Tea Review 49 - Numi's Collection - Assorted Melange

Numi's Collection - Assorted Melange
Numi Tea

I've tried a smattering of Numi's teas before, but as I was scanning the tea shelf at my local food emporium I decided to take a crack at their sampler. Actually I mostly had my eye on the Yunnan black, but I thought I might as well check out the others while I was at it.

This sampler contains two bags each of Numi's mostly organic full-leaf teas and teasans - their term for tisane or herbal tea. As nearly as I could tell, seven of these nine are organic.

Let's start by looking at the "real" teas. The Chinese Breakfast, a Yunnan black, did not disappoint. It had a nice robust flavor and was gone in no time at all. Temple of Heaven ,a gunpowder green, was a little bit of a disappointment though. It had a nice color, but seemed to me to be lacking some of the flavor I was expecting from a gunpowder.

Monkey King, a jasmine green was not bad. I'm not a huge fan of jasmine tea but I've grown to like it a little more over the years and this one was pleasant enough.

Then there was Smoky Tarry, a Lapsang Souchong black. Friends, I am just never going to like this stuff, no matter how hard I try - and I have tried. Really. But if the truth be told I didn't make it past the first sip. As a matter of fact, I barely made it past the smell. As I've mentioned before, if you've ever tasted Lebanon Bologna, you're probably going to find the whole Lapsang Souchong experience kind of weird.

Now, on to the teasans. I've reviewed Simply Mint, a Moroccan mint herbal, separately. Read that review here.

Fields of Gold is a lemongrass teasan that has a light pleasant taste. This one's good if you're looking for an herbal tea that's not fruity. Bushmen's Brew and Red Mellow Bush are Numi's version of the South African Honeybush and Rooibos teas and always come highly recommended. I tend to prefer the latter, even though they're rather similar tasting.

Which brings us to Dry Desert Lime. This one sounded great - in theory. I was ready to like it, but I didn't. It was just too frightfully tart, even when I mixed it with a bit of honey - something I hate to do to any tea or tisane - and even when I blended it with an equal measure of mint.

But Numi has gathered together a pretty good bunch of liquid refreshment here and it's a great way to get acquainted with some of their wares.