Detox

Day 10. Another first, thanks to the Advent calendar. A very nice green tea for certain, especially if you need a health boost during all these wet days. I had felt a bit “under the weather” over the weekend and this just made me feel a lot better. The ginger adds a little kick to the rooibos buzz that I would have received with any rooibos tea. But not in an overpowering way. Given my sensitivity to rooibos I probably won’t give in to trying more than the sampler but it’s a good match to the “Splash” tea that premiered at the beginning of this year if I was to make a comparison.

The first time I had this tea, my friend made it with boiling water and left it to steep for probably 30 minutes – It was the worst tea I’ve ever had. Flash forward to right now – I’ve steeped the tea at a toasty 80 degrees, 1.5 tsp, for 4 minutes in my perfect mug. Holy cows! The lemongrass is perfect. The rooibos, exquisite. The flavours in this tea are incredible, I just can’t believe it’s a detox tea. It doesn’t taste like there is much green tea in here, nor could i see any in the dry leaf – I just see it in my infuser, having expanded. Either way, I’ll be trying to keep this one on hand as much as possible. Who knows if it actually detoxes, it just tastes phenomenal.

Sore throat, headache, and I’m exhausted. Detox to the rescue! Please. Please let it be to the rescue. I need to get the blecky ti kwan yin I drank earlier (from The Golden Mint) out of my system.

I adopted this from my mother (I tend to adopt a lot of teas from my mother), and being presently in a position where some detoxification is needed, I thought I’d give this a try myself!

My first critique is that this is really more of a rooibos than a green tea; I understand why it would be marketed as a green, since green tea is still a marketing buzzword for detox, health, weight loss, etc, and I’m sure the general public that buys into that mindset would be very confused if they heard rooibos instead of green, so I don’t begrudge David’s for their decision, but it can be rather misleading for anyone expecting something green tea-tasting.

Smelling and tasting the tea, you definitely get more rooibos than sencha. The liquor is golden red, a bit lighter than rooibos steeps by itself. It’s lightly sweet smelling with a whiff of lemongrass. Taste-wise it’s completely rooibos and herbal, hence why I really think this shouldn’t be marketed as a green. That’s why my mother gave it to me (she’s not a fan of rooibos), and even though I do find it tasty, I don’t think it’ll be my favourite detox tea.

So one of my coworkers gave me this tea as she did not like it. I’m not one to turn down free Davids tea so I took it off her hands for her :) I decided to finally try it before going to bed last night. I’ve had this tea for a couple of months and everytime I go to try some I am intimadated by the smell which reminds of halls cough drops – must be the juniper berries. I made sure to only steep this for 4 minutes as I didn’t want it to be too strong. The tea was not bad but not something I can see myself craving or restocking unless I can see uber health benefits. The taste was way more mellower than the smell but I still mostly tasted the juniper berries.

I got this one for my husband who was looking for a refreshing tea that was low-caffeine for those late night brews. He really enjoys it and I think its pretty good. There is a certain amount of astringency from the citrus and juniper, but I think that adds to the flavor. The flavlor is complex and if you enjoy tangy teas then you would probably really like this one.

I love this tea. Every other detox tea I have tried has been absolutely revolting, but I enjoy this tea so much!! The only thing I am wondering is how often can I drink this before I detox the heck out of myself. Can anyone tell me?

Yawn. Yet another tea from David’s with similar ingredients that has a similar flavour. I like lemongrass, I do. I just really wish that there were fewer teas that tasted like it.

Day 10, everyone! Somewhere between today and tomorrow, we reach the official 1% mark! Isn’t it wonderful? I hope the rest of the 99% is just as fun and delicious as this first bit has been. :)

That being said, today was a bit of an icky day. Thankfully, once again, the tea elves have managed to anticipate my needs and given me a nice low-caffeine, medicinal-ish tea to soothe all my problems and pains away.

Seriously. I don’t know how they do it, but I’m glad that as of yet the tea selections (in my advent calendar and not at all chosen daily by me) have been able to suit my needs perfectly. Thank you tea elves, whoever and wherever you are.

Steeped: 1.5tsp in tea ball. Brewed with freshly boiled water.

First Cup: Steeped 4 minutes. Clear.
The lemongrass and ginger are what hit me the most. The overall flavour is mild, refreshing, earthy/grassy/herb-y. It somewhat relaxes me to drink it.

Second cup: Resteep. Steeped 5 minutes. Clear.
It’s odd. Anything with lemongrass tends to give me this herbal medicinal feel, but that doesn’t make it seem… uninviting to me. The spiciness from the ginger is a little less, but there is some nice sweetness along with the herb-y and lemon-y flavours, and just a hint of bite. It’s quite nice, really, even if it is still a bit medicinal.

Third cup: Re-resteep. Steeped aprpox 5 minutes. Clear.
This cup holds up to resteeps a lot better than some of the other teas I’ve had so far. This is the third steep, and the flavour qas still quite strong, rather than being barely there but still drinkable. Still rather herb-y, and still easiest to pick out the lemongrass. Quite enjoyable.

Overall impression: This tea really does live up to its name of “detox”, at least in feel. Something about the herbal nature of the mix just seems… detoxifying to me. While I haven’t had a full meal that I need digestive help with as the tea suggests it’s best for (quite the opposite actually, I’ve hardly eaten today due to some stomach problems), it feels nice and soothing, and makes me feel like

My rating: 85. A. I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did, but it just seems all… natural and… right. I’m not sure how else to put it.
Although I’m rating it high, I’m not sure if it’s something I’d stock a lot of, but it’s certainly something I’d consider keeping around. This is the kind of tea that, while I wouldn’t go for as an indulgence, would definitely be great for when things aren’t all quite right, and I want something to help calm me down. Particularly if paired with some soothing music and ocean sounds…..

#10. I wasn’t expecting much but it’s actually quite good. I was a little concerned when it said it was a green tea but wanted to be steeped at 208F, I was expecting that to get bitter. The juniper berry smell also put me off but it’s growing on me now.