Solaris Tea

A sipdown! (M: 2, Y: 42) but apparently never in my Steepster cupboard.

In hot days white teas refresh me the most, however I don’t have many fo them. I need to hunt down some.

Anyway… for a sachet form of white tea it is delicious, silky smooth and almost fruity nuances there. Laying in the meadows.

Wunderbar!

Okay, I have been pretty much sure that I wrote about this one here at least once. But I had to add this tea to the database? So… I guess I always wanted to, but never did? Either that or Steepster ate my reviews along with tea.

I had it yesterday afternoon, when heading to my friends; to celebrate my success. They live in Moravia (other part of my country), and Moravia means… alcohol. So, when I have arrived, I received a shot of homemade apricot spirit; then I got some beers, and when I have been leaving, another shot to go. Well, today morning was, quite hard one, especially when heading to work after week and half.
As of tea yesterday — I bought a new thermomug; stainless steel, compact, 350 ml volume, no handle, so I can put it into pocket easily. However, stainless steel is easy to clean up, but affects the tea more than I have actually thought. It was quite plain, but metallic yesterday.

With that in mind, I decided to give it another chance today, in my classic vessel — glass mug, volume 300 ml. Well, that was a very different story. It was quite robust and strong tea. They claim they use first flush tea, from renowed Lingia Estate (never heard about it before), but the flavour profile does not agree with first flush teas. It was just too dark, with hints of malt and dark honey. Actually it was quite lovely considering sachet tea.

A sipdown! (M: 11, Y: 11)
Apparently the last bag of this steeeped today. I liked it and its mellow, grassy and sweet flavour.

Definitely there are better green teas and better Chun Mee teas, but for a sachet tea it is a nice daily drinker tea.

A few sachets of this received from my Swiss friend and honestly… this is again quite a good one! Considering it is sachet.

Of course, we all know that loose leaf tea is higher quality than bags/sachets. But here I have seen whole, not broken, pieces of tea, with plenty of space in the sachet left so it could expand quite well.
It is plain Chun Mee — with its sweet, grassy flavour. It was round and mouth-coating, however those nice flavours did not last last long.

Nice daily-drinker.

Ginger is warming, never straight up spicy and it’s most prominent in the steam and in the sip. The licorice root is very good here, not thickly, sickly sweet despite being steeped for 10 minutes. It’s soft and carries the warmth of ginger and sweet cinnamon through the swallow. I notice the elderflower most on my breath. It’s definitely there and a nice addition. As an ingredient, it’s rarely seen in American tisanes. Overall fragrant warming, softly sweet-spicy, floral in that elderflower way.

Martin has given me so many good herbal blends from Europe that I think as a generalization they got the art of tisane on lockdown. It’s more likely, though, that he sends the good stuff my way :P

A sipdown! (M: 11 Y: 31) Prompt: A tea that makes you feel extra cozy It was already removed from my virtual cupboard, but it still counts.

I know this tea relaxes me well, and because I feel a more tense than usual today; I decided to brew it this evening as I want to feel better than I do now.

Sometimes you are waiting for something for long time. And when it finally comes, it is overwhelming. That’s me today…

Fabiana, thank you for all Solaris teas!

I need to unwind. Maybe a vacation?
Anyway, this week is another rough one. I can’t really explain why here; but I believe it is because the chaos in the company because the end of fiscal year.

Also, adding some material extra sounds like a fun, unless it’s hazmat.

Argh…

At least the tea is good. Sooo relaxing. No chamomile in taste (or that, old, musty, funky one), rather fennel and linden for me. Prepared in original pyramid sachet today. The rose is making a nice aroma of it overall.

Setting a rating on 80

Seems I have bad day with today tea sessions.
This time, I carefully opened the outer wrapping, tried to put sachet out, but ouch, it doesn’t work. I used more strength, nada. It was sealed together with the side. So, I decided to open the sachet and prepared it grandpa. I wonder… why I haven’t used a strainer or fillable tea bag, but here we go.

At least I was able to check the ingredients:
Chamomile — check.
Fennel — check
Linden flower — somehow, check
Oat Straw — check
Rose Petals — check.

Good, all are in. And seems that most of them are good quality. At least I was able to recognize them without using magnifier. Linden flower was hardest to find and see the difference between oat straw and fennel was a bit harder. But all are in…

From their description:
…it is the perfect relaxing brew to calm an overworked mind and help you unwind at the end of a busy day.

I haven’t had a busy day nor overworked mind… but yes, I had a bit of overthinking day. And a little bit too much daydreaming today. So, maybe it’s a tea that I just need today.

Tastes quite expectly after chamomile, but luckily it is good quality and thus quite tasty, almost with apple taste that chamomile sometimes have.
The rest is somehow common herbal taste, but it didn’t turned bitter or medicinal, so with that in mind I have to say I am happy with it. In the end, rose… tries to make its part too and certainly helps with aroma of whole brew.

Very good blend. I hope it will help me with good rest before going tomorrow to work.

Rating on hold, I will rate once I will try as expected.

A sipdown! (M: 4, Y: 27)
Sometimes I like tea bags or sachets for its easy using. No need to measure amount of the blend, easy cleaning up, and sometimes even great flavour.

The last thing is also valid for this tea. Lovely cocoa/rooibos/honeybush flavour, mostly complemented with warming spices as cinnamon and cloves. It says it doesn’t contain any ginger, but I was pretty sure it is there :). My tastebuds shouldn’t be off.

Well, also I am not sure if I would call it a chai afterall. It doesn’t contain any piquant spices. Not even that ginger, which I notice somehow. No peppercorns either.

But it was lovely and would gladly drink another cup of this.

Very mild and sweet chai. I am not even sure to call it chai at all.

The rooibos base is fine, and combined with honeybush it is quite woody and sweet. The cacao notes are nice and not overpowering everything else. Spices are mild, but present in taste, mostly cinnamon and cloves in my opinion. Star anise isn’t that strong as in Ahimsa Veda by teakruthi I had yesterday. And this is certainly fresher tea.

Somewhere in distance I notice orange peel. I think I notice it as a base a bit and also in back of my tongue as refreshing flavour.

Overall, a bit interesting combination of ingredients (tell me about another cacao chais), but well executed and good for afternoons/evenings. Thank you Fabiana :)

A sipdown! (M: 2, Y: 2)
Sipdown prompt: A blend made in another country

This tea I got from my Swiss friend, while the company is actually Irish (it seems); so definitely, blend made in another country for sure.

I had some digestive issues today. And again, checked my stash for some tea as a remedy. Well this sounds good and based on the ingredients it will be fine I guess.

Well, compared to previous tasting note I wrote, it is less refreshing (but also older, though foilwrapped) and I think it was a bit more herbaceous. More fennel and lemon verbena compared to lemongrass; and a whiff of juniper this time.

Fine, but nothing I need to keep in my cupboard. They have a few better blends.

Another tea bag I have received from my Swiss friend. Thank you!

Today afternoon is quite warm. And for my last day in isolation it is hard. I wanted something refreshing and this seemed like a good choice.

It wasn’t certainly a bad choice, however… I have been expecting more refreshing taste. It was herbal. Herbaceous in taste, mostly after lemongrass — but the pithy, sour lemon is missing naturally. Also, no juniper — no pine taste. Not sure if I was unlucky to do not have any in my sachet, or it was crushed, but sadly there is no contribution to taste. And other ingredients make the herbal notes only…

As a palate cleanser though it works well. And after quite a heavy lunch, it helped with a digestion a little bit I think.

Color of the brew? Similar to the box color. Clear. At least something nice :)

You know what makes me smile every time? That someone is thinking about me. For instance, this tea I got for my birthday (month ago, 24th June) from my Swiss friend! She works in bakery and they have this brand here. Never heard about them and the tea wrappings are great addition to my collection. And moreover, some were sent more than once, and I can swap them for other wrappings! The only downside is that they are quite pricey (for me at least). I understand that Irish (yes, it seems it is Irish company) workforce isn’t one of the cheapest in the world.

Anyway, it’s evening and I have decided to do one cold brew tea for tomorrow and one hot tea for now. Ginger with elderflower sounds interesting to me. I opened the outer wrapping, expecting ginger zap aroma, and… it is rather flowery! Yes, the elderflower overpowered the ginger in dry aroma!

Steeped for recommended 3-5 minutes and I got sweet cinnamon aroma with hue of light green, partially cloudy. Beneath the cinnamon, I am able to notice the rest, elderflowers as well the ginger.

In taste it is mild and flowery, almost honey-like in some sips. And then warmth from ginger comes, but never dominates. All complemented with nice level of cinnamon.