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I am several different levels of tired today, but that is alright, because it is a crazy beautiful day. I woke up freezing cold under a pile of blankets, and was so surprised to check the mail and find it to be REALLY WARM, like almost 90 degrees, so I tossed the windows open and no longer have a cold bedroom, yay for insulation. It is also very humid (if you follow me on instagram you can see my epic 80s hair) and there is a high probability of storms this evening, which makes me immensely happy.

Today’s tea comes from Golden Tips Tea, and it is their Rose Herb Green Tea, a blend with a fascinating list of ingredients. And by list I mean 25 different medicinal herbs from the Himachal Valley, along with a blending of green tea from Kangra Valley and Assam. From those 25 herbs, identified is Tulsi, Mint, and Rose Petals, sadly not sure what else is in this blend, which is tragic since I do like knowing what goes into these concoctions. On the other hand it provides a fun guessing game for my tongue, assuming I have ever had any of them before. So, how does this mysterious medicinal tea smell you might be asking, like a soothing, floral, spice cabinet. I can pick up notes of roses, grass, licorice, bay, tulsi, mysterious sharp spices, pepper, anise, fennel, so many layers and herbs! It is a plethora of plant and spice notes that manage to not be a cacophony or smell like a nasty medicinal brew, which is always a good sign.

Giving the tea a steeping was rather exciting, I just hovered around the cup until it was done, because it was quite the mix of aroma notes floating out of it, and of course giving the soggy pile of plant matter a smell gave a sweet blend of roses, pepper, grass, fennel, bay…really it smells like my spice cabinet, but with more dried rose and grassy tea than I usually store there (I store those elsewhere, actually) it is quite pleasant, assuming you are in to the smell of a spice cabinet. The liquid is grassy and sweet, like hay and tulsi, with just a hint of pepper, and only a touch of rose, which I found surprising.

The taste of this tea can be summed up in three easy words: mild, herbaceous, and unique. Ok, job done…I kid, I kid. But really this tea is surprisingly mild, in both the taste and especially the rose factor, usually rosy teas are really rose heavy, this was like a breeze carrying in the aroma of the neighbor two houses’ down roses. There are notes of grass, tulsi, pepper, and hay at the middle, with a touch of briskness which add a bit of dimension to the tea. Lastly there is tingly sweet fennel and anise, both of which linger. I certainly liked all the notes in this tea, though I did find it fell a bit flat, too much going on and none of them strong enough to leave an impression, so this could be a good tea to sip when I want something weird but not overpowering, which I do on occasion.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/04/golden-tips-tea-rose-herb-green-tea-tea.html