Backlogging. Saturday afternoon. (The backlogging has been held up for not wanting to go to the kitchen and fetch this tea so I could enter it.)
Earth Fare (our regional, less-pricey, and better Whole Foods-type store) carries a small section of store brand bagged teas. Something like a black tea/English breakfast, Earl Grey, green tea, mint green tea, rooibos, faux-Sleepytime blend, and a couple of herbal blends. They were having a Buy One, Get One sale around the time I was last low on bagged teas/herbals, which I like to drink right before bed, so I picked up two of their herbal blends to try. This was one of them.
I have had a bag of the Red Wellness before and I had thought I’d entered it into Steepster and tealogged it. I remember that bag as being just minty, hence not having have another bad since then. I like minty teas but they are not something I’d reach for unless specifically wanting one.
This past Saturday afternoon, my tummy was a bit unsettled and I was wishing I had a minty green tea on hand when I remember this being purely minty and decided to give it a go. The tea is prolly lucky that I didn’t tealog it last time as I had a better experience with it this time.
The teabag smelled very pepperminty and the tea smelled less so. I do not remember the color for sure, but I am thinking lighter brown. At first I thought I tasted only minty again, which would have suited my purpose fine that day. As I continued to sip, I realized that mint was more muted than I remembered and thought I could taste a slight woodiness of the rooibos muting the mint. But I do not think I’d have drank this and thought rooibos, had I not known it was in there and been looking for it. I also found that, cooled slightly, I could taste the bit of the ginger mid to end sip. I think this contributed to my memory of this tea being strongly and only peppermint. The ginger had a powdered ginger quality.
I liked this tea better than I remember and will likely reach for it again sooner. I also think plain rooibos, mint, and ginger in some form might make a nice blend for those that make their own blends out of the basics at home.
I’m rating this tea a 53 (in the middle of decent, 50-60). It was enjoyable, but I’m not sure I’d ever crave it and go specifically to it. It’s more of a see-it-in-the-cupboard-and-decide-to-drink-it tea or a I-want-something-minty tea. It’s also bagged (and bagged teas, even really good ones, tend not to go much higher than around 60 in my ratings).