My family carries on the old school art of drying flowers to “preserve” the heartwarming memory from when they were given, and this bag of Greek Mountain Tea from Klio Organic is a full on bouquet of petite yellow love from Mount Olympus!
The thick flowering stems smell of basil, and crushed mint, but feel fuzzy like sage leaves versus the roughness of traditional camellia Sinensis tea leaves. Quite a bit smaller as well, with dozens of tiny pale flowers, light green buds and silver glistening leaves.
I brewed at 175 F and immediately the scent morphs towards the hints of sage I got earlier. There are a lot of essential oils on top, and a good amount of natural sweetness in this veridian brew that would probably be fine for most folks, especially given the light citrus aftertaste. My sweet tooth, however, preferred to add a few drops of plain stevia.
Being naturally caffeine free, this is a mind clearing tea, as it’s unique flavors make you step away from the daily grind and focus on the surprise in your mug.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Klio Organic
This variety, Sideritis Scardica, comes from the legendary Mount Olympus, in the Balkans, situated between Thessaly and Macedonia. It has been tested for antioxidants by Brunswick Labs, (www.brunswicklabs.com) the leader in bio-analtyical testing. It has a mild and very pleasant taste and aroma.
One ten ounce serving of our certified organic Mount Olympus Greek Mountain Tea has an ORAC 5.0 antioxidant score of 6,600 and 160mg of polyphenols.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Organic Greek Mountain Tea from Kilo. . . .
My sample of Organic Greek Mountain Tea from Kilo looked so unusual in the bag I had to give it a try. It looks a bit like sage or a white tea, grey-green in color and fuzzy to the touch, with a chain of full, yellow blossoms. I needed my big infuser to handle all the lush stems, leaves, and blossoms of this tea.
I followed my usual pattern for lightly flavored herbal teas and steeped these leaves with boiling water, lots of leaves, and waited a good ten minutes.
Brewed the tea is very fragrant, vegetal but sweet, almost like brown sugar and okra. There’s a hint of something in the scent that reminds me of savory dishes in the kitchen, like black pepper or oregano: herbal but spicy.
The taste of this tea has some of the familiar lemon and chamomile notes, gently floral, sweet and bright. But this tea goes behind the chamomile flavors and has a more fermented great tea base beneath all that sweet lemon. The sweetness is worth noting, there is a very forward, almost-caramel note in the scent and aftertaste.
This was a unique blend in looks, smell, and taste, not to mention it is an herbal tea packed with good things to help you live a long and healthy life. Unless you go into the mountains to pick some more tea and encounter the gods of Mount Olympus, that is. Safe travels and happy brewing!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Kilo
Description:
This variety, Sideritis Scardica, comes from the legendary Mount Olympus, in the Balkans, situated between Thessaly and Macedonia. It has been tested for antioxidants by Brunswick Labs, (www.brunswicklabs.com) the leader in bio-analtyical testing. It has a mild and very pleasant taste and aroma.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Greek Mountain Tea from Klio. . . .
Trying to figure out what to do with Greek Mountain tea is a research adventure from the get-go. It’s not your average “tea” where you take your tea scoop, grab some, and toss it into a steeper for however long. There’s a process. You have to get, basically, a handful, boil it a bit, then let it steep. There are videos online that will help you figure out the amount.
Think of yourself as Indiana Jones, discovering new territory and learning about history.
The tea looks a little sketchy to carry around in a Ziploc bag.
There are flowers and leaves inside, and it’ll look like this in your gravity steeper.
The end color is a light amber. The taste is a vegetal lemon/mint taste with floral and earth elements, which stands to reason.
It’s actually all right, which surprised me, because I’d put this aside in fear for about a month before actually steeping it up. (I was a picky child who grew up into a fussy adult.) It’s not really my favorite thing of all time, but that’s because I love a rich black tea. If you’re feeling up to an herbal-flavored adventure, though, you should totally try this out.
If nothing else, this tea might be good for you. The site boasts that: “A range of biological effects has been attributed to Sideritis extracts and infusions in multiple research studies, such as antioxidant, oxidative stress reduction, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and gastroprotective activities. In ethnobotanical practices, Greek mountain tea has been used to alleviate gastrointestinal problems, inflammation, as well as common cold and cough symptoms. A recent study shows that Greek mountain tea is as potent as Green tea at inducing cellular antioxidant defense and preventing oxidative stress.”
I’ll let you know if my cold goes away!
Happy adventuring, Indiana Jones fans!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Klio Tea
Description
This offering of Greek Mountain Tea comes from Mount Othrys in the Magnesia region of Central Greece. It is the variety known as Sideritis Raeseri.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
