Trader Joe's

An affordable way to keep hydrated in the summer with a mild but citric taste to mask the nauseating flavour of plain water.

I’ve been seeking out some herbals, so I picked this up since it finally appeared at my local Trader Joe’s.

It does brew to a lovely yellow colour, but I feel like licorice is the dominant note here rather than the stated ginger or turmeric. It has a sweet finish that I can’t quite place (orange peel?) but the citrus is pretty minimal. The overall flavour is somewhat weak. but given the dominating licorice that might be a blessing.

It’s by no means awful…but feels like something you’d drink after some kind of wellness treatment. I wish it had more ginger and less licorice. It was not what I’d call unpleasant, though I wouldn’t repurchase because I expected Ginger and Tumeric to have more…ginger. They should call it Licorice Turmeric Blend so everyone can purchase accordingly.

My boss got some teabags of this inside a Christmas gift and prompty gave them to me since I’m the “tea person” in the office. The teabags didn’t come in any packaging with ingredients, so I had to look it up when I got home, and was hesitant because chamomile was the first listed ingredient and I’m just not a fan of it. However, peppermint hides a world of hurt for me, and there is enough mint here to take the edge off the chamomile, so I actually found this pretty pleasant. There is a bit of a floral background note from the chamomile but mostly it tastes minty and a little grassy. The mint is the pulverized teabag sort so a bit dusty/dirty tasting, which isn’t my favorite when better mint is out there, but it’s drinkable. Didn’t take me very long to use up the teabags, either. But I’m not particularly sad that there are no Trader Joe’s near me and thus I can’t restock it. There are plenty of other evening choices I like better.

Green tea bags. This tea tasted like nothing. No aroma, no flavor, no bitterness, all it provided was a slight bit of astringency after sitting in the cup for a while. It didn’t make me angry, it confused me. I pulled out my mug of maofeng to confirm I didn’t lose my sense of taste or smell.

I probably should rate this lower for the covid scare but normal people don’t get mad at water, therefore this tea is getting Dasani grade.

sold for $4.49/48 Bag

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/organic-darjeeling-green-tea-074753

Really pleasant and surprising find from Trader Joe’s!!

It’s always nice when you find an unsweetened tea in RTD, but unless you’re shopping at the Chinese market or Asian specialty foods stores iit’s almost always a green tea or maybe a black tea. This was a really nice roasted oolong through with a very, very smooth mineral and toasty up front taste before transitioning into such a distinctly fruity and floral lychee and orchid flavour. So much complexity for a bottled tea drink, and surprisingly very fresh tasting too.

I would 10/10 buy this again and recommend it to any fan of straight oolongs (dancong/yancha in particular) who’s had unpleasant experiences with store bought iced teas. This was jarringly good.

I love this tea. I bought twelve boxes.

I’m generally pretty happy with the juice side of things and more critical of the tea side of things, but in this case, I didn’t find the juice very peachy at all. Still a refreshing beverage (gimme something cold and fizzy and I’m usually happy), but not satisfying. Also what’s up with Trader Joe’s cans? They’re like two gulps. It’s engrumbling.

Black tea bag. The tea is on the smokier side, not particularly sweet or fruity, mild seaweed taste, the astringency came through. Drinkable, but I recommend Trader Joe’s Organic Assam Black Tea over this one for better value and taste.

sold for $5.49/20 Bags

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/organic-nilgiri-black-tea-074759

This one was surprisingly good. I was looking for a non-caffeine blend for my recently endless nights of staring at a screen. It’s a classic “fall” blend- cinnamon, hibiscus, apple, orange peel and chamomile (though it’s barely there) over a chicory base. I get just a hint of the alleged ginger, though more would be nice.

It is heavy on the cinnamon (real) and apple (slighly unnatural) and very fragrant, almost potpurri-like. I enjoy that, while some tea purists may not. I do recommend to drink it hot. The wet-doggy note (chicory? lurking marigold?) becomes more prominent as it cools down. Probably the cozy autumnal feelings this evokes are more pleasant than the actual drink, but the overall effect is quite nice and I find myself reaching for this more than I expected. At for around $3 per box, it’s economical if you’re looking for a decaf cinnamon/apple blend.

Black tea bag. Smoky plum flavor, surprisingly low in astringency, no bitterness. Light in aroma and flavor but I’m not mad at these tea bags.

sold for $4.49/48 Bags

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/organic-assam-black-tea-074755

#SVTTB Round Two – Tea 23/23

Welp, I believe this was the last tea from the TTB that I wanted to try so I’m pretty close to having everything wrapped up now. Just need to add a last handful of teas to the box, and get the shipping order figured out – so if you’d like to join round two please leave a comment here or, if you’re on IG, hit me up with a DM!

Plan, I believe, will be to start with a leg of people in Canada and if we have anyone in Canada willing to ship to the US then we’ll extend to the US as well.

As for this tea, it was pretty squarely in the middle of everything I tried. I really thought it might just be a cinnamon black tea because it tasted so potently of that sweet red hot-type cinnamon flavouring with just a hint of woodiness that it was tough to picture any other ingredients in the mix. That cinnamon note was pleasant with a nice sweetness, but boy does it dominate! It just totally masked everything else going on ingredient wise…

I’ve been drinking this every morning for over 10 years. I’m not myself without it. I only like it with cream and sugar! :)

I always have some of this in my cupboard. It’s a guest favorite and warms me up late at night. Good with honey, It’s also a good stand in when I’m feeling under the weather. It’s definitely more mild than the triple ginger herbal I have, but it’s good because it’s mid. My crowd pleaser tea for when it’s too late for caffeine!

I really enjoyed this tea. The peppermint is very rich, deep and pure. This one can be either a refreshing pick me up when chilled, or nicely relaxing and soothing when hot. The best all-round peppermint tea I’ve found to date. I highly recommend it!

I don’t remember where I got this single teabag, but I’m glad I grabbed it! This is probably one of the better Moroccan mint teas I’ve had. The mint is fresh and tasty. The green tea is mild and smooth. I’d love a decaf version! Trader Joe’s has pretty good teas in my experience.

Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | January 2023 | Celebrate National Bittersweet Chocolate Day with a chocolate tea or have a favorite chocolate with your tea!

I had to plumb the depths of my stash to find a sipdown-ready chocolate tea! I have no idea how long this one has been languishing in my tea drawer, but I had two remaining teabags. I figured I’d need to work hard to coax much flavor out of this ancient grocery store tea, so I steeped them together. The scent is pleasant enough, almost milk chocolate-y with bright peppermint notes, but the flavor is almost entirely mint. The black tea gets pretty lost; it’s not really supporting or complementing the flavors.

Yep, pretty much what I expected. Not offensive, but pretty unremarkable.

2023 sipdown count: 5/75

A surprising staple from Trader Joe’s, this blend is shockingly spot-on flavor-wise. It tastes like a blonde roast coffee with espresso sweetened with maple syrup. I’ve been drinking this blend every morning since I got it, I’m almost out already!

I really love this tea. I enjoy both coffee and tea, this captures the feeling of a naturally sweet light/blonde roast coffee with a touch of black tea. Great for a winter afternoon when you need a little pick me up, but don’t want to be up all night. Maple is present, but not overwhelming.

I tried the pineapple green tea version of this RTD earlier in the year when we were in LA and I remember liking it, so I was intrigued by this one when Marika offered it to me earlier in the month. It was certainly unoffensive but this definitely felt more like a carbonated juice drink to me than a tea. Like, I tasted zero black tea. What it actually reminded me of was the Peach Juice that’s sold by Tim Horton’s. So sweet and artificial, but still kinda good in a nostalgic sort of way.

Would probably be a great cocktail mixer, tbh.