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Ok. I had actually gotten this tea back in early August along with Sun and Cloud Mist. But just now getting around to reviewing it and wanted to have it a couple of times anyways. Being a HP fan, I had to try this tea. I do like licorice and root beer (Have recently let the occasional root beer by A&W back into my diet.) But unfortunately….I do not like this tea. I plan on trying it cold next, if I like it cold, then I might get more. When I 1st opened the pouch, it smelled odd. Not bad…just odd. My 1st taste (without any sugar/sweetener.) was that it tasted flat. When I tried it the times before, it was with Apriva (Kroger version of Splenda.) so decided to try it with regular sugar. Barely made a dent in the flat taste. So I added more. And more. Finally when I decided to add honey it was drinkable, but I tasted more honey then tea. I don’t want to score this one yet til I try it cold.

Rueful laugh and somewhat frustrated sigh This is the 12? tea that I’ve tried from Teavana, and like many of the others, cannot say I am a fan. I got this tea last week, on wednesday, but didn’t get around to making it til today. (Or rather, since I’m writing this at 5:00am, yesterday.) Now, as when I smelled it at the store….OMG it smells divine! and when I smelled it again as I was spooning it into my infuser, MMMMMmmm! When I poured the water in, it kind of smelled alittle odd, but not terrible. As my usual M.O. I automatically put in several packets worth of sugar in, before tasting it. Then tested it, while I still smelled nuttiness, all I could taste was cinnamon, and a very faint after taste of nuts. Which I am not a fan of. I prefer teas that are balanced in their flavors, if there is more then one. Cinnamon you have to be careful with as it can take over! So, while I will do my usual adjusting the temp and steeping time, but I suspect that this will not improve over time. If anyone can recommend a tea that would be a good match for this, preferably a herbal or non caffeine tea that maybe has some fruit in it? I am thinking a slightly intense fruity tea might make it at least an interesting drink that will help me get rid of the tea and help me feel that I havn’t wasted my moola. A note of complaint: I have an variable temp electric kettle, and it has an oolong setting, but the Teavana bag suggested that I use 195, but since I have no setting for that, I picked the one for 200, and when it came to a boil, I waited about 10 seconds then poured. Should I next try the Oolong setting (190.)? and I think it was steeped for 3 minutes, though did not keep as much of a check on the time as I should of.

I’ve tried this in the store a few times, it was interesting, it was combined with Samarai Mate which I did not want because I am not a morning tea drinker usually, and plus not much inclined to try out Mate yet anyways. (Excluding samples.) So I was thinking, I already knew that this was fairly peppery and many people commented on the ‘Red Hots’ flavor, so I felt that combining it with a fruit tea might balance it out a bit. So, still having a fair amount of Strawberry Paraiso I brewed 2 different cups of the teas, then with a 3rd cup and strainer, I poured some tea from each cup, put some Apriva in, tasted….MMMMmmmm. Tastes good. Then I started wondering if I had a tea that had a stronger strawberry base, and another with a straight chai base and combined them how would it taste? Next though I think I will try it with the Pinapple from Teavana. Anyone has any suggestions let me know.

I had meant to do this review ages ago, but I am a procrastinator…..lol. This tea was not what I expected. Even though I try to avoid expectations, I couldn’t help but form them with this tea. One reason why I generally prefer to avoid reading reviews for something til after I’ve tried it. I expected it to be light fluffy lemon flavored clouds that was just over the border of sweet. Not quite. I don’t know maybe it has to do with my Sugar taste buds gauge, but I needed a lot of sweetener. It isn’t terrible tea, and maybe it was the wrong choice considering my lack of experience with green tea, not to mention I’m alittle bit weird when it comes to lemons and lemon flavored things anyways. At any rate, I liked enough that I will have no trouble finishing it, and would probably order it again, to have for times when I want something that is quiet and uncomplicated. (No not intended as a backhanded compliment!)
Grrrr. I tried editing the tasting note I added a few weeks ago, but I couldn’t really access the bottom portion…luckly I thought to copy and paste this.

Like with my not so great experiences with Green teas, I tried Chai years ago once or twice. (I remember at least one of those times was a cold one…Starbucks or Borders Cafe.) I did not care for it. I suspect now that it was because I did not have the palate to appreciate it. Now, generally speaking for a bagged tea, Good Earth seems like a decent company. unbleached tea bags, no over emphasizing health qualities, (which is not an automatic turn off for me, but still.) This flavor: I am extremely picky about my vanilla. Imitation doesn’t bother me, as long as it doesn’t taste like imitation. And balance of flavor is also important, if there is more then one. I do not like notes that only hit at the last minute. I do like the Original Spicy, but I found the cinnamon to be almost too intense. So, the vanilla smooths that out for me, but I still feel the kick of the cinnamon. I think next time I will try steeping it for 7 minutes, to see how it comes out.

Just got this tea today. I actually got it because the Teavana site suggests this in combination with Azteca Fire, which I did not like, but still got about an ounce left, and as I detest wasting tea, unless I absolutely detest it, (and even then….grr waste of money.) I got it to try it both by it’s self and with the Aztec Fire. By itself, I like. Like the Peach Tranquility, it’s a quiet WOW. I am thinking it’s a not bad thing to have a selection of teas around for when I want something simple tasting. I tried it hot, but will be trying it iced next, I got the feeling that it will be really good iced.
I think tomorow I will also pair the Strawberry Paraiso with the Peach, might make an interesting balance of flavors.

With Aztec Fire: I got the feeling that nothing will spark that tea enough to make me like it. I am thinking next time, of trying it with hot cocoa, (maybe dark chocolate cocoa.) and almond milk. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to drop me a note, in the comments of this note, or a email.

Got this tea yesterday. Wanted to see how a Teavana store that I hadn’t been to, but had heard bad things about…(pushy sales associates.) But that went fine. I played the part of someone kind of clueless about tea, but had a list of what I wanted to get: More Zingiber Ginger Coconut, (Even though I had gotten more on monday, I just had a weird inclination to want to see my canister of Zingiber full. lol. I know, I’m weird.) 2 of the smallest canisters that the store has, and smell test a few others ones to pick at random, (namely the under $7 ones.) The random one turned out to be the Cocoa Praline Tart. And as always, I had to try it when I got home.
As mentioned before in my tastings notes, I like to be WOW!ed, unfortunately, it did not wow me. Though I am willing to concede that may have been because of the milk that I added. Today when I got up, I decided to pair it with my Zingiber. Meh. Even less inspiring. this time, did not add milk but I did forget to check the time, and didn’t really keep an eye on it. Hmm, I think I will try another cup, just by itself, see how that goes.