Wild Coast Brew

This is quite a mild chai. I taste something like light cinnamon and maybe something else. There’s also a warm, pleasant earthiness. It’s nice with sugar and milk. I would have guessed this was an herbal chai, as the black tea doesn’t make much of an appearance. It’s not bad, but I prefer a bolder chai.

This was a little more average tasting than I had hoped. I taste the too-herbaceous coriander and other things that belong more in a health tea than a fun tea. I’m a lemongrass fan, but here it’s just too healthful seeming mixed with the peppermint and everything else. At the end of some sips, my throat catches a bit of the red pepper, which I don’t love here.

The leaf of this is really powdery since it’s supposed to be an herbal coffee. The scent was super bitter, and I thought I wouldn’t like it, but the spice combination turns this into a decent chai! There’s a good bit of roastiness and some relatively mild spices. It’s earthy and interesting with some sugar and almond milk. I appreciate the unique variety of foraged ingredients here. It makes it feel extra fresh!

The dry leaf here is delightful. It looks and smells like a pile of forest leaves in the best way. The strongest flavor here is the cinnamon, though it’s a very natural cinnamon. With sugar and milk, it tastes really fresh and nice. On subsequent cups, I’ve noticed more pine and other earthy flavors and less cinnamon.

Another botanical blend and more pretty artwork from Wild Coast Brew. This one is a black tea with elderberry, nettle, echinacea, and a bunch of other stuff.

I like it, but feel like Assam was the wrong choice for the base. To me, the strong and brisk flavor sort of bullies the other ingredients. I can taste the herbaceous nettle and just a touch of elderberry and oregano, but would love to taste more. The black tea is apparently a mix of Assam and Keemun, and I kind of wish they had left the Assam out… Smoother Chinese black teas go better with these sort of earthy herbal ingredients, in my opinion.

Anyway, we’ll see if my opinion changes as I sip through it!

I thought this one might be a bit boring, since it’s essentially just a spin on a Moroccan mint tea. But I’m actually finding it really nice – it’s quite light in body since the green tea isn’t gunpowder, and the spearmint is not as overwhelming as I thought it might be. I also get a soft herbaceous/grassy note from the nettle and a touch of vegetal from the Chinese green tea. I think there is a slight earthiness from the ginger, but it’s very subtle.

Soft, light, and a bit soothing. I could see this being a nice evening tea, and since there is more nettle than green tea, I assume the caffeine is rather low. Maybe I’ll try it with a smidge of honey later tonight.

Back to Wild Coast Brew! The art on this one, I just can’t even… So gorgeous.

Luckily, I like the tea too! This is a blend of tulsi and black tea with milky oats, cinnamon, and ginger. The tulsi sounds like an odd choice to me, but it actually works because of the spices. It ends up tasting like a light chai with some extra herbaceous and earthy notes, plus the oats adding a comforting creaminess. Something is tasting quite similar to turmeric, not sure if that’s the ashwagandha?

Such an interesting intersection of almost desserty notes with the oats and cinnamon, plus the earthy roots and tulsi. Nicely balanced, and one that I would consider reordering.

Next up from Wild Coast Brew – this tulsi and jasmine green tea blend with orange, cardamom, ginger, and a few other bits ‘n’ bobs.

To be honest, I mostly get tulsi here? There is a faint touch of jasmine and earthy, mineral green tea, but tulsi has a rather strong flavor so it’s definitely in forefront. I do taste a hint of sweet orange on the top end and an earthy note at the back of my mouth that could be the ginger (or perhaps just the green tea). Cardamom could easily be getting lost in the tulsi since they’re both a bit tingly/spicy.

It’s nice and I’m enjoying it, but mostly because I like tulsi ha ha. Would like to see some of the other ingredients shine a bit more. I think I’ll reserve judgment on a rating until I’ve tried it a few more times, just to be sure it’s not the ratio of ingredients in this particular cup.

I figured it was about time I post some tasting notes for these Wild Coast Brew teas that I picked up last year. You know how it goes – so many teas, so little time… XP Wild Coast is a small business out of Oregon that grows or forages most of their ingredients (with the exception of actual tea, obviously) and offers interesting botanical blends. Their artwork is completely stunning, which is, of course, what drew me in in the first place. Plus I’m a bit of a sucker for wildcrafted teas. :P

Anyway, this blend is their version of an Earl Grey. It has a Chinese black tea base with bergamot oil, orange, lemon verbena, linden, and hops. I would hesitate to call it an Earl Grey per se, since the bergamot is quite light compared to the orange, but I am really enjoying it. It’s light and mellow overall, a nice combination of the smooth, earthy, and somewhat malty black tea with the bright and sweet orange/bergamot combo. I do taste a little bit of airy, ethereal linden in there, and perhaps the hops are contributing to that as well.

Just a really nice soft-yet-flavorful black blend, perfect for the afternoon. I could see myself ordering more of this one.

P.S. – Wild Coast Brew is actually having a 20% off sale for Mother’s Day right now, with the code MOMDAY!