I am always so honoured when tea brands reach out to me on Instagram to see if I’d like to review their teas. Trust Tea found me in late December and I was very excited to add Trust Tea Clear Mind to my review list for January.
I’ve been focusing on wellness and health in January and this tea fits into my theme perfectly. Named ‘Clear Mind’ this herbal blend is full of adaptogen ingredients, including ashwagandha, schisandra, and liquorice.
If you struggle with anxiety or stress, this is a lovely tea to try. You can learn more about it below and on Trust Tea’s official website.
Trust Tea Clear Mind Tea at a Glance
- Blend: Ashwagandha powder with a peppermint and hibiscus-rich loose leaf tea
- Flavour: Complex and layered, with sweet/tart notes to start, followed by earthy richness, and ending with bright minty flavours
This tea is complex and quite medicinal. Blackcurrant and hibiscus dominate the flavour to start with, but the earthy ashwagandha balances it out. Just when you think you’ve discovered all the flavours this tea can offer, the peppermint sweeps in at the last moment.
Full Review – Clear Mind Ashwagandha Tea
- Type: Loose leaf
- Ingredients: Ashwagandha root powder, hibiscus flower, peppermint leaf, schisandra berry, liquorice root, rosehips, freeze-dried blackcurrants, apple pieces, natural flavouring
- Health Benefits: Clear your mind and help you manage stress
- Flavour Notes: Tart, sweet, hibiscus, berries, earthy, umami, turmeric, peppermint
- Aroma: Peppermint, liquorice, blackcurrant Ribena, apple, medicinal
- Milk or Lemon: Neither
- Where to Buy: Trust Tea Official Website
Inside the card box pictured above, you have ashwagandha root powder in a handful of 2-serving sachets plus a plastic bag of the loose leaf tea blend. Trust Tea direct you to ensure the loose leaf is evenly combined before you brew the tea, and I love this! Stirring the dried ingredients around really releases their aromas. Notes of peppermint, liquorice and blackcurrant Ribena swirl around with subtler sweet notes of apple.
The tea brews into a dark black/purple/red colour, which is to be expected. Any tea blend that contains hibiscus usually ends up this way, as the dried hibiscus flower petals somehow release an endless supply of pink-red ink.
As for the aroma once brewed, the peppermint dies down a little and the sweetness of the berry and fruit ingredients intensifies. I would describe it as medicinal, which is not necessarily a bad flavour. This tea is designed to be healing and soothing, so a medicinal note seems appropriate.
The flavour is wow. Usually herbal teas lack complexity, but not this one! It kickstarts with sweet and tart hibiscus berry notes, then quickly deepens and becomes earthy, almost like turmeric. I believe this is the ashwagandha powder. Finally, notes of peppermint tingle over your tongue and create a cooling sensation that lasts long into the aftertaste.
Overall, it’s a unique tea with a complex and deep flavour. I can definitely see myself sipping this tea when I need a quiet moment to get my thoughts together or quell some anxiety that’s nibbling away at my mind.
I am not the hugest fan of ashwagandha, so the fact that I can leave out the powder and simply enjoy a berry/peppermint tea without it is also a huge plus for me.
How to Brew Clear Mind by Trust Tea
The instructions for this tea are simple.
- Mix the loose leaf to ensure you get an even distribution of ingredients,
- Add ½ a sachet of powder to your mug and pour over hot water (I used 100°C),
- Add a generous teaspoon of loose leaf and let it brew for 3-5 minutes,
- Strain out or remove the herbal ingredients, and drink.
I brewed for just 3 minutes and found the strength of the tea to be perfect. If you like your tea to be quite light, then brew for just 2 minutes – but bear in mind that the anxiety relief properties will be reduced along with the flavour strength.
You might try a slice of lemon in this tea, but I really don’t think it needs any additional sweeteners. Leave the honey and sugar to the side. The liquorice in this tea is already plenty sweet.
Why Trust Tea?
Trust Tea are a new tea brand to me. They were founded 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and sought to create a unique tea blend that targets stress and anxiety. They also donate a portion of profits to Mind UK and YoungMinds, which is particularly admirable.
The ingredients in this blend were chosen for their adaptogen properties. They help you to adapt and resist the stressors of daily life, thus hopefully reducing your anxiety and stress levels as a result. The quality of the ingredients also looks great, with whole freeze-dried blackcurrants floating around amidst the broken peppermint leaves and hibiscus flowers.
Packaging wise, it’s a bit hit and miss. I like that the tea is loose leaf rather than in teabags, and it makes sense to have the ashwagandha root powder in separate sachets, as it can be consumed directly rather than infused and removed before consumption. However, having 2 servings per sachet is a little tricky to work with (unless you want to brew 2 servings at a time) and I always strive to buy tea that’s in plastic-free packaging.
Summary
Trust Tea are a brilliant British tea brand and I really enjoyed reviewing this tea. It’s a soothing concoction that I will save for moments when I really need a clear mind, free of stress and anxiety. The flavour is pretty punchy and has a slight medicinal sensation, but this just fits the purpose of the tea and certainly makes it memorable.
Tea Recommendation
I was surprised to find that there’s no chamomile in this Trust Tea Clear Mind blend, as it’s usually one of the most calming herbal tisanes you can buy. If you enjoy chamomile tea, then you should read my review of Pukka Chamomile, Vanilla & Manuka Honey Tea next.