Traditional Medicinals

I had big plans today to drink lots of yummy, delicious tea. Instead, I woke up sick so I’m “enjoying” medicinal herbals instead. Not my fav and I don’t know that they are working, but I’m trying my best to keep from getting worse before work on Monday. Next up – one specifically for headaches. Hoping it helps.

Prepared according to direction and not for medicinal use.

It’s fairly light and nutty. Gently sweet with some bitterness on the swallow and a slight tart finish. There’s a creaminess that confuses me. It’s a strange one, like oat straw or milk thistle, like it’s vegetal-based, pervasive and binding rather than butterfat-based and distinctly apparent as I experience in many Taiwanese oolong. I assume it’s from the latex in the dandelion.

As a side thought, I really wonder what the chemical signature is for the cream aroma/flavor in Taiwanese oolong and how it compares to that of animal-based cream. Oh how’d I’d love to analyze the compounds in all the teas I drink by running infusion samples through a GC-MS machine.

This is my chosen replacement for DT’s spearmint. It does come in paper teabags, however it was the cheapest option on amazon that wasn’t a 2 kg bag.

This is a nice, simple, sweet spearmint. Exactly what I needed.

The antidote to today’s reuben sandwich.

I have this thing with peppermint where I found that I like dried loose-leaf prepared best when steeped at 175F for only a minute or two. But I went ahead and followed package directions for this teabag: boiling, covered, 10-15 minutes. As soon as I poured water over the bag, the brew turned a pretty green. When I took the lid off 15 minutes later, it was brown. I feared for muddy peppermint.

Instead, it was good, clean fun :) Can’t go wrong with that.

As far as peppermint teabags go, I still prefer Two Leaves and a Bud brand because it’s serious menthol. I can never find it in stores here, though. Since Traditional Medicinals is located just down the road, I’ll be supporting them even if they do source their leaf from afar. Sprouts was out of stock of this today so I get to compare Celestial Seasonings next.

Made a cup of this tonight with some frothed milk. I wouldn’t usually think to add milk to an herbal blend, but my husband made it with milk the last time and it was so good. I think this might be my new favorite way to drink herbals. Maybe a little cinnamon on top next time?

I didn’t love this one last time I had it, but James made a cup for me tonight that was delicious! He said he added honey, cream, and cinnamon to it, so it probably tasted nothing like the tea itself in the end. However he prepared it, it was quite tasty!

I should start by saying that medicinal teas are not my favorite. I truly only drink them when I’m not feeling well. My husband, on the other hand, loves them. So when I mentioned to him earlier that I’ve been struggling with a headache all day, I shouldn’t have been surprised to walk through the door after work to see him holding a steaming mug of this tea. Surprisingly, the taste isn’t bad at all. I would even say I actually enjoyed it. I continued to sip on it throughout the evening, but honestly I didn’t finish it. I have to say, it didn’t help my headache one bit; however, I’m truly grateful that he took the time to make it for me knowing that I was feeling sick and he wanted to help me feel better.

I’m currently enrolled in a health coach training program and they talk sometimes about how important it is to prepare your food with love because that love then covers the meal. Now I’m not sure about the science behind all that, whether or not your food can actually change based on the love put into it, but it makes me happy to think we could pass our love and kindness through simple acts toward each other such as making a warm cup of tea on a cold day.

I received this bag in a previous Sips By box. I accidentally steeped it for a long time, but it’s not sour. I’m drinking this cold with sugar, and it’s a really pleasant cup. I like this better than some loose leaf ones even.

My coworker gave this to me, because he hopes to cure my insomnia with tea? lol
I’m a bit surprised that this doesn’t contain valerian, I feel like last time I tried a sleepy tea from this company (way back in college), it did contain valerian, so I was super careful with it.
The wrapper is a plastic lined paper envelope, ugh.
The dry leaf is more minty smelling, and less chamomile than the sleepy time tea by celestial seasonings. See Kevin, I do drink sleepy teas…
The steep time is 10-15 min, and then SQUEEZE the teabag. :/
Maybe I’ll update this tomorrow with how I slept, maybe I won’t.
I shall keep this away from my cat, because of the catnip. What is passionflower herb?

NCCIH says that passionflower was historically used as a mild sedative, and may cause doziness. There was some small studies to see if its sedative properties could help with anxiety, but it was ruled that the studies were too small to conclude anything.
Hop strobile is maybe the stamen of the hops flower? The same hops as is used to brew beer (I actually hate the flavor of hops, it’s too bitter for me, I prefer malty beer). Hops may be a mild sedative, help with anxiety and used by people with sleep disorders. Maybe I should learn to like IPA.
Linden flower tea is sometimes used for calming effects in infants. I’m just googling these ingredients randomly at this point. I can tell you that I am not an infant and I probably need a stronger dose than an infant.

It’s interesting how they list how many mg of each herb is in the teabag. The leaf is coarsely ground. It’s hard for me to want teabags after years of loose leaf. By the way, if you haven’t tried Adagio’s Cha Cha yet, it’s like a mintier sleepytime (CS), but it’s loose leaf and you can see all the pretty flowers and such.

Maybe I should have saved this sample for a night where I’m still staring at the ceiling at 3am, not when I’m just waiting around at 11pm, but 11pm is such a more reasonable bedtime.

It doesn’t really taste like much, despite the long brew time. I just left the bag in there, it can keep steeping, I don’t think it’ll oversteep. I can smell the orange oil a little bit, and it’s got a very mild back of the throat mint feeling. Like you walk past a garden and you catch a hint of mint on the breeze, that’s how mild this is.
Oops, this says to have 2-3 cups late in the day, including at least one 30 mins before bed.
But can you even resteep? Or do they mean for us to use 2-3 teabags per evening? I’m not down for that. Too much waste, but also I only have the one sample.

Eh and now it’s past midnight and bleh. Doesn’t feel that different?

A tea bag from Derk. I think I have two left (Limeflower and another organic Camomile).
As I expected this day was bad. But not so bad as I was expecting.

I let it brew advised 10 minutes, covered, no squeeze. Read several times the proverb on tea tag. “Plant kindness and gather love.” I am trying to be kind. But I have not gathered love yet in my life.

A nettle. In Czech “Kopřiva”. I have a friend with this surname and he makes fun of it. It was used to a salad, but never had it. We used it as spices and herbs back then in summer camp when I was a kid. It worked very well and it was unique experience. I would like to try it again, but all nettles around there are dusty or dirty in some other ways.

The tea – I really don´t know what to expect. The tea bag looks so pretty. I will trust the Herbalists in Traditional Medicinals company that they know what it is in. The liquor is quite golden, with green notes. It looks quite clear, something is on top, but maybe I just washed mug not properly. I was lazy, okay?

The aroma when dry was kind of weird. I can´t describe it much, but I thought it was like dry food for pets or something. But when brewed, it gets bit tangy; spicy, herbal aroma. Good overall. Actually better than expected.

In taste – whoa. It is very nice! Spicy, drying and mineral are my first thoughts. Maybe biting a bit as plants are. Soothing me a bit. Little honey sweetness and aftertaste.

Overall – it is wonderful, pleasant cup of tea I needed today probably. I was afraid it will be boring, herbal tea, without much to discover. I can not imagine drinking 3-4 cups a day though. It is quite complex – as I wrote, mineral but with honey sweetness. Spicy, but not astringent. Soothing.

Thank you derk; your stash is almost gone.

Minty and good. I prefer this over straight peppermint but I like combinations of the two better than each individually. Good calming tea on a frightfully busy morning when I am very very tired.

Nasty head cold, been sick for 4, going on 5 days now.
This tastes terrible unless you add liberal amounts of honey.
The first time I made it, it tasted like full-on onions. No idea what happened there.
The other few times I made it, it tasted like herbal, medicinal mush.
What else would you expect though?
I dunno how well it works either, besides providing the same benefits that any hot tea beverage does when one is sick.
Overall, not worth the investment.

The liquor kind of smells like no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies but made with sour dark chocolate. They were accidentally baked and even burnt a little. The taste is surprisingly light and much less bitter than expected. I only notice a slight bitterness in the back of the mouth after I swallow. It’s also a little sweet-tart and a hint ashy. Very mineral and clean with a nice roasty flavor. I think I like it!

Giving my liver some much-needed love.

I absolutely love this tisane.
It scratches the itch for a second coffee around midmorning. No caffeine in this, and it’s far healthier, especially because I don’t add anything to it. It’s got a pleasantly burnt taste to it, like toast. Very satisfying.

Yummmmmm!
Roasty, slightly bitter (but in a pleasant way), caffeine free, nutritious! It also apparently supports digestive health.
Going to start drinking this instead of decaf coffee during the midmornings.

One of the best when you have a cold or sinus problems. Unfortunately I can’t always find it packaged by it self instead it is in with others in a seasonal sampler box.

Well, I didn’t know what to expect, but this tastes like cigarettes. The smell is bad, and the gross flavor is lingering in my mouth. I didn’t even bother trying to make this drinkable. I just poured it out. I hate wasting tea, but this was really not my thing at all. I feel kind of bad leaving a negative review since I’m sure most people drink this tea for whatever medical reason rather than taste, but I’d say avoid it.

Finishing up the Seasonal Sampler box that was bought for me while I ride out this cold.

Not reviewing this tea for medicinal purposes since I’m not well versed in the (un)substantiated claims of herbal medicine.

The steam is mostly mellow spearmint and lemongrass, a little musty and earthy floral going on. On the sip I notice the spearmint then that lemongrass takes over and leaves a light aftertaste and a feeling that reminds me of nettle tea. The musty, earthy floral is very slight. I’m not a fan of dried lemongrass but in this tea, maybe it’s fresher because it tastes more like lemon balm or lemon myrtle, leafier rather than grassier if that makes sense. It’s a pretty neutral herbal tea. I can see this being enjoyed by others.

I rode my bike around town today and everything was fine until I got to the credit union to open a new account. I’m at the tail end of some kind of cold and just when I stepped into banker’s office, a coughing fit hit hard and I had to excuse myself from opening a new account today. Now my voice is all froggy again, so I’m having a cup of this because it does actually seem to placate and coat my angry throat.

Yeah, it smells and tastes a lot like licorice but I kind of like it — the sweetness is tolerable.
And there’s fennel. Strong enough to balance those cool aromas and flavors is a good hit of floral cinnamon. There’s also a kind of nutty aftertaste. Is that from the marshmallow root or slippery elm? I’ve not had either before.

This was a good night cap to sip on right after I took a shot of whiskey and laid down last night.

Dry bag smells more of licorice-fennel followed by eucalyptus-mint. The steam is lightly minty and medicinal. First sip is of course syrupy sweet, earthy licorice which is mixed with eucalyptus, then the fennel opens up, followed by a light coating of menthol that floats up. There’s also some tartness at the back of the mouth a while after the sip.

Compared to Yogi’s Breathe Deep, this isn’t nearly as sickeningly licorice sweet and the licorice doesn’t glue itself into weird pockets of flavor around my mouth. It’s more of a smooth coating unlike the Breathe Deep which left a dry eucalyptus-herbal strip the length of my tongue. I do appreciate the stronger eucalyptus-thyme presence in Breathe Deep. Taste-wise, though, this Breathe Easy is preferred.

I know this herbal tea isn’t going to cure what ails me, but I’m drinking this at the behest of my housemate.

And it’s good.

And comforting.

Because it’s mostly clove and peppermint and a little cinnamon-tasting. Surprisingly smooth despite the dominant clove aroma and taste. Numbs my throat just enough. The peppermint is refreshing and not stewy, I’d say moderate intensity. Enough to open my aggravated sinuses and to taste but not a kick in the lungs or on the tongues. It’s also just slightly tart. Very easy to drink.