Orange Spice

Please note: this is the bagged variety, not the loose kind!

This is a decent tea for an afternoon pick-me-up, but it’s no Constant Comment (by Bigelow), which is my standard for the orange&spice combo. It’s decent, but nothing special. I believe this was in a sampler pack so it’s not as if I purchased a whole box anyway.

This is another of the ones free in the breakrooms at work. Not bad! Dark honey/amber liquor, not too overpowering on the orange scent, not bitter from the oranges either. The taste is nice and mellow, although I personally would like more cinnamon. Maybe if I used a cinnamon stick for stirring… Good with just a bit of sugar and it still has the caffeine I need in the am. Decent desk tea.

Work tea! It was pretty good, reminded me of a more orange version of their pumpkin spice!

a similar product to bigelows constant comment.smooth not too citrusy good with a touch of sugar.

In variety pack heaven here, so lots of yummy tastings today:) This is another great flavored black. 3 minutes to perfection, natural orange spice flavor. This is in the same taste realm as Constant Comment but seems less bitter, and more well rounded flavor- wise.

So I’ve discovered that I don’t really like orange teas, but aside from my dislike of the flavor, this tea wasn’t bad, so I gave it a fair rating. So that I could finish the cup, I stuck some hazelnut creamer in to cover the orange flavor. With that, it kinda reminded me of orange christmas cookies. I think everything reminds me of christmas these days, and how much I’d rather be home than taking finals….oh well. But yeah, it’s good to know what kinds of teas I don’t like =]

Loved this tea growing up, it must have been one of the first teas I’ve ever had. Just finished a box a bought on a whim a while back, and in order to finish the box I have been using these bags to make crazy delicious lattes. I am quite fortunate to have access to an espresso machine throughout my life, thanks to working in foodservice for almost 15yrs and having a partner in the coffee industry. Espresso machines aren’t too expensive, if you know where to look and are into finding ways to get your latte fix in. The past week or so I’ve been petsitting for a couple who have a really nice Breville machine, and i have been going ham on it every morning, making myself as many tea lattes as I can drink. figured I would use this review to put my recipe.

MiepSteep’s Tea Latte
This recipe is for those who have access to an espresso machine btw
I typically use the smallest filter basket in the portafilter if possible, since you wont need too much tea… relatively. It’s very important to flush out the group head and wash out the portafilter before adding tea to the portafilter basket, so no lingering coffee smells taint the brew. Basically, all I do is rip open 3-4 teabags and empty the contents into the portafilter. No need to use a tamper to squish it down, since the leaves will do some minimal expanding as the shots are pulled. I have also used other types of tea, like rooibos (the messiest), honeybush, CTC, and spices. I’ve also been using T2’s Melbourne and New York Breakfast for lattes this week as well.Have yet to use green tea, maybe I’ll try that this week!

The idea is to make a concentrate. After filling the portafilter basket with leaf fannings or what have you, either pull for twice as long as you would for an espresso shot (around 10-15seconds) or if your machine has a 1shot/2shot button like the Breville does, pull the equivalent of 5 shots into your cup. Steam some milk of choice in there and enjoy! Tastes just like a cookie to me :)

This is tea 6/50 I bought in a Stash Assortment. I liked the nice orange flavor. A solid choice for a black tea.

This has been sitting in my drawer for about a year now and sadly every flavor has pretty much disappeared except for the clove. Not necessarily a fault of the tea, but honestly, why did the clove stick around when none of the other flavors did.

I think its time for me to toss this one.

I am really starting to despise clove with a passion.

When I’m working a 12-hour shift, one travel mug of tea just doesn’t cut it! So today I caved and brewed up some bagged tea at the coffee station at work. For a bagged tea, this is actually quite good…there is a nice balance of citrus and cinnamon flavor and a nice smooth base (I’m not detecting any bitterness or astringency, which makes me happy!) It’s similar to Bigelow’s Constant Comment, but I like this one better.