Holy Basil Spa Blend

Tonight, one of the 5 tea’s that granddaughter Schey and I tasted was this alchemy blend. I knew that Schey is fond of mint so I saved it for a cool 4th tea tasting right before the finale 5th tea (Laoshan Chai). I was correct in my thinking that this would appeal to her. The peppermint is not overwhelming and the flavors are blended in subtlety. No artifical flavors. No caffeine. This tasted really, really good!
I told Schey that I had often made this particular tea iced which was refreshing. Later I showed how several blends work well together. I often take some Holy Basil Spa Blend and mix it with a bit of Pu-erh and bottle the blend for on the go iced tea. Yum! So rich from the pu-erh and cool at the same time from the mint. The combination is great for curbing hunger and lagging energy during long drives or shopping trips. I just stick a bottle or two in a cooler sack and off I go.

Next, we watched a Verdant TV Video about how to serve tea showing the equipment to use, and how to be considerate to guests when serving tea.
The shared moments that I have with my lovely, bald (cut her hair off in support of her Godmother who has cancer) 18 year old granddaughter are priceless!

Happy Mothers Day to my tea friends, and Happy Grandmothers Day to a few oldsters.

Woke up way earlier than was my plan. I decided I wanted something warm to drink, but with the hope of going back to sleep I chose this over caffeinated tea. This is one of my favorite herbals. I sometimes think the fennel is going to be too much because the smell of it is so strong, but it’s always well balanced with the mint, ginger, and licorice root.

I couldn’t fall back asleep, but having a quiet house all to myself is a treat in and of itself.

Wow this was great!! Thanks so much to Azzrian for the sample!
I love non-traditional spicy teas and this really fits the bill. Parsley tea(my first herb tea), and now basil! what’s next? :)
Anyhow… It had that soupy sort of sweet yet pungent aroma and flavour to match. After noticing all the fennel seeds I was a little concerned, as I don’t much like fennel. or licorice for that matter, and I’m iffy on ginger… wow I should really not be liking this! But surprise! Everything pulls together splendidly in this blend. I think it’s the fennel and ginger that give it a little kick in just the right way. Mmmmm!!

This a tasty and lovely herbal blend from Verdant tea. If you read my tealog, you may know I am a fan of tulsi but some blends are better than others, of course. The peppermint and the spearmint are a nice compliment to the tulsi here, which I am having after lunch. The licorice is adding a touch of sweetness, the ginger is not very strong here which is too bad, I could havve used a bit mre but I’m a ginger freak. Overall, I think this is an excellent blend and really relaxing. Too bad I’m not at a spa. :)

Thanks to Terri HarpLady for a sample of this!

Another bit of backlogging. I drank so much tea yesterday and was so bad at writing most of it down I don’t know where to start, so I’ll start here:

Last night after all my different tea drinking escapades, I started to get a stomach ache. I know mint and tulsi are good for the stomach, so I broke out this tea. The great thing about herbals is that you can stick ‘em in a T-sac, throw boiling water over it, and let it sit forever, and when you’re not feeling well, minimal maintenance is always a good thing.

This was a very pleasant tea. Minty, but not overly so. I didn’t even realize this had licorice in it because it was not prominent at all, and I’m a big licorice hater.

Overall a very nice herbal tea with lots of different flavors and not a single overpowering one.

Picked up a small sample of this in my Verdant Black Friday order. I suspected I wouldn’t like it, but I can’t help my curiousity. Sure enough, blech. Too much mint for me, although the other flavours (I’m not sure exactly what I was picking up, but it was a bit spicy and herbalish) definitely improved it beyond a standard mint tea. However, my mom (who likes mint tea) really enjoyed it! I re-steeped it twice for her before throwing out the leaves, and will leave the rest of my packet (a cup left, I assume) for her to enjoy. I’m hoping to do this with a bunch of other teas I brought as well (i.e. brew up, let mom try, and leave with her if I don’t like it).

No rating from me; it’s mint, and mint is yucky.

SIPDOWN! Thanks to Indigobloom for this sample. I don’t think i would have otherwise picked this up on my own from verdant, but now that I’ve had it, i might consider keeping a small stock of this one around. I am digging the way the basil and mint blend together! Really glad i jumped at the chance to give this one a whirl :)

Backlogging from last week.

Sample I requested with my package. I didn’t want to buy a full ounce of this because licorice is in the ingredients and I’m not a fan of licorice. I do enjoy tulsi and mint though and had to give it a try.

Upon opening the pack I immediately smelled the mint and tulsi. I saw little bits of fennel and what I guess is the burdock root. I took a little nibble at it and it wasn’t licorice, it kind of tasted like dry bark, earthy.

Taste was nice and earthy tulsi with a little bit of spice from the fennel. The mint was more of a feeling than a taste. The licorice appeared in the aftertaste, but it wasn’t too bad, sort of mellow, it wasn’t that overwhelming cloying sweetness in the back of the throat that I usually experience.

This isn’t bad for an herbal blend with licorice. I would only drink this once in a while though.

I took a break from writing for an hour, as I had a student. I needed to get away from caffeine, at least for a little while, so I had a cup of this. Although I’m not always into spearmint, which seems to be the predominant flavor, I do like most of the other ingredients: licorice root, burdock root, & Ginger are wonderful. Mostly, I just needed something free of caffeine & not sweet, & this did hit the spot!

Another tea-food review.

I made vegetable soup with a chicken broth base. In addition to black pepper and garlic, I added a tsp of this for seasoning. It was mostly for the basil, but the peppermint, ginger, and fennel work really well too. It give the tea a slightly sweet but salty flavour. I was worried about the peppermint but it works really well. I didn’t have to add any bouillon for extra taste.

Since my tea cupboard is overflowing, this one just might have to move to the spice shelf.