Taste Test: Vegetable Teas from Numi Make Sipping a Savory Occasion

When considering flavors for your daily cup of tea, you probably might think of mint, lemon, or berry flavors along with the typical black and green teas. You might also think of taking your tea with milk or sweeteners like sugar or honey.

What if your tea went in a different direction and included flavors like broccoli, carrot, or beet? What if, instead of Sweet and Low, you were adding oils and salts to your tea to amplify the flavor?

Savory teas from Numi take tea in that direction. The line-up includes black and green teas blended with vegetables and spices.

In this taste test, we try a few cups* from Numi’s new line of vegetable-spice-tea infusions.

The Numi Garden Sampler ($7.99 MSRP) includes two bags each of six vegetable-spice blends:

• Beet Cabbage
• Broccoli Cilantro
• Carrot Curry
• Fennel SPice
• Spinach CHive
• Tomato Mint

At first glance, these flavors look like something you’re more likely to see on your dinner plate than in your tea cup. Numi suggests having these teas as a snack or complement to a light lunch, an add-on to a cleanse, or perhaps as a way to mix up your regular tea routine.

Here are some thoughts on the flavors we sampled.

• Beet Cabbage – This one was my favorite of the three I sampled. The beet flavor was mild but clearly took the lead and the cabbage added a nice hint of pungency. Slightly sweeter than the other teas (perhaps due to the addition of apple, orange peel, and honeybush tea), I added sugar to this one to bring out the sweetness a bit more.

• Carrot Curry – Based on a green tea blend, this one was mild in flavor but definitely savory; the curry flavor was in charge, the carrot flavor more subtle. I added a few drops of sesame oil to create an Asian flavor.

• Broccoli Cilantro – Also a green tea, the broccoli flavor came through very weakly for me in this one. The cilantro and garlic took the lead and the pepper added a nice hint of heat. I complemented this tea with a few grains of wood-smoked salt.

Overall, I like the idea of mixing up my tea routine to keep things interesting. I’m looking forward to savoring (ha!) the other flavors in the sampler.

Numi Savory Teas are organic, decaffeinated, and packed in Non-GMO biodegradeable bags. You can purchase these teas online or at South Bay Whole Foods stores. You can also use their store locator to find an outlet near you.

• Numi Savory Teas
  http://www.numitea.com/savorytea

* Some items mentioned in this article were provided on a complimentary basis for the purpose of this review. Prices and items mentioned are subject to change without notice. This story was accurate when it was published and reflects the uninfluenced opinions of the reviewers.