Celestial Seasonings

ending the day the same way I began it…

great Monday morning wake-up call to the taste buds. (and pretty good w/ zucchini bread)

Slept HORRIBLY last night (note to self: don’t take an “energy” multivitamin right before bed!). Thinking this soothe my jangling nerves without the caffeine jolt, since I’m already shaky.

Also, I’m glad to read that there in in fact orange peel in this blend. I thought I was imagining things. It is present in the dry scent, but doesn’t add too much flavor. maybe a tiny hint in the background, like the whiff that comes from the plumb oranges or tow that was always nestled in my Christmas stocking along with scads of chocolate and various small trinkets.

I was a bit skeptical about the peppermint/cinnamon/vanilla combo, but so many people rave about this blend on here that when I saw it 2/$5 at Harris Teeter I caved and bought 2 boxes. I figured if I didn’t like ti , it would be easy to unload via a swap or giveaway! Surprise, surprise, I like it too! It smells like Christmas in a cup, and the taste is refreshing and uplifting. Just the thing the cheer and warm me on a cold end-of Daylight-Saving-Time morning.

One of my faves. Love that it is a decaf green that requires no sugar.

So I got what seems to be a mild concussion Sunday night (while sledding on my birthday, no less) and I’ve been rather out of sorts for the past day and a half. I’m feeling so much better now…thanks in part to the perfect mug of this that I brewed on my way to class this afternoon. It really tastes like a candy cane…smells amazing…sweet and minty…refreshing and calmed my stomach…perfect. Thank you, tea, for helping my recovery.

Brewed some of this up for class this afternoon…during most of the class it was too hot to drink because it was in my double-walled mug (which is uber great, by the way), so I spent most of the class time holding the open mug under my nose, alternately blowing on the tea and deeply inhaling. I started to realize that this smells like Thin Mints (my mom’s favorite Girl Scout cookie), and as I sipped the delicious peppermintiness I thought about combining it with some Azteca Fire. So I scampered back to my room and did just that. Boiling water for the Azteca Fire, steeped it 10 min, adding the bag of Candy Cane Lane when it was about 175 F. Each tea steeped about 10 min each.

Still too hot to drink, but I’m saving it for dessert in the aforementioned mug. I tasted a teeny bit and…omgomgomg. I never type like that, so this is notable…this is the most heavenlydelicioussweettasticamazing thing I have ever tasted. aaaahhhhhhhh. Candy Cane Lane is still on sale for 2/$5 at the co-op…

I think I’ll get some more to hoard.

It’s that time of year…got excited when I saw the holiday CS display at the co-op and picked some of this up to try. Opened up the box—got a heady whiff of gingery spices, something that smelled, somehow, like Asian food (maybe it’s the mix of the ginger and the barley?), and cookies. I was intrigued. I’ve had good spiced teas from Celestial Seasonings that smelled a little odd dry, so I continued on. While the tea was steeping, I scanned the comments on Steepster, and after doing so I was kind of prepared to not like this for all of the reasons people posted—weird barley taste, watery tasting, etc. Also, I tried an herbal this summer that was just plain roasted barley and was disgusted. (I may have to give it another try. That, or cook the barley.) I started to sip and was very very pleasantly surprised! This is a nice blend of spices, not overpowered by the taste of cinnamon red hots like some other spiced teas, has a very true gingerbread cookie aroma (just sniffed the empty mug…mmmm), and has a lingering sweetness that remains between sips. I can still taste it…and that quality is one of the most important to me in a tea—that I can taste it even when I’m not drinking it. This is a nice, light, sweetly spicy blend…a lovely holiday excursion in a cup.

This is my tea for mid-afternoon (as opposed to my upcoming late afternoon/early evening tea). Creamy vanilla minty delicious green tea! I am so glad I saw all the swooning reviews on Steepster. I likely wouldn’t have gotten it otherwise.

I picked up a box of this after having seen so many people on steeptster talking about it. For a bagged tea, it is delicious. I’m getting both vanilla and mint in the sip, not just in the smell. It really does smell like a candy cane as well. I’m so happy! Flavor! Identifiable flavor! In my mouth! It is very exciting. I might just have to stock up on this. This would be a good evening tea. Mint just makes evenings right.