Mountain Rose Herbs

I feel like I walked out in to my backyard and picked these myself! Well, not quite, but it’s very herbally and earthy to the eye! I was especially surprised by the Red Clover Buds/Blossoms! I don’t know if I have ever had a tea/tisane that features this ingredient!

It smells herbally and soupy. It looks, smells, and almost tastes like a broth.

As far as this being a full-out herbal tisane – this tastes quite good – in a more neutral type way, that is, it’s not overly herbally but it still serves a purpose. This really surprised me, actually. It’s pretty decent!

A review of Vita Blend Tea by Mountain Rose Herbs

Company: Mountain Rose Herbs
Tea Name: Vita Blend
Tea Type/Varietal: herbal
Region: China
Steeping Vessel/Amt Leaf:
Liquor Color: reddish amber
Leaf Characteristic: tea is very brightly colored

1. Steeping:

1st Steeping:
Water Temp: 200
Time: 5 minutes

I reached for this Vital Blend tea, today, because I am feeling very tired and weak; I need a since of well-being and some energy to boost. This is one of the teas that I purchased from Mountain Rose Herbs last year and I have yet to try it until now. The herbal mixture is confined in this clear plastic bag and when I peel back the tape and opened the tea bag it richly smells of hibiscus and other herbs.

I take one heaping teaspoon of the herbs and put this in the strainer which is over my tea mug and I pour in the boiled water over the strainer, I pour the water in a circle, motioning it over my cup to make sure the entire herb is moistened.

The tea’s aroma fills the air with hibiscus, peppermint and lemongrass; it is a very sweet and pungent aroma. After about five minutes have passed, I remove the strainer from my cup. As I observe the tea’s color, which is very bright like amber and at times darkening to a green herbal mixture.

The tea is very hot, so I take hold of the cup and begin to sip of tea slowly, more-so to just enjoy the aroma against my nostrils since my nose is inches nearest the cup as I am sipping of tea.

The tea is a sweeten mixture of herbs and is delicious. I taste and enjoy the lemon grassiness of the cup which gives it that ginger zingers. I mean it is a lively cup of tea.

2nd Steeping:
Water Temp: 200
Time: 3 minutes
This second steep is shorter and the tea’s aroma is not as pungent as 1st cup of tea. It smells sweetly of herbals. I sip of the tea and I can taste the lemongrass and hibiscus which gives it that slight saltiness in the cup.

Overall tasting notes: This is a delicious tea; well blended with herbs like hibiscus flowers, lemongrass and peppermint. The flavor is crisp with slight peppery notes and a grassy clean finish. Yum!

Classification: Year, and region of production; wild crafted tea from Oregon

Cup’s characteristic: heady herbal mixture of lemongrass and hibiscus; making for a cup of lemon zest herbal tea.

Liquor color: bright amber and at times it is a darkly green herbal tea

Taste: sweet with hibiscus and lemongrass with slight hint of peppermint.

A review of Green Rooibos Tea by Mountain Rose Herbs

Company: Mountain Rose Herbs
Tea Name: Green Rooibos
Tea Type/Varietal: green
Region: China
Steeping Vessel/Amt Leaf: cup/ loose leaf
Liquor Color: amber
Leaf Characteristic: the leaves are finely cut…tiny little shreds or pulps with hints of green tea and of the rooibos strewn in.

1. Steeping:

1st Steeping:
Water Temp: 190
Time: 3 minutes

I wanted to fix for myself a cup of this tea today and so I reopened the tea box and take one heaping teaspoon of the tea and put this in my strainer which is placed over my tea mug and I then pour the hot water over the tea.

It is a mild aroma with nothing in particular jumping at you and when I remove the strainer from my mug, the tea’s color is that golden amber with reddish hues. As I sip of the tea it is both sweetly and woodsy in an herbal sort of way. I mean it is a little grassy in the taste which is sweetened by the rooibos blend.

I like this tea as it is a satisfying cup of freshly made hand crafted tea that I did not create but instead fixing a cup of this tea for myself, I can envision the fresh herbs as the fragrant mixes in the air to tantalize my senses and palette.

2nd Steeping:
Water Temp: 200
Time: 5 minutes

I infused the second cup of tea for longer with freshly boiled water which makes for this cup of tea to be hotter than previous cup. I like my tea very hot so that I have to sip at it slowly. There is no astringency in this tea and it is not as sweet but there is still plenty of rooibos in this cup of tea.

Overall tasting notes: A smooth cup of Rooibos tea with a subtle herb flavor that is high in antioxidants and it is less sweet than a regular cup of Rooibos tea.

Classification: Year, and region of production; Product of China

Cup’s characteristic: rich in antioxidant and good for you

Liquor color: amber-hued brew

Taste: is sweetly with a mild grassy/woodsy note

found out about this tea from http://getcurvynow.com/reviews/breast-actives/breast-actives-review/

No notes yet.

This is one of the best black teas i have had. Use it alot in my blends and it makes an excellent iced tea as well.

I absolutley love this tea. I mixes very well with other teas and is awesome in a Chia tea mix.

This is one of my favorites and even my girls like it. It brews to a beautiful amber color, smooth and easy to drink, I enjoy it with raw honey.

I generally use this as my primary iced tea, has that classic iced tea flavor.

One of my favorite herbs/flowers. When I first wanted to buy Jasmine Flowers Years ago, I still believed that the scent would be as strong and apparent as the one from Lavender flowers. I was surprised at how ‘distant’ the scent from dried Jasmine is to that of the freshly picked one. It took me a bit to get used to, but one learns along the way.

The tea from the flower by itself is very gentle and subtle, yet it wields a somewhat hidden complexity. I would never imagine Jasmine being naturally sweet after having tried it as a very perfumy flower. The tea resembles a very volatile vanilla that is playful and seems to fade but constantly re-appears. There are subtle ghosts of the perfumy nature of Jasmine as you drink and sniff the tea, but is everything but overwhelming. The tea is soothing and calming, a very nice night-night tisane. This tea really help in stressful nights and when you feel tense for almost no reason.

Quick Notes I’ve been sick lately. So even though I always make my herbal blends at home an enjoy them, I’ve been drinking them a LOT more instead of tea.

I like this lemon grass, Its not the MOST flavorful I’ve had but deserves the best score for what matters CONSISTENCY. It is almost impossible to find these days. I’ve had ‘better’ tasting from other companies to only have the next badge be weak and old almost stale tasting not a few months after when I re-ordered.

The price is excellent and I haven’t had any problems when drinking in blends or by itself. The color is beautiful still and looks fresh. Honestly, I use it to cook and to make Lemon Grass Martinis (just Brew a stronger tea, let it cool, mix with gingered simple syrup and you have your base flavor).

Well it’s the kind of day where a little lapsong found it’s way into my celestial seasonings cherry berry. I felt a bit warm and to keep it warm and toasty I brewed the lapsong first, then added only one bag of the cc. lovely little drink

I broke the precious Beehouse teapot that Doulton gave me as I was making this tea! I just wanted to cry to you all little (cry, cry, cry)! It just slipped off of the counter and smashed into a million pieces.

This is the best tasting of the health tisanes I have purchased recently. Herbaceous, for sure, but there is something light and sweet about it. It tastes plant-y and alive! This one is supposed to aid the immune system and help you from feeling overwhelmed and run down. Oh, I can sure use this! I regret I didn’t try it sooner – I was so worried about how it was going to taste that it’s been sitting in my cupboard for a month! Silly!

I would like to move more toward these herbal helpers in the evenings – they make me feel so relaxed and good!

No notes yet.

First, let me say this tea works. It’s a different feeling than chamomile – I actually felt fuzzy and slow after drinking it! I slept deeply and was not restless. I found the taste herby and not too bad – the smell of the dry tea is more offputting than the brewed flavor (the valerian – if you’ve smelled it before, you know of what I speak! FEET!).

My husband, on the other hand, did not feel sleepy from it! He is the guy who can take prescription sleeping pills and not feel sleepy, though. What is going on there, I don’t know! He’s been this way since a baby.

It works out though – he swears by the Forests tea for sleeping well with his allergies (so much so I’m almost out of the 4oz I just purchased, and just ordered a pound!), so I make him a cup of that before bed, and I drink this.

My husband has some breathing issues — allergies? asthma? and this tea helps. I drink it, too — I figure the herbs in it like Echinacea purpurea root are good for the immune system. The taste. Well. It is certainly acquired. It tastes like incense to me, but I think that’s the cinnamon mixing with the fennel. A little honey helps. The more you drink it, the more you think it’s interesting instead of nasty :) I’m just glad it makes my husband breathe easier.

I’ve been drinking this one a lot in the evening. The stress of the end of semester times two (I both work at a University and attend a University!) can get to me, and I have a bit of trouble sleeping. Luckily this is very easy to drink — some nights I even have two cups. Lightly minty, and apple-y from the chamomile, and herbaceous in a good way from the mugwort et al. Honey makes it even nicer.

Do I have wild dreams? No! But I do feel very dreamy when I drink it, and slip right into dreamland.

P.S. Now that gmathis received her Lady Grey Green card (I really did paint one after our conversation about Harney’s Canton Green tea) I can show you all a snap of it!

https://twitter.com/i/#!/jackiemania/media/slideshow?url=pic.twitter.com%2FdCvd83RM

I was really curious about this particular Lapsang in the box o’ lapsangs that Hesper June sent! I wondered how the quality would be since this isn’t a company dedicated to tea, but rather herbs in general. Several of their teas get great reviews, though, so we gave it a go, and were not disappointed. Youngest thought it was good, and she is a Lapsang lover. It has a bright, sweet base that I am thinking may be largely Ceylon. This went very nicely with our lunch of chicken soup and cheese toast! Thank you, Hesper June!

My tea of choice for the morning so far.
I have had four cups of this so far today, and each cup is still a delightful burst of smoke and honey.
I do believe that this is my favorite LS I have tried so far.
Grace Tea Co. is my second fav.
I just want to let all my dear Steepster friends on the East Coast know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
I will continue to pray for you all till nasty Sandy is done having her fit and moved far away from you all.
Take care!

No notes yet.

This is a lovely Yunnan … smoky, rich, earthy and sweet. Lovely malt tones. Even though the description depicts an Oolong by saying it’s partially fermented … it tastes much more like a black tea than either an Oolong or a green. I do taste a lightness to this, hay-like and sweet, but, I still find it leaning more toward the black tea type.

It’s good, a fairly strong amount of astringency toward the tail. Enjoyable. Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this.

Backlogging from the last two days…and a sipdown!

Between working a somewhat ‘normal’ shift at work, and doing some crazy house cleaning/reorganizing for Missy’s visiting brothers, I haven’t been updating much lately.

I’m not entirely sure what my mental block is against working the standard business hours of 8-5. Well, traffic is a big part of it, commuting is definitely not all it’s cracked up to be. I digress. Working 8-5 makes me tired, and my tiredness prevents me from writing interesting and witty things in a tea review. This should probably be etched in my mind for those silly times where I think “Hey, I should write a blog, and make witty and interesting posts several times a week!”. It is unlikely to happen.

So this? This was kind of a random herb I threw into my Mountain Rose order just to give it a shot as a tea. I had a somewhat vague idea of what Fennel was, because I know it’s in some Mediterranean food, and it’s rumored to kind of taste like black licorice. I like black licorice, and things that resemble the taste of black licorice, so I’m interested in what it could mix with.

The liquid itself has a light yellow color, and gives off an inviting smell of… well, like an Indian restaurant. It’s not as sweet as what I think of the smell of black licorice being, which probably has a lot to do with the fact that I don’t have any sugar in this cup. Just fennel, all day long.

The taste follows suit with the smell. It is very reminiscent of black licorice, but with a more savory, almost salty flavor to it. A little sweet, almost imperceptibly salty, and with a teensy woodsiness at the end.

I had Missy try a little sip of this (she made it for me, after all). Her review is something along the lines of “It tastes like salty black licorice, and I can’t stand it”. Though, in my experience, I haven’t met many women who enjoy the flavor of black licorice. Not sure why, but it seems to be a trend.

So yeah, this isn’t necessarily something I’d ever want to drink on it’s own, but it could definitely add an interesting background flavor to some blends. It would probably go well in the background of a Tulsi blend.