Celestial Seasonings

Faced with the choice between three mediocre-at-best black teas today, I chose this. Maybe this stuff is wearing me down but it tastes better than usual, for some reason. Could just be the low expectations and already-melancholy mood, though.

This tastes better when you can’t really taste, just fyi! A good black tea if you’re sick and congested.

Pretty blah.

Normally I wouldn’t have bought Earl Grey from Celestial Seasonings, but I had a coupon and it was the only appealing blend in stock at the time. It’s actually not bad, but I probably wouldn’t buy it again.

Celestial Seasonings is one of my favorite tea companies, and their peppermint is one of my favorite peppermint teas as well as one of my favorite teas overall.

By far my favorite Celestial Seasonings tea, and the only to have gone so quickly in our house. The Vanilla is firmly present, but not at all as overwhelming as in other red vanilla teas. This is my go-to tea whenever I need to unwind.

This tea has an overwhelming lemon taste. I drank it plain – no sweetener or milk. I don’t get any real impression of the tea. I don’t think I’d brew a whole pot of this – it leaves a rather sour aftertaste. It probably would taste good if I had a cold, when I seem to crave lemon, the more the better.

Long overdue sipdown, not because I don’t enjoy it—odd duck brew that it is—but because I tend to save it for raw, cold evenings when I’m bone tired. We’re having one and I am. First wintry cold spell of the season; a little snow yesterday; a long workday. Chicory and subtle herbal alchemy all doing a good job of warming me up and un-knotting the knots.

I’ve kept boxes of Roastaroma around for so long, I guess it’s become a cupboard staple without my realizing it. Down to three bags, but I’m glad to have them this evening. It’s downright nippy outside. Frost advisories tonight. I brought in the last of the Juliet tomatoes and a few scrawny but viable banana peppers. They had a good run.

You influencers have spoiled me by introducing me to Teeccino to meet my un-coffee needs, but truthfully, this is just as satisfactory. None of the spices come on obnoxiously strong, and the chicory/carob sticks nicely to the palate and to your ribs.

With apologies to those of you who are farther north and even colder than I am, this kind of weather makes me tired, tense, and anxious. So the last thing I needed, even after stepping out in -22F wind chill to start and run my car for a bit and take a turn at snow sweeping, was a heavy hit of caffeine. But the thing I needed most was something with meat on its bones to warm me up.

This is a good compromise. While it would never fool anyone into thinking it’s coffee, the chicory is dark and just a little sweet; the cinnamon and spice is enough to warm you up and recharge your draining batteries.

We are getting a very welcome couple of surprisingly cool, wet weeks, and while I’m not a fan of rushing any season, come on, fall!

It really has to be fall to properly enjoy this chicory and spice blend. Back in the days when I didn’t pay much attention to the additive tea ingredients, I didn’t realize that cinnamon and star anise were part of the blend (not a fan of anise; it’s awfully pushy). But in this case, the other ingredients bully it back into submission, resulting in a really nice coffee with spice scent and taste. (Note to self: buy a pint of half-and-half. It’s time.)

Stressful days so far this week, and more ahead; woke up with heart beating fast as a hamster (I seem to have a rodent thing going this week) and concluded more caffeine probably wasn’t smart. This at least gives the strong taste illusion of something with a kick. More dark than spicy. It’ll do since I’m, unfortunately, in gulp-and-go mode instead of sip-and-savor.

Cold, wet, rainy, and mopey….feeling low enough I really could’ve used a cup of coffee (sorry, sacrilege!) but a cup buzzes me clear to the ceiling these days. So this is a fair substitute with a little half-and-half. The chicory has a nice chocolately sort of feel.

Nice on a really cold fall morning with milk or 1/2 and 1/2.

I really wanted to love this tea. The pear aroma is incredibly cloying and intoxicating, but unfortunately, if you let the tea steep for longer than a minute, it becomes incredibly bitter.

For someone like me, who lets the tea steep infinitely long, this is a huge drawback. Also, I’m quite suspicious of the white tea hype in general, and this has proved to be once again disappointing.

Quite sure that I’m addicted to this stuff; I have several cups nightly. I don’t know if it actually induces any sensation of drowsiness, but it’s a lovely tea nonetheless. When I first tasted it, it was a bit too different from my regular fare of oolong and green teas, but I persisted.

Its warm steam travels like velvet with an oh-so-slight kick to clear any clogged sinuses. Very full and rich on the tongue – as much as hot water plus herbs can be.

This is a really excellent tea. It’s also a favorite for people who don’t normally like tea, like my dad.

I don’t normally drink fruit teas. But when I do: I prefer Wild Berry Zinger.

This was a really lovely drink earlier this week, from class in the mornings. To me it was very citrus-y, but the flavor that came through strongest was the tangerine over the orange. I’d definitely drink more of it.

Welp! The Corporate Bullies have done it again! I’m stressed. I thought I had another/different brand with stress relieving qualities somewhere but I can’t find it. So…I am stuck with this. I still can’t bring myself to say I like this tea but at least I am not dumping it down the drain either. I tried understeeping today with the same result.