Tea Spoon

Here is finally my top 5 list of the teas that Janine has shared with me I was drinking lovely Yogi tea: Mexican Sweet Chili just before starting to write this. Janine sent it months ago, but somehow I had managed to save one bag. The tea has really strong flavors, maybe the strongest spicy flavor that I have had in tea, and I really like it. It is good to start my list with that. However, the list is not in a specific order.

• Mexican Sweet Chili – Yogi tea – spicy and hot
• Vata tea – Tea Gschwendner – Auyrvedic tea, very spicy but not hot
• Chili-chocolate black tea - Tea Gschwendner – Yummy!
• Blueberry Rooibos tea - Teavana – This one is really gentle (unlike the previous ones which are full of flavor and spicy) Rooibos tea,
• Tulsi: Sweet Rose and Chamomille honey – Organic India – Can’t decide which one I like better but these both are really really nice.

I would have actually liked to add the Pitta tea to my list as well, however, as it is quite similar in style with the Vata tea, I ended up choosing that one in the list. The Pitta is definitely one of my all time favs as well!

If you like Ayurvedic teas, this is one of the best ones I have tasted! Quite similar actually to the Vata tea that is also one of my definite all time favorites. This tea does not have quite as much coriander in it as the Vata tea and, does not have anise seeds, and has rose petals in it instead of mallow petals. So the taste is slightly different, but very similar in style, with strong licorice taste making it sweet and tasty.

The tea is also beautiful to watch when you open the package, with the whole cardamom pods in it, and other ingredients in such large chunks as well that they are easy to recognize. Sometimes I have had problems with this kind of teas with some heavier parts sinking in the bottom. In that case, the package really needs to be stirred before making the tea so that you get an even distribution of everything in your tea. Does not seem to be a problem with this tea, though, which is great because all this extra stirring causes some extra work for tea cooking (and sometimes, as a mother of three, I tend to be rather busy : ).

The brewing time is not that long, even if the ingredients are in large chunks, according to the package eight + minutes. It does get tastier and tastier though the longer you brew it and I could easily give this one half an hour of brewing time and drink it warm but not hot. I think the flavour comes out even more nicely when the tea is not too hot. I drink this tea without milk, but it could go nicely with milk too. Sweeteners are definitely not needed, this one is naturally sweet and lovely : ) Thank you for sending this one to me Janine!!

Ingredients: cardamom, licorice, coriander, fennel, ginger roots, rose petals.
My rating: * * * * * (easily!)