Tuscan Dreams

It’s been bananas at work—as school ends, even the most levelheaded staff members start losing their minds—compounded by a horribly tense weather day; severe threats all around and torrential rains causing flash floods on main thoroughfares….I had trouble ungripping my hands from the steering wheel after crawling home in the deluge. Turkey Creek is in the across-the-street neighbors’ backyards.

So bring on the herbal tension taming compounds! I grabbed this little packet from our friend Nichole because it looked like a happy little envelope of confetti. After a full 7 minute steep as prescribed, I hoped that the fruity elements would take the lead. Instead, it’s just a gently generic herbal potpourri that’s more floral than fruit. Still, it’s warm, the mug is comfortingly solid in my hand, and the lavender and lemon balm is helping un-kink the knots in my neck.

Backlogged… drank yesterday.

I had high hopes for this one… It’s just OK. The flavor is overall kind of nondescript. It’s a refreshing change of pace to see an herbal/ bedtime blend that doesn’t have chamomile. But the lavender is so overpowering that I think I prefer chamomile, honestly. There’s some slight but lovely perfume-y floral complexity in the finishing note with the fruits and linden flowers, but it mostly tastes of herbaceous medicinal soapy lavender.

The dry leaf looks pretty, but once it steeps, it turns into a mushy, slimy, beige lump of yuck. I understand that that’s kind of a silly complaint, and it’s not a dealbreaker, but it doesn’t add anything to the overall experience, either.

Just… meh.

I normally love florals, and this tea was a little heavy-handed on the perfumey flavors even for me. That being said, it’s still a fairly pleasant herbal blend/

I’ve been drinking this tea as part of my nighttime routine to wind down before bed and I love it. It is so hard to add lavender to tea without it tasting soapy and they got the balance just right.