Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘rishi tea’

The dry leaves seemed to be more powder than leaves. The smell reminded me of cut grass.

I poured the contents of the package into my infuser basket, boiled my water and poured 8 ounces of water in my cup/infuser. I waited 5 minutes.

After brewing the smell of the leaves is sweeter. Licorice comes to mind.

In my sample the leaves were more like powder and even with my best fine mesh infuser, the particles found their way into my tea cup.

This tea is not totally undrinkable, but it was a close call on that point for me. With all the particles floating around in my cup and than the taste of valerian root, I did not enjoy this blend at all.

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

I picked out a couple different Rishi herbal blends to try because I’ve discovered that the only non-caffeinated teas in my cupboard were pretty much exclusively rooibos and honeybush. A little variety wouldn’t hurt.

The dry tea smells liked Christmas dinner in a field of peppermint – no really! The scent is a blend of savory sage and mint with very little bergamot apparent to my nose. The taste of the peppermint is quite dominant in the tea itself, but the sage and thyme provide a strong counterpoint to it. There’s not a lot of bergamot really that I can pick up – a faint, sweet citrusiness is all I get from it; so personally I think the tea’s name is a bit of a misnomer.

I find the whole thing to taste a bit medicinal, like the sort of thing I’d drink if I was sick with the flu. All the same it’s a nice alternative to the typical mint tea and I think it would make a nice drink after a big meal to aid digestion as many of the herbs in the blend are supposed to help with that sort of thing.

I gave this tea a Steepster rating of 71/100.

You can purchase the Bergamot Sage directly from the Rishi Tea website.

The first thing I noticed when I went to drink this tea were the directions on the side of the sample package I had. They said to empty the contents of the package into eight ounces of water and steep for three to four minutes. I have to raise issue with this as there is enough leaf in the sample package to satisfy an eight cup teapot at three to four minute steepings. That being said, I chose to not follow the directions and instead used about half a teaspoon of leaf in my small gaiwan (six ounces or so).

Boil water, rinse the leaves, steep for thirty seconds, pour into the fairness cup, serve. Repeat. I was pleasantly surprised by this tea. Based on past experiences with coconut flavoured teas, including other companies’ coconut oolongs, I did not have high expectations. In general, it seems that most companies take a mediocre oolong or black tea and douse it in artificial coconut flavouring. This one, on the other hand, got it right. The initial taste is of oolong. Plain and simple. But then the flavour of coconut kicks in, and it does not taste fake! Rather, it tastes a bit like coconut oil, and provides and delightfully sweet aftertaste.

I enjoyed this tea very much. On my personal enjoyment scale, I give it an 85/100 and would definitely recommend it to lovers of coconut flavoured tea.

You can purchase the Coconut Oolong directly from the Rishi Tea website.

First things first: turmeric is pronounced TUR-mer-ick, and if I’m to believe the claims I’m reading, it’ll cure what ails ya, be it Alzheimer’s, prostate trouble, arthritis, obesity, or skin conditions. It also appears to be useful in zazzing up roast lamb, pickles, and chicken dishes.

Pair that with ginger, legendary for its digestive benefits, and you have a combination that at least by reputation, ought to preserve you well into a ripe old age.

Rishi’s blend looks like something that belongs in your spice cabinet–heavy on the ginger powder visually and in flavor. Just past the ginger is the presence of licorice root–noticeable, but not so cloyingly sweet as to be annoying (I’m biased against licorice on general principles). However, about the time your taste buds settle down for your brain to catch up, BAM! the turmeric hits the back of your throat with the burn of a mild chili powder. Not hot enough to make the eyes water, but warm enough to make the eyes widen.

It’s nice to find a healthful herbal alternative that doesn’t lean toward the lemony. Rishi’s Turmeric Ginger would be a natural choice for chai and spice lovers as well as herbal drinkers looking for a warm and healthy something-to-clear-out-the-esophagus come cold and flu season.

You can purchase the Turmeric Ginger directly from the Rishi Tea website.

From what I can tell of the leaf, it contains cardamon, what looks like yerba mate, pu-erh, and cocoa. The aroma has chocolate, cardamon, and ginger notes.

The steeping instructions call for one cup of boiling water, one cup of boiling milk, to mix in the ingredients and to let it steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Sweeten to taste.

I did not add any sugar; the taste was fine as it is and I think better without it. The chocolate notes rounded out the ginger and spice that peeks through ever so slightly. It has a sort of grounded, chocolate, round, creaminess with a bit of hui gan bitterness at the end after you swallow which I think can be on account of the pu-erh bits mixed with the cocoa. I think adding sugar would ruin the taste as it would give it a sharpness which does not complement the taste of this beverage. The rounded, soft taste without the edge suits the creaminess and milky mouthfeel, with only the peeks of spice and ginger.

I would recommend only letting the ingredients steep in the milk and boiling water for the suggested 3-5 minutes then strain out all the ingredients from the pot. Do not let the ingredients sit in the solution as it will make the beverage taste very gingery and strong hui gan bitterness.

I like this blend. When I first read chai with pu-erh I thought that it would be a catastrophe but it works! If steeped correctly, it’s like a creamy (unsweetened) cocoa, with hui gan bitterness and the occasional peeks of spice and ginger to liven up your taste buds but still overall a soft and round beverage.

You can purchase the Chocolate Chai directly from the Rishi Tea website.