Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: heartfeltMenagerie
Tea Description:
Organic Herbal Tea, homegrown and carefully hand blended to please the palette and soothe the soul. The healing herbs used in this blend are powerful allies in protecting and alleviating cold/flu illness, high blood pressure, indigestion, stress relief, and respiratory illness.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have really bad allergies. I take over the counter medication for it because that seems to work the best. I seem to have really bad side effects when I am prescribed something. I have always been curious about herbs and how they help people with different ailments. I researched a little bit and found that stinging nettle can be used as a anti-histamine. I took a gander around and stumbled upon an adorable store on Etsy that sold a stinging nettle tea and tulsi (which also aids with sinus issues). Worked with the owner to tweak a few things on my order and away I went.
This is a different blend. I can’t say I have had a lot of the herbs in this tea before. Tulsi, anise hyssop, lemon verbena, stinging nettles, and roselle hibiscus. The tea itself has a savory smell and taste to it. It made me think of a pasta dish like Italian Seasoning or a savory pasta dish??? This stumped me as well. Can’t say that I have ever had a tea remind me of something like this before. Vegetal? Sure. Malty with dark chocolate notes? Absolutely. Just not pasta. I swear it tastes like my boyfriend’s amazing lasagna.
I don’t really get any sweetness out of the tea and with a name like Nectar Blend you would think there would be a sweetness to the tea. I drink a lot of chamomile and herbal teas. This one took me by surprise. Regardless I am still enjoying the tea. I guess the savory side of this just is throwing me off a bit.
I might add in some honey and will see what happens then or maybe even something like sea salt to see what other savory flavors pop.
And to the medicinal side of this particular herbal blend. . . .I haven’t noticed anything yet but I can say that drinking this tea has been a fun experience and I look forward to more time with it.
Summer Solstice Herbal Tea from Tealux
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Tealux
Tea Description:
Summer solstice is the name for the mythical night of the 21st of June ‘ the shortest night of the year. Midsummer is often described as a pause in-between a change in nature and provides us with the opportunity to pause for a moment in order to align ourselves with the energy changes of the natural forces. We have united the taste of ripe sun fruits and fresh herbs with the Swedish midsummer tradition of blossoms, in order to keep the rays of sun a little while longer in your cup.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s not quite the Summer Solstice yet, but the weather is definitely getting warmer! Perhaps that’s why this particular blend really spoke to me today. It’s hard to tell from the description exactly what you’re going to get, so I jumped right in and brewed up a cup. The first thing of note is the size of the fruit pieces contained in this blend. There are whole raspberries, generous slices of freeze-dried strawberry, and large pieces of apple, pineapple and papaya (about 1 inch square.) There are smaller pieces of hibiscus, small flakes of nettle leaves, and a scattering of sunflower blossoms. The blend as a whole is bright and colourful – very summery-looking. It smells quite rich and fruity, rather in the manner of fruit cake.
I used approximately 2 tsp of leaf, and gave it 4 minutes in boiling water. It’s by no means easy to measure, due to the large leaf size, but I did my best! The resulting liquor is golden brown, and the scent is mildly fruity – I’m picking up blackberry and coconut primarily.
To taste, the raspberry and strawberry are a lot more prominent than I thought they might be. They’re juicy and natural-tasting, sweet initially and then a little tart. The more “tropical” flavours develop in the mid-sip; a lot of coconut, a hint of pineapple, and a slight pepperiness from the papaya. It’s a slightly odd combination, like two halves of two different teas have been unexpectedly brought together. It’s not unpleasant, but the transition from summer berries to tropical fruit is a little jarring. The fruit flavours linger well into the aftertaste, and I can detect a splash of blackberry at this point. It’s tart and a little sour, but again incredibly juicy, and I could see this working well with the initial strawberry/raspberry combination. Somehow, though, it’s not quite what I wanted after the tropical explosion that preceded it.
I quite like this one, purely for it’s accurate fruit flavours and sheer juciness. It’s a great thirst quencher on a warm day. I would have preferred it to be either berry or tropical, though, rather than both. The two flavour sets aren’t a brilliant match to begin with, and nothing is gained when they have to compete with each other for dominance. Still, it’s a pleasing cup on the whole, and I can imagine it working well iced in the warmer months to come.
