Klio Tea

I’d sort of forgotten I’d bought a big bag of this Greek Mountain Tea and it’s gotten a bit old now, so I’ve been working my way through it. I started with some hot evening cuppas but quickly switched to cold brew as I’m finding the flavor especially refreshing. It has flavors of apple, mint, basil, and citrus, in a very herbaceous way, and it’s really easy to drink ice cold. I did find the flowers were a bit messy and hard to strain when I left them free-floating in my mason jar, so now I fill two fillable teabags to contain the fluffy stuff while it steeps. It’s a little annoying that it floats on top of the water even when really soaking it, but the flavor the next morning is still very nice.

Got a pouch of this in the mail from Ohio Tea Company yesterday. It smells lovely and fresh, like sweet hay and lemons and sage. I was cleaning out the barn for the entire day in preparation for 2 new horses—both semi-neglect cases that were thrown into a pasture and forgotten about. My friend already brought the male home, and I’m probably getting the female for myself in a couple of weeks if/when the owner decides to let go of her—and it just seemed like a good choice of drink after all that.

Not sure what this tea did to me, but I was out after drinking a cup. Made it the way it specified to on the bag with a bit of honey and I was snoring on the couch directly after finishing it. Out from 6 pm to 10 pm, when I woke up and shuffled to my bed before promptly passing out again. (Glad I showered before making that tea.) Can’t say I’ve slept for 13 hours in a good while.

I can barely recall what it tastes like aside from the lemon and sage notes. What a bizarre tea.

I disregarded the steeping instructions, and just do it like my normal tisanes. I bought this as part of the “Greek Tea Bundle” at kliotea.com (the bundle is on sale right now!).

It’s a very mellow drink. When my husband tried it, he was like “it reminds me of a weak Lipton tea or something.” Which I could understand. It’s a very Nice Enough sort of drink. I don’t know whether or not I’ll reorder it. I probably will since it’s sort of fun to think of who else drank this sort of tea waaaaay back when.

While giving my health an overhaul over the past 6 months, I’ve been having fun with ordering small amounts of tisanes from various sources, so that I can have some nice tea in the evenings when I get home from work. Unlike my other tea choices, I really like having a variety, and am excited to share some of my finds with y’all. NE

sample from christina that i’m finally getting around to trying. I am a fan of this one, it’s a little different but on the whole the taste is light, refreshing and if there are any sort of health benefits, then extra yay! :)

From a swap with Zennen. Thank you!

This reminds me a bit of lemongrass and the other lemony herbs, but it’s not quite the same. The lemon is a bit brighter and sweeter, and the herbaceous taste is soft – not at all grassy. It’s my favorite so far of the lemony herbs, but it’s still not a flavor profile I particularly care for.

Christina gave me a sample of this tea and it’s taken me ages to try it out. It was only because the brewing instructions were a bit different than normal but not difficult by any means. I would just have the kettle heating already when picking out a tea so it meant I never got around to this one.

The leaves looked really strange. Big and fuzzy white/green. Big fat fuzzy white/green stems too. I could smell sage.

Brewed it up and was relieved the sage was not as strong as I thought it would be. Quite mild with a sweet honey taste to it. It has a similarity to Honeysuckle.

Of course it wasn’t such a good tasting tea I would have to have it again. That’s mostly the way with a lot of herbals. They are fairly pleasant to drink but not super tasty. I just drink them for the health benefits. This one looks like it has a few health benefits too.

Thanks for the sample Christina. Glad I got to try this one out.

I am boiling sticks and leaves on the stove because Christina sent them to me with those instructions. I think I’ll give them 10 minutes of simmering before I drink…

The leaves are still fuzzy after boiling. :) Smells a lot like the fake Greek Mountain Tea I got from Cornelia Bean. Sage, orange/citrus… I put some honey in it. This is more earthy than the flavoured herbal, though. Might be the twiggy bits?

Oh, that’s nice. Definitely a touch more medicinal than I was really expecting. It’s that earthy flavour like you can get with nettle leaves or (almost, mildly) valerian. But it tastes like citrus and sage. It’s pretty nice! Not sure I’d want it all the time, but if I see it locally (I’m pretty sure one of my local delis carries something like this) I might pick it up.

Thanks so much, Christina!

Backlog:

I really liked this a lot more than I thought I would. When I opened the pouch, I was kind of surprised by the appearance of it. As I mentioned in a comment on another tasting note of this tea, it looks a lot like branches of sagebrush from the backyard of the house that I lived in as a kid. It doesn’t look like it could possibly be brewed and be something tasty but it actually is pretty good.

It’s herb-y tasting and lemon-y. Hints of honey. It also has a ‘warm’ sort of flavor, like it’s gently spiced and it tastes a little bit like sage to me.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/11/28/greek-mountain-tea-from-klio/

The last few days at work have been busy. My own fault, really – I procrastinated on a project and so the final stages trying to get this thing ready got all jammed up.

Wednesday and onwards have felt like I’m a spring under compression. Now that it’s Friday evening (and a long weekend to boot!), I can feel things relaxing and loosening.

Part of that is because of this tea. I didn’t do the whole “boil it in boiling water for 10 minutes or so” that the instructions say. I just steeped it in freshly boiled water instead and let it sit.

The result was a less pungent version of this tea. But it’s cold out, and it’s been a busy week, and I just want to give my brain room to expand, so less pungent is fine with me.

Oh boy, this is a tea I just feel I need right now. I had some of W2T’s Lao Cha Tou earlier today to review it on the blog, but it just knocked the wind out of me. I feel all groggy and dehydrated.

I just want something that screams “comfort” and “health” and other good-for-you things, and this is so herbal and sagey and sweet (and non-caffeinated) that right now it’s the only thing that will do.

Hoo boy, I made a strong batch of this tea this evening – the herbal bounciness of this has morphed into a medicinal edge that I don’t like.

Anyways: Gracie news!

Gracie is still at the vet’s, but she’s doing much better than she was yesterday. It’s highly likely she’ll be able to come home tomorrow. She was in a baaad way on Monday night, but with the proper treatment, she’s on the mend.

She was even able to stand up and walk around, and now she’s started to give the vet staff some sass! Welcome back, my sweet little cantankerous bitchy princess!

For now, she’s still on a bunch of antibiotics and they’ll start the steroids tomorrow. Then when she comes home, she’ll be taking a bunch of pills every day for at least 2-3 weeks. Some are steroids. Others are meant to help her gall bladder. But my little princess is nearly back!

Backlog from a few nights ago.

Many thanks to LiberTEAS for hosting a giveaway of this tea on her blog! I was one of the winners, and I was astonished by the size of the prize pack I got from Klio. Two bags of tea plus a beautiful Bodum mug.

Now, I may love tea, but even 150g of tea in one go (especially one so fluffy) is a lot for me. And I have a lot of travel mugs. So I’m keeping one bag of this tea for myself and giving the other bag plus the mug to my sister as a birthday present. Her birthday is one month from today, so it’s perfect timing!

As for the tea itself? I’ve had Mountain Tea before – it’s a common drink in Macedonia, where my parents are from, as well as Greece. However, the mountain tea we have in the house is several years old and somewhat stale. In comparison, this is fresh, fresh fresh!

When you open the bag, it smells beautiful. There’s a green sharpness underneath that reminds me of fresh cut grass, but there’s also the brightness of lemon and the earthiness of chamomile. I’m not a big chamomile fan, but I don’t mind the hint here.

When I brewed this a few nights ago I oversteeped it, but it wasn’t that bitter. I will definitely be holding onto this.