WÄINÖ

Herbal and Decaf Traveling Tea Box, Summer 2025.
Wäinö. Nordqvist.
I’ve never had a beverage from Finland, so this was interesting to me! Nor have I any idea what any of the ingredient herbs tastes like, so I’m going into it with no preconceptions. The product was in a string-tag paper teabag sealed in a plasticized wrapper. I steeped as directed: for 5 min. in 8 oz. alpine spring water at 197°F. The hot tisane was golden colored with an aroma having musky tones and a deep woodiness, evoking thoughts of sour berries and an autumn meadow. I did not get any floral, fruity, or petrichor notes. The flavor was smooth, non-bitter, non-fruity, and non-astringent. I got notes of hay and cranberry, in a gentle vegetal background, free of geosmin, and with a soft pepperiness in the lingering finish. Overall, I would say rather inoffensive, but unexciting. I was glad to be able to try it, though my inexperience with ALL of the ingredient flavors means I don’t know what it could or should be like. I absolutely feel like a baby tasting something for the first time! So in that sense, it makes me feel young… lol. I’ll withhold rating it for the time being.

Random tea of the day!

So far this random thing is working out for me, I’ve gotten one tea that I love and two that I hadn’t tried yet. This is one of three herbal tisanes that I got from Nordqvist that are made with native Finnish botanicals, this one being cloudberry, nettle, and a few other herbs.

To be honest, I’m not getting much in the fruity department. Mostly I’m tasting mellow and earthy herbs, and then there’s a little hint of tang from the cloudberries that leaves a slight lingering tartness in my mouth. It’s a nice, comforting herbaceous sort of blend for the evening, but nothing special enough that I would feel the need to order it again.