Tulsi Green Tea

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. :)

A very lovely lady left a few Organic India Tulsi teabags for me in the hostel at the Providence Alaska Medical Center, and so I tried this one yesterday. I’m used to black tea mainly and appreciate green tea, but I have never tried a tulsi tea. The first thing I noticed was how delicate the scent and taste were. It took a bit of time for the tea to steep for me — more than 6 minutes, I’d say. The scent and taste are pretty light unless oversteeped, but the general taste is warm and somewhat savory, and it gets better with milk (I know I’m not the only one who puts milk in green tea). I’m much more used to stronger teas, but this really calmed me down and made me happy — happy enough to do the dishes from about ten other people in the hostel*. I do believe that I’m getting more used to green teas, too, and I was really satisfied with the green tea base in this tea.

*If you use a public kitchen, please clean up after yourself; it’s just general hospitality and the other people using it won’t be angry at you (or throw away the deep frying oil you’re not supposed to use because it’s messy and smelly).

A little green tea, herbal, medicinal.
My mom stocked a box or two of this in her tea cabinet while I was growing up in her house. It was not something I drank for the flavor.

It still isn’t, but I appreciate the apparent health benefits. It’s not bad so far as bagged tea goes with a little variety in the tastes that come through.

dry grass or hay, maybe even a little citrus bite at the end?
It reminds me of chamomile tea but with more flavor, and I’m going to place it pretty high for a bagged offering for the uniqueness and range of flavors present. Why not!

The tongue feel offers a little lingering sweetness, call it hui gan, if you will.

This is actualy quite good green, actually when sourced from tea bag. I have no idea how it has appeared in my cupboard though, but it was there and I felt like I really need some green tea, if possible pure one – but Tulsi sounded somehow good this morning too.

And it turned out pretty decent – and how I have expected it.
It is refreshing green tea with earthy notes of tulsi. And that earthy flavours were pretty nice there. Although I usually do not look for them, it has worked very well today and enjoyable. It added someting extra to it. Not a wow.

This is one of my absolutely favorite teas (unless I brew it too strong). It has kind of a semi-sweet, earthy/grassy component to it, almost has an incredibly delicate citrus backnote? It’s really difficult to pin. Tulsi itself is supposed to be an adaptogen and have all kinds of beneficial properties (immune system, energy, etc). I adore it. Not sure when I got hooked on it but always keep a box or two handy. I should probably add I’m not a big fan of green teas (prefer black with a shot of almond milk) but this still blew me away.

This is my favorite bag green tea by far. I have at least 2 cups of this almost every day.