Tag: Birch Moon Wellness Co.

Siberian Digestif by Birch Moon Wellness Co.
Herbal Tisane / Flavoured
$12.50 for 30g (20 sachets)

Birch Moon Wellness Co. has provided me with Siberian Digestif for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

This is the third of my reviews of Birch Moon’s Wellness Trio – Discovery Bundle (the first two being: Sweet Zzz’s and Cha-Cha Chaga). Siberian Digestif comes in a colourful cardstock box, much like the other two in the bundle. This one with peach and reds for the motifs. Called a “herbal infusion digestive blend”, I opened up the box and found – like the other two blends – Siberian Digestif comes portioned into tea sachets in a resealable zip top bag.

Siberian Digestif has a savoury aroma to it – it reminds me of oregano and thyme. Siberian Digestif consists of: wild strawberry leaves, senna leaves, rosa canina, immortelle flowers, cowberry leaves, corn silk, oregano herbs, and calendula flowers.

For those who are unfamiliar with some of the ingredients, senna leaves is the primary ingredient in medication like sennaside and is used as a laxative. Rosa canina is otherwise known as dog rose, which is a flower, and allegedly has gastro-protective properties (which was discovered in a study with rats), immortelle is another flower that is thought to have properties that help with upset stomachs, and oregano is thought to help with upset stomachs as well. A lot of these herbal ingredients have been used over time, but a lot of them haven’t been properly studied for efficacy in humans.

Preparation

Birch Moon recommends steeping Siberian Digestif in boiling water (100°C/212°F) for 10 to 15 minutes. I opted for an initial steep of 15 minutes.

First Taste

Siberian Digestif steeps to a lovely orange colour. There’s a slightly sweet aroma to it, I think in part to do with all of the floral ingredients. There’s a bit of a medicinal quality to the flavour – I can’t quite place it. I don’t find it unpleasant like I do rooibos, so that’s a plus. There’s a thickened mouthfeel to the tisane, and I find it easy to drink. I think it helps that it’s slightly sweet and has some floral notes as well.

A Second Cup?

Resteeping Siberian Digestif resulted in a cup that wasn’t nearly as pleasant as the initial steep – it was more medicinal with less sweet. I wouldn’t have a second steep of it for that reason alone.

My Overall Impression

I liked Birch Moon Wellness Co.’s Siberian Digestif. I think if I was having GI issues and suffering from constipation, having a tummy time tea would be a lot easier on the system than taking pills (or worse, a suppository). Luckily, I’m not suffering from such issues at this time, so I can really only comment on the flavour. There is a slight medicinal quality to it, but it’s not off-putting, and it has some nice sweet notes to it. It makes for a pleasantly blended tisane but because I don’t require some of those herbal qualities in my life at the moment, it won’t make for a regularly consumed drink.

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Cha-Cha Chaga by Birch Moon Wellness Co.
Herbal Tisane / Straight
$19.00 for 30g (20 sachets)

Birch Moon Wellness Co. has provided me with Cha-Cha Chaga for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Cha-Cha Chaga is the second of the trio of tisanes sent to me by Birch Moon Wellness Co. (you might the first one that I reviewed last week, Sweet Zzz’s). Like Sweet Zzz’s, Cha-Cha Chaga comes in a colourfully designed cardstock box that shares some more information about the tea on the inside with a handy flap on the side for opening. Chaga is described on the packaging as being a medicinal mushroom with “high antioxidant potency, immune support, and detoxifying benefits”. Birch Moon Wellness Co. does recommend consulting a health care professional if you have any medication conditions or taking prescription medications, and also to not take it if you are pregnant or breast feeding.

A little research on my part found that there’s a lot of information out there about what chaga is thought to do, but very little human studies have been done on the fungus itself. Chaga is a parasitic fungus that grows on birch and other trees in the northern hemisphere. It’s really important to check in with your physician or pharmacist, especially if you’re taking medications, because chaga can interact with: NSAIDs, blood thinners (like warfarin!), oral diabetic medications, and immunosuppressive drugs. So definitely consult your health care professional when taking a new herbal supplement of any kind, you don’t want your medications to stop working or there to be a compounded effect.

Cha-Cha Chaga consists of purely chaga powder. The aroma of the dry leaf is mostly earthiness that reminds me of the smell of the earth or a forest after there’s been raining, it’s quite relaxing. Cha-Cha Chaga does come prepackaged into individual tea sachets, but I ripped them open to see what was inside because that’s just what I do.

Preparation

Birch Moon Wellness recommends steeping Cha-Cha Chaga in boiling water (100°C/212°F) water for 10 to 15 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 12 minutes.

First Taste

Cha-Cha Chaga steeps to a brownish red. I found there to be a definitely earthy to the steeped tisane. It reminds me a lot of the smell of mushrooms before they’ve been cooked – in particular portobellos. There’s just something about Cha-Cha Chaga that reminds me of that. There’s some very tasty savoury notes to it, I quite like it. It’s not very sweet, but I don’t think it really needs to be since it has such a nice savoury quality to it that reminds me of soup almost. I found there to be an interesting mouth feel that is almost astringent but without the mouth pucker quality.

A Second Cup?

I found resteeping Cha-Cha Chaga wasn’t as good as the initial steep in terms of those nice savoury, earthy notes, so I would recommend steeping Cha-Cha Chaga just the one time.

My Overall Impression

I loved Birch Moon Wellness Co.’s Cha-Cha Chaga. Now, I wasn’t drinking it for any of the potential health benefits, I was just drinking it as a tisane and because I was curious – but I found it to be quite tasty! I’m really not going to be commenting on the assumed health benefits because I haven’t done enough research into it, but it is really tasty. I loved the savoury qualities and the earthy notes that just make it into a nice cuppa. It’s definitely not a dessert tea (and goodness, I drink a lot of those!), the mushroom earthiness is a nice quality from the chaga that I do appreciate.

I highly recommend checking in with your physician or pharmacist or whomever you need to talk to from your health care team before trying a tisane with chaga or any other herbal ingredient(s) that may interact with your prescription medications or exacerbate any medical conditions that you may have.

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Sweet ZZZ’s by Birch Moon Wellness Co.
Herbal Tisane / Flavoured
$12.50 for 30g (20 sachets)

Birch Moon Wellness Co. has provided me with Sweet ZZZ’s for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Birch Moon Wellness Co. is a Canadian tea company located in Ottawa, Ontario with ingredients that are sourced from Siberia, Russia and the tisanes are blended in a Health Canada approved facility. Sweet ZZZ’s is one of their three tisanes found in the Wellness Trio – Discovery Bundle, which Birch Moon was so very kind to send my way to try (which means that this is the first of three tisane reviews for Birch Moon products!).

The packaging is pretty – I love the design on the boxes themselves. There was a plastic cellophane on the outside of the box that I removed prior to photographing the cartons. The boxes themselves are matte and cardstock  – so recyclable. The box easily opens on the side with a flap and the tea is prepackaged into square sachets – all inside of a resealable zip top bag for freshness.

Sweet ZZZ’s has an interesting smell because I really can’t place what it reminds me of. I definitely can smell the lemon balm though, and some of the thyme. I’m not familiar with all of the herbal ingredients, so it’s hard for me to determine what’s what. Sweet ZZZ’s contains: chamomile, lemon balm grass, thyme, kuril tea, and motherwort.

Preparation

Birch Moon recommends using boiling water (100°C/212°F) and to steep for 10 to 15 minutes. I opted to steep for 10 minutes.

First Taste

Sweet ZZZ’s steeps to a bright yellow that was surprising to me! I wish I knew more about some of the ingredients  so I knew which one was making it so bright. It reminds me a lot of sunshine in a cup. I can definitely smell the thyme and lemon balm, and something else. Flavour wise, I can taste the chamomile and thyme, and a hint of lemon balm in the background. I’m not sure what kuril tea or motherwort are supposed to taste or smell like, but there’s something in the tea that reminds me of a bit of ginseng – and not in a bad way. There is a nice pleasantness to it, with a hint of sweetness.

A Second Cup?

Birch Moon’s website suggests that their tisanes can be steeped 2-3 times. I did it twice, and found that the flavour does lessen considerably by the second resteep (third steep), so I might recommend just the one resteep (I did it for 15 minutes).

My Overall Impression

I loved Birch Moon’s Sweet ZZZ’s. The first time I tried out this tisane was when I was getting off a night shift and trying to sleep at about 8:30am. Just steeped a cup, sipped it down as I was puttering around before tucking myself in for a nap. It’s definitely more interesting for the taste buds than a plain chamomile, while still making me want to sleep. Nothing against a plain chamomile tisane, it’s just not my cup of tea.

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