Harts of America

Strange VariaTEA TTB – Tea #25

Another one from Harts, yay!

And this is lovely, of course. But how could it not be, it’s pure spearmint harvested in the Pacific Northwest. And I’m a mint lover, so I love it. Spearmint does slightly remind me of chewing gum, but I still really enjoy drinking it. This has a very nice balance of sweet and comforting herbal notes with crisp, fresh mintiness. So yummy, and even better with the tiniest drizzle of local honey. Ahhh…

Result: Mine, all mine! MUAHAHA!

Strange VariaTEA TTB – Tea #4

Ooh so excited to see Harts in the box, as I’ve been wanting to try them for a while! But alas, too many other tisanes to sip down first, heh heh…

Anyway, this is yaupon and spearmint. I’ve only had yaupon once, but I really enjoyed it, and I still have some samples left to try from Catspring Yaupon. So I was prepared to love this tisane, since it seems to have green yaupon in it, and I love mint.

But… something here is tasting very off to me. It reminds me of perfume or soap, with a very chemical note to it that I’ve only found in bad floral-flavored teas. The smell of it is interesting, it has a sort of bitter/peppery herbal thing going on. But the taste… I’m not sure if it’s just the interplay of the spearmint with those unusual herbal notes, or something else, but I really don’t like it. There’s something almost lavender-esque as well, which also isn’t a favorite for me? Very odd.

I’m really sad, because I was so excited to try this one. But I guess it’s not for me after all.
Really confusing because the other green yaupon I tried was totally mellow and smooth. Am I crazy? :(

Result: Tried

TTB 2022
I brewed this up strong and got quite the caffeine buzz from it!. What a nice blend of nutty hay like notes from the dandelion and sweetness from the spearmint. For a non camelia senesis brew its quite nice and I would find myself adding this to an order. I’d have to do a head to head taste test, but I think this one is a bit better balanced than the strait yaupon/spearmint blend.

TTB 2022
Fresh and minty with an undertone of slightly bitter yaupon. I like it! And its all American grown. I drive through Texas on occasion, I should visit Cat Spring!
A fun addition to the box, thanks!

TTB 2022
This one is refreshingly minty with an underlying bitter, nutty hay. If I didn’t know the ingredients I probably couldn’t pick out the dandelion notes, so mostly its spearmint. I might add this to an order, though I’m not sure what dandelions are good for, are they in the same group as nettle?

I was kind of distracted while sipping on my first cup of this during my morning follow-up with the Wheel of Time Season One on Amazon and I was left disappointed (with the show). Never watch your favorite books on the screen.

Anyway, I don’t remember grabbing this before heading out this afternoon (It was an antiquing day, so this must have been the tea on hand at the time), but there we have it. I brewed it 200F, 3 minutes, and tossed it into my tumbler. It took us 30 minutes to get where we were going, so I was able to give this one a proper slow sip. It was very refreshing and minty. We had temps in the low thirties, so it seemed fitting for the cup at hand. My wife commented several times about the mint aroma overwhelming the car in a good way. I definitely look forward to possibly making this a daily late morning cup until I finish the bag off and find the next good late morning tea.

This was a freebie that was included in my advent from AJRimmer. I drank this back in November? when I received the advent and have been enjoying it. This is my last cup and the lavender is definitely the strongest flavor. It’s got a tiny bit of a cooling note from the mint as well. It’s a delicious herbal and super relaxing nighttime blend. I’d definitely get more of this one if I ever order from them.

Homemade Advent Day 10
from AJRimmer
This one sounded really good a lemon lavender tea? Now I feel like making lemon lavender cupcakes but it’s not the season yet. Anyway, the lavender is quite subtle in this one and there’s a pleasant tingling mint sensation on the tongue. Pops of lemon burst through and blend really well with the mint and herbaceous notes. My cup was gone far too quickly… I would definitely be interested in acquiring more of this one. It’s an interesting blend and a very soothing bedtime tea.

The mint and lavender combine pleasantly. Those are the primary flavors I taste, but the ratio is done well, and I enjoy it every time I have it. I always drink it chilled, and mint is certainly the most dominating flavor, but I would have thought there were more than three ingredients here because there does seem to be a bit of background complexity. Harts can do a lot with a little!

I’m having this cold, and it’s quite minty, savory, and herbal. I sadly don’t taste the lavender. Actually, there’s something unpleasant in here that’s really bothering me. I think it must be the valerian. I didn’t realize that was an ingredient when I bought this, and I’m really put off by its flavor. I’ve had this four times over the past week, and I’ve liked it less each time, so I’ll pass the rest along.

This one is so fresh and delicious. They use a high quality chamomile base, and there’s a good amount of lavender included so you can really taste it. They got the balance just right – nothing negative or weird. It tastes so lovely it’s hard to believe that only two ingredients can make such a satisfying flavor! I’ve enjoyed it both hot and cold.

Cold, this is pretty good. There’s a nice combination of chamomile and light lemon. It’s not sour at all, just a gentle, herbal sort of lemon. I still added sugar because I like my tea really sweet, but the stevia leaf does add a decent amount of sweetness on its own. I’ll enjoy my large bag of this!

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #161 overall / Tea #32 for April
Wednesday 4/21 — Harts of America Dandelion Mint. So, my side hustle hotel does water that has mint + cucumber in it. I’m not a huge fan of flavored water but trying to recycle the water when ice starts melting, I usually grab a pitcher to use for my cold brew tea. I’ve been mixing the HoA Dandelion Mint with it and it’s a nice herbal refreshment. Not my favorite tea from them, not something I’d purchase or look to get again but not bad. I actually think they make very nice tisanes and enjoy my monthly subscription ($7.98 USD per month for two 2 oz tisanes with shipping)
#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #58 overall / Tea #25 for February

Wednesday 2/17 — Another cold-brew pitcher done! I actually had to use the last of this bag I’m counting as the sipdown and open a new bag in order to have enough to make the pitcher. Harts of America really makes a lot of classy simple fresh herbal tisanes. :)

#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #30

Thurs 1/28 cold-brew pitcher finished, I just put the entire pitcher that I had brewed a day or two before in a giant plastic jug I normally reserve for carrying water and just drank it throughout my 2nd shift (3 pm to 11 pm) that I worked at my side hotel with my ex-boss J! It was nice to work with him although weird since I’ve worked solo 99% of the time since last March.

#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge