Fennel Spice (Savory Tea)

Another lone tea bag from the kitchen clean-out. This was a sample stapled to a coupon that expired June 2014 so it has some age. The tea bag still smells potent. Let’s see.

Hello, glorious and deep veggie broth! How is there so much umami in this? Onion. The onion is most forward, the black pepper provides its warmth and tingling, and fennel and celery root provide the base. I can’t taste the dill but my experience with it in dried form is that it doesn’t keep its aroma or taste over a few years. Also can’t taste the decaf green tea or honeybush, nor the orange peel but I suspect it’s lending a little brightness to this savory blend.

This is actually really good and has much more depth and savoriness than veggie broth in a carton or even homemade. This would be great to sip on while sick, to cook rice in or as a fantastic substitute for soup broth. Its small size would save space in the pantry, too. Nevermind, it has been discontinued. I can understand why. shrugs

Wow! A Throwback Thursday post! I have not done one of those in a while! Basically the deal with these, I write them up when I am feeling particularly inspired to write for days just like today, where I am either too busy or not feeling the best and want to post a blog (for consistency, yo) but am not really up to writing one. Today is a combination of both, I was super busy from waking up til now, and I am pooped and want to just get tea-drunk and then go to sleep.

So usually I am not much of a teabag person, having, for lack of a better term, outgrown them, but this one needed to be tried. Numi Organic Tea’s Fennel Spice from their Savory Tea line is a blend of Fennel, Celery Root, Orange Peel, Onion, Dill, Decaf Green Tea, Honeybush, and Black Pepper all of them labeled organic. It is like someone took tea and blended it with a veggie broth you expect to drink after you had the flu and need liquid but you are bloody sick to death of sweet stuff…and bouillon. In fact that is how I think of this tea, it is sick-time tea, verging very close to food. The aroma of the bag doesn’t dissuade me at all, with strong notes of celery and fennel blending with pepper and a touch of underlying citrus sweetness. It smells green and herbaceous and like a soup herb blend…could use some sage though!

Brewing the bag smells a lot like soup, a nice veggie soup with celery and fennel notes reigning supreme, the pepper, onion, and dill showing up as well, though it is mild. No real sign of the sweeter honeybush or orange peel, it smells very savory, almost a bit salty.

Green tea is definitely the tea to use if you want to make a savory blend me thinks, it can come off as savory and brothy at times, not just sweet and nutty. In fact some of my favorite Chinese greens are the ones that taste like stir fried vegetables, so this kinda blend works for me, in part because it tastes like food. Though honestly I am not really sure how much the green tea adds to this, it is very brothy with strong notes of fennel and celery, onion and dill, with a nice warmth of black pepper. I do not detect any sweetness at all and I am not really sure what the orange or honeybush add to this tea. For funsies after I got my initial tasting I decided this tea would be perfect with a gentle sprinkling of salt, and wow does that really bring out the dill notes! I like this tea, it is like soup, it could be used to make broth if I felt really adventurous, and when I am sick and want something to keep me hydrated and I am too lazy to gongfu, excellent choice.

For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/06/numi-organic-tea-fennel-spice-savory.html

Didn’t like it. Bland with a slight medicinal / mushroom odour. It wasn’t totally undrinkable, but I can’t think of a time when I would actually crave this tea. I wish they would make this more like a soup broth. It could potentially be pretty good with more umami in general… but I have tried adding salt and pepper and it was disgusting and I had to throw it out.

I bought a box of this when these tisanes first came on the market, and I still have this one, which tells you something. It’s a bit like broth. In fact, maybe this tea would be better as a base for a soup. I think that’s how I’ll attempt to use the rest of the box. It’s not cutting it as a tisane.

This is very yummy!! I am actually full of tea and had some leftover hot water to use up so I threw this teabag into a cup. I am still drinking it even though I’m somewhat water logged, lol,,,,it is that tasty!
It tastes like those old Lipton noodle soups in a box (do they still have that? probably) that I would have as a kid on a snow day.
The box says that this mix contains 6mg of sodium so this is definitely a lovely little starter for a quick soup that you could add spinach or other easily heated veggies to.

Sipdown (121)!

Thanks Cameron B. for the sample! I spent the evening watching TV and stuff with Tre and, against my better judgement, we ordered pizza. I’m pizza-d out. It’s too much. I should have made something else to eat and saved my money, but I was feeling really lazy. Ugh.

This one is probably my least favourite of the three savory teas I’ve had so far; though it’s still pretty good and definitely drinkable. Dry the fennel smelled really strong and I was happy and excited (I love fennel so much), but steeped up it’s not nearly as powerful, though still present for sure. I’m also really picking up on the onion and dill; though I can absolutely tell that the dill is no where near as strong as it was in Spinach Chive. Mostly this is just really well rounded between those three flavours (Fennel, Onion, Dill).

I think I’m getting used to these ones and how unconventional they are. Maybe tomorrow I’ll sipdown Carrot Curry, the one I’m fearing the most, so it’s not “the worst” (well, most intimidating anyway) for last.

Samples Only TTB
I’m actually on my second box of Numi Broccoli and Cilantro savory tea, so I could already tell that I was probably going to like this. Fennel seed always reminds me of pizza or Italian sausage. As is, I’m not a fan of this. But the same goes of my beloved broccoli and cilantro. But with a healthy dosage of salt, this is amazing. I love love love soup. To the point that a lot of times I order just soup when I got out to eat. And this is like drinking a nice flavorful broth. What I really love about these teas, is if they’re a bagged broth and not a tea, then they’re so versatile. They taste a million times better than those cubed bouillon things, they also don’t have added salt which is perfect for those watching their sodium or who think most of those broth mixes are too salty, and they’re much easier to make than having to cook and strain your own broth.
You can also use them in recipes. Throw one in the pasta water while it cooks, use the broth instead of water for lentils, or in place of any recipe that calls for broth for a different twist.
I actually enjoyed this one so much, I’m going to order some from amazon the next time I order more of my broccoli and cilantro (which is going to be soon since I’m adding some to the TTB)

Samples Only TTB

So fennel. Much soup. Many savory. Too spice. Wow. What flavor. Not tea. How drink.

This is not tea. o_o

This is soup that needs salt and some noodles added.

I don’t even.

What.

I had to. I had to try it. Because sister insisted we should try it. And she was right. We had to try it. Because wow. It was. It was. It was not tea. I don’t even.

Seriously feel I could add some salt and noodles and have a nice lunch here. o_o

But its not tea.

I don’t know how, but I had forgotten I had these.

Honestly, they are a bit hard to review because they’re more than teas, but not quite soups. They’re a bit brothy and definitely heartier than tea. But I’m finding all of them super flavorful and enjoyable for what they are.

I love, love, love fennel as a spice, so I had a pretty strong inkling I was going to like this one. And I definitely did (though I think the Carrot Curry might still be my favorite) The cup is just a touch licorice-y, with a lot of onion and dill in the background. The finish is peppery and just enough to tickle the back of my throat.

These are so weirdly tasty.