Tangerine Ginger

Ginger was the stronger flavor and aroma, with tangerine being the secondary flavor and aroma (although the loose leaf had a lovely floral, tangerine aroma). The ginger was sharp, and I’m not sure I’d drink this in the evening if I wanted to relax, but definitely a good morning tea.

What flavor is this? It’s kind of refreshing and a good change of pace tea (well, not real tea). Has the more delightful elements of Thera-Flu, the cherry flavored. It’s just crisp and nice.

This is an interesting taste. It has a sweet tone to it and would be very good for a breakfast tea served cold or hot during those cold winter mornings.

Well, I had always been under the impression that Tea Chai Te made it’s own blends, when I opened up this sampler of Rishi’s “Tangerine Ginger” that I got for free from an order with them ages ago, it looks just like Tea Chai Te’s “Tangerine Dream” (formerly known as “Orange Zephyr”) which is one of my favorite teas (I even restocked it when I visited their shop in Portland on vacation last summer). This leads me to think they are actually wholesaling this blend from Rishi — the leaf certainly looks identical to me — but there are some minor differences listed in the ingredients between the two (Tea Chai Te says their blend includes ginseng and doesn’t list schizandra berries, though it certainly looks like I can see schizandra berries in Tea Chai Te’s leaf from a visual inspection; Rishi doesn’t list ginseng in their ingredients). Hmm… I’m still bordering more on the “this is wholesaled from Rishi” fence than not, since they are a large tea wholesaler to smaller tea shops (I am still pretty convinced Tea Chai Te makes their own chais, though…)

In any event, at least that means I already know I’m going to like this tea. It’s a hibi-hip with ginger and has a nice orange flavor, as well. This is one of my go-to “sick teas” and may seem an odd choice, but all that hibiscus/rose hip packs a whollop of Vitamin C which is perfect once my nose starts going runny or my throat starts feeling froggy, and the ginger is calming on the throat or tummy/GI tract. I like hibiscus teas, so I like the warm tangy fruity base which I’ve always felt accompanies an orange flavor well (like in Christmas spice blends), and the ginger is warming and gives a bit of heat against the throat but isn’t overbearing to my spice-wuss self, and I think it’s the touch of licorice root in the blend which helps temper it. I don’t really taste the licorice root as a distinct flavor, but there is an overall balance of the tangy hibiscus/spicy ginger with a sweetness that works. And that is another ingredient that works nicely with the ginger to calm a sore throat.

Along with TeaSource’s “Margaret’s Soother,” this is one of my favorite “what ails ya” teas.

Drank a travel mug of this yesterday, while out for a walk downtown looking at all of the different murals – that’s definitely one of my favourite things about Montreal. Seeing all of the art everywhere, in the form of murals or otherwise, is breathtaking! It’s a truly beautiful city – for sure.

The tea was nice – kind of sweet, and a good citrus and ginger balance. Not overly tart either, which is good because there’s a fair amount of hibiscus in this blend. I do think that calling this “Tangerine” instead of Orange is a bit weird – there’s nothing flavour wise that would indicate tangerine specifically over any other sort of orange flavour and so my assumption is just that it was chosen in order to make the blend seem fancier/more elevated than it actually is.

Still a nice cup though.

The ginger smells amazing with the citrus, and the hibiscus is not overpowering but soft. I was concerned I wouldn’t like this tea, because I’m not real big on the flowery kind, but this surprised me! I also love how pretty it is in the cup— a deep pinky orange. I put in 1/2 teaspoon white sugar to give a little sweetness. 10/10

Herbal and Decaf TTB.

I was surprised that this had such a low rating until I tried it. I took the first sip in the kitchen where my mom had just added garlic to the stew, which made for a really weird mix of flavors. I moved to another room and tried again. This definitely has a strong taste of ginger, and some citrus, but they don’t really taste balanced and there’s also some flavors in there that I can’t identify, but really don’t like. I took a few more sips and just decided to toss this one.

I knew I wasn’t going to like this one when I picked it out but I need to get through this box of teas from my swap. It’s got a strange aftertaste, similar to stevia. The ginger smells much stronger in the bag than it does when steeped which is a let down and the hibiscus is very overwhelming. I’m definitely going to have my boyfriend try this one – he always seems to like the ones I don’t.

Delicious tea. Really enjoyed it. Tasted too good to be natural!

It didn’t just taste bad, I found it intolerable. I was expecting something like spicy herbal chai with a touch of citrus or a touch of spice on hibiscus based citrussy herbal tea, but apparently this wasn’t it. It had a really weird taste that made me want to puke and made me sick afterwards. I am afraid to touch the bag ever again. I am so sorry it turned out like this.