Rishi Tea

I was given a sampler box of bagged teas by Rishi but branded for La Colombe, a coffee roaster. This was one of the teas. I followed the steeping guide on the bag packaging, though the temperature was approximate because my kettle isn’t that fancy.

The scent is mild, as is the flavor. It hints at some of the bitterness of black tea, but stays just on the edge of something that would require me to add some milk to make palatable. This I can drink without additives, and enjoy the flavor that is somehow simultaneously robust and soft.

I was given a sampler box of bagged teas by Rishi but branded for La Colombe, a coffee roaster. This was one of the teas. I followed the steeping guide on the bag packaging, though the temperature was approximate because my kettle isn’t that fancy.

The bergamot whacks you in the face as soon as the package opens, and it doesn’t diminish with the brewing. I added some milk as I usually do with strong black teas, and it toned down a bit. Still stronger than I’d prefer.

I was given a sampler box of bagged teas by Rishi but branded for La Colombe, a coffee roaster. This was one of the teas. I followed the steeping guide on the bag packaging, though the temperature was approximate because my kettle isn’t that fancy.

The scent reminds me of straw and grain. The flavor is like puffed rice, which is one of my favorite cereal grains. Very smooth and pleasant morning drink. No sweetener or milk required.

I was given a sampler box of bagged teas by Rishi but branded for La Colombe, a coffee roaster. This was one of the teas. I followed the steeping guide on the bag packaging, though the temperature was approximate because my kettle isn’t that fancy.

The scent of the brewed tea is light and floral. I was tempted to try sipping it while it was too hot, but I refrained. I can taste some fruit, but the tannin is overwhelming.

Mostly a very sweet and almost “candy” like mango and lime flavour – kind of comparable to DAVIDsTEA’s Sweet Lime but more weighted towards the mango and a little bit less acidic. However, after the sweetness of the fruit you are definitely hit with the heat and spiciness of chili; it’s strong but thankfully not lingering so it was easy to get over the spice pretty quickly in between sips.

Another Rishi tea.

This one tasted eerily familiar to me, and it was really bugging me because I was sure I’d never had this tea before. It did eventually click, though, that it was strongly reminding me of two of DT’s herbal teas – Serenity Now and Tulsi Tranquility. Same sort of general, strawberry leaning fruity profile as those two blends & and a similar balance of fruity notes and spearmint as Serenity Now has (just with a white tea base and no lavender). There’s a stronger, more noticable amount of tulsi/basil in this tea as opposed to DT’s Tulsi Tranquility though, and I do actually like the more prominent taste of basil better. You can’t taste the white tea in this for shit, but I did enjoy the cup a lot once I scratched that itch of trying to place what it was reminding me of.

Trying out another Rishi herbal blend!

I really enjoyed this one; a lot more than I expected to. It was quite intensely peppermint flavoured – and in the way that is extremely crisp and cooling/menthol in the finish. It felt sort of healthful, and that flavour combined with the softer, subtler undertone of sage really did put me in a state of mental clarity and relaxation. Interestingly, I couldn’t taste the lavender – the mint was too strong and I think it swallowed up those notes. I did feel relaxed the same way lavender often makes me feel though; however that also easily be explained away as just being the result of the mint and not having anything to do with the lavender at all…

I don’t drink a lot of peppermint herbal teas – not because I dislike the flavour but because I had a very negative experience with loose peppermint tea leaf years ago that has sort of given me a mental block with straight mint. This is so peppermint heavy without being a straight mint though – I could probably do this quite easily and happily as an alternative to straight peppermint…

And it’s a belatedly posted sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

As I was sipping on this yesterday, it struck me that this tea was juicy. Yes, that’s it: sweet and juicy. I suppose juicy is the mouthfeel descriptor. I don’t know how else to describe it.

D is for… Dandelion Detox!

An oversteeped mug of Dandelion Detox, that is. Boo.

When I think of fickle and tricky to steep teas, one of the top ones on my list is the nefariously touchy DT blend “Buddha’s Blend” – but this one also makes the list. When you get it right it’s so right – warm and earthy with floral geranium notes. When you get it wrong!? Sharp and acrid top notes, abrasive and coarse burnt tasting chicory, and perfumey floral finish. Nope nope nope.

No one to blame but myself – I know this is a touchy tea and I just spaced and let it steep too long. Much, much too long.

From the weekend!

Very smooth and earthy cup with a heavy roasty top notes and a slurry of warming spices in the body, with an unusual but beautiful sweet floral finish of geranium. The first time I had this blend, I completely hated it but it’s really growing on me in a super strange way. The ingredients are all things that I really wouldn’t even think to group together but this is sort of just a cup of cozy comfort!?

Steeped at work.

My first mug of this was really unpleasant so I took a lot of precautions when brewing this one. I used less leaf, cooler water, and a shorter/more monitored steep time. Made a world of difference, and this cup was deeply smooth and earthy with chicory, cinnamon, ginger, and citrus rind notes and then an undertone of sweet, floral geranium leading to a beautifully delicate finish. It’s a weird tea, but this was an excellent cup of it!

This was the sachet version of this tea.

I wanted to like this, since it seems really unique in terms of its ingredient list. It even smells nice; earthy and natural with hints of cinnamon, ginger, and geranium. I thought the taste was vile though…

It was so ridiculously bitter tasting, with a more muddy/dank sort of earthiness from the pu’erh and an assaulting amount of ginger. Nothing seemed to mesh together and connect, and that weird flavour divide was only made worse by this strange finishing note of geranium. The geranium was actually the nicest part of the blend, but it felt WILDLY out of place with the cacophony of other flavours happening.

I did not finish the cup.

I guess this is probably the correct Steepster entry for the tea that I drank? It was a sachet, and the ingredients are the same as what’s listed here on Steepster, but the tea was an individually wrapped sachet and not the larger “pitcher” sized ones for iced tea.

This is Rishi’s product page for it: https://www.rishi-tea.com/product/blueberry-hibiscus-caffeine-free-organic-tea-bag/tea-bags

I drank it in a travel mug today while commuting to a new part of town – I had the opportunity to work at one of the DAVIDsTEA’s in the city today to see how the customer demographic here in Montreal varies from back home in the prairies, and to get some feedback for my department. It was a cool experience; but I was SUPER worried I was going to get lost finding the store so I made my tea in advance so I’d have something to sip on during all of this morning’s rain while I hunted for the store…

The tea was good, but not mind blowing. Very accurate to the name – a tart, syrupy blueberry note and a whole lot of hibiscus. Like, 10/10 on really nailing those two flavours and striking a surprisingly good balance. I just don’t think I was wowed by the flavour combo, even if it was super accurate and on point. Needed something to create a touch more depth/nuance, in my opinion.

Drank a travel mug of this yesterday, while out for a walk downtown looking at all of the different murals – that’s definitely one of my favourite things about Montreal. Seeing all of the art everywhere, in the form of murals or otherwise, is breathtaking! It’s a truly beautiful city – for sure.

The tea was nice – kind of sweet, and a good citrus and ginger balance. Not overly tart either, which is good because there’s a fair amount of hibiscus in this blend. I do think that calling this “Tangerine” instead of Orange is a bit weird – there’s nothing flavour wise that would indicate tangerine specifically over any other sort of orange flavour and so my assumption is just that it was chosen in order to make the blend seem fancier/more elevated than it actually is.

Still a nice cup though.

Trying to sip down some teas and tisanes that won’t exactly complement the upcoming spring weather. Made a big ol’ pot of this Cocoa Mint tisane the other night. 5 Tbsp, 1L, 5 min. Enough to share 3 big mugs.

I really liked this. In my tin, it smelled exactly like those cinnamon and peppermint candy sticks enrobed in a dark chocolate coating. Murky, cinnamon colored brew. Very well balanced aroma and taste between fresh and cooling peppermint, warm and spicy cinnamon, a perfect clove accent and a luscious chocolate flavor that I wish was more pronounced but there’s really nothing to complain about. Even has some body. I usually strongly dislike cinnamon and mint together but somehow Rishi hooked me with this one.

Very light, with a nice rose taste. 3.5/5

I received West Cape Chai as a gift from Mastress Alita. Thanks for sharing one of your favorite Rishi blends!

Her description of this herbal chai is spot on. It’s light but very well balanced and has a perfect spicy kick. There is also a permeating carob-coffee aroma and taste to it as well. The liquor is a vibrant and glowing, cloudy orange-red.

The lightness makes me think it wouldn’t work great for those looking to add milk; it’s rather thirst-quenching without any adornments. That may be a strange thing to say about a chai, but it does leave my mouth feeling clean and refreshed with a mineral taste.

One thing about Rishi’s herbal blends, of the three I’ve tried, they’ve all had some standout quality, whether in uniqueness, depth of flavor or being overall well balanced. Kudos.

Nice and light and tastes like sunshine. 4/5

How I start my morning everyday. Has a bit too much lemongrass these days, but still my go to