Thistle & Sprig Tea Co.

ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge – “An impulse buy tea”

This was an online impulse purchase. Had never heard of this company, but somehow stumbled upon this tea on their website and it just sounded too interesting to pass up.

It’s an interesting one. The beginning of the sip is heavy on the mint and then the end is so thyme-forward it makes you wonder if you’re drinking some kind of dried herb blend meant for rubbing on a chicken. I made sure to get several allspice berries in the spoon, and I’m still not sure I taste them at all? Though something is leaving an odd, almost numbing sensation on my tongue. And then there’s that lingering savory thyme finish…

A bit odd, but not unenjoyable. I think the sweetness of the allspice would help to counterbalance the thyme, so I wish I could taste more of it. Or perhaps a dash of cinnamon wouldn’t go amiss.

Thyme forward. Savory and at times I did think to myself, could I baste a chicken in this? Weird combination to get used to. I brought it with me to work after my initial cup so I’d be forced to drink it. Once I got to the bottom of the canister I came to miss it as my daily tea.

This tea tastes like someone tried to make a chai out of a cinnamon black tea. It never quite strikes the right note with me.

Sipdown! (22 | 296)

So this was a free sample that came with my order. I found this company randomly while I was looking for something else, and they have a blend called Wintertide that sounded too interesting to pass up – it’s peppermint, thyme, and allspice. So of course, I had to order that ha ha, and they were kind enough to throw in a little baby single-serve packet of this chai as a sample! :) The packaging is adorable.

Now I’m not a big chai drinker in general, though I actually did just order a few from The Chai Box because it’s getting to be that time of year, and I’m hoping to get more into it. This one seems like a fairly standard chai – black tea with ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove. Not that I know what’s actually “standard” in India but I feel like these are the spices I see most often.

The description calls it ginger & cinnamon forward, but actually I feel like I’m tasting quite a lot of cardamom. The ginger is strong as well, and I would say that those two spices are the defining flavors here. Cardamom is lovely, it has such an interesting citrusy-spicy-floral flavor to it. I do taste cinnamon as well, which adds sweetness and a cozy warmth. The clove is light compared to the others, which I appreciate, as I feel like clove can very easily overwhelm other flavors and I’m not a huge fan of its tongue-numbing qualities ha ha.

So yeah, this is a very nice, fresh-tasting chai blend. I find it to be well-balanced, and I can taste all of the ingredients, which I like. It does have a very slightly dry texture, but I think it’s from the cinnamon, and not astringency from the black tea.

Happy Chaiday Friday! :P