Lipton

I normally only like teas that I don’t have to add anything to. This one is not so great on it’s own. Mostly taste the spice but not the black tea. BUT if you make a latte out if it, it’s awesome!! I mix in some raw honey and sugar and then froth some milk in my french press. Excellent desert tea.

This is one of those teas that you drink in a pinch. Never very smooth, turns terribly astringent and bitter really easily. But if it’s the only tea around and I’m feening for a cuppa, then it would do.

Not bad for a flavored and bagged green tea. Tastes mostly like passionfuit and orange though. The green tea can be pretty bitter for a name that suggests such sublteness. Somewhat harsh aftertaste, but it’s not all bad when you add honey to it. But by then it’s mostly just a fuit tea with a hint of jasmine aroma. I recommend a very quick steep at a lower than normal temperature to reduce the harshness.

Delicious with a little sugar and maple syrup.

I liked this tea, although it was a bit weak. The spices felt like I could just about taste them to their fullest, but I never could. Although I could taste the cinnamon the most.

This is a pretty basic green tea. When I don’t feel like steeping my flavoured teas, this is my go to. I treat this like water, I only drink it to quench a thirst.
When steeped, the tea itself is pretty dark. It’s a tad bitter on it’s own. There are better green teas out there, but I keep going back to this one for 2 reasons:
1. Basic, Dependable
2. Cheap (100 bags for under $5)

Probably not a good choice for tea snobs, or anyone who has grown up with real iced tea, but it’ll play in Peoria. Lipton deserves credit for creating (or marketing) am affordable tea that can be brewed cold. It’s not bad, it’s reasonably refreshing, but it’s not really great either.

I totally spat this out, threw the box away and immediately took out the trash. I’m not even ashamed to admit that. My mouthwash is more palatable. Maybe it’s the blend. Maybe I just don’t like mint teas. I don’t know, and I don’t care to taste anything like it again that might lead me to find out.

This is bloody disgusting.
It smells lightly frangrant, but no real flavor:-(

Sipdown (97)!

Update on the Tre nesting thing: His casual fuck buddy was coming over which is why he was being a douche about the house being “messy”. Also, she was being creepy and hell while we were watching the new episode of Jane The Virgin. She was at a friend’s who lives on our block too and she kept texting him saying she was staring at our window.

Update on the Transit Lockout: It is over! Bus service resumed today, and the city is offering free transit services for the rest of October to help compensate for the lack of service we’ve had for the last month or so. The lockout ended not because an agreement was reached but because the arbitrator they brought in discovered that the whole lockout was unlawful to begin with. Apparently the city failed to meet the legal guidelines surrounding proper notice – and so it was ended, and the drivers who missed out on over a month of pay will have to be compensated.

Update on the sore teeth: The only reason I’ve kept this tea around so long is ‘cause it’s supposedly good for putting over sore teeth; the tannins help ease the pain or something. It’s been awhile since I did the research. So I’ve been trying to do that, but it hasn’t been helpful so I’m just throwing out the last few bags since I don’t drink this anyway.

So, my day started off really shitty but thankfully it seems to have full turned around! I’m so pumped for tonight and seeing Catching Fire with Robyn since (and I don’t want to jinx it, so knock on wood) everything seems to be going my way!

First, my unexpected shift at work went by SUPER quickly and I had a really, really good hour or so conversation with the manager at the yogurt bar near my kiosk. Turns out she’s a huge tea fan too, and not just the “I’m strictly familiar with DAVIDsTEA” and “OMG TEA CAN HAVE CHOCOLATE IN IT!?” type of tea fan either. It was super cool getting to talk to someone in person (other than Robyn, of course) about tea and use all the ‘lingo’ and not have to ‘dumb down’ the way I was talking.

And then, walking home, I thought about the possibility of there being one of the swaps I’m expecting in the mail today possibly. That cheered me up, and although I didn’t find anything I was expecting in the mailbox I did find something I wasn’t expecting! I didn’t even know she was doing anything like this, but the angelic Lala was SO super kind to send me a totally surprise holiday card with a tea sample in it! Gah! The kindness and generosity on Steepster is just too much, and I really really needed this unexpected gesture of kindness today to make my day better! Thanks so much Lala and Merry Steeping and Happy Sipping to you too (and PS. the card is SO FREAKING CUTE)!

Then, on top of the other things that are going good, the cut on my gums that’s been giving me so much displeasure it healing up super quickly and nicely – and I’m totally going to credit sticking these Lipton tea bags in my mouth as the reason! It’s really nice to be able to drink tea without it hurting me doing so.

Lastly, and maybe the best thing of all, my dear friend Renee talked to me today! This might not seem like a big thing, but she’s been my BEST friend since 8th grade, we worked at the movie theatre together for nearly a year and she’s just so special to me. Sadly, the last few months before I moved I was going through some really bad depression and we grew apart and then, after moving to my new town, we completely fell out of contact despite my spending my first month and a half hear trying to talk to her. I was told from several people (friends and former coworkers) that she had grown to hate me the last few months before I moved, was happy I was gone, and no longer considered me a friend. That was a huge blow, and sorta sent me back into a depression (which I’ve been doing so much better coming out of this last month). So, it’s a BIG DEAL that today she messaged ME out of the blue and actually started catching up with me (and we’re now making amends). I’m quite literally crying tears of joy. Pure fucking joy. This was ALL that I needed to completely erase every little bit of shittyness that it feels like has been dumped on me since moving.

It’s SO SO SO good to know that I haven’t lost my best friend. Everything feels good now, and I feel like I’m going to be ok and I just felt like I had to share that. Steepster has been amazing for me and amazing in giving me a group of truly caring individuals to talk to and share a passion with. Just, what a great turn around to an awful starting day. I truly feel blessed.

Using this again not technically as a tea but just sticking the teabag straight into my mouth to ease the pain of my aching gums (which have been healing up nicely from being cut open since I started doing this these last two days). Eating plenty of sorbet helps too, I think.

Anyway – pseudo sipdown! Although, not on this tea. Tomorrow I’m gonna go see Catching Fire with Robyn and I’m also gonna take the opportunity to unload a whole bunch of unwanted teabags on her, which I’ve got all packaged up now. So, good riddance to Bigelow’s English Breakfast, Bentley’s English Breakfast, Earl Grey, and Raspberry, Anisa Tea’s Persian Tradition, and Lipton’s Lemon Lift.

I’d throw these bags in there too if they weren’t getting a practical use as a “gum healer”. God, doing this makes me gag. It’s like drinking sewage water and yet getting positive health benefits from it.

Maybe I’ll take going to the theatre tomorrow as an opportunity to sneak a Thermos of DAVIDsTEA’s Movie Night into the theatre (again)…

I hate these nasty awful teabags: Lipton is far from a favourite brand of mine, and green tea (especially straight) and I just don’t mix so the combination of the two creates a tea that I want nothing to do with – and yet I have SO many of these teabags because my Grandma saw them in store and thought that it’d be something I would enjoy.

Honestly, I had planned to pawn them off on Robyn or, if she didn’t want them, just chuck them out: but then I cut my gums under my lower lip. All day the cut has been KILLING me and everything I’ve drank has only irritated my already tender and sore gums, and after some browsing online I saw a “home remedy” suggesting that I apply a green tea teabag straight to my gums after steeping a cup with the bag (like normal). I guess the tannins in straight green tea are supposed to help with the pain.

I was sceptical, but I also had a TON of green tea teabags sitting at home that weren’t being used for ANYTHING else so I figured that I might as well try it (what’s the worst that could happen after all?). So, now that I’m home I’ve steeped myself a cup of this tea. I took a few sips of the actual tea, just because it’s been so long since I had it I thought that MAYBE my tastes had changed. Well they haven’t – AT ALL. I spit the tea straight back into the cup and then promptly dumped it down the sink.

The teabag on the other hand went straight into my mouth. It was so hard not to spit it out – SO gross, SO nasty, just no. After about five minutes though of suffering through it I realized, however, that my gums hardly hurt at all! Easily, the pain was half (if not more than that) gone. After ten minutes, I wouldn’t have even known I’d cut my gums at all. Holy crap! I guess Lipton green tea is a miracle cure for sore gums. Now I can’t throw those damn teabags out because I actually have a use for them…

So, I’m not rating this because I have two very conflicting feelings about the tea. Taste wise, I want to compare it to sewage water. No thanks. However, as a home remedy for gum pain I will literally sing this tea’s praises. HELL YES.

Unrelated, does anyone know if 52Teas will be doing anything for Black Friday/Cyber Monday this year? Did they do anything last year? I have an order of about five teas I’d like to get – but if I can get them discounted or something like that I’ll hold off on putting it through. However, if not then I’ll just make my order now so I don’t have to risk one of the blends I want running out.

I had to make this the first tea I rated, because it was the first tea I ever drank. I will keep this short. It isn’t the worst tea I ever had, it isn’t the best. It is still around so they must be doing something right and to the fact that I would not be an avid tea drinker today without them, I pay them homage. A final note, my Grandmother, who introduced me to tea, has recently switched to Tetley. I Hate Tetley, so thanks for introducing me when you did Grandma!

I must be weird, too, because I quite enjoyed this one. I went against the grain, brewed it strong and added milk, but that’s my perogative.

It smells like a zesty, citrussy lemon dessert. I still have the cup beside me now, and it really is beatuifully lemony. There’s a shaprness there, but it’s not too sharp — maybe the milk has helped to take the edge off some of that — I certainly think it adds a creaminess which suits this tea well. In any case, I don’t find it at all fake or reminiscent of cleaning products, but that’s just me.

Again, the black base was pretty good. Very smooth and unobtrusive, no astringency. I really would like to find some of these for the summer. I honestly think they’d be great iced. Another choice pick from the UCAS Conference!

Another interview leftover. I’ve had this one before at work – it seems to be the only tea provided on event days. I usually bring my own in a couple of Timolinos anyway, but it’s always good to have refill options! Not having any milk at the moment has restricted me work tea options a little, so I broke this one out this morning.

It’s a palatable flavoured black with no additions. I gave the bag about 2.5 minutes in boiling water, and the resulting liquor is a medium brown. It certainly smells fruity! It also tastes fruity, albeit in a slightly artificial, chemically way. I somehow doubt any real fruit was harmed in the making of this tea. I can taste mainly blueberry and blackberry; one sweet, the other adding a mildly sour tang at the end of the sip. As flavour combinations go, it’s a pretty good one, and it tastes kind of juicy in the way a fruit-flavoured tea really should. Something about it reminds me a lot of hot ribena, actually.

The black base is strong without being overwhelming, and it’s also pretty smooth. Both points in its favour. I have added milk to this one in the past, but this cup proves that it doesn’t really need it.

This one was never going to be my favourite tea, but it’s a pleasant mid-morning pick-me-up, and eminently drinkable. I’d not protest if I had to drink this one again (and no doubt I will, as long as I work here.)

UCAS training day today, and Lipton was once again the only tea supplied. There were a fair few to choose from, though, so not too disappointing. My morning tea of choice was Forest Fruits. I thought it would be a fruit tea, but apparently it’s a flavoured black. That’s fine by me, but a little unexpected.

I added the bag to almost boiling water, and gave it about three minutes. The scent while brewing is really lovely — quite strongly fruity and very sweet. I do like sweet things on a morning! It was pretty dark in colour, so I added a splash of milk.

It came as a surprise to me when I actually liked it. The fruit flavour carries over really well into the brewed tea, and it retains a natural sweetness. The black base tea is smooth and not at all astringent, and the flavour isn’t dull or chemically as I half expected it to be. This is actually one I’d consider keeping around, if there was a place nearby that stocked it. I think it could be quite pleasant iced in the summer. A surprise pleasure!

I was looking for something to sip down tonight since my paycheck is tomorrow and I’m anticipating that, though I haven’t decided where yet, I’m going to be placing at least one medium to large sized order with someone. I’m torn right now between 52teas, Butiki (but we’re talking $100 order for this one), Della Terra, CeasersTea, Harney & Sons, and TeaCupany. So many places to try out…

Also, I’m gonna stop at my local DAVIDsTEA and replenish my Cranberry Pear and pick up more Gingerbread and White Chocolate Frost…

Anyway, I completely forgot I even had this tea bag – probably because for whatever reason it never got logged into my cupboard. I remember exactly where I got it from, though! Last time or second last time or whichever it was when I visited Robyn at the University I stole one of these teabags from their cafeteria (shhh). I remember that was right around when I got my Teavivre samples from Lala and I was on a “try all the jasmin!” type of kick that weekend.

So, sipdown! I steeped following directions on the teabag: 100 degrees celsius steeped for 1 1/2 min. To be honest, the teabag dry smelled disgusting: like some God awful combination of moss, lawn trimmings, medicinal orange flavoured stuff, and cheap jasmine perfume. Yuck! Steeped, however, this smells much more pleasant. The orange smells juicier, like when you’ve just finished cutting a large bowl of orange slices and there’s that very slight orange juice mist kind of hanging in the air. The passionfruit mingles nicely with this.

I’m not a huge green tea fan (though I am learning to tolerate flavoured greens), and there’s still a fairly cheap and unpleasant vegetal smell coming off the tea, but I’m tolerating it because it’s not as nasty as the dry teabag smelled. The jasmine smells ok and marries nicely with the orange and passionfruit – but it’s just a touch perfumey smelling.

I keep smelling pine and mint too, and that might be throwing me off. However, I know that’s not part of the tea – it’s from the vapor rub/muscle relaxant I just finished applying to all my aching limbs. Mostly I feel like jello right now – which is VERY nice. I have a feeling I’ll sleep well tonight but I don’t want to jinx it.

Ok – taking little baby sips now: the tea is still very hot and I don’t want to burn my mouth. It’s actually pretty good. The jasmine doesn’t come off as too artificial in the taste, although while the orange and passionfruit still taste juicy they have reverted a little bit back to the “medicinal” quality. It’s not unbearable, though. Not at all. The green tea isn’t too strong for me, and I appreciate that. Basically, everything marries together really well. Only real downside is that the aftertaste reminds me of those really grainy and chalky orange flavoured chewable vitamins. Not so fond of that…

However, considering this is Lipton and it’s really cheap, I could MAYBE see this as something I’d buy (or steal) more of just so I could have a cheap bagged jasmine tea with some other additional flavours for when I’m so lazy I just can’t put in the effort for a good cup of loose leaf, or to take with as a travel tea. However, operative word there is cheap.

I am obsessed with anything and everything peach, so I was really excited to try this, expecting it to be just as good (if not better!) than the other Lipton white tea flavors.

Unfortunately, though it smells amazing, the flavor is less than desirable. The first flavor that you taste is the peach, but a bitter, unpleasant artifical mango flavor quickly appears and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Just because I hate to waste money and food, I might be able to finish off the box, but this is definitely not something I’d ever buy again. I’m sure there are a million better teas out there than this one.

The tea smells good but tastes next to nothing..

I think my fiancee picked up this box of tea a while ago. It’s been sitting in my box of teabags to rate. It smells very nicely of peaches. The flavor is initially a little tart and fruity, with a strong fresh peach aftertaste. The only flavor that I’m getting is the peach, there’s not really any mango noticeable. I don’t dislike this one, but there’s just a little too much artificial sweetness in it for me.

-Silken pyramid-shaped teabag with a tag.
-Teabag smells faintly of peach. Tea liquor aroma is of ripe peaches.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark yellow color.
-Tart and fruity flavor and finish. Lingering fresh peach aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Good tea. Strong fresh peach flavor with a small artificial note.

This is my first white tea, and given the fact that it’s your basic grocery store tea, I’d assume it’s not the best quality white tea, but nonetheless, this tasted very good and is something I’d definitely buy again.

It smelled amazing before I even opened the box, and the wonderful fruity smell only intensified as it steeped. The taste was light and delicate, and the blueberry was definitely the star of the show. This was a nice alternative to my usual strong black tea, but was still just as satisfying.