strong cinnamon overtones but it’s a natural cinnamon flavor: not that overly sweet-hot red-hot-candies sort of cinnamon-y flavor. This tastes like the cinnamon you’d sprinkle on your toast or over your bowl of oatmeal in the morning. It’s warm and zingy yet sweet.
The tulsi gives the cup a somewhat herbaceous note – I taste notes of basil. Basil and cinnamon are not two flavors that I would normally think to combine but they work nicely together to create a sweet yet savory note with hints of warm, zesty spice.
The rose offers a nice floral undertone. I like the way the rose and cinnamon work together – this is a flavor combination that I’ve been fond of for a long time and I’m happy to see another company embrace the combination.
A very calming, relaxing blend – just exactly the type of tisane I’d turn to if I wanted to “Unwind”!
Organic Vanilla Chocolate Delight Pu-erh Tea from Spicely Organics
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Spicely Organics
Tea Description:
A perfect dessert-like cup of tea! The tea is delicious as is and can be enhanced with a touch of sweetener or milk. It boasts cacao nibs, cinnamon sticks and vanilla; the perfect combination for a cup of decadence. INGREDIENTS: Organic Pu-erh Tea, Organic Cacao Nibs, Organic Cinnamon Sticks, Organic Vanilla Nibs, Organic Stevia Leaf
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about the Spicely Organics Monthly Tea Membership here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m not usually excited to try pu-erh, but, I’m usually more than excited to try chocolate. So, when it came time for me to try this Organic Vanilla Chocolate Delight Pu-erh Tea from Spicely Organics, the excitement and happiness over chocolate trumped my lack of enthusiasm for the pu-erh.
When I brewed this blend, I did a quick rinse of the leaves to help remove some of the strong earthiness of the pu-erh, hopefully without sacrificing any chocolate or vanilla flavor in the process. After a quick fifteen second rinse, I then brewed the leaves for 2 1/2 minutes in 190°F water.
The result? A really interesting and tasty cup of tea!
The cup is rich and chocolate-y. I like how the earthiness of the pu-erh accentuates the earthy notes of the chocolate and cinnamon. While I am usually somewhat put off by the earthiness of pu-erh, here, it works. And the sweet, creamy aspects of the chocolate are complemented by the sweet and creamy notes of the vanilla and the cinnamon not only offers a contrasting note of spice but, also enhances the overall sweetness. It’s sweet … but not too sweet. It’s earthy … but again, not too earthy. Everything plays together in a pleasing, harmonious way.
I enjoy the rusticness of this tea. I think that the pu-erh brings out the rustic, smoky notes of the vanilla that are often hidden in other tea blends. This is a very clever blend, it is as though each ingredient was carefully considered to bring out the most in the other ingredients and to create a very satisfying cup of tea.
The one thing I am wishing wasn’t present in this tea blend is the stevia, and I know that I’ve addressed this previously with other blends that contain stevia. I don’t like it when a sweetener of some sort is added to a tea blend because I want to be the one who decides just how sweet – or not sweet – my cup of tea will be. That said, the stevia doesn’t add an overwhelming amount of sweetness, and similar to the other ingredients of this masterfully crafted blend, the sweetness it does add enhances the overall cup.
This is good served straight but I think I prefer it with a splash of warmed milk to create a latte. So creamy and dessert-y! A really nice way to end a meal, and it is suggested that pu-erh aids in digestion – bonus!