Sleeping Beauty

Sweet 16th day of Sara’s Old Tea!

This one smells like chamomile. It tastes… medicinal. Oh nice, there’s some licorice. It’s not bad, but… the taste is kind of overwhelming, and it lingers on my tongue. I wonder if it’ll knock me out, with all the chamomile and valerian root. I’m sure it tastes better than a poisoned apple! Actually the taste is growing on me, bumped up the rating a little.

Herbal tea from the tea box! Unfortunately, this is too savory for me. It’s just a really strange combo of herbs. I bought a few things from the American Tea Room going out of business sale, and I didn’t like any of them. Something about their blends just doesn’t work for me! The main flavors are fennel, sour, and mint.

Happy National Day of Unplugging!

Lately I’ve been unwinding in the evening with sakura lattes, made using Lupicia’s Cerisier tea and a bit of frothed vanilla almond milk. It’s a decaf black tea so I can still drink it in the evenings, and making it as a latte curbs some of the “brassiness” of the decaf leaf.

But, something about this prompt brought back the memory of this tea, which I reviewed three years ago (here: https://steepster.com/mastressalita/posts/375194 ). Seemed a good opportunity to refresh my memory of it. It has been my “sleepy tea” of choice since I grabbed it on a whim during American Tea Room’s OOB sale, and I’m still not sure what I will replace it with once I sip it down.

For me, valerian root is the magic sleepy herb that “works” to relax me. And that herb can smell/taste horrible if not blended right. This tea has such a strong fennel presense that it is hard to smell anything else on the nose but the spicy/peppery/slightly licoricey fennel. A bit of a floral rose note also appears on the nose.

The flavor is very strongly fennel; there are more subtle notes of an herbaceous citrusy/pine flavor, floral rose, and a light mintiness that comes out toward the end of the sip as the spice fades a bit from the tongue. I really like fennel, so this is a really easy-sipper for me, and I usually find after two cups my eyelids are quite heavy!

All that said, I had this rated very high back in the day, and I wouldn’t rate it that highly anymore. While I enjoy the flavor and especially enjoy the functionality, I wouldn’t say there is anything particularly special about it compared to similar herbal blends. For that reason I’ve lowered the rating to be more in line with where I’m gauging teas today.

Bought a box of this without tasting a sample because I was intrigued that it contained valerian root and schizandra. A little fancier than your usual “sleepytime” blend of chamomile and lavender. I have an infant and I don’t sleep, so I’m willing to pay a premium for anything with more potent sleep herbs.

Cooling sensation from the mint and fennel, fragrance from the rose (but less so from the chamomile, which I’m totally fine with). I don’t exactly get what this schizandra adds, but altogether this is a well-balanced and tasty blend, without any tartness or spiciness that would be upsetting before beddy-time.