Celestial Seasonings

Threw a bag of this in with the second steeping of Adagio’s Chestnut tea… tea heaven right there.

…I might have to raid Target and stock up on this for the rest of the year.

After seeing all of the good reviews for this, I was happy to be able to find it in Target. I totally see what all of the fuss is about! It’s a lovely holiday tea with an incredibly attractive price tag. It doesn’t particularly remind me of a candy cane, but it’s very minty nonetheless and that’s enough to satisfy me. Vanilla is a secondary taste that makes a nice subtle addition, and as it steeps far past what is probably the recommended time, the cinnamon comes out more and more. This is labeled as a Christmas tea, but I’m sure I could enjoy it all year ’round!

The only complaint I have is that the peppermint reminds me of peppermint extract, including that weird bite it has. I’m not sure what could have been done to tone that effect down — less peppermint? more vanilla? a different method of flavoring? — but it can get annoying. A longer steep does help to bring out the other flavors and thus cover up the peppermint, but it could still be better.

Backlogging –
OK not my fave of the holiday seasonings but I do enjoy at least one cup of this a year. I love the cinnamon and nutmeg undertones. Mom had one so I tried it out. Not my fave, but not bad either. I steeped for the length of the cup, as I tend to do with CS teas.

Mom doesn’t have Sugar Plum Spice… stocking stuffer idea! :)

Having a cup of this before hitting the “news cave”. One of my fellow co-wokers is razzing the person two cubicles down who happens to be a Steelers fan. My response….yep I Tebowed. So much for a case of the Mondays in the city that rocks. :)

Ah yes a familiar taste to me. I’ve grown up drinking this tea and picked it up before the quarterly meeting at work. You know it’s not the most astoundingly awesome tea there is but still a good one. I think would add this to my “comfort tea list”. Too much to do before Thanksgiving break and I’m stressing a bit. Like Pizzagirl and I discussed. If stress is a little high a good cuppa and a good poop will make it all right!

I wasn’t expecting to like this tea – I’ve tried the CS Coconut Thai Chai and thought it was way too spicy. This one, however, wasn’t; the clove does stand out, but it’s also got a nice herbal sweetness – almost like a Yankee Candle, but I can’t place that scent. It tastes really Autumnal, but not especially like pumpkin pie or pecan pie or anything like that…just fallish spice flavors. The honey and vanilla don’t jump out to me, for some reason.

Wifey brought this home from the supermarket and happily extended it into the reading path of my Nook. I’m reading Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice (where vampires don’t sparkle like drag queens) and didn’t even notice her entering the room.

Constantus interruptus.

Of course, she made me taste it and of course I hate it. She loves all things caramel but even she was disappointed by this herbal monstrosity. Tastes like Willy Wonka threw up in it, to use her phrase. Adoreable, isn’t she? My opinion is this: the chocolate is there but tastes stale. The caramel is apparent only on the nose since the pseudo-chocolate dominates the infusion. It’s like a bad bowl of warm Coco Puffs. It’s pretty awful.

Given the many negative reviews, I was afraid that reading them before drinking the tea was going to make me less likely to enjoy it. Well, while I don’t find the tea overly spectacular, I think it’s pleasantly drinkable. I wasn’t expected to be blown away from a CS bagged tea. CS is, for me personally, more of a comforting nostalgic brand. It was the brand that really got me interested in tea and I’ll admit that the cover art still charms me.

On to the flavor… there’s definitely a white tea taste here. It’s not the subtle, higher grade of white tea. They use white peony. I actually prefer the lower grades because I find they have more flavor. I’m not the type of person that gets overly excited on subtleties, so this base works well for me. The pear flavor isn’t really in the taste (as is so often the case with flavored teas), but rather in the scent alongside a vanilla aroma.

Not awful, yet not exciting, but drinkable and enjoyable in a pinch.

Frankly I only drink this for medicinal purposes, not taste. It’s fine; it’s a chamomile herbal tea that tastes like bagged chamomile tea does, you know? But the Valerian in this really does help me when I get my bouts of insomnia, so I keep it on hand for when sleeplessness rears its ugly head. I brew this quite strong, drink hot.

I loved this tea from the minute I opened the box. I drink this tea double bagged with a tsp of sugar and it is so comforting and enjoyable. The first couple of days I had this I was craving all day long and had about 2-3 cups per day. It’s super yummy and the perfect after dinner tea

I really enjoyed this tea. It’s one of my all time favorites! I love peppermint teas but they are a bit sharp to me sometime. This one has a beautiful soft vanilla finish which tames the tea and balances the flavors out.

This is the tea that I stock pile in the winter to last me all year!

I forget who suggested this to me but I picked some up today and I am liking it…
I am a big fan of cinnamon and plum flavors together, I have the cinnamon plum tea by Rishi which I also like. This one is sweeter and a little lighter on the hibiscus and has some other things like roasted barley and chicory which bring it down to Earth a bit.

Lately I’ve been reflecting a lot on this tea drinking habit of mine and as much as I like trying a lot of different teas it still makes me cringe when I have to buy tea and tea bags that are all wrapped up in plastic and hermetically sealed like surgical instruments. Have we really become this precious? Tea used to get from China to Russia on the back of a camel and somehow the world managed to carry on.

So thanks to Celestial Seasonings for providing simple no frill teabags and cardboard boxes and keeping some waste out of the landfill. I am coming to the conclusion that I have to find more companies that reflect my values as a person. Or maybe I need to just go to local teashops and buy in bulk and bring in my own containers.

Perhaps I am getting a little nutty but it does help me to enjoy my tea when I’m not also obsessing over my contribution to the gigantic plastic gyre in the Pacific Ocean…. ;-)

St. Elias Specialty Hospital serves this tea alongside Green Mountain coffees in their little Keurig stand. It’s the only tea they have (and they’ve also discontinued serving hot cocoa, which would be wonderful with the 3 ft of snow we already have and the 2+ ft we’re supposed to get). I finally tried it in a clean paper cup, so I’m finally comfortable rating it.

It’s ok. I’m left feeling like I want more, though. I personally think it’s more about the Keurig machine than the leaves, though. The flavor is a bit difficult to put a finger on, and it’s pretty weak for a black breakfast tea. However, I have been a bit under the weather, so maybe it’s more a personal thing than a tea thing.

I’d have this tea again just so I don’t have to have coffee anymore. However, I personally like to bring my own teabag and get hot water from the Keurig machine. If only they also served 2% milk besides half and half….