Sweet Tangerine Positive Energy

I am genuinely baffled by the love for this in the other tasting notes and wondering if I did something horribly wrong to my particular bag.

The smell is lovely! It’s exactly what I would expect from a tangerine tea or candy. It seems like it’s going to be mostly tart, a touch sweet – very much like the fruit.

I took an excited sip and was horrified. How is this both terribly bitter and awfully sweet?! I assumed licorice root must be involved, but despite the giant ingredient list with plenty of other roots, that one wasn’t listed. I may have been able to get past the unnamed earthy herb taste if not for the horrendous artificially sweet flavor that hit immediately after. Ah, stevia is here – this is clearly a problem ingredient for me.

I wanted to try for a more descriptive review and sipped it a couple more times, but I could not take it.

I kind of feel like I should go adjust all the other 1s I’ve ever given a tea because I actually gagged on this one.

sipsby bagged advent, day 12

This showed up in my tea caddy last week – I’m not one for herbal teas and, to me, Yogi = Herbal. But I looked at the ingredients list and saw Assam black tea. Hmm, Ok. Bunch of other herbal stuff that I had to Google later. Two items of note – stevia leaf and monk fruit extract are included. If, like me, sugar substitutes put you off, be forewarned. Green Tea extract was also included, which I think are code words for extra caffeine. On the “lesser ingredients” list were the things that made me want to try it – orange flavor, tangerine flavor, orange peel oil, and tangerine oil. I’m a sucker for a good citrus flavored tea.
First impression is, to borrow another reviewer’s words, warm orange juice. Specifically warm, watered-down orange juice. But not warm Tang. There is enough Assam to color the brew, but not enough to speak black tea to me. I’m not giving up on it. I am thinking that combining it with one of my more robust black teas might be good. Its more of an “add citrus to one of my black teas” than the reverse.
What can I say at this point? Its not bad, I didn’t throw it out, and I might have a way to better enjoy it, so it gets further exploration. Note: the “sweeteners” were present, noted/notable, but not overpowering. 70mg caffeine/cup

Very nice and not too sweet unless you over-steep it in my opinion! It’s orangey without being overpowering and the black tea still comes through well. One of my favorites.

TANGERINE TEA!?!? Do you mean orange juice? that was my initial reaction to seeing this on the shelf. I must admit I was hesitant to spend my precious 69 cents on this tea, yet curiosity prevailed. Luckily I’m no cat, I’m a grown man regardless of whatever my father says. He doesn’t approve of my new found addiction to rating teas. In fact, there are few things I do that he does approve of. Maybe if you count me silently sitting in the living room. He still thinks I’m a kid. Typical. Im 6’2" 176 lbs and have facial hair but he still sees me as the kid that peed on mickey mouse at Disney World on my eighth birthday. I WASN’T SCARED OF THE MOUSE DAD. I JUST DRANK A LOT OF WATER. he’s always bugging me to get my life together, maybe I don’t want to go to pharmacy school. Maybe I hate studying biochemical engineer. Maybe school isn’t for me dad! Ever consider that!? Ali dropped out of high school and Reza didn’t go to college and they’re doing fine. You’re forcing me to live out your dream dad. Maybe I have different dreams. Maybe I dream of color, love, and life. I dream to be known, to be cherished, and loved. SOMETHING YOU NEVER HAD AND YOU’RE TAKING IT OUT ON ME! anyways the tea did in fact taste like watered-down hot orange juice. not bad. 7/10

Here for a caffeine hit and sweet taste only. Dragging this Monday after being down and out all weekend. I do feel vastly better than before though. :)

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
September 2022 → A yerba mate

This is a whole mix of ingredients, including the mate I needed to complete this sipdown prompt. And it is, in fact, a sipdown! We’ll probably get more of this one at some point, it’s one we both really enjoy.

Well, it smells very tangerine-y and I hope it will taste as good. I didn’t notice the Stevia in the ingredient label or I probably wouldn’t have tried this but I’ve steeped it already so here goes.

Well, it is very sweet, but somehow still tasty! The tangerine is very present with a background of herbal things. I added some real sugar as is my wont and I think it overpowered the stevia taste I hate. This is a very interesting tea although I probably won’t have it again. Free tea bags FTW!

I really dig this one. Normally I avoid Yogi teas that have weird herbs that I’ve never heard of (shankhpushpi and ashwagandha… wut?) because I’m very careful with any medications, FDA approved or otherwise. But the ingredients list on this one, those two aforementioned ayurvedic remedies aside, was too diverse and interesting to pass up. Black tea, mate, green tea, lemon myrtle, tulsi, and lemongrass, all in one blend? I sort of see the rationale— black tea provides just the energy, and mate and green tea provide energy without jitters and soothe you. Lemon myrtle, tulsi, those two weird herbs, and lemongrass all promote a relaxed feeling. So I think the Yogi blenders were going for “relaxed but alert.”

You’d think this would result in a medicinal, sickly-sweet, nasty witch’s brew of herbal mush. But it doesn’t! It actually tastes like real tangerine somehow! They did a really awesome job blending it. Even the stevia is at the perfect level, and that’s saying something because stevia is usually a huge deal-breaker for me.

This tea is coming to me at the point in the year when I am just starting to feel the affects of S.A.D., so the timing is spot-on. I’ve been mediating with Headspace, taking Vitamin D supplements, and plan to start using my S.A.D. lamp again soon because the mornings are darker. But this tea is also helpful— I got cussed at by a customer yesterday and didn’t get half as upset about it as I normally do. I don’t think it was a placebo effect either because I had completely forgotten about drinking this tea until after I noticed my lack of anger and sadness.

Score 1 for the weird herbs that work, and 1 for the awesome, awesome taste!

A great tea to drink when you want a caffeine kick without having to drink coffee. Decent flavor — moderately intense tangerine notes. I prefer Yogi’s raspberry energy tea over this one, but it’s still a good caffeinated tea.