Echinacea Immune Support

Steeped 8:30 (5-10 recommended). Smells very medicinal, tastes very herbal – tolerable, actually, but not one I’d drink for “fun”

hope it keeps me sore throat from becoming anything worse. There’s a nasty cold/bronchitis going around…

Almost everyone at work has been calling in sick lately ( I should know, I have to find their replacements!). I drank this one this morning as an attempt to bolster my immune system. My sister gave this tea to me as it was not to her liking. I would probably have never bought it myself, my last attempts at drinking anything with echinacea have gone terribly wrong. Upon deciding to drink it, I figured I could at least try choking it down for my health. I was wrong! This is actually pretty pleasant and quite drinkable. It’s kinda minty, and yes the echinacea is there but its not too pungent and kinda sweet. Would I choose to drink it if it were not cold season? Probably not, but for this purpose, this is the best I’ve tried by far!

This, to me, tastes pretty much like all herbal teas taste. Call me a snob, but to me they all taste the same, and this is how they taste.

But I am fighting off a cold, so here I am.

I think I like Traditional Medicinals’ better, but this is a perfectly good herbal medicinal tea. Primary flavors are lemon and mint, with a bit of cinnamon spice. Not overly bitter, but I added honey anyway.

I’m never really sure that I believe all of the hype swirling around echinacea, but then again I rarely choose to use it unless I’m already sick—when it’s too late.

Tonight I decided to imbibe a couple of cups of Yogi Echinacea Immune Support because I had a horribly stressful day thanks to my insane new landlord who told me that I must vacate the apartment where I’ve lived for ten (count ‘em 10) years in one (count it 1) month. Oh, or else I can pay triple my current rent, that’s right: $3K. But I’ll still have to leave after another month anyway, even if I pay $3K, because they are planning to renovate the whole space. So as you can see my charge of insanity is not hyperbolic in the least. My only consolation is that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has tenant-friendly laws.

I am drinking this infusion to stave off whatever stress-induced illness may descend upon me, and all the more because the temperature seems to be hovering around single digits again, with another snowstorm on the way. That’s right: I’m supposed to sort through, pack, and move ten years of accumulated “stuff”, in addition to finding a new place to live, all in one month. The guy is nuts, and I see a court appearance in my not-too-distant future. With this kind of scandalous behavior (the nasty threats have already begun!) he’ll probably go all out and unambiguously violate the criminal law code by changing the locks on me or turning off the utilities (in winter!) or some other typical maneuver by this type of extreme loser. Yes, those are crimes in the state of Massachusetts, so all I can say is: bring it on!

So the tea. It’s slightly sweet because of the licorice root (and stevia?), but honestly it’s a tough call trying to even guess what else is in here. The ingredients list boasts an amazing array of herbs and spices:

peppermint, lemongrass, three (count ’em 3) kinds of echinacea root, cinnamon, licorice root, spearmint leaf, fennel seed, lemon flavor, cardamom seed, echinacea extract, rose hip, ginger root, burdock root, clove, mullein leaf (what is that????), stevia leaf, black pepper (a Yogi favorite…), astragalus root extract, elderberry extract, cinnamon oil, cardamom oil, ginger oil.

It’s a mostly organic blend, and with all of that stuff in it, no wonder I cannot describe the flavor. It’s fine for a functional herbal tisane. Let’s hope it works!

I believe that this was a sip down. One less thing to pack.

As soon as I opened the packet, my first thought was “Dammit, Yogi! Do you have to put licorice in EVERYTHING?” It was all I could smell. Licorice and maybe berry.

However, I can’t taste it in the tea itself. It’s not that I hate licorice, I just don’t like it when it overwhelms. Which it does a lot with Yogi teas, in my opinion. Anyway, this stuff isn’t bad. The main flavors I detect are spearmint, lemongrass, a little cinnamon, and that herbal tea flavor I can never really put my finger on. I wouldn’t drink it again, but it isn’t terrible.

Single bag from a tea box. It’s a little naturally sweet from the licorice. I also get a light cinnamon and mint. All the herbs combine pleasantly, so it tastes generically herbal, but good.

Meh, more general herbal flavor, not bad but not noticeably helpful either. I suppose it doesn’t help that all these teas are so old, oh well.

When I’m looking for some immune support, I can slurp this stuff down like crazy. I probably wouldn’t seek it out for the taste alone, although it’s pleasant enough.

This is has been my go to tea for the last 3 months. Its delicious, not boring so I can drink it day after day, not sweet. Just a nice herbal cuppa tea.