Gingerbread Spice

I thought this was a black tea, but it turns out it’s an herbal. Oops ha ha. :P

It steeps up unexpectedly dark due to the chicory. Flavorwise, it’s quite mild. The ginger and cinnamon are at the forefront, and I think there’s a bit of clove somewhere in the natural flavors. I don’t get a lot of chicory really, though I admit I haven’t had a lot of experience with it in general. There is a slight earthy toastiness and it does add a bit of body. The last ingredient is “luo han guo”, which is apparently monk fruit. Strange that they call it by the Chinese name, when monk fruit is a fairly common sweetener nowadays. Anyway, happily it’s not very strong in this blend.

To me, this doesn’t really taste like gingerbread, mostly because the ginger is quite zesty and tastes more like fresh ginger than the powdered kind used for baking. But it is a pleasant enough sweet spiced herbal brew that would be nice for the evening or after eating a bit too much.

Holiday grocery store teas tried: 9/19

Sipdown! (167/397)

Thanks for the sample, Marzipan!

I’ve been putting this one off for a while now, mainly because I have a pretty strained-at-best relationship with ginger, and I’ve found a lot of Celestial Seasonings’ offerings to be cloyingly sweet. Going in with low expectations has helped, I suppose, because I was pleasantly surprised by this one! I’m drinking it tactically after eating a couple of chocolates, with my thinking being that it would tame any unwanted sweetness, and it seems to have done the trick because although I get that liquorice root feeling at the back of my throat, I’m actually not getting a tonne of sweetness from it. The ginger is present, but not overwhelming and there’s actually a strong cinnamon note which puts this tea in my good books straight away. There’s an unexpected fiery kick which is partially to do with the cinnamon and ginger, but it’s punchier… black pepper is springing to my mind. I added milk because that’s how I prefer my chais, and this seemed chai-like to me from reading the description. I’m glad I did, because it’s certainly a bold tea and I think the milk helps keep that at bay. Overall, I’m really enjoying sipping on this while I catch up on what’s been going on with Steepter in my absence (I’ve missed you guys). Oh, how I love an unexpected win!

Another bag sampled from my family’s stash. As it cools, the spices kind of disappear and make it taste like nothing. Hot it was decent, but definitely not strongly gingerbread. Maybe next time I’ll throw two bags in. It’s not like I’m having a bad time drinking this, but it could really use a lot more flavor if it wants to call itself gingerbread. I’d call the flavor mild ginger with a little of something else in there. If you want a spicy Celestial Seasonings tea, go with Bengal Spice. It’s possible that this box is rather old, so I won’t leave a numerical rating.

I love Gingerbread but I’m not entirely sold on this tea yet. It’s strong when you let it steep enough but I still am not quite getting the flavor I want. I tried it with sugar and brown sugar. I think with some milk I can maybe get it to a place I want. I got a whole box of this and will have to keep trying different things.

This tea has low reviews, but I place it firmly within my nostalgic favourites. It is decent on its own, but steep it stronger and add milk and then you’ve got yourself the best gingerbread tea latte ever made.

I like the spice blend in this, I appreciate that it is caffeine-free, and I find it warming and sweet. Apparently this contains carob and chicory, but I don’t taste the cocoa or sickly sweet flavours often associated with them.

This one is definitely the weakest of the Celestial Seasonings Holiday teas I’ve tried so far. I still have to review Candy Cane Lane, but suffice to say, this one didn’t make the cut for me. It has a very heavy molasses taste that really overpowers any of the other spices and flavours in the mix. It has a lovely aroma brewed up, but the taste just doesn’t measure up. If you’re looking for a cookie in a cup, stick with the sugar cookie sleigh ride!

I used a 16oz mug, filled it to the brim with boiling water then added two tea bags held them down at the bottom of the cup with a spoon, steeped for 9 minutes, then added several different types of cinnamon, a little ginger, and a little unsweetened vanilla cashew milk. This cup of tea was a very very nice treat and left me wanting another one when I finished it.

Herbal & Decaf TTB

Since it’s been so chilly today, I had another cup from the box. This one I was very wary of because I generally don’t like teas that just rely on spices. This one actually did have some “bready” notes and was reminiscent of gingerbread cookies, but the spices were still very, very prominent. Surprisingly, the ginger I was expecting was nearly non-existent, but the other spices I associate with gingerbread were still there (weird) – the tea was mostly cinnamon and clove based to me.

I really enjoy this tea. It’s a good one. The only problem I have with it, is that if you leave the tea bag in your cup too long, it gets really spicy- too spicy. If you take it out soon after it has turned a deep brown color and is to the taste you want, you should take it out to conserve that rich taste. With some sugar, it makes a great cup of tea.

Actually tastes like gingerbread! It’s pretty tasty.