Just Outstanding Orange Spice

Backlog:

In my full-length review of this tea: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/05/01/just-outstanding-orange-spice-black-tea-just-organic-tea/ I mentioned that I never tire of smelling orange spice teas. It’s true … there is something so alluring about an orange spice tea. I won’t go so far as to say it’s my favorite type of blend – it isn’t – but there is something so tempting and autumnal (my favorite time of year) about orange spice blends.

And this one is quite good, and it’s a bit different from others that I’ve tried. The spices didn’t overwhelm me as so often is the case with orange spice blends. Everything is thoughtfully balanced. I taste orange and I taste spices and I taste TEA!

I love that this is an organic tea and I love the ideas behind this company. Just an all-around great Orange Spice!

Another freebie from Shadowfall. I’m kind of trying to get through all the samples I have, tried and untried, and these little single serving ones make it really easy on me. :P This has a strong cinnamon scent, with some clove and orange in there somewhere. I expected it to be similar to the Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice that I have in my cupboard. I originally steeped it for 3 minutes, but then I put it back in for 2 more because it didn’t seem strong enough.

Even after the 5 minute steep it’s nowhere near as strong on the spices as I expected. I find this to be more similar to Kusmi’s Prince Vladimir. It definitely has that more subtle French-style flavoring, and I can taste the base tea. The cinnamon, clove, and orange is more of an accent flavor than I expected. Not bad, but I find the base tea to be unremarkable, just kind of a has a somewhat malty generic taste. It’s not at all unpleasant, but not something that I would drink plain. I also added sugar to bring out more of that orange and cinnamon taste. Not bad!

I drank this sample a few weeks ago but i was to busy to make a note. I was worried about trying this one because I thought it might taste like a spiced orange jelly bean. Luckily for me I don’t think it does. It was a nice cinnamon spice with a light orange taste. Thinking back on it, I kind wish I added some to my Kickstarter order.

My samples arrived today! Yay!

So this is an interesting orange spice tea. Usually it’s all orange and fake sugar/cinnamon but… believe it or not… I can actually taste the black base in this version.

I think I actually prefer this to other orange teas. I guess there are other orange teas that aren’t orange/cinnamon but I don’t recall any offhand. So I’ll stick with this one.

The base is interesting too. It’s harder to say with a blend, but it seems sorta darker/maltier than I’m used to. Almost reminiscent of some of the Kenyan teas. It’s a little woodsier, and it has a rich aftertaste. It’s still really good after it cools.

Pretty sure this was the tea that made my envelope smell like awesome potpourri. The first time I brewed it I wasn’t a total fan. But I steeped it a second time and then put a little bit of homemade vanilla sugar in and boy was it wonderful. I would totally stock up on this. It would be absolutely wonderful for a fall tea. I would like to taste a bit more of the orange though, the spice certainly shines here.

Another sample courtesy of Just Organic Teas:

I steeped this one in simmering (vanilla) almond milk on the stove and then poured it through a sieve. This method seemed to let the spiciness shine a little more than my previous method, but I definitely will be steeping chais and such in non-flavored almond or soy milk from now on, because the flavoring definitely interferes with the teas flavor. I added a bit of the Just Organic Sweetener to this as well.

It has a nice spicy scent and taste, though I don’t really get the orange at all in scent or taste. If I had to choose I’d definitely pick the Just Charming Chai over this one.

This was one of the teas from the sample pack from just Organic. Thank you.

Orange spice tea for me is a mood tea. I need to be in the right mood. Usually the holidays or a cozy night on the couch. Tonight with rainy and cold weather we are having it was a good fit. The more tea I drink the more scared of cinnamon I am. This tea made me a little nervous, but the balance of orange, spices with the cinnamon was done well. Like the chai. The base on this was a tad weak for my tastes, but that could be due to the amount of tea I normally use when preparing chai like tea with and sugar. This was an enjoyable cup.

After drinking the chai earlier, my taste buds wanted to keep the spicy tea thing going, so I figured I’d drink this.
Thanks for the sample, Just Organic Tea!
While steeping, at the very beginning, I could pick up orange, but by 5 minutes, that was gone and the spice was front and center, not letting anything else through.
Where the chai ended on a spicy note, this begins on a spice note and then leaves a sweet finish in my mouth.
The orange is there, but to me, it’s all in the finish, and if I wasn’t concentrating, I might miss it.
I like the tea base and the balance of the spice, and it’s lovely unsweetened, without the addition of milk. That finish, though it what’s really standing out to me with this. I like it ending on that lighter, citrusy note.
I thought this was a really yummy, spice heavy tea…something I’d like to have around when I’m looking for that sort of thing.
The ‘70’ score is based on the fact that if I was looking for ‘Orange’, I’d be a bit disappointed in this tea…. If it was just called ‘Just Outstanding Spice’, I’d throw that slider up higher. :)

This is the second tea for me to try from the samples I received from Just Organic Tea.

This one has a wonderfully powerful fragrance, so much so that I was afraid that it may have tainted the rest of the teas in the shipping bag. I separated the teas that were heavily fragranced right away and think the others will be fine… at least the Naughty ‘Nilla hadn’t picked up anything.

This one caught my attention because of its fragrance, sweet, spicy, citrus orange. It seems for me that the orange comes out more in the smell of the tea than the flavor at first. Mostly a nicely spiced black tea, nothing overpowering, I think the orange is coming through as another sweet dimension to the tea base rather than a prominent flavor as the name suggests. As it cools, I do get more orange at the end of the sip. I do quite enjoy this one, but might prefer just a tiny touch more orange to go along with the name.. as is, I think I would have named it Spiced Orange because I get spice before the orange. Still a nice blend as the base is nice and not overpowered with spice, as I might expect from a chai.

The more I drink of this cup, the more I am enjoying it.

I can be picky with black teas, I’m always afraid of them being bitter. (Though in hindsight, that’s probably due more to the fact that I never used to watch the brew times and would wayy oversteep everything). But, this morning I was feeling fruity, and after receiving this sample from just organic I found myself steeping this for my first cup of the day.
This tea smelled so yummy, kind of spicy, kind of citrusy. Sipping, I taste mostly cinnamon and spice. This isn’t a bad thing since I love chai so much, but it didn’t satisfy my fruity craving. I wish there was more orange to this spice, but over all I enjoyed it.