Numi Organic Tea

I really love the addition of allspice here. The bag smells strongly of that and clove with the cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and nutmeg lurking underneath, all very fresh. Not only can I smell all the spice ingredients, I can taste them, too, in about the order listed above. A very spicy and very warming cup. Buuut, I can’t taste the rooibos which I’m a little sad about. Its mellow quality is probably just a nice tame base for those fresh and flavorful spices.

A good bagged tea strong enough to accompany a breakfast of homemade biscuits and gravy, eggs, avocado and spinach. Cuts through that heaviness while still shining in flavor. Mostly malty, a little woody, and a little sweet with a substantial citrus tinge.

I’m always afraid of boxed, bags of Rooibos. It’s such a delicate flavor that ca easily be overwhelming and out of balance. This blend of Rooibos with traditional chai spices is actually pretty good. The flavors work well together, nothing dominates, everything is allowed it’s place in the palate.

This is a pretty nice mellow bagged chai. The spices aren’t so strong that I can’t taste the Assam black tea base. There’s nothing spicy-hot about this one. I can taste the Assam foremost, with the cinnamon and ginger providing some warm tastes and the fennel and cardamom giving a cool balance. Interestingly, there is a a moderate aftertaste and feel of orange zest, though there is none in the blend. Perhaps it’s from the tea leaf? It does leave a little bit of a rough texture on the tongue but otherwise I find this a respectable chai.

A not-so-guilty pleasure. Smells warm and decadent like a Mexican hot chocolate. Oh my. Not creamy. The flavors aren’t overwhelming and really complement the tea base which is fairly close to a black tea but with a shou puerh clean earth, mossy and mineral kick to it. Everything about this tea tastes very natural and inoffensive. A damn fine bagged tea and a real nice introduction for complete puerh newbies.

First time having straight honeybush. It’s… good? A lot like rooibos but not woody? Smells more like honey than it tastes. My cup was drying which made me sad but that might be because I accidentally let the bag steep for several minutes beyond the suggested 4-5. Eh. Enjoyable enough as a late-night brew.

Too smoky. And sometimes it tastes like cigarette butts. The only way this is drinkable for me is if I add lots of water. Three times more than for most cups. Then it tastes like any other green tea.

As far as bagged teas go, Numi does tend to have better than most in their quality. This pu-erh tea (and its counter part: Ginger Pu-Erh) are relatively smooth and full bodied though I do typically have to steep them a bit longer than my other higher quality loose leaf pu-erh teas. However there is a highly beneficial aspect of them being portable. I tend to enjoy many pu-erh teas and while this one is definitely not the same caliber as my other pu-erh teas it is still enjoyable enough.

The aroma from the container is slightly floral, but not overwhelming. I can still smell the sweet, grassy scent of the green tea. The color of the brew is nice and golden. The jasmine scent is more present after steeping and can be noticed as you are nearing the cup to take a sip. I love that the jasmine doesn’t dominate this tea; it is perfectly scented. The sip starts with the jasmine then ends with the grassy dryness of the green tea. This is THE jasmine tea I want in my pantry.

10/29/18

I decided to try making the Jasmine green tea again. I had ordered the package from Amazon for the first time that I tried it in September, and I definitely did not want the rest of the tea to go to waste. Because I was not a huge fan of the very strong floral taste the first time that I tried it, I decided to make it a bit differently this time. I steeped the tea for less time, and also used less tea leaves. I have really been enjoying drinking my tea outside if the weather is nice, so I decided to take a stroll outside with this tea to appreciate nature. I think that being outside with the nice weather definitely helped me enjoy the Jasmine green tea better this time. I also think that I liked it better with steeping the tea for a shorter amount of time, because there was more of a bland taste without the strong flower flavor. If I make this tea in the future, I will definitely steep it for a shorter amount of time again.

9/6/18

This was my first time making jasmine green tea. I ordered this looseleaf off of Amazon. I have heard great things about jasmine green tea, and I was very excited to try it. I looked up recommendations for steeping time and amount of water/tea to use. Without knowing what to expect, I was a bit underwhelmed with this tea. It tasted very flower-like to me which did not seem to suit my tastebuds. It smelled delicious though, but I guess I am not a fan of this kind of tea. I wonder if I would prefer regular green tea over the jasmine. I would be interested in making this tea again, though, to see if I feel any differently.

A tisane I’ve had in years past; giving a new box a go.

This time around, I can taste more than turmeric. The honeybush and/or rooibos come through a bit with honeyed sweetness and a woody, dry texture. Vanilla is soft and mild. I suspect cinnamon and cardamom round out the flavor but they are separately imperceptible. Overall, this tisane is mild, fairly thin and watery.

Three years ago, gosh. I was at my aunt’s, on the second night of starting an anti-depressant medication. My brain – it felt like I was I was on acid. She keeps a drawer of at least 20 different bagged tisanes, and I remember packing 1 of each with me to take on my bus ride back to the city a few days later. I couldn’t handle caffeine while my system became tolerant to the first few weeks of the medication. After that round of anti-depressants, I vowed to never to take them again. I learned a lot during that period. TMI? I don’t care.

Bought a box for work, for the cold season. Brought a few bags home.

I’m a fan of turmeric, but this just tastes too savory for me. Like old curry powder, where the only thing that stands out is brothy, flat turmeric. It lacks the mellowed ginger-like spicy bite and earthy warmth of fresh, dried turmeric root. As stated in my note from three years ago, the vanilla is not enough. Cinnamon and cardamom, where are you? Rooibos and honeybush, you, too.

Numi teas, you’re not worth the price.

Piggybacking on CrowKettle’s recent Tame Impala selection:
Tame Impala – Let It Happen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ed6UeDp1ek
headphones highly suggested

A little follow-up note.

I bought a sampler box of Numi teas and Amber Sun was in it. I’m guessing it’s fresher than what I had from my aunt’s stash. I can taste a hint of cardamom now and a little sweet vanilla that in combination with the rooibos and honeybush, kind of smooths the earthiness of the turmeric, which isn’t overpowering in this blend. Neither the cardamom nor the vanilla is still as strong as I was hoping for and I still can’t taste the cinnamon but I’m inclined to bump up the rating.

Boring, might be old.

The turmeric is tempered by the rooibos and honeybush which some people will appreciate. They also change the color of the brew considerably, from the typical powdered turmeric golden brown to more amber brown. Unfortunately, the cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla bean are barely perceptible. Texture is very thin. I was looking forward to this one. Oh well.

One last drink to review for today.

It’s turmeric tea, so no surprise, it’s earthy, spicy and bright. Added to this blend are:
1) ginger, which provides its own less significant warming and spicy note
2) licorice, which gives the liquor a moderately sweet finish
3) rose, which adds a slight airy and floral taste, keeping the rest of the tea from going too medicinal.

I do notice an active, stimulating feeling on my tongue and a warmth radiating from my chest.

The four ingredients are blended in good proportions. This turmeric tea, compared to the other two I’ve had from Numi, seems to be the most medicinal tasting, which makes sense considering the majority of the ingredients are roots. All together, it’s a decent and warming nighttime cup.

After drinking this tea and Numi’s Moringa last week, I can say I really like lemon myrtle.

Compared to the Golden Tonic Turmeric Tea, either this one:
1) was fresher,
2) had ingredients that worked better together, or
3) was simply more suited to my palate.

The turmeric wasn’t terribly muted and the citrus quality of the lemon myrtle accented the brightness of the turmeric. Chamomile seemed to be a faint background note that tied the other two ingredients together and kept them from going too far in the spicy-earthy-bitter turmeric direction or the citrusy-grassy lemon myrtle direction. Well done and I think it would appeal to a lot of people (unlike myself) who like a more approachable, less medicinal turmeric tea.

It’s a decent Jasmine-not super floral but floral enough. I usually take it to work in a mason jar to help get through the day. Not too much caffeine to where it prevents me from sleeping later on. It’s not
Amazing- but it will do. If you are into organic and need a bagged tea I would
Recommend it. The only thing is, it’s pretty pricey!

These tea leaves are hand-rolled during processing. I love the way they look. The smell is smokey, which caused me to be a little apprehensive since I am not a huge fan of smokey teas. For drinking, the tea has a light feel and a nice yellow color. There is some smokiness when you drink it, but it is light and mild, very much in the background. This is probably the first tea with this flavor profile I have been able to enjoy. I usually expect grassy notes from green tea, but it is absent here for me. I don’t mind, though, and rather like the idea that not all green tea has to taste that way.

I grabbed one of everything in my aunt’s herbal tea drawer to take home except for the fancy stuff.

The dry bag strangely smells just like… sticking you head in a pillowcase full of Halloween candy. That’s the only way I can describe it adequately. It’s pleasant. Brewed up, it smells strongly of lemon myrtle mixed with some sweet, chocolatey chicory in the background. The taste is making me think of eating a Tootsie Roll followed up with a roll of lemon PEZ. I don’t know what role moringa plays in all of this. Overall, this tisane is citrus bright and a little earthy sweet. Very clean. Nom.

It might be old but it’s just another dull powdered turmeric tea to me. Earthy and tart but doesn’t have any of the brightness or spiciness that I appreciate about turmeric. Nothing to see here.

I’m spending the night at my aunt’s so I’m raiding her herbal tea drawer. I don’t think I can get through all 50+ though.

Bamboo leaf is the first ingredient but I can’t say I’m getting anything from it. Rather, this tastes mostly like an earthy tart lemongrass, which I don’t typically care for. Faint flat spearmint with no cooling quality. It tastes pleasant enough, I guess. It was nice to have on a warm day as the sun slipped behind the mountain.

I didn’t get much sleep last night. The apartment was shaking all night from passing busses and the old elevator. Some nights the shaking, vibrations and rattling are worse than others or maybe I’m just on edge. Anyway, I’m tired and lying in the sun on a patch of dying grass with yellow jackets on the last days of their prowl before most of them die off when the colder weather comes. They’re fierce this time of year. I swear I had some PTSD from mindlessly sticking my hand in the entrance to their ground nest while working on a crumbling mountainside. I had no time to think and no option to get away from the emerging death-swarm besides literally throwing myself several hundred feet down a steep grade I had no traction on and then side-hilling it for another 60 ft. I still did not come out unscathed. I had to stop work for the day and lock myself in the work van because those duckers track you with pheromones in their venom.

But genmaicha and lack of sleep make me not care about about their current buzzings around me. Heck, I’m rambling.

First tea of the day at 2pm. Genmaicha == comfort. This teabag is stuffed full of chopped toasted rice and sencha. I tore open the spent bag to check out the ratio and it’s about 50% of both. It looks like tabouli. So it’s a little heavy on the rice imo but it’s very fresh in aroma and taste which makes up for the heavy toastiness. A mellow yellow-green, smooth brew that’s obviously savory, a little sweet, a little seaweedy, a little minerally. No issue at all with bitterness using 1 teabag steeped for 3-4 minutes in 16oz of unknown temp hot water. I’m finding it very satisfying at the moment. I would definitely buy a box.

Naptime?

My favorite Numi Tea. I go to this great Korean restaurant and they have their own barley tea and I couldn’t for the life of me find a tea that tastes like that. At the time, I mainly bought my tea from grocery stores, health stores. I bought so many “toasted” tea types. The restaurant serves it iced and hot. I can drink it forever. This tea came closest to me.

Simple, refreshing, toasted rice, toasted barley. I steep it following Numi’s instructions.