Elina sent me a beautiful surprise assortment of bagged teas – for tea on the go when at work, on errands or even for an outdoor hike. These are really fabulous and have a smooth taste too. The organic ingredients make such a difference to me in taste. It is not easy to find purely organic teas, and in a variety of flavours.
The two flavours Elina sent me to try by Dragonfly Tea in the UK are Organic Cape Rooibos Tea, which is a pure Rooibos, low tannin and caffeine free. The other is called Organic Cape Malay Rooibos Chai. The ingredients are organically grown Rooibos tea, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, chicory, cloves, black pepper and citrus peel. Steep time is only 2-3 minutes, though I generally do 4-5 for any Rooibos leaves. Both of these teas are pleasing to the senses and I will look for them in my area; they can also be ordered online. I highly recommend Dragonfly – the company is fair trade and offers a rather large selection of appealing choices. Elina has a unique talent for finding new things, which I admire of her.
It is interesting to note that Cape Malay Rooibos Chai has a similar taste to the Spicy Rooibos tea by Indiska that I liked so much (though it is missing the sweetness from the licorice) and the Auyrveda Knockout Tea by théhuone that has chicory – but is more convenient to steep. Some people really like loose teas, and some will only use tea bags. If you are looking for a quality tea bag to try, this is a great one that may be similar to having loose tea – because the ingredients are organic and wonderful.
My rating: ****
I must say, I love tea, but I enjoy cold tea’s more than hot tea. Milk in tea? Not for me. So, when Elina started talking about this Knockout Tea (our nickname for it) I was curious. So – you want to get to bed with an easy tea. This is the one for you. Drinking it cold you feel the spices filling your body – the licquorice, the cinnamon, the peppers, the cardamon all circulating in phases that keep bringing you back for more. The first mouthful leaves a taste hanging on the back of your throat, as if it is cleansing you. The thing about this tea is that the brewing time greatly effects that taste, and hot or cold, the tea knocks you out. You feel energised from the first drop, but then, you begin relaxing and pass out nicely. I love this tea! More from the girls!
Review (1-5): Hot 3, Cold 5
Brand: TeaGschwendner
Type: : Herbal
I am writing my first tea review about one of my favorite teas. I got this tea from Janine about a year ago when she visited in Finland. The tea consists of a wide variety of herbs. A very special thing about this tea is, that it tastes absolutely lovely when it is cold but I’d say it is average when hot. When I drink this tea, I usually brew it in the evening, let it stay in the tea pot over night, and consume it during the day when it is cold. I have noticed that quite often mint gives the tea a bitter taste if you brew it for too long, but this tea does not get bitter at all even if it has mint. The lovely taste of licorice gets very strong when cold, but is quite absent when drinking the tea hot.
This is what the tea package says about it: A spice and herb blend with lemony freshness, slightly sweet. Ingredients: lemon grass, mint, raspberry leaves, cardamom, licorice, mallow petals and rose petals.
- elina