This is a tea bag that was included with my Christmas card from K S. Thank you, K S!

I have looked up and added the ingredients to the description for a special reason.

First, when I tasted this tea it reminded me very strongly of Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice tea, but wasn’t exactly the same. I had expected it to taste like Constant Comment. Since I couldn’t quite put a finger on what was different, I googled the ingredients. They were not listed on the pouch the bag came in.

In googling it, I found an article about how natural flavor in the ingredient list can mean something we don’t really consider to be natural. They specified this tea as an example and said the company was not forthcoming when they pressed for details about the flavors and how they are made and where they come from, and the article then listed a whole lot of companies that use “natural flavors”, with most of the biggies being in that list, including Teavana. There were only a few companies that use only all natural ingredients.

I do not refute that there is some stuff going in our foods that shouldn’t be there, and I do not take issue with this person’s concerns. We NEED to be informed about our food supply! Read the article. It is worth a read.

What I disagree with was their belief that something was “up”, shall we say, for this tea to be so sweet without sugar. Thanks to Harney and Sons HCS and Penzey’s Cinnamon Blend, I can tell you that when you put the right cinnamons together, you get a super sweet tasting final product.

I did not leave the bag in my cup. I used boiling and gave it close to four minutes steep. While the cinnamon was on top, the ginger was right there blasting away. It added a ton of sweetness in my opinion. Ginger is usually hot to me, and I avoid things that contain a lot of ginger because I don’t like the heat. I can take it and even enjoy it in small amounts. But something about the synergy of this cinnamon with all those herbs and the blast of ginger made me really, really enjoy this cuppa.

I don’t do bagged tea, but if I had to take tea bags with me somewhere, this would probably be one of them.

K S

The complete ingredient list as furnished on the box read: Black tea, natural flavor, rosehip, lemongrass, cinnamon, chamomile, peppermint, jasmine green tea, anise seed, ginger root, orange peel, orange oil.

I don’t catch half the ingredients but enjoyed what I did detect. I immediately thought of Hot Cinnamon Spice as well, and am equally baffled at the sweetness of both.

MadHatterTeaDrunk

I knew about Teavana….considering I worked there for 2 years!

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K S

The complete ingredient list as furnished on the box read: Black tea, natural flavor, rosehip, lemongrass, cinnamon, chamomile, peppermint, jasmine green tea, anise seed, ginger root, orange peel, orange oil.

I don’t catch half the ingredients but enjoyed what I did detect. I immediately thought of Hot Cinnamon Spice as well, and am equally baffled at the sweetness of both.

MadHatterTeaDrunk

I knew about Teavana….considering I worked there for 2 years!

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I am a music teacher, tutor, and former homeschool mom (25 years!) who started drinking loose leaf tea about fourteen years ago! My daughters and I have tea every day, and we are frequently joined by my students or friends for “tea time.” Now my hubby joins us, too. His tastes have evolved from Tetley with milk and sugar to mostly unadorned greens and oolongs.

We have learned so much history, geography, and culture in this journey.

My avatar is a mole in a teacup! Long story…

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