Here is a tea I picked up at the Portland Saturday Market in March of 2017 when I was on vacation in Portland with a friend. I had a blast that day; it’s like a farmer’s market on steroids! Nil Organic Tea was a tea vendor booth I found there, that makes their own tea blends using organic ingredients. This was one of the sampler teas they had at their booth, prepared iced, and I enjoyed the flavor and had made it my goal to learn to make iced tea that summer so I picked it up. Note I grabbed their herbal blend of this tea; something notable about this company is they offer herbal and tea versions of most of their blends!
My most hated tea I’ve tried to date has been Traditional Medicinals bagged raspberry leaf tea, but I actually really enjoy this tea, and it is very raspberry leaf-heavy! It does have some noticeable grassy flavor notes in the base from that ingredient, but since this tea uses a lot of (trigger warning, I’m about to use the dreaded h-word here on Steepster!) hibiscus petals, it has a very tart and tangy flavor that helps me out a lot when it comes to tolerating the raspberry leaf (and I’m really in need of it right now for some hormonal health issues). The tea also has some nice citrusy lime notes, but they aren’t overwhelming like the Lime Pistachio tea from Fusion Teas that I tried not long ago… here the lime is blended in with the fruit punch hibiscus flavor and the grassiness of the raspberry leaf so it feels more like a cohesive lime fruit punch.
Over the last year I’ve tried this tea warm, warm brewed and then chilled, made into tea pops, and cold brewed, with varying levels of success. To me, the flavor profile just doesn’t really work for me as a hot tea, and I find it has a nice, full flavor when prepared iced both prepared warm and then chilled or simply cold brewed from the start, so now I opt to just cold brew it for an easy batch of lime-flavored fruity tea that helps me get that raspberry leaf down. The tea pops weren’t a bad way to go either, but I haven’t figured out the proper way to sweeten them yet, and when I make it as iced tea, I find I don’t even need to add sweetener, since my tongue takes those tart n’ tangy flavors like a champ. As a popsicle, it just seemed strange without some sweetness. With a bit of practice I’m sure I’ll figure out the proper sweetener-to-tea ratios before freezing, though.
This is a refreshing iced tea and I’m sure I’ll be finishing it off this summer. It’s quite the testament that it manages to make raspberry leaf palatable for me!
Full review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/08/22/tea34/
Flavors: Citrus, Fruit Punch, Grass, Hibiscus, Lime, Tangy, Tart
As someone who really likes the taste of medicinal teas if you don’t like Raspberry leaf tea then you probably won’t like milk thistle tea either.
Well, it at least seems as long as the raspberry leaf is well enough blended with other flavors that I don’t taste it, or at least don’t taste it very strongly so it’s muted a bit or just in the background, I can handle it. I definitely can’t take it plain though. I have never tried milk thistle, but if I ever see it lurking in anything I’ll try to make sure it’s blended with some pretty dominant flavors too, then!