Lavender Crème

Great Steepster Freeze of 2020 Review #2 (08/04/20)

So technically it appears the site is back up, but since I know everyone will be madly posting all their tea reviews at once, I’m going to continue to hold off for a few more days (which really isn’t that big of a problem… I write all my tea reviews externally, saved on a document for safe-keeping and backup, and then copy and paste to Steepster which I can do at any time, really). This is the last herbal from my teabox stash, which came from the Discovery Teabox, so thanks to Skysamurai for organizing and all who contributed! Confession: I had never once had a Teavana tea prior to their closing, despite their major “presence” (after all, I live in an area that doesn’t have any “retail” tea shops, chain or independantly owned). When I saw this in the box, I was curious… and the fact it had “Lavender” in the name (as I love floral teas, and lavender is a particular weakness of mine) pretty much sold me.

Brewed up a cup as my evening herbal. The aroma has a bit of a lavender smell, but mostly it smells sweet and caramelly. And… that is pretty much what I’m getting from the flavor, too. There were a lot of things in the infuser (like several whole cardamom pods!) but really all I’m getting in the flavor is a strong rooibos presence, with some notes of wood, honey, caramel, and vanilla, a very sweel caramel flavor, and a more subtle note of the lavender flower that mostly settles a bit on my tongue late in the sip. I’m not getting any of the more interesting ingredients listed (like fig!) or even the cardamom spice, despite the fact I could see it very clearly steeping in the infuser. It’s fine, but mostly just a caramel rooibos (of which I’ve had before) with some lavender flowers added, and the lavender presence still feels a bit weak at that. But it’s probably ridiculously old, so I feel I’m not in a position to judge it too harshly, and I am happy I got the chance to try it (if nothing else, I can now say I have “had Teavana’s tea”).

Thanks to whoever offered up this sample! I’ll certainly enjoy the little bit I have left in evening cuppas.

This tea has a wacky amount of ingredients in it. I wish it was more simple, and that the lavender was more prominent. It’s not bad as it is, though, just feels a little unnecessarily messy.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – March Tea #1:  A discontinued/otherwise unavailable-for-purchase tea

Aw, the steepster page even says “discontinued” which I have never noticed for any other tea before. How bouts a tea I love from a shop I don’t really miss?  I never really liked Teavana, or maybe it was near to being closed by the time I got around to my tea drinking days.  Or Teavana seemed like the Walmart (or Starbucks) of taking over Tealand.   But I DO like this blend.  It’s one of the memorable blends I tried from Teavana and now it’s gone.  I liked this weirdie combination of ingredients.
2022 sipdowns: 34

Scored a sample of this from an online tea swap. I was a bit skeptical to try because of the ingredients, but this is actually quite good. I can taste the rooibos and vanilla mostly with hints of cardamom and lavender. Made this as a latte.

Cardamon, Chocolate, Caramel, Cocoa, Lavender, Cardboard (Red Rooibos), Vanilla, Cream, Fig, Floral, Honey, Sweet pretty much describe it. I actually rather enjoy it for a herbal tea, especially a night time blend. It shines with rock sugar, or cream and sugar, and it is okay but drinkable straight. It is good enough for me to drink straight in a brew time in 3 minutes.

The cardamom is stronger that I expected, and as my brother said, it is kind of like turkish delight with a hint of lavender. Better yet, it’s like drinking Turkish cardamom coffee with Turkish delight in a watered down, slightly cardboardy form. Luckily, the lavender is not too strong because it could be too soapy. The cardamom could almost do that, but the cocoa nibs and shells prevent that from happening. Still pleasant. In terms of rating, it is between 75-80, and I lean towards 80 because I enjoy it. I would not highly recommend this one, but it is an easy going one if you want a desert herbal with rock sugar or cream and sugar. Honey is an otherwise overpowering sweetener for this particular blend.

I’ve made myself a little cubby of caffeine-free teas above my kettle to force myself to stop drinking regular tea too late into the evening and then staying up all night.

Teavana’s way the heck out of my way, but I made a trip down to stock up on the Indonesia black, and because ‘Lavender’ and ‘Creme’ are at least two of my favourite things. Weirdly, lavender blossoms are the /tenth/ ingredient. Below… cardamom.

This is a really confusing tea. But I do like cardamom.

It tastes mostly of rooibos and cocoa nibs, a bit of cardamom; I’ve had it a few times, and concluded that there was most definitely not enough lavender, so I’ve been adding a bit of my own. Adds a bit of spice. It’s more of a weak caramely chai with a faint hint of lavender (you can taste it a bit more at the back of your throat, I guess that ‘soapy’ taste) than anything else. But it’s something sweet and warm to drink when I get home from work late at night.

I was a little nervous about this one because I generally don’t like anything with “creme” in the title. And I’ve never met a rooibos that I liked. Why did I even buy this? Oh, yeah,. I had a Teavana gift card and this was new.
Literally typing this review as I try it.

Plain: No thank you. Won’t be doing that again.

With two Splenda: Not the worst. I’ll finish out the cup, but this one is going in my donation pile. I’ll send it to anyone who wants it.

In both instances, I don’t taste any lavender at all. Just rooibos and fakey vanilla.

Update: Yeah, I’m not finishing this. Blech.

My boyfriend brought this home to me after seeing it in store, and said he thought it would be right up my alley. He was correct- the sweet rooibos tones down the soapiness of the lavender and leaves me with a sweet dessert-y cocoa-caramel tea with lavender-vanilla notes throughout.
It has a little bit of thickness to it, and i would describe it as medium bodied. I noticed a surprisingly small amount of the nuttiness that rooibos tend to carry and there was only a small hint of fig.
I do feel that there was a little too much cardamom flavour for my taste and would have rated a 100 if it had been less heavy, the hit of spicy-citrus just didnt quite mesh correctly with the other notes to me.

It is very good with a splash of cream (i am especially enjoying it with almond milk, something about the extra punch of nuttiness really adds to the flavour).

When you ice it, there is still a very similar flavour profile but with a noticeable shift in the notes. The lavender comes out with a lot more force and blends with the cocoa, leaving the vanilla and caramel in the background. It is still good iced in this way, though overly creamy to my taste even with just a small splash of milk.