Starwest Botanicals

I have to get in another few reviews before I call it a night.

Picked this up bulk loose leaf from the co-op. Sipdown tonight, a pot made for the house. Compared to both the Dammann Frères Tilleul (sachet) and Ahmad Limeflower (teabag) I’ve tried, this one is not as heady floral and syrupy, more of a pungent herbal character. Still sweet and flowery. Clearing some light congestion. Linden is much loved in this house <3

It took me a while to track this one down to make a tasting note on it. A favorite local restaurant/art gallery serves a few loose teas, and I always end up ordering this one if I visit in the evenings (post caffeine consumption time).

I like that it has a nice natural sweetness to it. I hate licorice but licorice root seems ok. I’ve had it in other herbals and enjoyed them :)

A few months ago I read that Hibiscus has been used for centuries as a natural remedy for lowering blood pressure. Well, my blood pressure has been a problem for close to ten years now, and I was willing to try anything to reduce the amount of pharmaceutical pills I was taking each day. I started drinking 4 cups of this tea every day and it took almost four weeks, but I have seen a 20 point decrease in my Systolic and a 10 point decrease in my Diastolic. The best part is that I’ve cut my meds in half and have maintained these lower numbers.

As for the tea itself, it takes a bit of time to get used to, but when you learn to flavor it with other herbs and green teas, it makes a quite refreshing drink called Jamaica (pronounced huh-mika), a favorite iced tea in Central America and Mexico. On hot summer days, a 50/50 mix of hibiscus and green tea, chilled and slightly sweetened rivals traditional Iced tea, and in my opinion, out performs it. The combo is an anti-oxidant superstar with the added caveat of l-theanine.

A very flavorful spearmint tea which soothes and relaxes. I suffer from Acid Reflux and this tea settles my digestive system quite nicely.

Soothing, yet bold, this peppermint tea delivers the tranquil mentholated taste one looks for in a premium mint tea. I like to mix it with Starwest Botanicals Spearmint tea to make my own mint blend. Very relaxing before bedtime.

<3

When I drink peppermint, I like to feel like I just got punched in the face by a mint plant.

This does the trick.

From CANTB

I realize I haven’t been doing many reviews lately, which is even sadder because I have this amazing teabox chilling here right now. But I’m more occupied with life than I had been in the past. Fiance and I finally okayed our desire of a teensy tiny wedding with his parents, so it looks like that might finally happen this year/early next year. So yeah!

The beginning of the sip is a really nice, robust tea. It’s rich and smooth, with just the slightest bit of astringency.

The mango flavor kicks in sometime between the tea hitting your tongue and swallowing, and I don’t care for it much. Despite being ‘natural’ flavoring, it just doesn’t taste like mango and is almost a little overripe fruity tasting.

Perhaps this would be better iced, but I didn’t really care for it enough to try.

this has a delicate sweet taste and pleasing aroma.
the liquor is light gold
i like it :)

a day cannot pass without a fix. today, i killed 2 birds with one stone: tried the mocha surprise and am writing a review of it ;)

while it may not have the strength of coffee (yes, i know its an herbal!), it does have the slight bitterness so it still kinda feels like coffee. it has the caffeine feeling with none of the stuff that’s bad for you :D

there it is again! the taste that makes me smile…is it really licorice? hmmm. it also has a strong but pleasantly sweet aftertaste at the back of my mouth.

it is actually refreshing now that im sipping it after typing every few words.

now that im near the bottom of the cup, i realize that i had not strained the herbs so now i can’t finish my drink :P

next time i will try to prepare it with a whole teaspoon (i used half this time)

leaves: small, full leaves attached to long stems, olive color
aroma: asian/chinese
taste: like the scent, it particuarly evokes feelings of chinatown

Stereotypical Herbal, I suppose. I swear I see Flax Seeds in there! Not bad but not memorable.

I really don’t like this tea. Far too astringent. I’ve had it sitting in a bag (not even a food-protective one at that) for awhile, so I’m sure any subtleties of the leaf have been long gone, but even keeping that in mind, this is not a tea I want to drink again.

Kinda of buttery but sweet a little creamy but yummy – yummy – yummy! This is much better than I expected! A lovely green!

The flavor here is sweet and tasty. The black tea base is good, and the Lychee adds a delicious taste to this cup.

Thanks LiberTEAS!!!!

This is sweet and a tad chewy…especially for a white tea! Slightly earthy tasting but mostly sweet. This is nice! Refreshing! Perfect for the time of day and weather today!

Yes, I agree with liberTEAS – EXTREMELY fine WOW – This ‘brews up’ REALLY Dark!

Semi-spicy – semi sweet
Not completely sure about this one. It’s not bad…but…
might just have to revisit…

Thanks for sending this my way LiberTEAS!!!!

Lychees…I want to like the actual fruit but I think it tastes like paint thinner.

HOWEVER, I like foods with Lychee flavors IN them!

I’m not really into the dry aroma of this flavored tea. It does get a little better once infusing. Thankfully it’s a mild and mellow aroma.

This is primarily black tea with a hint of lychee fruit. I don’t know if I would be able to tell it was Lychee flavored in a blind taste test but there is a hint of flavor there…enough to say it’s a fruit.

All-in-All the taste of this tea is quite good. I’m thinking it would be pretty good ICED too!

Enjoying my last cup of this tea.

Even though this is what is considered a lower grade of Sencha, this tastes quite a bit different from the Sencha teas that I’ve tasted.

It has a vegetative quality to it… but there again, it is a different vegetative quality than I’m used to. Usually, I either find a tea to be quite vegetative=grassy or it is vegetative=steamed (or) buttered vegetables.

I don’t know that this is either of those… even though I am noting a soft butter-like note toward the end of the sip, kind of creamy. It’s very intriguing, and very tasty.

I really like this particular Bancha Tea. It is very pleasant and even calming. Nice.

This has a pleasant sweetness to it and a nice toasty note – it sort of tastes like Genmaicha – without the rice part. Genmaicha is slightly sweeter because of the rice, and slightly more “warm” tasting – roasty toasty tasting – because of the rice.

It has a strong vegetative nature to it as well.

I like it!