Lhasa Karnak Herb Co.

I decided to just go straight for the plain nettles when I went to Lhasa Karnak at Berkeley this weekend. They were only $1 an ounce so I got 4 ounces and that is a LOT of nettles. I filled up one 7 oz old Harney tea tin and probably have enough to fill up another tin. They are quite fluffy leaves.

So the plain nettle tea is not that tasty, quite honestly. It has a very vegetal flavor that reminds me a bit of seaweed and kale. Maybe there’s a reason you see this herb more often in blends. It might be nice mixed in with mint. It isn’t terrible though, as I sit down to drink a mug of it… also it is high in minerals which is probably a good thing for my health.

I am going to try this nettle infusion thing soon. You use 1 oz. of tea for each infusion so if I do that, it will probably go quickly.

http://www.choosingraw.com/stinging-nettle-infusion-a-diy-post-for-allergy-sufferers/

As far as complex blends go, this one is not bad. The mint is really dominant, and the other herbs provide quite grassy undertones and aftertaste. Despite the name and description in the store’s catalog, this tea actually has quite an edge (again, the grassy). I enjoyed drinking the small bag I got, but for some reason this one didn’t stick with me personally.

Just a nice herbal tea from my favorite tea store in Berkeley. It has a pleasant herbaly, fresh flavor and the ingredients are mostly relaxing, like lemon balm, catnip, passionflower… which makes it a good tea for bedtime or anytime relaxation. I’ll have to remember this the next time I start to feel anxious. It works!

This herbal tisane comes from my favorite herb store which is Lhasa Karnak in Berkeley. They have an amazing selection of bulk herbs, aromatherapy oils, tinctures and of course, teas.

I’ve been trying to focus on ditching caffeine late in the day and it’s nice to have a few tisanes around to choose from. I picked this up thinking it would be a nice brew for afternoon and evenings. It contains several relaxing herbs including catnip, scullcap and passionflower. The flavor is quite earthy with some mint tones and brightness. It doesn’t really need sweetener but it was ever so good with a tiny bit. I think I’ll be trying some of their other herbal blends in the near future, this was really good and exceeded my expectations.

The description makes no sense to me, because I would describe this tea as earthy with notes of fig. I taste nothing floral at all, and I don’t like floral teas, but I love this. (Okay, maybe a slight hint of Jasmine, but definitely NO bergamot.) I’m surprised it does not have pu-erh in it, because it has that same musty-book quality and is very smooth and nearly impossible to over-steep. Pretty sure you can only get this at Moe’s Bookshop in Berkeley; it’s made for them by the herb store next door. One of my best impulse buys.