Organic India

I keep trying to find a tulsi tea that I really love so I keep buying up stuff from Organic India. They have a few blends with hibiscus but I think I can skip those…

I used two tea bags for a rather jumbo mug of tea. I’ve had a few rooibos chais I liked but this is a bit weak on flavor, imo plus the herby-minty flavor of the tulsi is coming right through. I was hoping the spices would disguise it a bit. I guess I don’t really love the taste of tulsi. I am not sure what this needs, perhaps some sweetener would help? I will also try using a smaller cup with two teabags.

Definitely did not love the flavor of this but tulsi always makes me feel good. :)

Perhaps I need to skip the tulsi tea and go straight for some herbal supplements…

Tea of the mid-morning here, high anxiety at the office today so I needed something calming. The mango and rooibos overpower the tulsi, but you do get it in the finish of this tea. Seems a bit minty. Not bad with soymilk. Let’s hope the rest of the day goes smoothly….

Tea of the afternoon here. Yesterday I was running around Baltimore having a grand old time in Charm City. This afternoon it started snowing and I’m curled up at home with the latest issue of Lapham’s Quarterly and this tisane. Mildly fruity with lots of rooibos, a bit of mango and the herby/minty flavor of tulsi. This is pretty good…. I think I’ll have a 2nd cup. :-)

I started drinking Tulsi just because it seems to help me cope with stress. I found this one at the health food store and it only contains tulsi, chamomile, red rooibos and mango flavor. I wish there was a bit more mango flavor in this tea, to me it tastes mostly like rooibos with the slightly peppery herbal quality that tulsi has. I do this better than the rose tulsi due to the lack of stevia but I’m not going to be raving about the flavor anytime soon… :)

Having said that it does seem to help me relax, so that’s good – maybe I will find something to add to this to make it slightly better.

This is an interesting change from regular peppermint tea. The tulsi/holy basil blend give it a more herbal and earthy feel, less sharp and clean like plain peppermint.

This is not my favorite tulsi blend due to the stevia, but with roses and chamomile added to the mix it does seem quite relaxing somehow… and I was just reading tulsi is supposedly an anti-inflammatory so maybe it will be good for my plantar fasciitis – if only I could get myself to drink it every day!

Nice afternoon relaxing cuppa… definitely better when I add in some of my own rose petals. See previous notes for more info.

I found a way to make this better, I added some of my own rose petals and some cinnamon, that helps to offset the stevia a bit, but still it smells a lot better than it tastes…

I had higher hopes for this one… I admit Tulsi is an acquired “herby” taste but I do like it, as well as roses and chamomile. I think what ruins this for me is definitely the stevia, the aftertaste is waaaay too sweet for me and I can’t get us to it. So I will drink this for the stress busting properties I know it has, but it will be more like medicine than a pleasurable experience. Oh well.

Like drinking perfume. I even tried to make iced tea with it, but I couldn’t drink it.

this tea has now become a must in my house.
and i’ve just run out cause i kept giving it out! and now whole foods stopped carrying it!! AHHHHHHHH!!

it’s a nightly ritual – 2 bags in a tumbler for about 6-7 minutes and i’m in heaven.

it’s definitely got a rose taste, stronger than some of the other rose teas i’ve tried in the past, but i believe the tulsi is the main flavor. expect a very earthy, herbal taste. while not particularly sweet, it is very well balanced and has a lovely taste. i usually mix something sweet in my tea, but didn’t need to with this one.

the reason i love this tea is the sedating effect it has. one of the main reasons i got into tea was to find a more holistic approach to deal with stress, anxiety, and insomnia. i’ve tried many teas in hope of getting some kind of relief, without any luck. this tea puts me completely at ease, with almost an euphoric feeling. i recommend it to everybody, but especially to someone who looking for something to help them relax. i finally feel like i’ve found the tea i’ve been searching for.

something to keep in mind, i usually make my tea fairly strong with two teabags, so i imagine that helps with the potency.

I wrote an unintentionally gigantic review for this tea over at the Tea Review Blog the other day.
http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=19324
I’ve been waiting to add it to Steepster, though- how to rate something so very different from what I normally drink? But then I realized that really didn’t matter in the slightest. More importantly, I want to share how awesome my experience with this Tulsi / Holy Basil was.

This stuff is delicious! I don’t know if this is a feature of Tulsi in general, or of this Tulsi in particular (a blend of Rama, Vana, and Krishna tulsis). Either way, I now feel like Tulsi is something everyone should have in their cupboards if they ever like adding things in with their tea. I haven’t been able to think of a tea with which this wouldn’t be lovely: black (Indian and Chinese, especially a Yunnan), greens, white, chai’s. shu pu’er, wuyi and roasted oolongs.. it’s like salt or cinnamon or honey- good with everything.

The only danger here is being tempted to really add it to everything you’re drinking. That’s great if you’re in a sick doldrums, but I certainly felt like I was slipping towards Tulsi over-load, at least in my at home blending. Who wants all of their teas to taste the same?

All of that said, I think this is a great thing to try on its own. For me, it doesn’t change at all over its many steepings, which means it’s a great flavor.. but it’s just a flavor. A beverage (yummy!) and not a drinking experience. Others will find this a huge plus for reliability, but that’s not really why I drink tea.

And what is that flavor? I really get into that on my other review, but here’s the skinny:
Aroma…. Spicy (like allspice or ground cardamom) with hefty doses of citrus. Complex, with a woody impression, like a chest that’s been storing orange rinds and baking spices..
Taste….. Strong citrus notes of orange, orange rind and lemon peel. Sparkling mint or spearmint. The citrus is mixed with melon (cantaloupe or honeydew) – mellow. Licorice and fennel. Cinnamon, peppercorns, allspice and clove.
There is also a cedar note that grows stronger in the middle of my tongue. When mixed with the citrus notes, there will be some who find this unappealing. The impression is not strong and moves away quickly for the other flavors.

Aftertaste…… Sweet aftertaste that coats my mouth. Bright citrus notes.. I feel cleansed and uplifted and settled. A minute or so after drinking, there is light feeling of vibration in my mouth, priming me for more drinking like an oolong. No dryness or any sense of bitterness.

The overall flavor is complete and unified. This Tulsi by itself is more interesting, commanding and balanced than many spa blends I’ve come across. It’s like a perfect blend, all in one leaf!

Tulsi- the oolong of herbals. If you haven’t tried it yet, I recommend it.

The last time I rated this tea was last December. The local co-op has finally stocked Organic India tulsi teas after a massive tea cutback to make room for the ever-expanding coconut/palm/wheat/corn/soy/nut/gluten-free cooking section. It was a bit depressing at first, because they cut out all the teas I was interested in, but they’re finally building more diversity into their selection (yay!).

I’m going to keep my rating the same, but this time is a bit different from a year ago. Firstly, I noticed the smell of the tea straight out of the bag wasn’t as heavenly-amazing as last time. Sure, it’s still some sort of amazing, but not super-amazing. However, I will add that I like the flavor a whole lot more this time. The tulsi is a nice, warm base for the bright rose overtones. I can’t taste any stevia sweetness, which is always a plus, and I think the floral rosy taste satisfies my desire for any kind of sweetener. I did add milk (I’m stubborn like that, I know), and that rounds out the flavors a bit.

…..And I have to note that NaNoWriMo was a success this year, despite the fact that I didn’t get a cohesive novel again. That’s what happens when you pants 11k on the 30th. ….I’m not even sure folks outside of the biological sciences will understand it. Sadly, I feel a bit empty now that it’s over, since I created my characters more or less in a pantsy way, so I had just gotten to know them (and hadn’t killed any of them yet). The nice thing, though, is that this year’s NaNo has sparked me to get back into the evil crafty/artsy hobbies that I had to give up in grad school.

This is a backlog going back to…. somewhere around the end of November. I’m that forgetful…

Anyway, a lovely lady whom I stayed with in a hostel in Alaska gave me a teabag of this, and it looked amazing. Because, you know, it’s from a company whose name involves the words “Organic” and “India” — it’s like they know who I am! If only they also included the words “bhangra,” “evil microbiology” and “thermal underwear,” then they’d really describe me.

Anyway, the teabag smelled floral and rosey right after being taken out of the pouch, so I was a bit worried. I mean, not like gulab-jamun worried, but just a bit eau-de-toilette worried. When steeping, I knew that this wouldn’t taste sweet, so even if I had gulab jamun worries, they were alleviated.

In the end, I actually liked the taste — it was mellow and relaxing. However, the scent was AMAZING. I don’t know, I may have to try this again, since I was running around Alaska and dealing with all sorts of not-pretty things, so this was super-feminine and super-pretty for me. However, this may be a very desi thing, since rosewater and gulab-ish stuff is very popular in general for South Asians. Then again, fried and super sugary things are also very popular, and that’s just too much for me…

Hm. It’s hard to rate this one. I’ve just been talking about other things. I guess I could say I’d get a box or two if it were in the local co-op, but I’m not going to go out of my way to order it online or anything. Though the scent is amazing. It would be wonderful to make bath products out of this tea. I would totally do infused oil with this if I had a source for it.

Lots going on in this one. Spicy, herb-y, peppery… I smelled cloves in the aroma but didn’t taste much in the tea itself. Not a knockout, or a really memorable tea, but a good everyday blend.

I wish it would have been a bit stronger, but was worried about it going bitter with a longer steep- seemed like it was on the edge when I tasted it. Might try two teabags for intensity next time.

I enjoyed this tea. It smelled almost like licorice before I steeped, but tastes spicy and gingery with a little lemon. It almost has a mint aftertaste; I could see this being a good drink if I wasn’t feeling well.

I wanted to try this in the original, with no “chai” or other extras to distract. Very herby in aroma and taste. Slightly lemony, with a hint of a basil/herb scent. I drink it plain and quite like it.

I tasted this tea last weekend and had to add it to my cupboard ASAP. The rose is present in just the right amount, and there’s a bit of stevia leaf to lightly sweeten the brew. It’s ideal for relaxing with just before bedtime.

This is the first tulsi-based tea I’ve had, and it’s made me interested in trying pure tulsi (holy basil). I think I’ll be adding at least one variety of this herb to my next Upton order.

Tired of working and tired in general… I have a job interview to prepare for tomorrow and I haven’t had much fun all week because I’ve been so busy. I’m not even sure I want to work with these people so I’m grumpy just thinking about it all. Hoping this cuppa will revive me, herbaly, lemony, gingery. It’s one of my more favored tulsi teas.

Backlogging – I made an iced tea with this yesterday and I quite enjoyed it as my after dinner drink. :) The lemon ginger combo here makes it good with food and i was glad to find it’s just as good cold as it is hot. I might need to keep this in my fridge more in the future…

This is the favorite of all the tulsi teas I’ve tried from this company, it is very gingery with a touch of lemon, that seems to enhance the flavor of the tulsi instead of fighting with it. Nice for a relaxing afternoon…

I am back at work and feeling nauseated, which is probably not a coincidence. This is helping me to feel better though. :)

It is nice and soothing for me this afternoon. I admit I overdid it with too much tea today and ended up with a horrible case of heartburn. The law of diminishing returns, apparently…

I was looking to try one of the Tulsi teas from Organic India. All of the others seemed to have hibiscus or flowers so I picked this one. I really like the lemon ginger combination so I had a pretty good sense I would enjoy this. Definitely gingery and aromatic, the tulsi flavor shows up as an aftertaste of something minty here. I like it, even for a teabag! A good afternoon tea when I need to go caffeine-less but still want something tasty. This would also be good for an upset tummy or as an after meals drink.