Celestial Seasonings

A very light and sweet taste, it made me feel like I was in a never-ending ecstasy. Although that only lasted until the cup was gone, then it was time to make more. I am a huge fan of vanilla, honey, and chamomile, because of their light and sweet flavors, so this lived up to my expectations.

I must admit that I’m not a fan of peach flavored, and this is not a favorite of mine, but if mixed with milk and sugar the correct way, it can be wonderful even with the peachy-ness. Although I am out of stock of this currently, I don’t really plan on getting anymore for a little while.

It was a very calming tea, something I wasn’t expecting from something with spearmint (I only enjoy spearmint chewing gum). Within a few minutes I was relaxed and truly focused on what I was working on at the time. I would love to drink some at this moment, but I’m all out of it. :(

I am in a sugar coma right now. In the afternoon I indulged in a delicious sakura flan on my tea trip with Mercuryhime, and afterwards I met up with the boy to check out Doughnut Plant. How can I NOT go to a store that Saveur says has some of the best donuts in the world? Of course I didn’t really plan on eating any tonight, I was going to save them, but the creme brulee and tres leches were calling our names… they are rather small (or at least the creme brulee was), but oh man it’s like all the richness of a real dessert wrapped in a donut. So good, but I feel like I don’t need to eat again for a week at least. And there are still 4 donuts left…

While this does not seem like a tea to reach for when you want the opposite of sugar, I found it in the traveling tea box (along with 2 other holiday ones!) and considering that I missed all of the flavors this year I decided to go for it.

I have a love/hate relationship with Celestial Seasonings. They have a small handful of blends that I enjoy from time to time, namely Sleepytime and Bengal Spice, but most of the time it’s just not quite there. I mean, I do tend to be more lenient in my opinion since it’s a bagged tea, but even then they taste… off. I think this blend falls somewhere in between: not great, but not really bad either.

Nutmeg is one of my favorite spices so I was excited to see a blend featuring it, but I am only getting a little whiff of nutmeg and some vanilla. No cinnamon at all! There’s kind of a generic holiday taste, like if you liquified Christmas potpourri and put it in tea. Which sounds gross but it’s not that bad! Well, not good, but not bad either. A decidedly middle of the road tea. But I am happy to have tried it—I want to get all the holiday blend desire out of my system so I can try them and not end up getting a whole box I will never drink!

I like this steeped strong and hot, then mixed 1/3 with 2/3 black tea and an ounce of half-and-half when I’m craving a sweet drink. I like it both hot and chilled. It’s sweet with no added sweetener.

I wanted to try this tea to help with stress (and because I was really curious about catnip in tea). It’s an okay herbal. I prefer it with honey. It’s relaxing, but (sadly) it doesn’t help me sleep.

I drank this tea a lot as a kid. Brings back some really good memories.

I had a cup of this tea last night after dinner (love that it’s decaf!) We picked up a box of this before the holidays and I expected it to be a regular cup of mint tea. It’s so much better though, with the addition of vanilla and cinnamon. I’ve also made lattes out of this and it’s just perfect. This is a nice twist on the traditional cup of mint tea.

-Regular teabag without a string.
-Teabag smells strongly of peppermint and vanilla. Tea liquor aroma is of mint, vanilla and cinnamon.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy yellow brown color.
-Creamy mint flavor with a soft vanilla finish. Lingering peppermint aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener. Smallest amount of milk optional.
-Very good tea. A smooth and minty cup.

Just tried this tea for the first time this morning, after being intrigued by the beautiful picture of the Buffalo on the packaging. It was a little decieving. When I opened up the box and smelled the teabags, they smelled almost exactly like Irish breakfast tea or even English Breakfast. So was expecting a similar taste. But as soon as I poured the boiling water over the teabag, it gave off a strong, smoky smell. After steeping for about 2/3 minutes (I generally like my black teas less robust), I added a little bit of sugar and milk. The taste was very unique! I’m actually pleasantly surprised how something so earthy and smoky can be so comforting! I did not, however, notice any sort of “wake me up” qualities in the tea. But this might be because caffeine, even in coffee, rarely affects me. Overall, a “campfire in a cup”, and a very interesting tea. Will definitely be finishing the box.

This is certainly the best of the ‘zingers’ none of which are very good at all. I add one packet NuStevia to one cup boiling water. It’s OK.

Sipdown, 233. Yup, still sick. Need more cold-relief tea, which I will hopefully get tomorrow.

It’s official, I am getting sick. Woke up this morning with enlarged tonsils, and have been getting progressively fuzzier in the head all day. Now I can feel the mucosa of my nasal passages and sinuses swelling, and I have a fairly constant feeling of needing to sneeze. Ugh. AND I have a job interview next Tuesday… hope this is a quick bug.

I got a sample of this in the goodie bag from the NY Coffee and Tea festival two years running, and I never felt a drive to try it until now. I was expecting not to like this at all. First, Celestial Seasonings is not a brand I have a lot of confidence in. Second, something that is designed a as medicinal tea doesn’t sound appetizing to me. Well you can color me totally shocked.

I am actually really enjoying this cup. Fortunately the lemongrass and ginger are dominant flavors here, along with a somewhat appley chamomile. The licorice root doesn’t add a licoricey flavor for me, but rather quite a bit of sweetness and a touch of earthiness. I actually really like the flavor combo. Would I drink this if I wasn’t feeling ill? Perhaps not, but I would possibly even restock this one for times that I am sick, including those times when I am having gut problems (lemon and ginger, natch).

ETA: this apparently has spearmint in it is well? But I didn’t really notice, which is good because I am not big on minty teas.

This. ‘Cause why not? It’s 72-ish degrees outside, and I’m taking a break between cleaning spurts. Not much to say, had this tea before (although apparently I didn’t log it then… oops).

LOVE this tea! Can’t find it any more. Has it gone out of production? ~ With milk and honey, it’s heaven.

After enjoying the other Celestial Seasoning’s holiday blends that I tried, I decided to pick up a box of this as well. I enjoy the flavor of pumpkin, and really love pumpkin pie, which a couple of the reviews for this tea said it tasted like. You can definitely detect a pumpkin flavor in this tea. There is a surprising element of spiciness in this tea also, actually a lot of spiciness, almost like the finish of a very strong chai. There is also a really sweet element to this tea at the end, almost like a sugary sweetness, I can’t quite put my finger on it what exactly it is. I’m really happy that I got a box of this and I think a latte with this would be the ultimate pumpkiny goodness!

-Regular teabag without a string.
-Teabag smells of spices and ginger. Tea liquor aroma is of warm pumpkin pie.
-Tea liquor is a thick very dark brown color.
-Artificial gingery pumpkin flavor with a sweet stevia finish. Spicy aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Sweet and spicy pumpkin flavor.

This is one of the few bagged teas I drink. This is my “comfort” tea. It’s a great way to unwind at the end of a day and an instant go-to when I’m feeling sick, stressed out, or need a quick pick me up.

So I decided to buy a whole bunch of mason jars, put a bagged tea in them, and cold brew them in the fridge. So then I could have a few different iced teas to choose from instead of one big pitcher.
I really like this one cold brewed. It’s sweet and tangy. Nothing overpowering though. The blood orange and star fruit kind of just blend together. I can’t really pick out individual flavors. The flavor will forever remind me of smarties or pixi stix. And I love me some smarties and especially pixi stix. This makes a really good iced tea.

Lately I have had no time for loose leaf :( I’m living off bagged tea…. But I’m sipping on a hot cup of this deliciousness on my way to the gym. I needed a bit of a lift so hopefully this’ll do. The aroma is very tart and fruity. The flavor reminds me of pixie stix. Not bad for a bagged tea. Not to mentioned the bag has been in the water well over 10 minutes now and it just keeps getting better. I’m impressed.

I love this tea! Sometimes chai teas have an earthy flavor which I really don’t like but this tea has just the right amount of spice and coconut flavor!

I leave the tea bag the whole time while I’m drinking it and I add sweetener and almond milk. I find the almond milk enhances the coconut flavor which is nice. And I agree with many of the reviewers, it does taste just like iced thai tea!

The July TeaLog Catchup !

My morning cup when staying at my parents while I did some things online.

Backlogging. 8 days ago. Saturday morning.

The February Backlog: From the 1st to today.

My first cup of the day at my parent’s. My dad’s a plain Lipton’s black bagged tea kind of guy. I had asked him if he wanted tea the night before and he’d said yes. When I saw they were out of Lipton’s, I asked him what he’d been drinking and he said this. I was surprised because there was stuff in it other than just black tea. So the following morning, I chose to brew up a cup out of curiosity. The verdict? It was interesting, I think good interesting. I would try it again. It tasted like black tea with stuff in it and I’m not sure how to describe how the stuff tasted. I’ll have to pay better attention next time I drink it, if my dad hasn’t finished off the box. I cannot remember how long I steeped it for. I think around 4 minutes. I’m rating it a 54 (nice bagged tea range 50-60). I had wheaty/grainy of some type waffles with peanut butter, banana, and a drizzle of maple syrup after.

I saw some of the Celestial Seasonings teas while out shopping and decided to pick up two flavors after reading some of the positive reviews on Steepster. I made this tea as a to-go cup for my fiancé yesterday and he called and said that it was filling his car up with a wonderful smell. I decided to have this tea as my first cup today and it has not disappointed me! The smell is wonderful – like a cup of vanilla-nutty-sweet goodness. The flavor is yummy too; it is less sweet than it smells, but is still a tea that would be enjoyable without sugar as it is sweet enough on its own. There is a heavy marzipan-like flavor that finishes with a sweet vanilla note. This is a tea that I may need to stock up on as it would be good all year round!

-Regular teabag without a string.
-Teabag smells sweetly like vanilla icing. Tea liquor aroma is of sugar and cinnamon.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark brown color.
-Marzipan nutty flavor with a sweet vanilla icing finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Marzipan and vanilla icing flavor.

There’s no getting past the cinnamon in this tea when made with water! However I think the best way to enjoy this tea is to make it with milk and not with water. The cinnamon becomes more subdued and the flavour becomes deliciously close to an apple cinnamon oatmeal. Try it with some caramel ice cream syrup and it becomes similar to a caramel apple pie!

Steeped for 5 minutes, with either 2 packets of raw sugar or two tsp of caramel syrup and always made with milk as oppose to water