Turmeric Blend from Storehouse Teas. . . . .

You may have already done the math and came to the conclusion that there are at least a few of us who are CRAZY for Turmeric here at the SororiTea Sisters and I for one can be found in that mix of CRAZIES! And I’m darn proud of it!

If you are looking to incorporate more Turmeric into your daily routine or if you are just looking for herbal tisanes – overall – this Turmeric Blend from Storehouse Teas – is for you!

Organic Turmeric, Organic cinnamon, Organic orange peel, Organic ginger, Organic black pepper are the only ingredients and the only ingredients NEEDED might I add!

The orange peels is what gives in an extra sweet-citrus punch and rise above some of the other Turmeric Blends I have tried from other companies. I’m wondering if my husband would like this in Orange Juice? Just might have to try that!

This – by itself – is pretty incredible in its own right. It’s spicy, it’s juicy, it’s peppery. It gets you up and on your toes! That’s for sure! Two thumbs up!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Herbal/Tisane
Where to Buy:  Storehouse Tea
Description

This great tasting caffeine-free tumeric, cinnamon and ginger tea is well know for its anti-inflammatory effects as well as detoxing agents.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Turmeric Lemon Ginger from Yerba Buena Tea Co. . . . .

I try to incorporate turmeric in my diet everyday for all of the amazing health benefits, so I was so happy to try this tea. And in my opinion ginger makes everything better so I had a feeling I would love this blend.

The first thing I noticed is the beautiful yellow color right away. They aren’t shy with the turmeric. As soon as i poured the hot water over the tea, I got the most wonderful smell. I could smell the lemon and the ginger and it was very soothing. This blend also has lemongrass and whole black peppercorns which are two of my favorite ingredients in tea.

This is an herbal blend, so no caffeine, but yet i still felt energized and uplifted from it.It also has licorice root which I don’t always love in teas, but luckily for me I couldn’t really taste it. Everything balanced out, and it just tastes like a lovely cup of lemon ginger tea with a little something extra.

I usually start my day with a caffeinated tea like green or yerba mate, but yesterday I started my day with this, and i didn’t feel like I needed caffeine at all! As someone who has relied on caffeine for MANY years, that is quite the feat!

Turmeric is so good for the body it’s nice to have it in such a delicious and uplifting way. This is definitely one of my new favorite teas, and I can’t recommend it enough!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Herbal
Where to Buy:  Yerba Buena Tea Co.
Description

For thousands of years the Siddhars of India have touted the healing effects of turmeric. We love it for its incredible color and taste. Our perfected fusion includes this ancient herb, lemongrass, ginger, licorice root and whole black pepper corns to soothe your mind, body and soul.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Golden Turmeric Ginger Tea from Amoda Tea . . . . .

Maybe you have guessed I am a Turmeric Fan. In case you didn’t…well…I guess today you’ll learn something new about me. It’s true…I LOVE Turmeric! Today I would like to tell you all about my experience with Golden Turmeric Ginger Tea from Amoda Tea.

I have been drinking more and more Turmeric teas and tisanes over the last couple of months! I LOVE that it’s catching on at a rapid rate! As for Golden Turmeric Ginger Tea from Amoda Tea, specifically, I will say the very fine powder is light and fluffy but potent in aroma and flavor.

I really appreciate that Amoda uses all Organic Ingredients in this including turmeric powder, fennel powder, true cinnamon powder, ginger powder, anise seed powder, vanilla powder. What I found different about this flavor as opposed to others I have tried is that I could taste the fennel and anise more than the other ingredients. The vanilla was more subtle. I may try this again with 1 or 2 drops of vanilla extract and/or vanilla flavored stevia. A squirt of maple syrup or flavored Agave might be another nice addition.

I tried this straight up and also tried this with almond milk. I will say that I liked it with the almond milk better than stand alone with water. The key for me was the hotter the better. I also just used a spoon to stir it in but I would like to try blender recipes with this as I think you could get really creative in the kitchen with this product!

Another thing I can’t help but think about is using Coconut Milk and/or Coconut Crystals since I have been having a lot of success with coconut products in lattes, too! The possibilities are really endless! Don’t be surprised if you see more recipes using this and other Turmeric based products in the near future!

Turmeric is one of those things that has been used for hundreds of years and history is starting to repeat itself and it’s being appreciated and used again! I, for one, am overjoyed! The more Turmeric the Merrier


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Amoda Tea
Description

How We See It:

A potent and warming anti-inflammatory blend of spices that helps with muscle recovery and digestion. This blend is also packed with antioxidants, helps lift your mood and your immunity. Great as a tea, turmeric milk or latte. Try as a coconut milk or almond milk latte with coconut oil. Just add all ingredients to a blender and blend up!

Formulated and blended in-house. Developed in consultation with Acupoint Wellness Centre and their Chinese Medicine Practitioners.

What’s In It: 
All Organic Ingredients: turmeric powder, fennel powder, true cinnamon powder, ginger powder, anise seed powder, vanilla powder

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Yunomi Tea Discoveries Club, Volume 17 (Part 1)

yunomi2I received my Yunomi Tea Discoveries Club package the other day and I was excited to get started!  This month, the teas are focused on ’tisanes’ – herbal blends from various Japanese tea companies.

Since this is a tisanes package and not Camellia Sinensis, I won’t be featuring part two of this series tomorrow night.  This is because I don’t usually drink more than 1 tisane per day, so I need time to consume these teas and write about them!

This month’s package included Yomogi herbal tea which is a Japanese Mugwort tea, Longevity herbal blend which is a blend of 18 Japanese herbs, Mulberry leaf tea which has been prepared Sencha style, Organic hatomugicha which is also called “Job’s Tears” and finally, Organic mugicha which is a barley tea.  Of the five, the Mugicha is what I look forward to most, as I’m quite fond of barley tea.

Also in this month’s package was another cute origami Crane … I’m getting a little collection of these!  The usual booklet which offers some information about each of the teas was not included but we received an email from Yunomi explaining that the booklet would arrive separately a little later.

The first tea that I’m going to try is the Longevity Herbal Blend from Nakazen.  I was happy to see that this tea included Camellia Sinensis in the form of Oolong tea.  Here is a list of the ingredients:

Barley tea, job’s tears, sicklepod seeds, cat’s whiskers (herb), dokudami (herb), oolong tea, tumeric, guava leaves, biwa (loquat) leaves, mikan (Japanese mandarin) peels, brown rice, pine leaves, ohbako, benibana, persimmon leaves, amachazuru, sarunokoshikake (fungi), cinnamon

nakazen-18-herbs-for-longevity
18 Herbs for Longevity from Nakazen

The aroma of the dry leaf is very herb-y.  It sort of reminds me of walking into one of those apothecary shops.  The brewed tea has more of a ‘medicinal’ type of fragrance, still smelling very apothecary-ish but the herbal notes are medicinal smelling.

The taste is actually quite enjoyable.  It has a roasted flavor to it.  It’s toasty and warm.  Very nice on a chilly night!

The roasted flavor I attribute to the barley in the tea.  I also taste the brown rice, it lends a warm and nutty flavor to the cup.  I taste the resinous notes of pine leaves and I taste the warm spiced notes of cinnamon.  I taste hints of tumeric and I don’t know if I actually taste the Oolong, but I can feel it’s contribution – the texture of the tea has that wonderful, thick Oolong-ish mouthfeel.

The other herbs of this tea, I’m not sure what flavor profile to fit with which herb because they are herbs that I am – for the most part – quite unfamiliar with.  I would like to say, though, that even though the aroma strongly suggests an herbaceous, medicinal flavor, I smell more of that herb-y medicine-y flavor than I taste.  For the most part, what I taste is the barley’s contribution to this tea – I taste that warm, roasty-toasty flavor and that’s quite fine with me – I’m really enjoying this!

SONY DSCThe second tisane that I’ll be sampling – and the last for this, part 1 of the Yunomi Discoveries Club, Volume 17 review – is the Japanese Mugwort Tea from Yomogi-Cha.  The word “Mugwort” makes me think of Harry Potter and Nightmare before Christmas.  It sounds like something that Professor Snape would put in a potion or something that Sally would put in Doctor Finklestein’s soup.

This particular herbal doesn’t appear to be available on Yunomi’s site at the moment.

The dry leaf looks a lot like a dried salad.  The leaves are large and fluffy and there are some stems in there too.  The steeping parameters suggest using 1 tablespoon to 2 cups of water.  I brewed this in my Kati tumbler which holds 12 ounces (so 1 1/2 cups of water) so I figured, close enough.  Because these leaves are so fluffy and large, I eyeballed what looked like a tablespoon of leaf and put that in the basket of my tumbler and poured in 12 ounces of water heated to 195°F and let it steep for 4 minutes.  (The suggested parameters are 3 – 5 minutes.)

Having never tried Mugwort tea (at least, not to my recollection), I was not sure what to expect.  The aroma of the brewed tea is very grassy/leafy, evoking thoughts of what it might smell like if I were to steep some fresh lawn clippings.

The taste is very much like what the aroma suggests.  It’s an interesting combination of bitter and sweet.  It’s very herbaceous but not so much in an herbal sort of way, it’s more a grassy sort of herbaceous.  There is a light buttery note which is kind of nice.  There is some sweetness.  Overall, it’s not an unpleasant tasting drink, it’s just quite different from what I’m used to tasting and I’m not finding myself really enjoying it.

In other words, I don’t hate it but I don’t really like it either.

From what I understand, Japanese Mugwort tea is useful for detox and weight loss.  I don’t know if that’s true or not because I’m just drinking one cup of the stuff and that’s hardly enough to gauge whether or not it will work in this capacity.  I am noticing a warming sort of effect though.

Overall, it’s alright.  If I were going to drink this on a regular basis, I think I’d want to add something to it, perhaps a thin slice of lemon or some mint – something to perk up the flavor a little bit so that I’m tasting less of that strong grassy sort of flavor.  Not my favorite.

Ayurvedic Immune Tea from Tea of Life

AyuvedicTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Learn more about Tea of Life and Amazon Teas here.

About Tea of Life Ayurvedic Collection:

The word “Ayurveda” is derived from two words – “Ayus” meaning life and “Veda” meaning ‘knowledge’ or ‘science’.  So the literal meaning of the word Ayurveda is ‘The Science of Life.’

Life or Ayus, according to Ayurveda, is a combination of senses, mind, body and soul.  So Ayurveda does not just limit itself to the body or physical symptoms, but also provides comprehensive knowledge about spiritual, mental and emotional health.  

The traditional healing system of Ayurveda is based on a theory of balance between the body (physical), the soul (spiritual) and the mind (psychological).  

Ingredients:

Green Tea with Ginger, Coriander, Pepper, Cumin Seed and Tumeric.

Taster’s Review:

When I got my package from Tea of Life, this super cool hexagon package of Ayurvedic teas was among the many teas that were included.  The photo doesn’t really do this packaging justice – it’s really neat!  There are six different Ayurvedic teas in this package:  Stimulating, Slimming, Calming, Detox, Immune and Destress.

Since my husband is currently battling an awful cold and I don’t want to suffer with that same cold, I decided to dig into this hexagon and try the Ayurvedic Immune Tea from Tea of Life to see if it will help me avoid what seems to be an inevitable fate.   Whenever anyone gets a cold in this house, I end up getting it too.  So, here’s hoping that this will help me … if not avoid it all together, at least minimize my bout with it.

Right off the bat, one thing that I like about this, before I even brew it, is that it has real tea in it.  It’s not a blend of herbs.  Not that there’s anything wrong with a blend of herbs, but, I like tea.  You might have noticed that.

The aroma of the dry tea reminds me of the fragrance I’d experience if I were walking into a restaurant that serves Indian Cuisine.  I could smell the tumeric and the other spices.  I didn’t get a lot of green tea essence from the aroma.

The brewed tea smells very much the same.  A strong tumeric scent, with notes of ginger, cumin, coriander and pepper.  I can smell notes of green tea – a light, fresh ‘vegetal’ note.

As far as “functional” teas go, this is really tasty.  It reminds me a bit more of a spiced vegetable broth than it does a tea, but, I’m enjoying the flavor.  If I’m going to be drinking this for the next few days (as I plan to do to help ~hopefully~ avoid the cold that my husband has right now), then I’m very pleased that the flavor is enjoyable.

While the spices are strong, this is not an “in your face” kind of tea.  It doesn’t overwhelm my palate with lots of spice flavor.  I can taste the green tea, and the spices keep time with the lightness of the green tea.  That is to say that the spices don’t overpower the green tea – a balance has been achieved with this blend.  A really good balance.

I consumed this straight up with no additions, and it was just fine like that, however, I think it would be really nice with a dollop of honey (and honey has the added benefit of antioxidants and every little bit helps when you’re trying to avoid a cold.) The sweetness of the honey would accentuate the spices nicely.