Mountain Rose Herbs

This sort of got forgotten in the back of the cupboard, but I remembered it today and decided to brew some up and try whatever magical healing powers goji berries are supposed to have (I heard they were one of the trending health crazes, but I never heard what they’re supposed to actually DO). Anyway, powers aside, this is tasting really good. Nutty, buttery, and sweet.

I decided to try steeping up some goji berries, because I really love David’s Goji Pop, but I find it pretty pricey considering how much tea you need to brew a cup.

The results are nothing like Goji Pop.

Where Goji Pop is sweet-tart and fruity, this is buttery, nutty, and sweet in a baked-goods kind of way.

And despite the berries being intensely red, the brew doesn’t come anywhere close to Goji Pop’s hot pink. It is a pale brown.

So I guess Goji Pop’s flavor and color mainly come for the other ingredients: apple, hibiscus blossoms, rosehips, honeydew melon.

While the goji berries taste nothing like what I was expecting, this is still really good, and it actually reminds me of one of David’s other herbals: Forever Nuts. I love butter and nuts, so I won’t have any trouble getting this down.

Sipdown Progress Challenge
January 2024 | My oldest tea

I have a handful of teas from 2015 (!), this being one of them. The others haven’t been opened yet so I decided to go ahead and work through this one as my oldest opened tea. It still tastes great, very smoky and not at all weak in flavor. I made a note last year that it was on my sipdown list for 2023 but I guess I never got around to finishing it. Maybe 2024 is the year!

Oh I’d forgotten how delicious this is! It’s bold and smoky, a perfect breakfast tea. I still have quite a bit of it too! I bought a vacuum sealer a few weeks ago and have been sealing everything I can get my hands on (gosh, I’m such a grown-up). Of course I had to try sealing a bag of tea too. This one was not packaged well to begin with, just a flimsy sort of plastic bag, but I was able to seal it without anything burning or catching on fire. Success! This is one of the teas I’m focusing on for my January sipdowns, so it may not be around too much longer. Now it’ll hopefully stay fresh(ish) until the last sip.

We’ve spent the last couple of days preparing to learn and attempt TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return) for the first time. Someone from our local cat-loving FB group came to our house last night and taught us how to use and bait the traps, and so today we’ve been trying to catch the two ferals who live in our community. We tried for a couple hours last night and now again all day today, but we haven’t seen either cat at all (which is very unusual). I had reached out to my neighbors earlier in the week to make sure the cats were indeed feral and received some pushback about trapping them. Apparently at least one of the neighbors thought I was trapping the cats to hurt them, which makes me really sad, and now I’m starting to worry we’ve been sabotaged. I explained what I was doing and why, but I don’t know if they were convinced. My brother says the cats are probably feasting on a gourmet buffet down the street, so they aren’t at all interested in my smelly mackerel. I’m a little bummed, no point in pretending I’m not. I don’t know why I thought we’d get them on the first try, but I suppose this is a good test of my patience.

So while I sit here, with one eye on the trap and the other on my inbox, I’m sipping on this mug of deliciousness. This tea is oh-so-dark and deep and smoky and bittersweet. Just perfect for this chilly afternoon. Bonus: I can drink it inside with the heat on, at least until dark.

I was really craving a smoky tea this morning and decided to go with this unflavored version. My husband and I are heading out on a weekend trip today, so my brother and I decided to have some tea together before we hit the road. He had his favorite – Chroning from Gnat & Bee – while I went for this version. He downed his pretty fast, so I was left sipping on mine while I finished packing. I didn’t drink all of it but I enjoyed about half before we left. This is a good, solid favorite for me when I want a reliable smoky black tea.

I made the mistake of eating super spicy salsa and chips before drinking this so I’m not sure I tasted much. There was some smokiness, and it was a nice cup. Trying again for a second steep.

Second Steep
8 ounces water + 212 degrees + 7 minutes

A little watered down but not bad.

Works for me! I suffer from anxiety and occasional panic attacks, which sometimes strike when I should be sleeping. Zoloft at night and Xanax at the onset of a panic attack works, but I am trying to rely more on natural remedies. This tea sounded good from the Mountain Rose site’s description, so I ordered some. I used about a tablespoon and a half in my acorn teapot from Stash (not sure of the size). Drank the whole pot before I went to bed, skipped the Zoloft and felt very relaxed. Fell asleep in a timely manner, slept through most of the night, and woke up with no neck or shoulder pain, which I usually get due to waking up multiple times and stressing during the night. So far I am highly satisfied, although it took me a bit to get used to the hopp-y flavor. I enjoy a good beer, but that is not a taste I associate with bedtime.

This is a great Chai, I am especially enjoying it in the winter. I wanted this for an decaffeinated after lunch drink. A good balance of ginger, cinnamon and clove, nothing seems to be overpowering.

Great everyday green tea, and the price ain’t bad either. If you are new to green tea and want to try it, I recommend this one. It’s basic but the quality is good.

A bit tart on it’s own, but its great with some sugar added. Especially refreshing as an iced tea.

I have finally found the perfect jasmine tea! After much searching and being dissatisfied with teas that did not have much jasmine taste, or teas that tasted too much like perfume (probably because additional jasmine flavor was added), I discovered this tea at Mountain Rose Herbs. Definitely a wonderful jasmine smell and taste – the perfect amount for me. It tastes natural, not artificial. I drink this every day at lunch and resteep the leaves once for another great cup of tea. I brew all my green teas longer than recommended – 5 minutes – because I want to get all the health benefits out that I can. This tea holds up well to that longer steep. Very highly recommended!

This is the other tea that VariaTEA randomly picked for me today, and if I’m not fessing up to the time spent locating the first sample then I am definitely not admitting to this one because it was even longer…

I did find it though, and then immediately tried to think of reasons why I shouldn’t have it because I was not looking forward to the cup. I spent all the effort hunting for it though so I caved and brewed a cup. I’ve added a hearty amount of buckwheat honey though to mask the unpleasant herbal and smoky flavour of this tisane though and now my cup is delicious and thick buckwheat sweetness with just a hunt of an herbal tasting finish. Much better than drinking it straight!

Is that cheating? Maybe! I don’t care though.

Drank a mug of this last night because I thought something hot and herbaceous might help me relax and fall asleep – it kind of worked; for a few blissful moments after finishing the mug I felt super cozy and relaxed, ready to curl up and fall asleep. Then, however, I was awoke by the sound of an ambulance’s sirens pulling up to the condo building directly across from ours…

So close. So incredibly close…

Flavour wise this was fine; very mild and overall forgettable generic herbal kind of flavour. I didn’t expect any more from it though, so it worked perfectly fine for what I wanted it to serve as.

Mmmmmmmnnnnope.

Brewed a mug of this to sip on while I was cooking supper, and it was NOT good. Very grassy, with a potent sourness to it. Also, a surprisingly large amount of oily scum. Don’t know where that came from, but I did not like it one bit.

Boo hiss.

This is a queued tasting note.

Just another mug from back when it was everyone’s least favourite time of the month. Earthy, grassy, a bit sweet. Not bad. I’m learning to like this one more each time I try it.

I was experiencing some pretty bad cramps earlier in the week, so I broke out the raspberry leaf again and I’ve been enjoying the occasional cup throughout the week. It’s so hard to say whether or not I feel like it’s actually doing anything – but I like the flavour and it’s not making things any worse so I think I’ll continue to incorporate it into my tea drinking routine when I’m feeling crampy…

One of the more interesting cups this week was late at night with some added in coconut milk: it was supper buttery in addition to having its usual comforting vegetal and herbaceous notes and underlying sweetness. It felt really warming; like a big hug from the inside out, and it was really smooth and tasty.

This is a queued tasting note.

Welp; that time of the month so I pulled out the raspberry leaf since it’s supposed to help with cramps/soreness. Don’t know that it really did all that much to help, honestly. However the sweet, herbaceous and grassy notes were quite comforting.

Raspberry leaves are pretty cool things; they’re great during pregnancy and a girl’s best friend during ‘that time of the month’. Plus, it’s just so fluffy and aesthetically pleasing to look at – like marshmallow leaf! I’ve enjoyed them mixed into a few different tisanes, but this is my first time trying them straight.

he description from this company likens raspberry leaf to black tea, but I found the taste quite a bit similar to green tea; very herbaceous and grassy with an almost chlorophyll-like note and the taste of fresh cut lawn trimmings. It was smooth and pleasant while it was hot, but as it cooled it almost took on an unpleasant bitter flavour. Such a drag.

Also, a big downside, for whatever reason this left a ghastly oily green film all along the entire inside of my mug. It was actually quite thick, and really unattractive to look at. Not sure what caused the film; I’ve honestly never had that issue with any other blend that used raspberry leaf but it really detracted from my overall experience.

I’m not sure if what I drank and what this is, is the same, but I this is the only “Tulsi Tea” by this company up here, so I went with it. I’ve been looking for a good Tulsi Tea, since I have been incredibly interested in trying some, and I am so happy that this ended up with me. I drank “Tulsi Delight Tea” which is actually not just straight Tulsi, but it’s an herbal mixture. This is by the same company that I sampled in Sedona, AZ while on vacation, so thats pretty cool to me. The flavor is amazing. I sat out in the rain and meditated while sipping on this. The taste is alike basil except sharp and spicy. The brew is encapsulated with lemon, mint, and a dry vegetal tone. This gives a thick sweet aftertaste and eucalyptus tinge. I was able to get two very strong steepings out of this, and I will definitely be stocking up. This was the perfect brew to a perfect night.

I had this while on vacation in Sedona, Arizona. I stopped for lunch at this beautiful indian gardens restaurant. The atmosphere was spectacular. The table was surrounded by Ivy and wild flowers and Navajo woven blankets covered the chairs. It was good to be back home. I always ask the staff what they recommend for tea, so that I don’t have to make a decision, hahah. The young man behind the counter said that this was by far his favorite. He brewed me a generous and amount and gave me some desert honey to throw in it. The taste was perfect. It had a smooth vanilla base with a tinge of tobacco. The cardamon added a dessert spice and complimented the pepper flavor. The honey encapsulated the entire brew and caused for an enjoyable experience by the red rocks on a brisk day. This was a memorable brew for me :)