Organic India

Tea of the mid-morning here… not a personal favorite in terms of flavor but it’s a good way to get some tulsi in with your caffeine at the same time. :)

Tea of the afternoon here… it’s been a while since I have had any tulsi.

Nice to perk me up on this afternoon!

After lunch tea here, purchased at Whole Foods last night because OF COURSE I need more tea, right?

I was hoping for more of a black tea experience here, but like Lisbet I am mostly tasting plain tulsi and it is very strong, like a minty-herbaly sensation. I don’t mind it, but I guess I could always try blending my own into black tea if I wanted more tea. For an assam, it doesn’t seem that strong.

This stuff is very good for my stress levels and what can I say? Sometimes I am like a delicate flower, especially around this time of year when there’s no sun. It’s nice to make self care a priority. :)

This loose chai masala highlights a special ingredient: tulsi, which is holy basil. Dried tulsi has a sharp, vegetal flavor; a bit spicy, a tad bitter. It has an elusive, floral, spicy bouquet. This chai masala has assam, it is not caffeine free as I’d originally thought, and includes the usual masala suspects. I purchased it from a tea shop that sells loose tea in large canisters, without the ingredients listed, just the name of the tea, which is then scooped into little brown paper bags. Here is a link to the ingredients so that you’ll know just what is going on in this tea:
http://organicindiausa.com/tulsi-chai-masala-tea-loose-leaf-100g-canister/
When you open the bag, you smell the mixed spices, the sweet assam and the tulsi, which has the appearance of dark green bits. The masala is beautifully balanced: no flavor jumps out and demands all the attention, and that’s so important to me in a chai masala. I used one teaspoon to one cup of water, boiling, in a teapot, and steeped for 3 minutes. The brewing tea had such a lovely fragrance: the tea, spices and tulsi created a unique scent. The result was a light, spicy and sweet cup of tea. I added a drop of pure maple syrup; unorthodox, I know, but it complemented the sweetness of the tea and mellowed the aromatic tulsi. This is definitely a unique chai masala for me, and I’m so glad I added it to my cupboard. Will I ever go to India? I close my eyes and sip this tea and imagine it! Next time I will make this on the stovetop, properly!

i stole this tea bag from yogaville! bwahahaha

i took a tea bag of each type of tea with me when i left yogaville for my ever astute tea reviews. i drank this tea the first time i visited yogaville and then again the second time. i plan to go back soon. after i pay off my last vacation.

i’d like to do a week long silent retreat there. there IS a 50/50 chance it would give me a nervous break down, but that’s a chance i’m willing to take in order to find serenity.
ya get me?!

the tulsi teas are all nice and good teas and are a pleasure to drink. (with the exception of one. don’t drink the ‘tummy’ one cuz that one almost made me barf. no lie.)

a wonderfully fruity twist to this already refreshing tea.
i look forward to having it again the next time i visit Yogaville. (i might even have to pocket a few bags to bring back with me.)

BB # 8 for today

Just when I think plain tulsi might bore me – I find a nice, straight-up Tulsi that surprises and satisfies me. It’s comforting and easy to sip. It’s sweet basil-esque but not overly herbally or medicinal tasting. It has that bit of freshness like mint but isn’t peperminty, per say.

This is a mighty fine organic tulsi – all by itself – and darn impressive for a bagged tulsi at that!

this is my first tulsi, but i do think that it is very tasty. I don’t mind the “herbiness,” and the rose is lovely. I’ve only had it hot, but I think it would be great iced. It really does feel like it has some stress-busting benefits, so I should be drinking more!

Another new tea from Vitacost! You can call me the Tulsi Mama!

I steeped this for around 5 minutes or so – it has a nice minty clove flavor from the tulsi. I’m not sure what the gotu kola is contributing here, but it is supposed to be a good herb for memory.

I am enjoying the flavor combination here, nice and mellow. I wish I had some of this yesterday… it’s so calming. :)

Nothing earth shattering but I got a free teabag of this green tulsi tea (I drank an entire tin of the loose leaf version a while back).

I am about to have a panic attack because I have a phone interview coming up soon and I just have too many things to do today! Usually tulsi helps to calm me down. This has a nice, sweet vegetal flavor mixed with the herby/mintiness of the tulsi and is definitely my favorite tea from Organic India.

I used to love this tea but oddly enough it is making my stomach queasy the last few times I have had it – not sure what that’s all about. :(

Will keep my rating where it is for now…

Tea of the afternoon… two cups. I haven’t been drinking as much caffeine lately because I have had insomnia – but tulsi is relaxing and this stuff is pretty good. wish me lots of slumber. :)

Well, it’s a freakishly hot day here in San Francisco for November… no I am not complaining, I love it! I made some of this today in my Teavana glass tumbler (thank you exbf, wherever you are) and it is really good iced, I have to say. Happy Tuesday! :D

I want to get back into drinking more tulsi again, I totally forgot how nice and relaxing it is. This is a nice blend, too! Probably my favorite from Organic India.

Anyone who reads my tea log knows I’m a fan of tulsi! I ordered some stuff from Vitacost recently and decided to throw this in the mix. I know I could just add tulsi to my green tea, but I thought this would be good to have around the office (note: I got the loose leaf tin).

The instructions say steep 3-5 minutes in boiling water, but I was skeptical so I went for a slightly lower temp.

This is really nice! Might be my favorite from Organic India thus far. After inspecting the wet leaf, I would say there is more tulsi than green tea in here. You definitely get the distinctive flavor of minty/clove from the tulsi but there also seems to be a lemony element in here. I’m not sure what the green tea is, certainly it’s nothing fancy but it does mellow out the flavor of tulsi a bit and provides a nice vegetal element. It’s a good blend, simple but effective. The only caveat is the tulsi leaves are ground up very fine and it got kind of messy in the infuser and the sink.

Tulsi always helps me to relax – and I bet this would be really good iced also, will have to try it that way someday…

Thanks to Amy Oh for a sample of this tea!

Yesterday, I had too much caffeine and I hadn’t had a run in a while so I had too much energy in my system. I thought it would be a good time to give some of this herb a try! Well, I wasn’t sure how much leaf to use to I ended up using waaay too much. Urgh.

This morning, I made it again with only 3/4 tsp of leaf for my mug. Perfect! Very herbal and cooling. And spicy! I wonder how this herb is fresh? I bet it’s awesome! Anyway, I’m a fan. :)

tulsi thief! tulsi thief!

i must say, it’s nice to drink something so fresh tasting and clarifying in the late afternoon. the fact that tulsi is stress relieving might actually be accurate! who’da thunk?

i like this.

this was the tea at a 5 day yoga retreat. i drank it non-stop. it added so much to the already amazing experience.

When I went on a search for local honey, my first stop was a small “natural foods” store in town (and yes, they had what I was looking for, yay!). Half of the store is supplements, and then a little of this and little of that. The tea wall was actually pretty big for the size of store, with mostly Celestial Seasonings, Yogi and Traditional Medicinals. But this caught my eye, as I had seen reviews of Tulsi of late, so I settled on this Vanilla choice (only other choice was Raspberry).

This is a blend of 3 different types of Tulsi (Holy Basil), along with some rooibos, chamomile and vanilla flavor. The first time I tried it with T. of honey, it was too sweet. Unsweetened it is not sweet at all, so after tasting without, I’m adding 2 tsp. honey. The honey really brings out the clove note that some associate with tulsi. I’m a fan of clove, so this is perfect. There’s a hint of apple, or other fruit that makes it seems a little like an apple pie (spiced with cinnamon and clove). Some have mentioned a mint note on other tulsi blends, but not getting it in this. Vanilla impression, a little.

I’m retesting so that I can test 3 Upton offerings of Holy Basil varieties. BH02 (Holy Basil Purple Leaf) has no spicy or noticeable flavoring type scents. BH03 (Wild Forest Holy Basil, aka Vana Tulsi, aka clove basil) has a licorice scent. BH06 (now BH08) (Holy Basil Green Leaf) does have more of a mint scent that the others (with spice). I wish I knew the ratio on this tea, so can duplicate (will attempt).

Lately I’ve been so stressed out, I’m only a month into my job search and already kind of a basket case. I wish I would at least start getting some phone calls. It’s hard not to worry about these things.

I bought a big tin of this a while ago and I still have quite a bit left. I don’t know if it’s losing some potency, but it still seems good to me. I like tulsi with other things, so this afternoon I mixed it with some assam tea and then added soymilk and sugar. I like this combination, it gives the assam a minty, earth flavor.

Must chill out….. :)

Made my own custom blend combining this, spearmint and lemon verbena then poured over ice. It’s pretty good this way!

I’ve been experimenting a bit with this tulsi lately and I am finding it is good with some dried lemon peel and a bit of lemongrass. I also stuck some in the fridge to cold brew so I’ll see how that is tomorrow.

I was right about this original (unflavored) Tulsi and what I wanted to mix it with. It’s very good with a pinch of lemon verbena and some lemongrass. I’m drinking a giant mug full right now and it’s delicious…