Shaka Tea

Tried again tonight. I’ll admit, though this still is not my first choice of tea, it’s better now that I know what to expect & am generous with the honey from the get-go. It’ll still take me a long time to work my way through the entire bag, but perhaps I’ll learn to fully enjoy it over time.

Picked this up at world market yesterday-love the fun, happy packaging! Didn’t know what to expect beyond that. Hoped it could be a nice relaxing before-bed drink.

I really like roses, so that’s a plus.
Looked up what Passion flower tastes like-earthy.
Looked up Mamaki (Hawaiian Nettle) -earthy.
Opened the bag, smells…unpleasantly musty.
Now I’m kinda worried.

It’s a nylon pyramid teabag, but there’s no string & tag. The dry herbs look bright and fresh. The bag actually may be a bit too full for the leaves to expand much.

Steep a cup for about 6 minutes; ends up a orange-red honey color…smells earthy. Kinda like seaweed.

Tastes…kinda earthy. Kinda like seaweed without the saltiness. Way more savory and vegetable broth like than I was expecting….Bleh. I like vegetables but I don’t want to drink them. My first thought was honestly “…this is gross.”

Tried a little lemon juice.
Now it’s tangy gross.
Determined to finish a cup, so I pull out the honey even though I’m trying not to add anything since it’s right before bed.

It’s actually decent with honey, since it then basically tastes like honey-not even like herbal tea with honey. Just honey. It’s smooth. I can handle this now if I try not to smell it.

Is it relaxing? Maybe. It’s warm. I don’t mind it after some honey, but I’m not gonna slowly sip it, I wanna get it over with. The plain taste especially is not relaxing to me-I find it distractingly unpleasant.

The passionflower is supposedly a mild seductive though, and I did feel sleepy afterwards. (No, autocorrect! I meant sensitive. ARGH SEDATIVE. THERE IS NOTHING SEDUCTIVE OR SENSITIVE ABOUT THIS DRINK. I DON’T WANT TO TAKE THIS TEA ON A DATE.)

Overall, I don’t think this is necessarily a bad tea. It just has a distinct earthy vegetal flavor that is not my personal cup of tea…tisane.

Haha. I’m so lame.