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Here is a tea I picked up at the Portland Saturday Market in March of 2017 when I was on vacation in Portland with a friend. I had a blast that day; it’s like a farmer’s market on steroids! Nil Organic Tea was a tea vendor booth I found there, that makes their own tea blends using organic ingredients. This was one of the sampler teas they had at their booth, prepared iced, and I enjoyed the flavor and had made it my goal to learn to make iced tea that summer so I picked it up. Note I grabbed their herbal blend of this tea; something notable about this company is they offer herbal and tea versions of most of their blends!

My most hated tea I’ve tried to date has been Traditional Medicinals bagged raspberry leaf tea, but I actually really enjoy this tea, and it is very raspberry leaf-heavy! It does have some noticeable grassy flavor notes in the base from that ingredient, but since this tea uses a lot of (trigger warning, I’m about to use the dreaded h-word here on Steepster!) hibiscus petals, it has a very tart and tangy flavor that helps me out a lot when it comes to tolerating the raspberry leaf (and I’m really in need of it right now for some hormonal health issues). The tea also has some nice citrusy lime notes, but they aren’t overwhelming like the Lime Pistachio tea from Fusion Teas that I tried not long ago… here the lime is blended in with the fruit punch hibiscus flavor and the grassiness of the raspberry leaf so it feels more like a cohesive lime fruit punch.

Over the last year I’ve tried this tea warm, warm brewed and then chilled, made into tea pops, and cold brewed, with varying levels of success. To me, the flavor profile just doesn’t really work for me as a hot tea, and I find it has a nice, full flavor when prepared iced both prepared warm and then chilled or simply cold brewed from the start, so now I opt to just cold brew it for an easy batch of lime-flavored fruity tea that helps me get that raspberry leaf down. The tea pops weren’t a bad way to go either, but I haven’t figured out the proper way to sweeten them yet, and when I make it as iced tea, I find I don’t even need to add sweetener, since my tongue takes those tart n’ tangy flavors like a champ. As a popsicle, it just seemed strange without some sweetness. With a bit of practice I’m sure I’ll figure out the proper sweetener-to-tea ratios before freezing, though.

This is a refreshing iced tea and I’m sure I’ll be finishing it off this summer. It’s quite the testament that it manages to make raspberry leaf palatable for me!

Full review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/08/22/tea34/

Flavors: Citrus, Fruit Punch, Grass, Hibiscus, Lime, Tangy, Tart

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 4 tsp 32 OZ / 946 ML
Lexie Aleah

As someone who really likes the taste of medicinal teas if you don’t like Raspberry leaf tea then you probably won’t like milk thistle tea either.

Mastress Alita

Well, it at least seems as long as the raspberry leaf is well enough blended with other flavors that I don’t taste it, or at least don’t taste it very strongly so it’s muted a bit or just in the background, I can handle it. I definitely can’t take it plain though. I have never tried milk thistle, but if I ever see it lurking in anything I’ll try to make sure it’s blended with some pretty dominant flavors too, then!

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Lexie Aleah

As someone who really likes the taste of medicinal teas if you don’t like Raspberry leaf tea then you probably won’t like milk thistle tea either.

Mastress Alita

Well, it at least seems as long as the raspberry leaf is well enough blended with other flavors that I don’t taste it, or at least don’t taste it very strongly so it’s muted a bit or just in the background, I can handle it. I definitely can’t take it plain though. I have never tried milk thistle, but if I ever see it lurking in anything I’ll try to make sure it’s blended with some pretty dominant flavors too, then!

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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