14 Tasting Notes

90

My favorite straight raspberry flavored herbal tea. I’m a HUGE fan of raspberries, raspberry is my favorite fruit in flavor, hands down! I enjoy the slight tartness with bright and slightly earthy flavor of raspberries. I could say “raspberry” a few more times, and I likely will, so repetitive! This is my preferred raspberry tea to all grocery and special-teas I’ve found.

Flavors:
*Bright raspberry with very slight acidity and slight natural sweetness
*Slight acidity without an overabundance of citric acid to emulate a false kind of flavoring either warm or iced, but interferes with blending it with black teas (it turns the delicate flavor a bit too much to maintain an over smooth blend of flavors,) but could mix well with other herbal blends (especially lemon)
*The flavor doesn’t change much for iced tea usage
*Becomes only a small bit less pleasant as it cools to lukewarm

Times:
*3 minutes, smooth and alright for a light drink
*3.5 minutes, smooth slightly stronger
*4 minutes, good for straight drinking with no additives
*4.5 minutes, very good and smooth (see a trend? This is a balanced and true-to-the-fruit flavor,) good for iced tea
*5 minutes, best for iced tea

Temperatures:
*I find all temperatures create a pleasant flavor, but I prefer just under boiling (175 max) for pretty much any kind of tea without certain components that love super-high heat
*Cold brewing works quite alright for this, but suntea methods are perfect for reducing the acidity in iced tea

Flavors: Fruity, Raspberry

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 4 min, 45 sec

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70

I’m a big fan of gingerbread flavoring: I love gingerbread in scones, tea, cookies, cakes, coffee, pancakes, waffles, muffins, candies, pretty much in any way available! Ginger is a seasoning I use in loads of foods, savory and sweet. For a grocery store bagged tea, this is quite good compared to any other gingerbread flavors that lack the extra spices beyond ginger and cinnamon. Overall, it’s quite alright and enjoyable enough to keep it until a better one comes along. I’m still searching for a better gingerbread tea, but this’ll do in the meanwhile. I recommend it for a easy-to-find, seasonal gingerbread fix.

Flavors: “Cinnamon, roasted chicory, ginger, natural flavors (soy lecithin), roasted carob and luo han guo.”
*Not perfection, but not a flat ginger+cinnamon
*The chicory + carob give a sweet molasses vibe, the requirement for me to take it from a ginger blend to gingerbread
*I’m not too fond of soy lecithin in tea blends, but it didn’t make me mad or detract too much
*The luo han guo/monk fruit sweetens the tea a bit and blends with the molasses note to emulate more of a slightly anemic brown sugar vibe

Temperature:
*Boiling can destroy the carob subtlety and make it more forest floor dirty than umami earthy, boosting the cinnamon and ginger over everything else and keeping a more one-dimensional and boring flavor
*Just under boiling doesn’t kill the carob, but doesn’t do it any favors in this blend
*I prefer a cooler 165-170 for this blend

Timing:
*3 minutes, eh. Not enough sweetness to rich molasses ratio, chicory needs more time to bloom, nearly all cinnamon.
*3.5, better.
*4 minutes, very good flavor combination for those that aren’t full-flavor/crunchy tea connoisseur, unlike me.
*I prefer 5+ minutes to get a stronger flavor with optimal ginger to molasses flavor. I’m all about that richness in flavor for the cream to enhance it

Flavors: Cinnamon, Earth, Ginger, Molasses, Sweet

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 5 min, 0 sec

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85

I love this seasonal tea! I enjoy drinking a decaf tea often, especially at night when I really don’t need or want caffeine. I’ve drank this many times and have gone through two boxes of my stash of 10 from Amazon (a brilliant Amazon Prime purchase, if I do say so myself.) This is the closest to perfection in flavor and ability to be manhandled while brewing. It loses it’s lovely richness in iced tea, so it’s not perfect for all applications.

The flavors:
*I find the “natural flavoring” for the sugar cookie flavor isn’t unnatural or extra oily and is quite pleasant. It reminds me a lot of a shortbread/sugar cookie hybrid without the oily butter flavor that can start to taste slightly rancid in storage.
*There’s a tiny hint of almond and sweetness.
*I like that it’s not very sweet as brewed so I can keep it richer as-is or add my own sugar content to taste. I tend to add my own creamer and a small amount of sugar; So Delicious Coconut Creamer + agave, Coffeemate Original powder, cashew milk/cream + honey. I don’t consume milk products and don’t enjoy adding most milks because I prefer denser, richer flavors. This tea steeped longer could withstand milks vs creams, though.
*Mixes exceptionally well with peppermint tea.

Water temperature:
*This tea works well with boiling or just under boiling water. I don’t find any enhanced bitterness with any particular brewing method, which is lovely. For a grocery store bagged tea, that’s pretty amazing.
*I don’t enjoy it nearly as much iced. The cookie flavoring gets lost in iced tea. This decreases the rating slightly for me, but not nearly as much since this isn’t the type of tea one would normally make iced tea out of. It’s still pleasant iced, but the flavor isn’t as lovely.

Steeping times:
*3 minutes minimum, the tea is more malty and the cookie flavor hasn’t fully bloomed
*After 3.5 minutes the sugar cookie is more pronounced but not as rich as possible
*I brew it for a minimum of 4 minutes to enhance the sugar cookie flavor.
*Longer times don’t increase the bitterness much, if at all, as long as it doesn’t cool too much.

Flavors: Almond, Cookie, Vanilla

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 4 min, 30 sec

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70

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97

Brewed with filtered water at the perfect temperature, this is absolute heaven. With plain tap water, it’s damn good. Either way, it smells so amazing, I just have to sniff it constantly while sipping.

Loose in a pot or in a basket are both great. With small bits of coconut flake and almond, the water should be almost-boiling to get the flavor from both and the time should be increased. The downside to this is the balance between brewing the black tea for it’s best flavor and coddling it while trying to get all the coconut and almond flavor out. The 97/100 rating is for having to balance the temperature and steeping time together. Luckily, I had the seller make a pot in the tea room and got the perfect advice for brewing this; Heat filtered/bottled water to boiling, take the kettle off, let the boil subside, pour water over loose tea in pot with plenty of circulation (either in a large basket or free,) and let steep for at least 3 minutes. If the tea’s going to sit and cool, more time is fine. If the tea’s going to be kept warming, less heat to brew is best.

Flavors: Almond, Coconut

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 30 sec 4 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML

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75

Earthy rooibos, creamy citrus zest, this is beautiful. The creamy orange isn’t subtle, but it’s not strong enough to label this acidic. This is the closest I can imagine an upscale orangesicle rooibos tea could be, not a cheap artificial flavor kind. Imagining San Diego while drinking this is about right. The smell of the citrus zest almost implies strength, but the creaminess tempers it nicely. It has an almost implied cinnamon note. Husband says it smells like potpourri. He doesn’t like many flavored teas, he’s a classic kind of guy.

Brewed as recommended; 1 rounded teaspoon per cup, steeped 8.5 minutes at 210 degrees.

Flavors: Orange Zest

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 1 tsp 11 OZ / 325 ML

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90

This is quite an awesome bagged tea. I love a vanilla rooibos for nighttime comfort, and sometimes day comfort. This is my (current) jam. It’s warm and rich with that slightly earthy rooibos awesomeness. As far as bagged rooibos goes, this is delicious beyond reason.

If I add creamer, this is still great and super-rich. Until I find a better quality option with this great flavor, it’s on the top of my vanilla rooibos list.

Flavors: Vanilla

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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60

I need a nighttime tea for comforting that I can also drink anytime without caffeine. I love vanilla and it goes great with rooibos, so that’s my nighttime jam. This tea has the pleasant rooibos and a little bit of that warm vanilla. A little underwhelming. This is an alright option for me, but not my favorite. Madagascar Vanilla Rooibos by Celestial Seasonings is my favorite rooibos vanilla in a tea bag, it’s warmer and richer.

It’s good for the price and the quality is very good for bagged tea. I’ll definitely finish this, but I won’t repurchase.

Flavors: Vanilla

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 8 min or more 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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91

I love Earl Grey tea in general, and I love the Creme versions for a standard cuppa. Point Loma Tea is run by a wonderful woman who gets the teas from a certified fair trade vendor and hand-blends the teas and it shows. I love this tea from an Earl Grey standpoint, and I like it from the Creme standpoint. I would buy and drink this again.

The loose leaf smells citrusy and slightly creamy and medium strength. When brewed, it opens up and the bergamot comes out a bit more, but the creaminess is still there. It tastes a bit more mild in the cream and the bergamot is the forefront flavor.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 45 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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62

4 minutes at just under boiling at pour. This is a very fine tisane with some medium chunks. The smell of the dry blend is rich, creamy, sweet, and a bit of astringent ginger. Brewing brings more astringent taste than I like. You never know if there’s pumpkin in the blend and if the pumpkin pie spices make one assume there’s pumpkin notes in the blend.

I don’t love it. I like it. The tart and rich cheesecake note is there, the spices are way in the background, and the sweetness of the honeybush is nice as always. Wouldn’t buy again.

Preparation
4 min, 15 sec

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