Somehow, despite having always had the “Ayurvedic” category listed on this blog, I haven’t actually reviewed any yet. ^^;;
Ayurvedic tea is an ancient Hindu medicine of India. Without delving too deeply into a thickly woven multicultural Indian tradition (most of which I make no claim to understanding) that probably hails from the 3rd Century CE or possibly even earlier, Ayurvedic tea, like most alternative medicine, acts to restore the balance between the mind, body and spirit. Nowadays however, Ayurvedic medicine isn’t all that popular in the West, thanks in part to some products having been discovered to contain heavy metals like mercury and lead… In truth, as of this writing, I’ve only been able to put my hands on three Ayurvedic teas, all of which had to meet TeaGschwendner‘s exacting standards: Pitta, Kapha, Vata and Kamba Berry (the last of which is actually African Nightshade grown in Nigeria and Cameroon, I just categorized it here because it’s more similar in taste and scent to Ayurvedic tea than it is to African Rooibos).
Vata, probably the most drinkable of the four, has a lovely spicy aroma with a white grape juice coloring. The texture is a heterogenous mixture of grit, owing to its dry seed content. The taste is heavy on licorice (though I wonder if that was always the case) with a few interesting coriander and anise notes. Vata was actually the first Ayurvedic I ever had, and in an effort to make sure it didn’t go to waste at the time I experimented with mixing it into another great herbal tea I had on hand: Anise, Caraway, Fennel. The resulting spicy, double anise, seed oil texture with a licorice aftertaste was a wild accidental success. I dubbed this potion “Bad Moon Rising” in honor of my favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode (which I must have watched that week). In the Ayurvedic tradition, Vata is a remedy for anxiety and grants the drinker a sweet holistic calmness. However… I soon discovered that rather than calming, my Bad Moon Rising concoction actually acts as an aphrodisiac, so that must have been part of the inspiration for it’s naming. xD
選別 parting.gifts 