Twinings

Our buildings & grounds director (a tea guy himself) brought me a little variety box of four different Twinings holiday teas. (I have enough Winter Spice now to get me through three winters ;) Two I have tried previously; this one is new to me and is very pleasant on a chilly morning. The cinnamon and clove are mellow and fresh (vs. bitter, dried-out spice cabinet dregs) and I’m getting some orange rind as well. Another reviewer likened this Christmas tea to Constant Comment, only a bit milder. That hits the nail on the head.

It smells amazing but the taste is entirely weak unless you add milk

You know what is worst? I have prepared this tea in a family pot and I was feeling that miserable, that I wasn’t able to enjoy it fully.

But noone was complaining it has got chamomile base. Actually, they rather liked it.

As for me, and as much I was able to notice, it was indeed nice mild tea with light sweet and red apple flavour complemented with cinnamon, but the spices were quite muted in my opinion. Age-related thing? My sickness? Dunno. Thank you anyway derk!

I ran across 3 unopened bags of Lady Grey this morning and set them aside for this afternoon to finish them off. I thought I had finished these along with the Twining’s Earl Grey which were two of the six different varieties I bought to begin my first ever foray into the lands of Earl Grey.

Lady Grey is rather lemony by design with the added lemon peel, but not too strong. It’s very pleasant, actually. The tea is quite drinkable.

I could see buying this again when traveling or something and having to rely on getting something at the store. It’s nice and rather refreshing, especially considering it’s in a bag!

For anyone so inclined, Lady Grey and Earl Grey together are pleasurable as well. I couldn’t decide if I preferred two Ladies and one Earl, or the other way around. They work well together in my opinion.

I haven’t come across many fig teas, so thank you to tea-and-cats for sharing! To my tastes, red rooibos and fruit don’t go super well together. This tastes a little fake and medicinal, but it’s not terrible. It’s better cold, but I’d definitely enjoy the tea more if it had only fruit and no rooibos. I think the flavor is a little figgy, so that’s fun! A bit too medicinal tasting though.

Unlike with their Apple Chai (need to try that one again) this one, I don’t care much for. The spices here are kind of muddled and very earthy I suppose? Not in a pleasant way. It’s very clove and nutmeg heavy and milk helps but probably a latte method would be ideal. I definitely get pumpkin spice which is a plus but prefer a tea that is balanced in taste prior to adding milk. It’s not bad at all for a bagged tea and for someone who usually makes lattes a good choice. I probably just need to stop expecting a chai to taste good without milk. It smells really good though and the base isn’t bad.

Did you ever see the Peanuts cartoon where Charlie Brown is sitting under a tree in autumn and “Whump!” all the leaves fall off at once on top of him? Our leaves whumped today, so I’ve been outside for Round 1 of mower mulching. (Round 2 is pending. We’re downhill from the neighbors. Their tree will whump soon.)

Anyway, despite the physical activity, it’s bitter and windy outside and this little concoction is warming me up inside out (thanks, derk!) I approached it very cautiously because of the hibiscus labeling, but the ginger and lime are the standouts here. Freshly grated ginger, not the spice rack kind, and the licorice is judiciously placed to soften the other flavors, not to goo them up.

I’m amazed that a tea laced with both of my kryptonites (hibi and licorice) is going down so quickly. Cup’s already half gone!

Tastes just like the little mints they had by the register at this little Italian restaurant when I was a kid. Also, people always had them in a little candy dish when there was company, or for the Holidays. This tea is a relaxing wonderful memory.

Ashmanra, have you done a “tea that you drink when your brain aches” prompt yet? ’Cause this is it, after several consecutive days of heavy, high-focus tasks at home and at work. (On the brighter side, writing assignment completed on time and in the hands of my editor!)

Apple-y tea makes me happy, and this is, and while I wish the chamomile had the knockout effect it does on some of you, it does convey a little calm. For those of you who haven’t tried it, the “spice” part is a little overstated—some very gentle cinnamon; that’s all. This is easy to steep, you can leave the bag in so you don’t even have to watch a timer, and soothing to drink with or (in my case) without your brain in gear.

I am terrible about keeping up with ashmanra’s sippy-prompts, but this definitely qualifies as “tea that makes you feel cozy.” I was elated to find it on the shelves at our Walmart Neighborhood Market. Not so spicy that it clobbers you in the face, just a little mild cider with a dusting of cinnamon to noodge you toward bedtime.

I have a quart of real cider in the fridge and have plans to test this as a gentle mulling spice.

I am sure this is what Queen Catherine would drink of an evening—always there to comfort and slow me down after a stressy day. Apple-y sweet, no single pushy ingredient, always a cupful of calm.

In case you were wondering if this little gem works as a fridge-steep, it does. Retains its mild, cidery profile quite well. I have just enough left to see how it works with apple mint. Results to come.

It rained last night and drizzled all morning—I feel like a dry sponge coming back to life after two months in direct sunlight. A cup of Winter Spice (ignore the name, it’s not wintery at all) contributed to that ahhhhh feeling this afternoon—know how it feels to drink a cup of something you’ve almost forgotten, then you remember how delicious it always was? That.

This blend is apple forward with just a hint of spice. Apple pie, not apple chai. I’m off to the kitchen to prowl a little and see if I have any more left.

The more I drink this, the more I like it, both on its own and as a very hospitable home for add-ins. Last night, I steeped it in the same cup as a leftover basket of Winter Solstice (Nashville Tea Company), which features pomegranate, almonds, a little spice, and a little caramel flavoring. Tasted so good, the cup was gone before I had much time to ponder whether it worked or not.

I think most of us who have reviewed Winter Spice have concluded it’s milder than its moniker would lead us to believe. Even so, the chamomile-apple blend is a nice nightcap. Last night, I added a couple teaspoons of cider mulling sugar that was gifted to me and “nice nightcap” turned into “oh, mercy, this is just plumb delicious.”

I am now amply supplied with Winter Spice, thanks to a couple bags sent my way from ashmanra and a detour to a World Market on a run to see mom-in-law. Tonight’s nightcap was steeped in a cup of hot honeycrisp apple cider. The end result was delicious, but the honeycrisp is so strong and sweet that it way overpowered the subtleness of the tisane itself. No harm done, and plenty left to play with.

I’m with the rest of you who have recently tasted and reviewed. This a gentle little apple-chamomile nightcap, and though I had a cat on my lap and couldn’t get up to remove the bag, I never caught any spice elements at all, even with the perpetual bag-in steep. That said, I liked it. Perhaps it just needs a little renaming, Charlie Brown.

Would you drink an orange milkshake? This has way too much citrus in it, and not in a good way. The intention is to have this more citrusy than the normal Earl Grey… However, this attempt fails and results in a very bitter artificial tasting black tea. Also not ideal if you normally add milk to your Earl Grey – Lady Earl Grey is tolerable on its own and absolutely terrible with milk.

An herbal tea – May prompts

I had this with breakfast. Very forgettable honestly. It was pretty good using it to add spice to apple juice and apple cider in cold weather. On a hot and humid morning with oatmeal that also seemed determined to be disappointing, it was a crying shame. I did get a phone call that lasted through the whole breakfast so I was pretty distracted, but that’s no excuse.

I have Spiced Fall Evenings to compare it to, and nothing has come close to that one.

I hurt my back a few days ago, probably by sleeping funny. Maybe that is why I am craving tea for the last few days, to get that bit of comfort.

During the winter I steeped this in hot apple juice for a sort of mulled apple cider. Today I wanted a quick and easy late lunch so I just made it in water.

It is a decent tea but it is nothing compared to Cuppageek’s evening blends like Baked Apple Pie and Spiced Fall Evenings. But it made a nice cuppa to go with a quesadilla.

I did the easy quesadilla where you just put some cheese, fold the sides in and fold the bottom up. Instead of putting it in the oven, in a panini press, or in a pan, I put it in a sandwich cage in my toaster. See how quick and easy?

And if you haven’t tried putting a smidge of Sweet Baby Ray’s bbq sauce in your quesadilla, I highly recommend it. If I am not going for quick and easy, I put sautéed onions and chicken tossed with bbq sauce, but as I said, I am going for quick and easy today!

Experiment 1: Heated apple juice and then added one bag of Winter Spice per mug. Steeped for five minutes then left bag in during sipping. Beginning of cup was mostly strong warm apple juice flavor with light spice, but as I neared the bottom of the cup I began to taste the chamomile and cardamom quite a bit more.

Funny thing – I forgot to tell Ashman what we were drinking and just handed him the cup. He sipped and said, “Wow, this is really apple-y!”

“Oh, um….yes, this is apple juice with a tea bag in….”

“Ah, well…it’s really good!”

Thought – caramel drizzle? Whipped cream on top? Whipped cream with caramel drizzle on top? More experiments to follow, including glug of orange juice.

I ordered this tea because I got two reviews mixed up, both of which I had commented on and they had similar names.

First, this doesn’t hold a candle to Spiced Fall Evenings.

Now that we have that out of the way…this smells good. When I took the plastic outer wrap off of the box a nice, warm spice smell greeted me. The tea while steeping also smelled nice.

The first sip immediately made me think that I would probably clutch a cup of this sometime when I wasn’t feeling well and really like it. I can imagine it being comforting when you don’t have the energy to pay attention to really good tea.

I think it might be better with a little real apple juice or something added to pump up the flavor, and either honey (especially when sick) or a little sweetener might also take it a long way toward tasting like what the aroma made you hope for.

The chamomile dominates but the apple is nice enough, though very mild. And that’s the bottom line. It was so promising in aroma but fell a little short. It isn’t terrible, and is drinkable for what it is and if it helps me relax or sleep then hallelujah. But I will definitely be looking for an easy trick to make it taste a little stronger. Maybe two bags? Brown sugar?

I may even try heating some apple juice and use this as a sort of mulling spice in it.