Dream

I have some extra time tonight to try some teas that I only have in small amounts, thus getting some sipdowns rolling for this year. (Ashman is watching tv with daughter so I am snarfing Bissinger’s chocolates in my craft room and drinking tea – pure, unadulterated pleasure.) It is the first time I will have ever kept track of sipdown numbers, and I am also making a list of my absolute must have shelf staples, and that list is surprisingly short so far.

Bonne Maman included a couple of tea samples in with our order for their jelly advent. I received Dream and Vitality, which also happens to be the two teas included in their Perfect Moments gift set, which includes two bags of loose leaf tisane, a glass mug with attractive steeper that seems pretty generously sized, and a spoon. I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting much, but I love the scent of this one dry. I enjoy lavender and that is the dominant aroma of this one. I haven’t been as “into” herbal tea as camellia sinensis, but now that I can’t handle caffeine at night I am trying to find some good options.

While steeping, it went through an awkward stage aroma-wise but then started to smell like the dry leaf did.

The flavor is definitely lavender leading and trailing. The rose had to be teased out but it is there. There is a hint of fresh minty flavor, maybe the linden. Somehow that is making it seem like it would do very nicely as a daytime tea as well, maybe even a nice morning cup when you don’t have anywhere to be. I can see sipping this on the patio with fresh fruit on a cool spring morning.

If you don’t like lavender, you won’t like this. If you love lavender, you really might want to give it a try. I dig it, and might buy it when my cupboard is smaller.

I didn’t know Bonne Maman made herbal teas until I was wandering through the tea aisle of the grocery store the other day. I grabbed three of the five I saw (skipped the apple one and one that had peppers in it). My store only had the teabags but apparently the Bonne Maman teas are available as loose tea as well.

The lavender is the most prominent flavor for me in Dream. I’m not a huge lavender fan but I like a little bit occasionally. The other ingredients keep the lavender from being overpowering and unpleasant but I have a hard time picking out the rose at all and I’m not really sure what linden tastes like on its own to know if I taste it or not. The tea has a cooling feeling like peppermint but there isn’t any mint in this one. I’m not sure it’s something I’ll want to drink regularly but it’s a nice addition to my tea stash for when I feel like something floral and non-caffeinated.