Celestial Seasonings

Celestial. I love you. This is just great all around, it’s tart, but in the right way. Sipping on this, I’m trying to come up with more words to describe it but it just slips in my mouth and leaves it happy.

With half and half, this is good. The aroma over the cup is a fruity cinnamon, but not necessarily apple. The start of this sip is sweet, with apple and cinnamon next. The finish is a sweet, soft cinnamon, with a little cinnamon heat in the throat. Holding it in my mouth allows apple flavor to come out more. The sip leaves a strong drying sensation.

My first impression is of Good Earth tea with apple flavor. I taste a strong but soft cinnamon biggest, then apple, with some slight tartness. It is plenty sweet without any sweetener added. This is relaxing and caffeine free. I look forward to trying it with milk.

A box of this somehow made it into the cupboards at work, so I’ve been having it every so often. I’m usually a loose leaf kinda girl, but this makes me want to try more from Celestial Seasonings, since it’s pretty nice! Fruity and very tart, and almost reminds me more of heavily flavored water than tea — not always a bad thing in my book.

I like this but in comparison to other honey chamomiles, this isn’t very impressive. Not bad for a bagged tea, I suppose.

A peppermint and vanilla cup of Christmas. Bonus points for being a decaffeinated green tea and still tasting good.

Peppermint and vanilla… I like. I also like the ease of a tea bag when I’m tired, so I often reach for bagged herbals in the evening. This one is simple but good. I’m impressed that the vanilla holds its own with the mint given how stong the mint is in this blend.

This is some yummy stuff. Kind of like a liquefied candy cane with a nice splash of vanilla thrown in. I always enjoy having it in my house during the winter months.

Still yummy. See previous tasting note.

This is why I love Steepster – I never would have tried this tea if I had not read the comments about it. I’ve passed it up year after year because the name did not appeal to me, but after reading the reviews I knew I had to try it. It is wonderful. Wonderful! Perfect for cooler nights. The fact that it’s decaf is a bonus (since actually sleeping instead of running around with a caffeine buzz is necessary at some point).

I headed into work yesterday with two mugs of tea again. I was craving Candy Cane Lane, but forced myself to drink a different herbal…and I’m glad I did.

This has always been one of my favorites, for as long as I can remember. Every Christmas season I buy a box or two and savor it until it comes back around. I don’t know why I’m suddenly in the mood for Christmas teas, but here I am! This definitely disappeared far too quickly last night at work.

I should just invest in a thermos.

This is up there with Constant Comment in my sentimental journey of teas. Celestial Seasonings’ herbal teas got me through high school, and given my schedule, it was mostly Lemon Zinger in the morning and Sleepytime at night.

Even though I don’t drink it all that often anymore, I still always keep a box of Sleepytime around for nights when I do stupid things like drink caffeine at 2 in the morning. It’s soothing, with just the right amount of mint. Maybe it’s Pavlovian at this point, but just smelling it seems to settle my mind a bit and it actually does make me a little sleepy.

It’s not one of my favorite herbals, but it’s good and it’s familiar, and sometimes it’s just what I need. Tonight is one of those nights.

I was so surprised that CS made an earl grey I had to try it! And then it was just what you’d expect.

Strongly reminiscent of Kool aid. I did however, really like the smell of both the dry and the brewed tea. I think I like it better than some of the other Celestial Seasonings berry teas. I got it from a friend—its not bad for a freebie, but I’m not sure I’d buy it.

I’m on my last cup of this tea. I have this weird tendency to drink the teas I like least first, even though I have teas I like better. I think it is because even though I know better, that I don’t have to drink them, they are in my cupboard taking up room and making me feel guilty for wanting something else. And it isn’t like I really despise the ones I don’t like, I just have other preferences. So I drink the ones I like less first so they are gone faster.

This tea has been in the “like less drink first” category, along with a plain old CS Chamomile, so they have been my most consistent nightly beverages of choice. And I won’t particularly miss this one. It might be because the tea may be a bit old, but I never really tasted honey or vanilla. I got lots of chamomile, but none of the other flavors. So I’ll bid a rather uninterested adieu to this one, glad to have one fewer box in the tea cupboard.

Backlogging from last night. This is rapidly becoming my go-to after dinner drink. At least until I run out, at which point I’ll switch over to the CS Chamomile, since I have some of that. After I finish that, I’ll be on the hunt for a good digestif. Any ideas?

Not a bad chamomile. It smells good both before and after steeping. I like chamomile, so I’m naturally predisposed to liking this. Most of the flavor I got was of chamomile, my palate must be too untested to pick up other flavors very easily. Or, they really aren’t very pronounced. I think I like the second interpretation better.

OK, so the flavors aren’t very pronounced. I think there is a definite sweet lingering effect after a drink, which could be good or bad, depending on how long you like your tea to stay with you.

The bottom line for me is that I’ll finish the box, it isn’t bad, but I think I prefer a plain jane chamomile. One that has no pretensions to be anything other than its gloriously florally-herbally self.