Candy Cane Lane

I can see how this tea is good for someone who likes teas with sweet notes. I personally do not like drinking it straight. If I reach out for this tea, hot milk and lots of sugar is a must, and I just make it into a tea latte. If I have peppermints or mini candy canes on hand, I like to stick a few in. It makes for a nice hot holiday drink.

I love this tea. I love the strong peppermint flavor with the hint of vanilla. I don’t taste the cinnamon, but I bet it’s doing something important. The peppermint/vanilla really does overwhelm all the other flavors, including the green tea, but it’s so good you won’t even care.

Sometimes I wonder if I overrate this tea because it was one of my first teas beyond the simple black tea bagged stuff. Then I taste it again each November and I realize it is that good.(I only drink it 3 months a year and look forward to that first cup after Halloween way too much.)

Celestial Seasonings does some things well and some things less well, but they have this one right. They do seem to be one of the few decent tea companies I can find in the average grocery store.

one of my favorite holiday teas. sweet and smooth without sugar. sometimes i drink too much and get a peppermint-numbed throat-it’s that good.

Its funny that another review said that this tea had a stronger peppermint taste than anything else, because that is the flavor I feel is the weakest in Candy Cane Lane. I can taste a lot of green tea and vanilla in this. It might be because I am not the biggest green tea fan (trying to ease my way into liking it… lol)but all that being said, I like this tea. Its different than a lot of the fruity herbal tea that I usually drink and I’m definitely going to finish the box and perhaps repurchase :)

This is probably my favorite tea. I can’t have a lot of caffeine due to healthy issues and this is a naturally decaffeinated green tea. The subtle flavors of cinnamon, vanilla and peppermint all blend so nicely and most of the time I don’t even need to bother with sweetener. It truly does remind you of a winter day sitting around the fireplace and looking at the Christmas tree, even when you drink it in the middle of Summer.

I’ve tried this a few times. Unfortunately, the first couple of times, I kept forgetting that there was green tea in it, so I steeped it with boiling-hot water, which made it bitter. When I let the water boil and then waited for the steam to subside, it definitely turned out much better. It’s very smooth and minty, and the decaf green tea somehow makes the flavor feel more complete than other herbal peppermint teas, but at the same time it’s a little off-putting. I don’t usually like green tea, but I like this tea. The other flavors were sort of strange and it felt like they were just a backdrop to the mint and green tea flavors.

I tried a cup of this at my local coffee shop this afternoon. I had added soy milk and a pinch of sugar but wasn’t really impressed with it. It wasn’t bad but all I could pick out was peppermint. I added a tiny bit of agave when I got home and voila, candy cane! It was delicious and I’ll probably pick up a box of this the next time I’m out.

This tea tastes like Christmas to me. The peppermint, creamy vanilla, all layered gently with a mild, non-astringent green tea, make it an easy tea to have cups and festive cups of.

Holiday tea 2023 #12

Another from CameronB!  I guess a handful that Cameron sent over were, in fact, holiday teas. :D  So they ended up as my only “new” holiday teas for the year.  This is a good thing though, as with less than a week left in the year, I have NOT met my sipdown goals!   I forgot I had this tea YEARS ago and was able to refresh my memory.  It’s an okay Celestial Seasonings blend in my opinion, then and now!  I guess I forgot it was a decaf green.  Kind of a weird base for peppermint?  But the blend works overall.  I would NOT use two teabags for a mug with this one, as the peppermint would be a bit too harsh with two bags.  Otherwise, it’s a perfect complement of background flavors with just the right amount of sweetness, peppermint rightly taking center stage.  I think I steeped it JUST RIGHT.  Second steep was also worthy. I appreciate that a billion teas later, after last trying this one, I would still rate this a 74. :D
Steep #1 // 35 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 50 min after boiling (forgot about it) // many minute steep

Holiday tea 2023 #13  Simpson & Vail – Gingerbread
Holiday tea 2023 #14  Bird & Blend – The Night Before Christmas

I didn’t have enough time for all my holiday blends this year!  Merry Christmas to all!

I really love it – although there is vanilla in it. Very yummy green tea – no matter if you drink it hot or cold, with or without milk. Too bad I need to buy CCL via eBay :o(