Earth's Herbal

Homemade Advent Calendar from Arby: Day 17

Had this one last night while finishing up my final paper for this semester… so close to being done! Then I’m on break from my internship AND taking PTO from work, so I’ll have about a week and a half of freedom while visiting family for the holidays. I can’t wait to lie around in my pajamas reading, drinking tea, and playing Sims 4 for far too many hours, then going for a nice long run and zoning out to a podcast.

Anyway, the tea! I’ve never really cared for root beer proper, but I tend to enjoy root beer-inspired tisanes. This one was a little odd to me, though — I swear I mostly tasted musty chamomile! The sarsaparilla was sadly muted, so it was more of a fennel and chamomile deal. I’m not going to rate it because I suspect I didn’t have the appropriate ratio of ingredients.

Homemade advent Day #2

I was very suprised when I went to add this tea to the database and found out its ingredients. I thought I had the wrong tea until I looked at the photos of the blend. I think the website only lists some of the ingredients rather than the main base ingredients.

This tastes primarily of mint, raspberry leaf, and rose. It is quite floral and has a suggestion of sweetness from the raspberry leaf but is not as sweet as I would have hoped given the strawberry and coconut. I did not taste any strawberry, cocoa nibs, or coconut. I’m very disappointed by the idea that both of my cups had none of the featured ingredients that I could make out.

Sipdown (330)

I am trying to get my cupboard under control which involves bringing down the number of teas I have but also finishing off older teas. This is a tea that Arby was kind enough to share in June 2017. I haven’t gotten around to drinking it for whatever reason but today it seemed like an easy sipdown.

I debated about icing it or making it hot but I went with hot. Scentwise, both the dry leaf and steeped tea smell like root beer. Alas, tastewise, fennel really takes over and this leans more to licorice than anything else.

Thank you Arby for sharing! Even though this wasn’t to my tastes, it was fun to try a new tea company.

I was a little skeptical when first opening up this tea, as it contained copious amounts of orange peel, and I am not one for very pronounced citrus flavours. The aroma however, was enchanting. Right away I was completely captivated with the unexpectedly subtle tang of the orange and the wonderful smell of cinnamon.

As for the actual taste of the tea, I am incredibly happy with it! The taste of the orange is more sweet than sour, and the cinnamon taste is very pronounced, although not overly spicy. There seems to be a small note of allspice in their as well which is very nice. Now, the tea is called “Herbal Spice”, but Earth’s Herbal being odd (and moderately stingy) as it is, it doesn’t actually have a list of ingredients. The tea base itself tastes and appears to be a black tea (possibly Assam because of the look and taste), but I can’t be completely sure about it. Since it says Herbal I am assuming it is decaffeinated but I may be wrong as the flavour is still quite strong. In any case, it is a deliciously simple tea that definitely puts me into the Christmas season. I will also try it as a tea latte and review again.

Victoria had a very small Tea Festival this past weekend. It was a cute setup, outside in a little covered courtyard. Less than 10 tables/vendors. I enjoyed sampling some new teas and speaking with the vendors/tea crafters. Lily from Earth’s Herbal was sampling much of her line. The brands on her tea tins are fun and colourful. This black rose tea smelled just wonderful in the tin. Large rose petals intermix with black tea leaves. Brewed up it has a delicate, floral flavour that pairs nicely with the black tea. Quite enjoyable.

I think this tea is super interesting not only in taste but also in ingredients! The company states that it contains the authentic ingredients used to make rootbeer (without all the sugar of course), which is super cool! If you’re expecting it to taste like a bottle of rootbeer, you are mistaken, but it still has some really lovely herbal flavours and that subtle rooty taste! Very good!

Homemade Advent Calendar #1

Every way I brew this tea it tastes delicious. I tried it broth hot (10 minute long steep) and cold (even longer steep). The hot cup had more ginger and fennel but still was well balanced and had a hint of sweetness like dried grass. Lots of intricate spices and herbs happening with a bit of creaminess. I think this comes from the sarsasparilla root. I’m a huge spearmint fan so that also makes this a nice blend.

Cold – Steeped 6+ hours and really enjoyed this cup as well. I get more spearmint and less spicy notes from the fennel and ginger. I’m not sure if there is cinnamon in here but it almost reminds me of that. I think I can taste vanilla or something creamy but it is less creamy than the first steep where I had it hot.

This is very, very tasty. IT doesn’t taste so much like rootbeer, but it does taste a lot like spearmint and sarsaparilla. I can also taste vanilla and some other herbs. It is really nice in the evening when you want to avoid caffeine.

Light and flavourful.