Rishi Tea

I’ve been drinking this tea every night before bed for the last week. It really has grown on me, I didn’t particularly enjoy the first cup because it seemed like a rather odd combination of flavors at first, but it had the desired effect so I kept drinking. By desired effect what I really mean is this tea knocked me out in under 15 minutes, I didn’t even finish my cup.

I could not for the life of me figure out why I had that reaction to this tea, it normally takes me hours to fall asleep, but after a little reading I realized that valerian root and my seizure medicine don’t really play nicely together. My doctor told me that valerian is actually a pretty commonly suggested treatment for insomnia for people with epilepsy since sleep depravation is a major trigger. I really wish he would have told me that any time in the last 10 years when I’ve complained about not being able to sleep.

Anyway, this review may not apply to most people, but I just wanted to note that valerian actually interacts with a lot of medications so you’ll want to be careful about that if you’re taking any. In my case I was told not to drive or operate any heavy machinery… also avoiding sharp objects might not be a bad idea because this really knocked me out quick. If you aren’t sure if it is going to be a problem just give your doctor a call, in my opinion, it is better safe than sorry when it comes to things such as this.

Now on to the tea itself.

As I said before, this tea really grew on me. After some thought I think my initial dislike was because I don’t really like spearmint. You can really taste the spearmint and chamomile, but what I had trouble picking out was the valerian. Part of that may just be because I haven’t been exposed to valerian enough to really pick it out. The lemon verbena, lemon balm, and lavender flowers really balance this out nicely and make for a nice herbal blend.

Made a pot of this today. It was actually very refreshing. A nice floral/lemony flavor with a nice black tea base.

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According to their website Rishi is now calling this Apple Ginseng. My whole purpose to ordering this was to find a new apple tea because my favorite has been discontinued. I was a little disappointed not to taste more apple in it. However this tea surprised me, it smelled so familiar as it was steeping. After looking at the ingredients I realized it is very similar to my favorite tea from Yogi, Egyptian Licorice. That makes this an instant winner with me because that has been a favorite of mine for years. The only reason this didn’t get a 100 is because i really was looking for more apple flavor.

A lot of our local coffee shops serve Rishi tea so when I was pregnant and [mostly] gave up coffee this was what I switched to. I love this, it has a very strong Jasmine flavor and smells wonderful. Just don’t do what I did today and get distracted talking to someone and leave the tea steeping for 15 minutes, you end up with a bitter mess that way. This is a tea that you really do need to pay close attention to both time and temperature when preparing it otherwise it tends to turn very bitter.

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Zingerman’s deli had this iced and I drank it with my brunch (applewood smoked bacon, farm fresh eggs and toast). It was unsweetened and had a lovely lemony lightness to it which balanced nicely with the mild green tea base. Wonderful and refreshing. Perfect without sweetener.

This has always been one of my favorite Rishi teas and something I got hooked on at one of our local coffee shops when I had cut down on my caffeine habit. I generally drink it hot, but it’s perfect served over ice on a really hot day or with a little honey or sugar to sweeten it up.

I love blueberry tea, but this one just didn’t do it for me. When you open up the package it smells like blueberries and it made my mouth water. I was a bit let down once I started drinking because it was pretty tart and I’m not a fan of tart teas. I did find that once I added sugar it was better. I also steeped this one twice and the second time around it wasn’t nearly as tart and much more to my liking.

I don’t typically drink green tea, but I really enjoyed how mellow this one was. I steeped this one twice and the second time around it was weaker, but perfectly drinkable, but I’m not sure I would have gotten a third out of it.

This definitely wasn’t one for me, but I’m also not a citrus fan. I found it to be very tart and bitter. It does have a lot of hibiscus, but I found the orange and tangerine to be very overpowering. I think this might be better sweetened and served over ice.

Making an attempt to re-steep this tea…I am not sure that it will be very flavorful, the second time.

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I think the peppermint cleared my sinuses when I was brewing this. Wow!

That said, I had to rifle through the blend to find the green tea because there is so much going on here! Initially, it has a really nice ginger flavor on a background of peppermint, which is followed by a really peppery taste. The after feeling is cool (y’know where you breathe and your mouth feels cold? yeah. that.) The peppermint and licorice flavors became more pronounced as the tea cooled. A pretty solid minty tea.

I have a hard time drinking this straight, but mixed with some honey it is great. I look forward to trying this iced in the summer. The taste is of real blueberries, not that artificial candy blueberry flavor. It can be very tart if overbrewed.

Without a doubt, this is a JASMINE tea. This is very heavy on the jasmine, really fills the room with an amazing aroma. The flavor of the green tea is lost until the third steep, the jasmine shines more than anything. Nothing tastes artificial, this is a very high quality tea. It’s relaxing to watch the pearls open up in a glass vessel while brewing. Very fragrant, no bitterness. Great tea to relax with.

This is a dark malty tea. The liquid is as black as coffee. There is no harshness, its actually pretty smooth. Some notes of raisins and malt. Similar to an assam without kicking you in the face!

This is on the border between a medium roast and a dark roast tieguanyin. It has a very bready aroma and taste to it with a slight hint of sweetness, like walking into a bakery. This is an extremely forgiving tea, I’ve brewed it boiled, and at 195, both are fantastic. Got a good three steepings out of it.

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Yum! Deliciously fragrant, spicy, and chocolate-y. Very flavorful.

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This one started out pretty good. Hibiscus flavor without too much tartness, mixed with blueberries and a touch of currant. Strongly fruity leading me to think my kids might enjoy it sweetened and iced. I came back to the cup every few minutes as I was busy trying to get my kids ready for bed and the flavors changed. The currant flavor became much stronger and overpowered the rest as time passed (and it wasn’t steeping any longer). As the currant flavor takes over, I like it less. I’ll give it another try, but I’m unsure about this one.

Exactly what is to be expected out of a green tea jasmine pearl tea, not synthetic aroma, but floral and subtly, though very quick to bitter if over-steeped, be careful with these, but it is a real jasmine tea that relies on jasmine flowers rather than synthetic flavors.

I had this today at the local coffee shop. I very much enjoyed it. The jasmine came through very clearly. It was exactly what I needed.