Chamomile Mint Citrus Green Tea

Vadham call this a “low caffeine” blend, which seems to put it in no-man’s land between an herbal and a good proper cuppa, but it tastes rather like a classic chamomile Sleepytime type tea. I get only a minimal hint of the green tea at all.

There is a lot going on here. Heavy on the chamomile, then pops out the orange-peel citrus and an indistinct mint note, probably due to the blending of both spearmint and peppermint. There’s also a good whack of lemongrass.

It’s not bad by any means, but there are a lot of competing sensations. It’s well-balanced but I feel I’ve tasted this before. I am experimenting with using “low caffeine” teas between my usual blacks so I don’t start vibrating, but I feel there are a lot of herbals with this flavour profile, so I’ll stick to those.

Oh: don’t oversteep this one. The previously undetected green tea will turn to battery acid after minute 4.

Very well balanced with a bit of everything. You can taste the chamomile mint, green notes are muted but works well.

Adventaggedon Day 24 – Tea 5/6

Welp – I knew I was asking for too much hoping that I’d get three teas I enjoyed in a row.

Honestly, of all the advents I did this year I found this to be the most challenging for me. There were a lot of very similar teas and repetitious ingredients – with so much focus on Chai/Turmeric. I really shouldn’t be surprised because spices are kind of Vahdam’s speciality and I did want something that would push me outside of my comfort zone – but I was just hoping for some more straight/single origin teas or more inventive uses of the spices. Not six variations on a turmeric tea…

There were many days where I really wanted to skip the Vahdam tea – but I’m very proud of myself for not doing that. Actually, in general I’m just super proud of myself for not falling behind on advents AT ALL. Last year I did five “full” advents and one 12 Day Countdown, along with a single instagram photo and daily Steepster notes – it felt like a lot at the time and I swore that I wouldn’t do the same amount this year. Well, I was right in a way because I didn’t do the same amount – I just did more.

I had six “full” advents (if you count the two 12 Tea countdowns as one advent), wrote daily steepster notes for each tea, and took an IG photo and story post for every tea each day in addition to running three IG advent chat groups – all while working my full time job (at which I was SIGNIFICANTLY busier than last year) and doing my podcast. All that, and I didn’t miss a single thing or get behind at all. It was a crazy packed month, and to say I felt busy would be an understatement. I don’t think it’s fully hit me yet that tomorrow I can just drink whatever the fuck I want…

This tea, though? Yeah, it was fine – I honestly was paying closer attention to the Bojack Christmas special I was watching that the profile of the tea, and honestly after reading Cameron B’s tasting note that might have been a good thing? I do recall tasting the mint, but otherwise it was a pretty nondescript tea. Sort of underwhelming to finish out the advent on, to be honest.

Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJM0NCOgiTR/

Sipdown! (32 | 353)

Cold brewed! I’ve never had chamomile cold before, but the other ingredients were just calling out to be cold brewed…

I like it! It’s mostly chamomile, which I find very refreshing iced. Then there’s the cooling mint, and just a kiss of citrus from the lemongrass and orange peel. The chamomile almost reminds me of elderflower when it’s cold.

I will say, I would decrease the amount of chamomile in relation to the other ingredients, just to allow them to shine a bit more. As-is, it’s mostly a chamomile tisane with some supporting flavors. And I do like chamomile, but I’m also wishing for more citrus!

This is the first of the green tea samples I’m trying from the Vahdam samples I bought via Amazon. It has a yellowish appearance.

It has a very pleasant flavour, floral and citrusy and is certainly one of my favourites so far.