Comforting

I’m now back in Alberta staying with my mom until mid-June or so. She has been ill and is due for surgery. I brought a whole bunch of tea home with me but still, there is now only so much I can drink over the next month. Plus I’m in the middle of nowhere so it’s not like I can skip down the street and try something out at a DavidsTea or Steeps or something.

Anyway, we were killing some time in Edmonton and walked past an Aveda and stepped in. I used to LOVE this tea. But this was back when I wasn’t really into loose tea yet and spending $27.50 on 140g of loose leaf sounded crazy (actually, for peppermint leaves and licorice root, it still is a little steep).

Wow, is the licorice root ever sweet. My tastes must have changed because I used to be nuts over that natural sweetness. Combined with the refreshing peppermint, this was my favourite pick-me-up tea (a co-worker shared some of her jar with me so I used to obsessively drink this and hoard it).

Now, it’s much too sweet for me. My mom even tried it and thought that it was borderline artificially sweet for her, like Splenda or something. And yeah, it definitely leaves a weird sensation at the back of your mouth.

But I still see the appeal and from a business perspective, I can see why Aveda chose this as their tea to serve to customers.

One of my fave go-to relaxing teas. I’ve had the bagged version multiple times, but just decided to treat myself to the loose tea variety. I’m in heaven! I always let this steep for the length of the cup, which brings out that licorice sweetness. I did the same thing with the loose leaf variety, which leads to a much stronger and spicier cuppa.

My only issue with the bagged variety is how expensive it is – $17 for a box! But it’s extra indulgent and helps headaches/migraines. Hey, I should be able to write this off as a health expense or at least get HSA reimbursement! ;)

If anyone ever wants to order this, we could split the order to save on shipping. This is one I’ve got to have on hand for the daily migraines, and when I need a little bit of spa. :)

This is definitely an interesting experience. The aroma gets you a hint of that peppermint/licorice/menthol smell found in lots of more generic herbal teas. It also has an oddly rusty smell, almost as if I were drinking from a metal container (which I am not). It’s not what I expected, but that’s not a bad thing at this point.

The first sip is…unexpected. I was looking for a strong menthol flavor and was instead hit by a overwhelming sweetness. I immediately turned to ask the gf if she put a bunch of sugar in it but was cut off by a cough caused by the sweetness that flowed to the back of my throat. In fact, she didn’t add anything to this and it’s just naturally crazy sweet.

A few more sips and I started to acclimate to the intense sweetness of the tea. Seriously, I can’t understand how they make the tea this sweet, but they do, and they do it well. As someone who likes things on the very sugary to the super sweet side, this is something I could drink often – not as often as a good clean oolong, but maybe even like a semi-consistent dessert tea. Now that I’ve had it I can totally understand why it’s served at a salon/spa.

If you’re open to really sweet teas, this pulls it off and does it without help. If you’re a purist, you’re probably not going to like this one.

Ah, Aveda tea. If you’ve ever had an appointment at an Aveda salon, you probably have tried this tea. Or, if you’ve tried their Peppymint drops, this tastes like a tea version of those. Now, I don’t like plain peppermint tea, and I don’t like the hibiscus that most companies add to their herbal blends, so this is a great alternative for me. It’s made up of only four ingredients, all of which are organic: licorice root, peppermint leaf, sweet fennel, and basil. Yes, there’s peppermint in there, but I like it. I just don’t like the way peppermint tea tastes by itself, but I like the “cooling” effect it adds to this tea. Licorice root is the primary component (the tea looks like it’s made up of thick chunks of bark). The tea tastes more sweet than like licorice to me—I know it’s the licorice that’s providing the sweetness, but it doesn’t taste like licorice. Ack, this isn’t making much sense…hopefully you get what I mean though. I’m sensitive to sweet and cloying tastes, but I’m fine with this one because it’s the aftertaste that is cooling and sweet, not the tea itself. . The other thing I like about this tea is that it’s hard to oversteep this tea. It never ends up tasting like a cup of liquid herbs (there’s basil and fennel in there, but I can’t taste them). No single note stands out. It just tastes good, and sweet, and refreshing. I’m giving this a high rating because it has never let me down.

What got me started drinking tea. Before this, I thought all teas smelled pretty and tasted like hot water (but nice-scented water!). I always went for fruity teas and came away disappointed because I unconsciously expected them to taste like fruit juice. I love this tea—straight mint teas I don’t like the taste of, but the licorice root (as well as the warm spicy notes of basil and fennel) rounds out the light minty taste in an amazing way. I originally bought a jar of this for $24 (Aveda is expensive!), then, when I finished it, I found the ratios of the four ingredients online and mixed it myself with herbs from the co-op. It tasted even better and fresher and only cost $3 to refill the whole jar. Woo! This is a perennial favorite.

Just finished a relaxing 90 minute couples massage at Lifetime Fitness. It was wonderful and I can say it was the best message I have ever had. As for the tea I was offered a drink of water or tea and of course I picked tea. What an interesting experience. It was very soothing, and had some spices. Not sure I can have it all the time. I just don’t think I can even put this in a tea category. I couldn’t even tell it was black tea. Nevertheless, it tasted pretty good in a weird way.

The person I’m staying with during my visit to San Francisco had this tea in her cupboard. The peppermint and herbs give it a unique aroma, and at first sip, interesting is the first word that comes to mind. It leaves you with just a trace of licorice on the insides of your teeth, and the sweetness lingers. For a long time.

In Shanti’s review, she said it tasted like “liquid herbs” and I think that’s the perfect description. I’ve had a similar experience with a rooibos/rosemary-blended tea and in both cases, the sweet finish is nice at first, but by the end of the cup gets cloying. To the point where I can’t finish the entire cup.

It’s definitely worth a try, but in the end, I personally wouldn’t go out of my way to pick up a bottle of this (it comes in a medicinal brown bottle) for my cupboard.

I’ve gone through numerous jars of this tea. I’ve enjoyed it after a stressful work day, after dealing with personal chaos, or when I just feel like I need something to balance or refresh my senses. As a fan of Aveda in general, this really does feel like it belongs in their product line. Somehow it captures the same essence that the rest of the brand embodies. This stuff tastes great (not like licorice, even though it does contain it), has a natural sweetness, and is almost impossible to over-steep.

I can actually feel myself starting a serious cold/sore throat but I was been stuck at a friend’s house all day, far from my stash of Aveda tea. I drank a few cups of teas he had on hand but they weren’t doing much to soothe the scratchiness. So… as soon as I returned to my own home this was the first thing I reached for. It’s not a substitute for medicine, but it makes my symptoms a little more bearable.

Backlogging:

I had a cup of this last night at my aunt’s house – she has quite a nice tea collection aswell. ;)

There as too much sweet licorice root in this tea for my tastes though. It’s a taste that I’m used to associating with medicinal tea so that’s what this tea reminded me of.

backlogging: I had half of a cup of this the other day, and then realized the tea was out of date (like back to 2008). So, it’s out of my cupboard. I wondered why it didn’t taste like the extremely comforting tea I get in the Aveda stores and salons!