This is a catalog blend tea from International Tea Importers; I purchased it from what (was at the time) my most “local” tea shop (err… in a larger city two hours away), Snake River Tea. Sadly, like so many businesses, Snake River Tea closed shop to their physical location during 2020. They still operate online, but other than the option of being able to order by-the-ounce (so few tea shops allow purchasing less than 50g at a time!), I have little reason not to get catalog blends elsewhere. For me, what I really loved was being on vacation for Anime Oasis in Boise and stopping into their shop every day to enjoy a pot of tea and relax from the bustle of fandom convention. I’ll really miss that.
The tea smells so strongly of spearmint, both in dry leaf and steeped form. I notice little else on the nose, except for perhaps a light spice note which could be from the tulsi. The flavor on the sip is mostly spearmint, but it does seem to be soothed a bit by the tulsi, feeling welcome on the throat while not being abrasive in menthol. I can also taste the lemon myrtle too (my favorite of the lemon herbs), which pairs nicely with the spearmint. I’m really not tasting the rose hip at all, other than a fleeting hint of tanginess at the end of a sip or two which enhances the lemon quality; I could really do with more of it. Since tulsi always tastes a bit minty, citrusy, and peppery to me, it is a natural fit with spearmint and lemon myrtle, though I don’t distinctly taste its own flavor much in this blend, aside from a hay-like quality in the background.
Nothing special as far as herbal blends go, but certainly not offensive, either. Good on a healing sore throat and as a relaxing companion to Bob Ross ASMR.
Flavors: Citrus, Hay, Lemon, Mint, Smooth, Spearmint
Our PBS/Create channel does a Bob Ross double feature on Saturday evenings. Lovely way to unwind!
Twitch.tv (famously known for video game streaming, but it actually does lots of other live streaming, as well!) has an entire channel that just streams Bob Ross’ Joy of Painting 24/7. I love to put it on in the background and let his dulcet tones help get me drowsy in the evenings!
I am so sorry that your nearest tea shop is that far and moreless it doesn’t offer much. I mean not their own blends — getting tea from wholesalers isn’t bad per se but I would rather get something from themselves.
They only blended a few herbals, while the rest came from wholesalers (and were very easy to track down… they never denied it when I’d say something like, “Oh, that’s the tea that comes from Young Mountain Tea, right? I like that one!”) It was still nice to have a place I could walk into and enjoy a cup of tea while I was on vacation. Since they closed up their physical shop, that is no longer an option. I’ll admit that was the real draw for me, since I can easily order the same catalog blends from a plethora of online tea shops, so their business being online only now is pretty meh for me.
I see. Well, I am afraid that I ave to leave my favourite tea shop alone soon. But I think I will go visit them now and then. I won’t be in that city that often as I was used to. I am glad they haven’t closed down, but as I was speaking with tea master, they were really close to! Maybe buying a tea from them and the support T-shirt helped them enough. It wasn’t much, but at least a small help.