Numi Organic Tea

I finally found another tea person at work, so I’ve been bringing her teabags of things to try, and today she brought me this, which I haven’t tried before.

I was a bit skeptical about grocery store bagged pu’erh, since that tea type is already not my favorite, but this is surprisingly pretty nice. It is very earthy and almost a little vegetal but it doesn’t taste “dirty” or “fishy.” I’m not getting the cocoa very strongly, but it does add a little richness to the base and the spices are quite lovely… the nutmeg is really popping for me which gives it a nice autumnal vibe.

I’m not sure if this is something I’d always keep in my cupboard, but I certainly wouldn’t mind a box of this around autumn when the mornings are frigid and gentle spices are so comforting.

This one is pretty straighforward. It’s Jasmine Green, what you see is what you get. Although both the green tea and jasmine are a little weak, it’s a pleasant enough cuppa. The jasmine is well-done and not perfumey. The tea base is a bog standard green bancha.

Do keep an eye on steeping times, this one turns bitter fast. The green tea is not the finest quality and oversteeping will turn it undrinkable.

Wanted something totally different for today…mission accomplished. I swear I am getting licorice/anise notes in here, but none are listed. I brewed for 6 minutes rather than the recommended 8-10 as it was plenty strong for me already.

Obviously, heavy tumeric presence here, but the overall taste is somewhat savoury, almost like some sort of medicinal broth Grandma would have made you when you were home sick. Definitely a smoky/earthy sip. I do like a smoky cuppa, so it’s satisfying and very warming on a cold winter morning. No heat from this tumeric blend, despite it claiming cinnamon. I didn’t get that at all.

I like it, but I wouldn’t want to drink it every day. It just gives me “sick in bed” vibes through no fault of its own.

Day 15 tea from Numi’s Christmas-Countdown calendar

This tea does not move me. Weak and bland. No thank you.

Day 13 tea from Numi’s Christmas-Countdown calendar

You know, it’s not so bad. I can see this becoming an acquired taste for me. I haven’t been too fond of rooibos blends in the past – but I’m just picky about blends. Solo rooibos might have to join my cupboard for an extended test run. As for this specific version, the flavor is strong, though I don’t know that I can credit Numi so much as the bold character of rooibos.

Day 9 tea from Numi’s Christmas-Countdown calendar.

The white tea base tempers the floral top note nicely. Mild, but not in a bad way. It’s a little weird to drink what smells like a posh hand cream, but could be an acquired taste.

Day 6 tea from Numi’s Christmas-Countdown Calendar.

Am I the only one who gets smoky notes from this? I’m not getting the raisin and malt as as other reviewers have. It’s a good tea. I’d drink it again, but with so many other preferred blacks, I probably won’t seek this one out.

Day 5 tea from Numi’s Christmas-Countdown calendar.

I can’t recall if I’ve had honeybush before. I’ve probably had it in a blend, but not straight up like this. Maybe I have. My early tea-tasting days are a blur now. At any rate, I like it better than Rooibus. But then watch me try the Rooibus coming up in the calendar and suddenly like that too. The first few days of this Numi calendar have shown me that my palate might be changing. Or maybe I never gave the teas I thought I didn’t like enough chances by exploring different brands and sources.

Though I might acquire some Honeybush for my cupboard after this cup, I probably won’t be buying the bagged Numi version. As with the Numi Gunpowder Green that I tried yesterday, I found the flavor too mild. Perhaps two teabags could solve this, but I’d rather just get it loose.

Day 4 tea from Numi’s Christmas-Countdown calendar.

Underwhelming, but not unpleasant. I’m not keen on Gunpowder greens, but I can drink them. I wonder, though, if a stronger flavor wouldn’t have made this less tolerable to me.

What a heartwarming and earthy sip! I don’t recall having tried a turmeric tea before, but I’m loving this one. I’m not big on rooibos, but all I taste here is earth and spice. This is a winter tea, a root chakra tea, a recharging-after-a-long-day-out tea.

Pretty standard-issue immune-support tea – an herbaceous sip followed up by a sweet aftertaste. I didn’t detect the ginger, which is a good thing for me, since I don’t like the flavor of ginger. I can’t say that I’d reach for this tea over any other comparable immune tea, but I’d drink it again if it was the one in the cupboard when I needed an immune boost.

I haven’t had an earl grey in years, decades even. I didn’t like the first cup I ever tried and never gave it a second chance. I have vague memories of trying a tea with bergamot since then and only confirming my dislike of bergamot. But my mother purchased me Numi’s Christmas-Countdown tea calendar, and I told her and my father (who is especially fond of Earl Grey) that I’d go in with a beginner’s palate. And what do you know? I don’t hate it. Is Numi’s version so good and the others so bad? Or has my palate evolved? Or is it the magic of the holiday season making things taste better? xD

The first couple of sips come on powerful, like I’m ingesting an essential oil full strength. This is part of what turned me off from bergamot in the past. But it didn’t turn me off this time. As I continued to sip, the flavor mellowed out as my taste adjusted to the experience.

All in all, a worthy tea to kick off the month of December

I spotted this in the grocery store around New Year’s and grabbed it on a whim (don’t we all browse the tea aisle even though we have a lifetime supply of tea waiting for us at home??). I’m not usually a big fan of Numi’s teas but like this one. I’ve been drinking it semi-regularly over the last couple months. It’s been reasonably forgiving of temperature and steep time mishaps. I’ve been making up a big travel mug of it to help me through the never-ending hours of hand embroidering a baby blanket for my latest niece (115+hrs into it, remind me why I thought this was a good idea). It takes about 4 teabags to get a decent strength brew in my 16oz mug but the tea is a nice light, sweet green. It did get bitter the time I forgot it was steeping and then realized the teabags were still in there a couple hours later but that’s kind of to be expected. Leaving it that long, it was the citrus that became bitter and overpowered flavor of the tea leaves. At that point it reminded me of a citrus tea I have that’s supposed to be like digestive bitters, one of the Traditional Medicinals ones, I think (Blood Orange?).
The one small thing I’m not crazy about with this tea is the smell of the used teabags. When I remember to, I try to collect my used tea leaves in a bucket and then they go out to the compost pile when I’ve accumulated enough to be worth the trip up the hill. Most other teas are fine if the leaves sit for a couple days before they get taken out but the Yuzu Bancha has a tendency to become rather stinky quickly. I’d blame it on the yuzu peel but I don’t have this problem with chenpi or other citrus teas.

Second tea from Devon handmade advent calendar. Thank you!

Well, my tummy is upset today, my back hurts… it seems I maybe caught something on the vacation. Hopefully it’s not Covid. But there was some fever in the train including gastric flu. Maybe that’s it… or I just jumped too hard back into work or it is something completely different.

As pu-erhs can be good for digestion, or at least it is sometimes claimed, I was happy to see it. I was ready for really robust, strong and full-flavoured tea.

However, it was somehow weak? I have steeped it for recommended 5 minutes but it was quite flat and not much chocolaty at all?

It was rooibos-y with hints of cinnamon for me. But alas, my senses are not up to par, so I won’t rate this one.

Day 12 of my Steepster homemade advent calendar from Kelmishka. This has a nice citrusy zing. I assume that’s the ginger, since I can’t taste it otherwise. It also has a licorice sweetness for which YMMV. There’s a nice little kick at the end of the sip, which lingers afterwards along with the licorice. There’s apparently rose in here but that doesn’t come through at all. Mostly I’m left wondering why the licorice is here – I would have preferred a turmeric/ginger blend without it. Presumably they added it for some sweetness to balance the spice, but licorice is such a love/hate flavor that it seems like an odd choice.

20 days since my last tasting note. I guess my life is too busy! I need to slow down and I need to take a little break from all the work stuff (even though I am home already), so I am writing this note.

Received from Amy, from tea swap elsewhere; and tea-mail is always a happy mail, so… decided to dig in, though I have so many other teas to drink / finish than opening single little packages.

But anyway, I have decided for this one. I recall seeing it when I was in Finland (oh, it was 6 years ago already. Or to be more precise 5 and half?). I don’t know why I haven’t tried it there, maybe the word “aged” scared me more than it should?

This is very fine EG with nice bergamot level when brewed. I did suggested steeping time (it was supposed to be 30 seconds shorter); and I got a very strong black tea base, quite robust IMO, and the bergamot level was just right with nice flavour and tends to be a bit more sour than I am used to. But it is fine and it was refreshing. And more importantly, it was natural and not artificial-flavouring like.

In conclusion: pretty much fine tea bag! I would kindly drink it if offered.

PS: I was waiting for today that Bruce Springsteen concert in Germany tickets were on sale from today. I already planned all the trip around Germany, booked the hotels and I feel that what should be planned in advance, that it is planned well. So, I have decided to buy the tickets, to find out it is indeed 15th July… but in 2023! I bought the tickets anyway, because the other dates aren’t that suitable. Yes, it was pricey, but I can’t wait already!

I received this from a friend who gave me a gift of some of her favorite tea bags. I always want to love roses. However, my allergies get triggered with most of their scents so I’ve not tried many rose teas.
Spring is here and I’m ignoring the fact that the meteorologists are threatening snow tomorrow. My allergies are already in full effect, so I broke out the tea. I heated the kettle to 175 and steeped as directed for 3ish minutes. The tea is definitely not overpowering. I like the light floral taste and while the tea bag had a strong rose scent while unwrapping, I don’t notice much of that while drinking. It’s not a bad little tea and I could see using it for a tea party with my daughter and her teddy bears.

Single bag from a tea box. This is such a clear, fresh peppermint. That’s the only ingredient in this bag, and it’s really refreshing and nice cold. I would totally drink this one again.

Here’s another tea bag I earthed up during peak congestion and stashed for later consumption. It’s from Numi’s “Nspire” series, and their website implies it’s intended for iced tea purposes (whoops).

It’s not super exciting: the jasmine is pretty strong, the green base is.. green and astringent (puckering mouth feel), but still kind of smooth. There’s something of the collard greens about it (slight bitter veg, but not unpleasantly so). Probably a twiggy base. There’s a hint of floral sweetness. It’s not something I’d run out to get, and doesn’t hold a candle to other jasmine teas I’ve had, but it’s drinkable!