Tea Emperor

One could say that we have a tea collection, but to say so would be incorrect. We merely buy more loose tea than what we consume. Poor is the faith of some of our purchases as tempting tea packages lay in some forgotten cupboard corner only to be tossed to the trash.

MAINLY LOOSE TEA

As you can see from the photo below there are mainly loose teas in our collection, but we have made some room for daily quick fixes and few specialties. With quick fix I refer to the morning bulk bag tea, which is fast, black, cheap and easy. Come to think of it that is almost how I like my women, but don’t tell that to the Empress…

Our collection of loose teas.

FEW SPECIALTIES

These we get from our travels to Asia and Northern Europe. Let’s face it, in Asia they know how to make a good cup of tea and in Northern Europe they have pristine nature with all sorts of wild plants just dying to be dried and labeled as X tea. So you want an example? Birch leaf tea, Bilberry leaf tea, Bilberry berry tea, Buckthorn tea, Cloudberry tea and then there are all those meadow herbs… I’d like to see them grow those in the Orient.

THE TEA COLLECTION

The good thing about having more than one tea brand in your slate is that you can offer more variety for the visitors, and more importantly, you can add some taste into your life just the way you need it. For some people tea collection might be a source for little competitive spirit. There’s nothing wrong in real tea collections, but remember that very few teas age well.

Ricola instant tea drink - Good Night Tea - is today’s topic. In my previous review, I stopped before I really started the reviewing. The reason for that was the sugar heavy make of the instant tea drink. Good Night Tea from Ricola is even sweeter as the sugar content is close to 98% and infused herbs are mellow and don’t give much kick to the taste.

The more I drink this stuff the more I feel that these drinks should be called just instant drinks. It is almost like a box of cookies that plaster (WITH HUGE FONT) 100% chocolate inside and when you read the contents information you notice that there is less than 10% of chocolate out of total weight of the cookie… so much for the 100% chocolate. Well, I shall not mention Ricola’s products here again but as a warning example. I’d label this stuff together with sodas and the likes.

Ricola used to be my favourite big brand name manufacturer of foodstuffs. The company was established in 1924 and originally made various sugary sweets of which a cough drop with herbs became a big hit and was further developed into a Swiss Herbal Candy. Customers took the herbal candy and used it in the most peculiar manner. When candies were mixed into hot water the result was delicious herbal tea. Sales rocketed!

Eventually one thing led to another and the company became involved with supporting the growing herbs that they use in their production. Think of those pure plants high on the mountains, could there be a cleaner place to grow crops?

THE TEA REVIEW
Enough of the company background and to the point. This time I’m going to focus on Ricola Herb Tea that is absolutely fantastic! With fantastic I refer to the taste, which is just delicious. Quick glance to the product information sheds some light on the reason for the taste. It must be delicious, because the herbal tea is basically sugar and only 2,7% of the content consists of herbs. Candy for kids, eh?

I don’t have scientific reports to back me up, but I believe that product, which has so much terrible carbon hydrates can’t compensate with a small amount of herbs. I know it tastes great, but for diabetes sake, don’t drink it! End of story. Drink real herbal tea instead!