Caribou Coffee

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sharing this tea with me.

Very good. Just enough spice to liven it up without going overboard.

Today’s my one year steepster birthday!!! Whoo hoo!

This tea came in a package of Christmas goodies from the boyfriend’s mom. Mint is more his thing than mine, so they’ll probably be going with him to work, but I wanted to give it a try first.

Preparation notes: Steeped in 500 ml. water in the Breville at the below parameters. No additives used.

Dry leaf: The leaf was relatively small, and packaged in sachets. It smelled like a typical mint tea. It reminded me a lot of a mint gum, actually.

Steeped tea: The steeped tea is yellowish and the mint is as strong as you would expect. Which is to say – STRONG. There’s supposed to be some floral notes in there somewhere too (I think that’s what Tilleul is) but I’m not getting it.

In short, a solid mint tea – but nothing new. The boyfriend will love having it at work, I’m sure.

Was surprisingly pleased with this tea. Ended up buying a tin of it, since it’s only out during October.

Where Yogi Tea’s redbush chai has too much spice overload, the hints of cinnamon and cardamom in Caribou Coffee’s Amy’s blend are carefully balanced against the vanilla-like sweetness of the rooibos. What a treat! Meadowfoam honey pairs especially well with this tea.

I had this last night, and it disappointed me. I could really only taste the black tea and a hint of cinnamon. I still have some bags left though, so I’m going to try again sometime soon. Maybe it was just a bad bag?

A nice suprise from QueenOfTarts! Thanks!

This smells very spicy and I pick up a hint of coffee (coffee frightens me, unfortunately) so I had my apprehensions when taking my first sip but…

It’s suprisingly good! Sweet and spicy, I can pick out all the spices and although it probably isn’t as good as my homemade chai, it’s stronger than I expected.

Tried this again today (with syrup—I keep forgetting to get one without it), and it’s definitely my favourite out of the Caribou tea latte blends. The pomegranate flavour was more noticeable this time and I quite enjoyed it.

I have had this a couple of times and I prefer it over the Black Thai tea latte. I’m not huge on syrups in my tea, so generally when I get a latte I just get the skim or soy milk and skip the sugary syrup. I’ll have to try this blend with just milk added next time. The oolong isn’t very strong so maybe I’ll be able to taste it more without syrup.

I’m not sure about the ingredients in this bagged tea but it’s pretty darned tasty. I couldn’t find it anywhere else on steepster so I am adding it and I couldn’t find it on their website! Ek! Anyhow…this tastes like a combo of Black Tea, Chocolate, Coffee Beans, something fruity…maybe grenadine, and something creamy either caramel or vanilla or both…not sure.

This is pretty good for a bagged tea – quite flavorful! A nice surprise from FrenchVanilla.

Got this the other day going through the drive through and I thought it was delicious the first time I had it……this time not so much but it might be that it was too strong?? But it tasted kinda nasty to me.

BF wanted some coffee, so we stopped in and decided to try this. The fruity flavor was subtle, but really tasty. Would definitely get it again.

Not bad…it tastes like a rather generic green oolong without a lot of the complexity I’m used to tasting in a Tie Guan Yin. But I think that might be because I got spoiled by the awesome TGY I got from the Granville Island tea store last year. There is a bit of a fruity flavour present, though it isn’t readily distinguishable as promgranate necessarily, though it gets bit stronger when the tea cools and the natural sweetness of the oolong seems to work with it.

Backlogging… had the hot version of this Friday. There’s something about this blend that’s underwhelming/kind of bland, so I actually prefer Starbucks’ chai, but every once in a while I like to switch it up. I guess the Caribou blend is more milky (as opposed to spicy), and I prefer SPICE (which is why I wish more places offered the local Bhakti Chai blend!). Still a nice hot drink on a cold wintery day!

Out running errands and needed something cold. This totally hit the spot!

Unfortunately, I think my local coffeehouse started preparing this differently (or corporate changed the recipe!). Either way, a cup of this hasn’t been the same in a while.

Decided to give it another try out on my walk today and it was good, but not still not as good as before. Oh well.

I get this tea on a regular basis while on my walks through my local town. When made right, it’s the perfect drink to sip while seeing the sights or getting some errands done.

Meghann M sent me this! It seems nearly impossible to over steep…thankfully, I threw the bag in there and forgot about it…oops!

You can taste the Pomegranate and the oolong! Fairly tasty. Juicy…love the way it smells. a bit of an aftertaste that some white tea leaves behind but not bad.

Bliss in a cup. This was exactly what I needed this morning. I wish I knew how they made these concentrates, as I’d try it at home. The barista told me that they cold brew the tea (but not sure that they sell the tea that makes the thai tea blend, as I didn’t see it available on the shelf, and they don’t offer it as a hot tea), and then add syrup to it, then steam milk or soy with it. Delicious. Just the right amount of spice with a great sweetness to it. I can’t wait to try this iced!

For some reason this drink was less sweet today (yay!), so it was much tastier. I was pleasantly surprised by the nutritional content after I looked it up this morning as well… not as bad as I’d thought. I think I like the Pomegranate Oolong a little better than this latte overall, but I try to switch it up every so often!

Had this again today (and forgot to try & adjust the amount of syrup)… I wish there was a way to add a bit of something spicy and tone down the sugar level. It’s very good but it could be perfect with a couple of adjustments. It was definitely a nice change from my regular Friday chai though!