Traditional Medicinals offers a variety of tea blends to help ease whatever ails you. I got an opportunity to try their Raspberry Leaf blend. I most often encounter raspberry leaf as a component in other tea blends, but this time I am brewing up a cup of pure raspberry leaf on its own.
Raspberry Leaf is supposed to help ease the discomfort many women feel during that time of the month. I can’t speak to how it affected my discomfort, but I can reflect on its flavor. This tea brew up a yellow amber color and tastes, mildly fruity and slightly nutty. It has a surprisingly full mouthfeel, with just a hint of black tea astringency. There is a slightly more vegetal aftertaste that I don’t prefer, but it mellows out nicely when mixed with a dash of honey.
I like this tea as an herbal alternative to the usual herbal tea suspects of ginger, mint, and chamomile. The ease of their sealed tea bags makes this an easy choice to pack when traveling or stash in your desk at work.
Browsing the Traditional Medicinals catalog, I see many other flavors I want to try and ailments I would like to treat. Even if the healing effects are more mental than physical, I love the comfort of a flavorful cup of tea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Traditional Medicinals
Description: Of course, the delectable fruit of Rubus idaeus is a well-known and well-loved summer treat, but it’s the raspberry leaf you’ll find in this tea. With a silvery under leaf that is reminiscent of the moon’s glow, European and Native American women have used raspberry leaf for thousands of years for menstrual support, menstrual cramps and during pregnancy as a healthy tonic to help prepare the womb for childbirth.* We love this tea for its gently nurturing properties, and its robust taste, which is reminiscent of a delicate and mildly fruity black tea.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Organic Raspberry Leaf SuperHerb Tea for Women’s Health from Republic of Tea. . .
Well today was just one of those days. Everything seemed to be going wrong. Focus was just not in the stars for me. And to top it all off, I started my period (sorry if that’s TMI).
My day began at 6am when I woke up in a fright because my alarm just decided not to sound. When I woke up, I realized my stomach was sore, partially due to cramps and partially because I just wasn’t feeling great. That is when I realized most of my work pants were in the laundry, leaving me with my tight work pants to have to uncomfortably squeeze into. After stuffing my sore self into my pants, I dragged myself to work, running just a bit late and arriving at my desk to find the accounting department was upset with me for improperly opening a file which messed up billing. This would be bad enough except the file was opened properly and it was actually ACCOUNTING that f***ed up but decided to blame me for it. Then, a client caught a mistake I made in a letter and though it was a minor error that was easily fixed, it felt like the icing on top of the sh@%*ty cake that was my morning. Plus, my usual lunch partner decided to tell me AFTER we were supposed to go to lunch that she wasn’t going, leaving me unexpectedly on my own. So, today just wasn’t my day.
When I got home and saw this tea, I figured today was as good a day of any to try it out. I don’t really buy into the tea-as-medicine theory but it seemed weird drinking a tea “for Women’s Health” when it wasn’t my womanly time. Plus, if I am being honest, a tea with “SuperHerb” in the name just doesn’t appeal to me. It makes me think that this tea will taste like savory herbs instead of a sweet tea, which might be good for some but not really what I look for when I brew a cuppa. However, today was a crampy day and on the off chance this worked, I figured why not give it a try?
My first sip started off tasting of raspberry but I think I may be crazy because I swear the end of the sip tastes like a slightly underripe banana. Okay, I keep continuing to drink this and though it smells like raspberry, it continues to taste like banana. Not banana flavoring either but true-to-the-fruit banana, with a hint of strawberry. I can actually see where they are coming from when they say, “this tea is reminiscent of a fruity parfait” because it actually is. This is so simple but quite pleasant. Has it helped with the cramps? I don’t really know but it tastes good so I am happy nonetheless. I guess this day has not totally gone to s@%^ after all as this tea was a pleasant surprise.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Republic of Tea
Description
SUPERHERB® TEAS FOR WOMEN
As women, we have the power to create and nurture life, all while juggling hormonal changes and external stresses. For centuries, women have relied upon the same powerful herbs found in our organic SuperHerb Teas to keep them balanced, and now they can easily be part of your daily life as well.
Organic Tea for Women’s Health*
Red Raspberry Leaf is perhaps the most popular herb among midwives and herbalists. From fertility to pregnancy to nursing to even menopause,* this herb can help women at virtually every stage of life.* It has been long revered for its ability to help tone uterine muscles and balance menstrual cycles.* With a hint of vanilla and berry notes, this tea is reminiscent of a fruity parfait.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Raspberry Leaf Tisane from Mountain Rose Herbs
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Tisane
Where to Buy: Mountain Rose Herbs
Tea Description:
Raspberry leaves are among the most pleasant-tasting of all the herbal remedies, with a taste much like black tea, without the caffeine. Raspberries were said to have been discovered by the Olympian gods themselves while searching for berries on Mount Ida. Raspberries are indigenous to Asia Minor and North America, with the first real records of domestication coming from the writings of Palladius, a Roman agriculturist. By Medieval times it had a great many uses, including the juices which were used in paintings and illuminated manuscripts. King Edward the 1st (1272-1307) was said to be the first to call for mass cultivation of raspberries, whose popularity spread quickly throughout Europe. Teas of raspberry leaves were given to women of the Cherokee, Iroquois, and Mohawk nations in North America, and have earned approval of the authoritative British Herbal Compendium.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Raspberry leaves are pretty cool things; they’re great during pregnancy and a girl’s best friend during ‘that time of the month’. Plus, it’s just so fluffy and aesthetically pleasing to look at – like marshmallow leaf! I’ve enjoyed them mixed into a few different tisanes, but this is my first time trying them straight.
he description from this company likens raspberry leaf to black tea, but I found the taste quite a bit similar to green tea; very herbaceous and grassy with an almost chlorophyll-like note and the taste of fresh cut lawn trimmings. It was smooth and pleasant while it was hot, but as it cooled it almost took on an unpleasant bitter flavour. Such a drag.
Also, a big downside, for whatever reason this left a ghastly oily green film all along the entire inside of my mug. It was actually quite thick, and really unattractive to look at. Not sure what caused the film; I’ve honestly never had that issue with any other blend that used raspberry leaf but it really detracted from my overall experience.
