I bought this one at the same time as I bought the honey vanilla chai I posted about earlier. As I mentioned then, it has become a habit of Husband to have some chamomile before bedtime because he feels it makes him sleep better. I then decided to try and cultivate the same habit and am therefore shopping around a bit in the world of herbal bags. Bags because with herbal tea, I’m just not that bothered if it’s loose or not. I’m not interested in herbal teas in the same way.
So I’m searching for something that is calming and also if not pleasant then at least not undrinkable. I don’t care for chamomile, so I can’t just follow Husband’s example.
So far I’ve had a yogi tea with lime and mint which was okay and one that tasted like it was just about nothing else than hot ginger which was most emphatically not okay. There are some bags of just plain peppermint, but I mostly keep those around because when ill it’s the only thing I can really drink as peppermint is one of the few things that don’t end up tasting weird.
And now this one. Of the things I’ve tried so far, I prefer this one. I wouldn’t say it’s great tasting, but it’s good enough. It has ginger in it, but I can’t really pick it up. Must be only a small amount.
All in all a quite inoffensive blend, and that is just what I’m looking for. Therefore I am scoring it high. Not because I think the flavour alone warrants it, but because it does the job I need it to do and thereby provides a pleasant experience all in all. And that warrants a higher score in and of itself, don’t you think?
Another point in its favour: When the box was empty, Luna was ever so cute being affected by the minty smell of it. Makes a very good cat toy! I’m on my second box now.
Additional note: I would dearly love to have some of the Sleepytime vanilla variant. I thought I had found a webshop where I could buy it here as they had a picture of it on their website, but as it turned out I instead received the normal Sleepytime. At first I thought they had simply sent me the wrong product, but closer examination revealed that they actually had the wrong picture on their website. So I wrote them an email and explained that I had not received the product I thought I was buying and please could they correct the picture on the website as it was very misleading. I received a snippy reply that the name and ingredients on the website was for the normal sleepytime and that she didn’t know it was the wrong picture.
She didn’t know it was the wrong picture.
In other words, as I can read between the lines, the woman just told me that she can’t tell the difference between a green box and a cream-coloured box that says vanilla on it in big letters. She furthermore told me that she has no idea what is on her own website.
And apparently I was supposed to read the ingredients list through on something is more or less a known product to me, just to see if it says vanilla anywhere in it when the picture is large and says vanilla on it in big letters.
The word ‘sorry’ or the word ‘apology’ were never used once in any of the correspondance I had with this woman, so in a fit of pique I returned the lot.
This means, however, that I am still without Sleepytime Vanilla and ready to accept that I’m going to need some help from my international Steepsterites if I ever want some at all. Could one of you good people out there be persuaded to buy me 2-3 boxes and send them to me? I can paypal the money for the boxes and postage to you or I can send you something of you choice and equal value in return.
Welcome to KCUP world. I have found that the herbal tea k cups are pretty good but the black tea / green tea or anything with actual tea leaves comes out as tea colored water….if you have better luck I would love to know your secret!
I have so many coffee cups and I never drink them. It’s sad. It’s become my hot water dispenser for oolong/white/green teas haha.
Hmm, you’ve inspired me. We have a Keurig too that I love for coffee, but I’ve been kind of afraid to brew the tea kcups in it. Off to experiment!
I also welcome you tot Kcup World. I love ours! I love using it for apple cider, coffee and instant hot water. It’s like a multi purpose zojirushi.
how do you all keep your water from tasting like the flavor of the last kcup?
I ran mine empty twice until the water was clear and didn’t smell like coffee.
Conclusion of my trying one today: actually surprisingly good. I expected it to be thin and watery, but it was dark with good flavor. It’s not something that would make a great cup of oolong tea, but for herbal blends it was great.
@Ellyn – BlueKittyMeow’s advice is exactly what I do as well – run one or two “cycles” of plain water through the system to clear it out. Works wonders. My husband wants me to do that between the coffee and cocoa too.
@BlueKittyMeow – agreed, herbal or your basic tea that you don’t mind bagged is good. I actually shuddered at the thought of brewing oolong there! The horrors!
@Ze_Teamaker – Apple cider?! Me want! Me want! :) I am on the hunt for a box as I type this…
@Ze-Teamaker – What kind of apple cider do you like? I’ve only tried one kind so far.
ETA – oops, sorry, KeenTeaThyme, I didn’t mean to derail your tasting note!
The apple cider is from Green Mountain Naturals. It is really good! It doesn’t have a lot of fake stuff in it. I love brewing it with a stick of cinnamon.
@BlueKittyMeow: Um, i don’t know. I have really only had it from the K-Cup. There isn’t a lot of apples in Florida.
The apple cider is also good for steeping teas in! If you have something like a cinnamon spice herbal or something like that, it’s so good. Rishi’s Cinnamon Plum suggests it on the tin so now I’m hooked.
@Te_Teamaker – Ah – I did mean just the k-cup brand :) I do live in apple cider country here, I should probably take more advantage of that. The k-cup brand we use is Grove Square, they have Caramel apple. So good.
@momo – that is such an incredible idea. I’ve never used anything but water (except milk for chai). More experimenting to do…
CARAMEL APPLE!!! ME GUSTA!
I got a sample of this with my Keurig and was very surprised at how it turned out. I expected a watery mix, and it actually came out very well.
That being said, I already had a stash of this in the cabinet due to the childhood memories it brings so no reason to spend the extra $$$ on the k-cups. Now if I run out of the bags and I find a good sale, I might splurge for convenience.