It’s no surprise that rare teas with fruit and flower brews are now finding fans. One such brand that recently caught my attention was Gardner Street, an experimental tea company that is focussed on creating great-tasting blends using high-quality tea leaves and real fruits, flowers, herbs, and spices. This made me want to catch up with the founder, Rashi Sanghvi and also put some of their blends to test.
The brand is named after the street in Boston where Rashi lived while completing her MBA and where the need for a warming, healthy beverage and the idea of experimenting with tea flavours took birth. The Gardner Street’s range includes a signature collection like Berry Good, Chinese Whispers, Flower Power, Lemon Aid, Moroccan Mint, Wellness Collection; Detox, Heal, Glow, Light, Luxury Collection; Kashmiri Kahwa, Lavender Love, South African Rooibos and Assorted sets along with a specialised gifting collection.
When I quizzed her about starting off the venture, she said, “The search for a healthy yet delicious drink to keep myself warm in the freezing winters of Boston sparked this idea. My return to India and the discovery that majority of the good quality tea leaves were being exported leaving the domestic market flooded with cheap and poor quality dust and fannings coupled with the rise in awareness about different types of teas and their benefits led to the push behind the launch of this venture. Having always known tea as ‘chai’, I wanted the 2nd largest tea producing nation in the world to discover the endless possibilities good-quality tea leaves offer.”
“The ingredients are sourced from all over depending on where it is available best. For example, our Rooibos in our South African Rooibos is sourced directly from South Africa, while the cardamom is sourced from Kerala,” revealed Rashi. When I asked her regarding the expansion plans of the brand, she said,” We are looking to launch a few new variants in the Wellness and Luxury collections and are also looking to expand our geographic presence and make ourselves available in exclusive gourmet stores Pan India,” she concluded.
Trying the vari-tea of tea
Going to their blends and packaging, I loved the rustic pinewood box with three beautifully packed loose tea blends in glass bottles. The teas inside were Lavender Love, Glow and Moroccan Mint. The former with the blend of Lavender, Lemongrass, Peppermint and Rose Petals tastes incredibly refreshing and calming. The sweetness of peppermint-infused with fragrant and soothing lavender can well calm frayed nerves.
The Moroccan Mint tastes like a high-quality whole leaf black tea blend with cinnamon, licorice and mint. The sweet and full-bodied blend with mint and cinnamon is definitely a treat for taste-buds. Once you taste the teas, it becomes clear that they are flavoured with real ingredients like rose petals and lemongrass pieces which have numerous health benefits. The use of Silken Pyramid Tea Bags; the unique shape of the sachet not only allows the consumer to see the ingredients in the blend but also allows the whole-tea leaves to unfurl and release all the hidden flavours and nutrients in the brew without the use of any chemical paper or staple pins.
The glow blend is part of the brand’s wellness collection and like the name suggests, is particularly targeted towards achieving healthy, glowing skin. A sip of the high-quality whole-leaf green tea blend with hibiscus and marigold petals and I needed no more convincing to sip on till the end. The sweetness of the green tea with the tartness of hibiscus gives a beautiful pink colour brew and is one of the most exotic beauty concoction I now swear by.
Website Link - www.gardnerstreet.in