Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Lemon Balm’

Life being what it is lately, in the quest of a full and totally unconscious night’s sleep, I’ve been popping Tylenol PM’s like they were Tic Tacs. Knowing that’s not a healthy habit, I continue to search for the optimum herbal relaxation routine. Last night, I hoped that Serene Dream would be part of it.

My sample was a little powdery; found some whole chamomile buds, but the concoction looked mostly like something you’d sprinkle on a roast chicken. Steeped to full recommended capacity, the lemon-mint essence that is the lead-in to most herbal nightcaps is okay, but still doesn’t completely mask the valerian flavor. (Valerian just tastes like you’re licking a tree branch.)

The American FDA probably wouldn’t approve of my loosey-goosey medicinal testing standards, but I did take a small cup strong an hour or so before bedtime on a night when my neck was in sailor’s knots. While it didn’t keep me fully asleep all night, Serene Dream did help loosen the clove half-hitch in my rhomboideus minor as I was drifting off.

If you’re not a capsule-swallower and you’re looking for an all-natural nighttime noodge toward sleep, this option isn’t bad.

You can purchase the Serene Dream directly from the Rishi Tea website.

Have a bit of an unsettled stomach today, digging through my tea cupboard looking for a cure and I found this lovely ginger and lemon balm blend. Normally I just make my own ginger tea (freshly grated) but well, meh, tummy ache.

The first scent to hit my nose is that of lemon, a sweet lemon though, not like Myrtle or lemongrass. It’s a nice and refreshing smell, can’t make out the ginger yet though. The Tea Forte website says the only two ingredients are ginger and lemon balm but it lists lemongrass under the ‘origin’ tab and not lemon balm. Curious.

Steeped in boiling water for five minutes, now I can definitely smell the ginger. Love the way teas change their scent so dramatically when you add water. It brews really light but dusty, not clear at all. Tastes fantastic though. Not helping my stomach though, back to fresh ginger.

You can purchase the Lemon Ginger directly from the Tea Forte website.

This has been a week fraught with multiple incidents of hamster-heart, battery-acid-in-the-veins panic. In deep need of a tea to soothe my frazzled nerves, I pawed through my stash of samples and decided Red Leaf’s Eight Herb tea might do the trick.

This herbal tea is ground fine and looks like oregano or an Italian seasoning blend. Had a nice clean smell in the packet, but I couldn’t place any of the components in my introductory sniff. But the flavors really started to pop after a good strong steep (a generous teaspoon to an 8 oz. cup, water at a good sound boil, five minutes in the cup).

I tried to guess the ingredients before I peeked at the Red Leaf website to confirm. My stressed-out palate caught the lemony taste (lemon balm) and something minty (spearmint), but I missed the rest: rosemary, linden, eucalyptus, wood betony, eleuthero, and blackberry leaf, contributing to a nice sweetness that you don’t find in many herbal combos.

Curious about the mystery ingredients, I checked out eleuthero–which is evidently an “adaptogen,” something that helps the body adapt to stress. Wood betony is a folk medicine that is purported to lower blood pressure and reduce anxiety.  Linden is believed to have a sedative effect. (Ahhhhh! Deep cleansing breath.)  I don’t know if a single cup will erase a week’s worth of scream-inducing stress, but I’m certainly enjoying the experiment.

You can purchase Red Leaf Tea Eight Herb Tea directly from their website.

I’ve decided over the last little while I really have to expand my tastes for white teas. I’ve never been a huge fan of herbal teas, most of them upsetting my stomach slightly, but the whites tend to be different. Not as strong, or medicinal, more soothing and refreshing, this one delivers.

First let me say that I love Tea Forte. There is something about the packaging that truly appeals to me, like little presents wrapped in silk. The triangular shape tea bags are unlike any other tea on the market that I am aware of. Could be that the shape maximizes the brewing process or it’s simply a marketing genius, either way, I like it. At the top of the triangle is a little wired leaf that allows you to neatly hang the tea bag on the side of your mug, eliminating the need for a spoon.

I brewed this particular bag 3 times, each time at 180 degrees for approx. 4 minutes. It has a wonderful aroma. The sweetness of pear with a slight undertone of ginger. It was perfect timing for a tasting of this flavor as I had a little upset tummy from thanksgiving festivities and ginger has soothing properties. Surprisingly the first cup was very sweet, far too sweet for my liking. I add nothing to my white teas, preferring to savor the full flavor. It wasn’t until the 3rd brewing did I really begin to enjoy this one, the sweetness drastically abating. This would make an excellent iced tea on a hot summer day, and once we are back in summer months, I will give that a try. I think the reason I gave this particular tea 3 chances is simply because Tea Forte is a favorite of mine, but I have to say, this isn’t a tea that will have space on my shelf. I’ve given it a 6.5/10.

You can purchase Tea forte white ginger pear directly from their website.