Churchill's Teas

This came as a sample with my order. It looks like they have this tea on several bases, but this one is the green. It is VERY cinnamon forward. Like those cinnamon brooms you can’ find around the holidays level of intensity, which almost makes my stomach clench just sniffing it. There is a great brunch place I went to as a kid that has a really strong cinnamon tea which was so intense it made my stomach hurt, but it was so hard to resist a free cup while you were waiting for a table. This is my body’s reaction to that scent memory.
Tasting the cup… it is very much like I steeped one of those cinnamon brooms. It’s a cinnamon essential oil type taste as opposed to a baked cinnamon or cinnamon stick taste. I’m liking it on the green base. It makes it much lighter and brighter. It’s less mucky than the black base tea at the brunch spot. The cinnamon is intense enough that there is a sweetness to it. I feel like this would be a really good tea to make a hot toddy with since it is so strong and warming. It is a little much, but I like it much better than I thought I would!

I’ve had a few cups of this now since getting the tea and I feel like the experience is a little different each time. I notice something new. Today I’m noticing the deeper base notes, almost coffee like. Maybe some baked citrus in the mix? It’s a complex rich blend that I’m finding more endearing as time goes on.

I like this, but I’m also puzzled by it. Almond dominates the flavors, but there is a sweetness from the fruit as well as something else that I can’t put my finger on. It is dessert like for sure, almost like a gooey pastry. I over leafed this a little and let the cup cool, but it’s enjoyable either way. Adding oatmilk took away from a lot of the flavors I was getting. Probably won’t do that again. I have a few more cups before a sip down, but this is one I might consider reordering.

As time went on this tea wasn’t as full bodied as I wanted.

Really good cup of black tea.

Delicious iced. Perfect for a day in the park.

Candied mangos. The perfect cup of iced tea.

Creamy, smooth, and sweet.

The flavoring here is pretty alcohol-tasting and artificial. The rooibos base only increases that perception.
Finally the last tea from my Churchill’s herbal advent calendar! Though inexpensive, this is not one I’d get again since many of the flavors were pretty basic and there were very few teas I’d prefer to drink again.

I’ve had so many similar teas that I wasn’t looking forward to this one in the advent calendar. I have to say that it really exceeded expectations! The chamomile is light and floral and delicious, and just the right amount of lavender shines through. Linden and other elements add a great supportive background – this is really nice!

There’s nothing about this that reminds me of pie, but it was actually pretty tasty. It had sort of a pink lemonade vibe with a slight herbaceous hint at the end of the sip. It wasn’t quite tart, really it was just right. It was really refreshing cold, and I’d possibly consider buying more. The resteep was all right too. I drank this at work last week, and I’m still thinking about it, so it must have been pretty decent.

To be honest, this isn’t the best honeybush I’ve had. I drank it cold and added milk and sugar to try to drown out some of the peppery less delicious elements. I think unflavored honeybush really needs to be mixed with rooibos to enjoy it plain, but that’s just a personal opinion. I did a cold resteep, and that was actually quite lovely. There used to be a Trader Joe’s honeybush/rooibos blend I loved, and this resteep made me think of it a little. Sweet and smooth. Ha it’s difficult to rate this when I liked the resteep but not really the original.

This tastes a lot like S&V’s blueberry cinnamon crumble, just a toned down version. The combination of berry flavoring plus rooibos is somewhat reminiscent of a berry muffin. I’m drinking it slightly warm with sugar. The resteep tastes the same as the first.

Hmm this is a mix between fruit and herbs that feel like they’re supposed to be healthy. I would have preferred the fruit without the herbs since they make it taste a bit murky and too herbaceous.

Even drinking this cold, this herbal chai is pretty warming and hearty. The spices combine nicely with ground ginger being the strongest. It’s pleasantly spicy, and I thankfully don’t really notice the turmeric. I only have the advent sample, but this is one I’d consider buying. The resteep was strong as well. I also liked how this was different from many other chais.

This tastes pretty murky and savory. I was thirsty, so I drank this quickly, but it wouldn’t be one I’d want to savor. Much too herbaceous.

You can really taste the citrus here, which is a nice addition to the EG. This was pretty hearty for a decaf tea, making strong and tasty first and second steeps. I think I would have preferred this to be a bit more floral, but it was really quite decent.

This mint is really fresh and lovely. I didn’t expect a lot, but it’s not murky or sad at all. It was simple, yet very refreshing!

The raspberry flavoring combined with the rooibos turned out faker than I would have liked. This was fine at room temperature, but it tasted more like chemicals than anything. Maybe other ingredients could have tamed that flavoring more, but this blend was too simple.

Cold with milk and sugar, I thought this was okay. I’ve had this blend from other companies and didn’t like it as much, but today it wasn’t bad. The chocolate is certainly fake and a bit alcohol-tasting, but it went well with the rooibos base. I’ve definitely had better chocolate rooibos before though.

This was a little basic. Somewhat alcohol-tasting almond flavoring on a rooibos base. I’ve seen this flavor profile done better.

I’ve tried a lot of chai in my life, and this is one of the better ones! It’s a tiny bit spicy, but mostly warming and evenly spiced. It’s hearty enough even with the rooibos base. Possibly the first tea from the herbal advent calendar I’d consider purchasing.

This has a lot of ingredients, but all I really taste is the murky mint. It was okay cold, but it’s not one of the better mint teas I’ve had.

Ha I wish I’d known how alcoholic this would smell before steeping it at work! I think I might have enjoyed this one better warm. There’s tart fruit combined with some warm spices. It’s not my favorite sort of blend, but it’s okay. The spices are fun.