Teavana

I have 2 of these in sample form and decided to make a chai concentrate with them, which turned out really bad.

First off, the samplers had rock sugar in it. The first ingredient is sugar actually! I picked out weighed the rock sugar and it was 10g out of 28g tea weight. I couldn’t find any oolong in this tea, but there was lots of mate and rooibos.

I steeped this tea really strong, in a big batch, then poured it over soy milk. YUCK. There was just too much going on, the mate added a grassy bitter swampy flavor and it wasn’t that spicy.

Hmm.. I’m still not very impressed with Teavana tea. The only reason why I have so much is because of Starbucks :))
So happy for Starbucks rewards though! My friend told me that this was one of her favourite teas, but it was not the pricier side so she never gets it. I offered to get it for her for my next reward, and we can split it. I just wanted to try it! And so I’m drinking it today and it’s… okay? I taste so much artificial flavouring though. Or maybe it’s just the rose. I’m not the biggest fan of rose teas but Anna loves it!
Instead of splitting the tea, I think I’m just going to give her the full oz :)

Hmm.. I’m still not very impressed with Teavana tea. The only reason why I have so much is because of Starbucks :))
So happy for Starbucks rewards though! My friend told me that this was one of her favourite teas, but it was not the pricier side so she never gets it. I offered to get it for her for my next reward, and we can split it. I just wanted to try it! And so I’m drinking it today and it’s… okay? I taste so much artificial flavouring though. Or maybe it’s just the rose. I’m not the biggest fan of rose teas but Anna loves it!
Instead of splitting the tea, I think I’m just going to give her the full oz :)I won’t be getting it again, even if it’ll be free for me.

I received Teavana’s Green tea Essentials gift box for Christmas, adn this is the first one I am trying. I’d never been to a Teavana before, or had anything of theirs. They always seemed like a shopping mall version of a quality tea store. I had only seen their locations in places I hate going, the mall, Sanata Row, etc, so I always assumed they would be pretentious and overpriced for a product slightly better then boxed store bought tea bags.

I hope I’m wrong, of course. Let’s find out:

They recommend 1 teaspoon per 8 ounces of water, so that would mean 4 teaspoons in my 32 ounce Bodum Assam. I like a little bigger tea, so I put a full 2 tablespoons, which is about 6 teaspoons. Ish. I rinsed the leaves and then tumbled 175 degree water over the leaves, letting them steep for 1 minutes.

Here we go:

The color is a nice light, clear yellow. Straw colored, if you will. The scent is very light, with hints of straw, wet grass, earth and butter. The standards for good green teas.

I’ll be honest, the smell was a little lacking, and that had me worried on the taste. But to my surprise, the taste is full of wet grass and straw with hints of butter. They say it has an initial taste smokey taste, I’m not really getting much of that. But the grass, straw, and butter taste that is there is wonderful.

This is a great green tea. It’s going to be great on damp Spring mornings, waiting for the Sun to pop out so I can get out on the bike.

So, I was wrong, Teavana puts out a great product. But I still don’t like their stores.

The smell of the leaves is amazing, when I first tasted the tea the flavor is mostly grapes, they overcome the flavor of the Oolong tea, for some that might be a bad thing, to me I really care about the final flavor and I did enjoyed this one, maybe not to buy some ounces, but still is a good tea. Maybe next time I’ll try it iced.

Another of my Tea of the Month picks.

I actually really like this one. I’m quite visual when it comes to tea, so the peachy pink colour of this tea in my clear mug makes me very happy. The oolong itself doesn’t blow me away, but this tea sits nicely in what I’d consider my fruity tea niche. It’s got an obvious floral and citrus taste to it without being overwhelmingly tart. It’s also subtle enough to bring out the oolong base. I think it’s pretty well balanced. Maybe the reason I don’t find this either tart or bitter the way some others have is because I tend to use a relatively short steep time.

Whatever the reason, I do enjoy it and will miss it when it’s gone. It might not be an all-time favourite that I’d consider essential enough to restock before my big move in April, but I definitely enjoy this one enough to drink it all day while I try to not bore myself to death with studying.

I was blown away by the smell of the leaves, it is very strong in spices, and I totally loved that. When I first tasted it the smell was very predominant in cinnamon and clove, the flavor of those two spices overwhelmed everything else, but in general I enjoyed it a lot, its a very strong tea in flavor. I’m really happy I discovered this tea :)!

Sickly sweet, this tea just tastes like cheap cinnamon candy. This was the sample that Teavana tosses into every order. The amount of rock sugar they use is appalling. The big hunks can’t dissolve, and turn this mix into undrinkable sludge. I couldn’t tell if there was oolong in my sample, there was so much going on.

Teavana, you might as well just hand out samples of your rock sugar, and not waste what could be okay-ish tea.

Into the trash you go, demon!

I’ve not been too pleased with Teavana in the past. Their prices are very high, but I don’t feel like I’m getting my money’s worth (in part because I find that I have to use more leaves to get flavor). So it was with hesitation that I ordered this from Starbucks today (it was my brother’s first day back at work after a long illness, so I went to say hi).

I was very pleased. The result was one of the better green teas I’ve had in a while, to be sure. It’s subtle, sweet, and vegetal. I’m withholding judgement until I buy a tin and see just how many leaves I have to use, but I really enjoyed the tea bag that I had today. I tentatively recommend it.

This is a nice tea. Good strength, but not overwhelming, as you’d expect from an high quality English Breakfast Tea. The employee at the store mentioned something about getting a discount on a second tea when you buy this one, and the discount is greater as you purchase more…so, I think I’ll have quite a bit of this in my cupboard soon. :P

I visited my friend today between classes to help her study and she offered to make lunch and tea! She loooooves this tea and has about 2 tins full top the top.
It’s good.
She made it a bit tart to my liking, but it was decent! I feel like it’d be much better iced though

Another Tea of the Month pick.

I really like peach. I find it very rare that I actually dislike a peach-based herbal tea, simply because I find it both tasty and calming. This one is no exception. Today I’m feeling agitated and somewhat overwhelmed. Based on the name alone, I decided that this one might help me to calm down a bit and look on the bright side. It did what I hoped it would.

I can’t speak to the objective quality of the ingredients in this, because my attachment to subtly sweet, peachy herbal teas is an emotional one. I can tell you that I really like this tea on days where everything sucks and I just want to hide under a blanket with my Netflix.

Thank you to Kyla for sharing this tea with me! I love classic Earl Grey and I’m also a pretty big fan of vanilla-flavored tea. So (in theory at least) a cream Earl Grey should be the perfect blend for me. But this is the third one I’ve tried and I really haven’t loved any of them. For some reason, the flavors never quite meld right for me. The bergamot in this one is strong and assertive and combined with the vanilla, it just makes it taste like the vanilla has somehow gone sour. It also has a fair bit of astringency to it, but it mellows nicely with a splash of milk. I think I will be passing this one on to another Earl Grey loving friend. Still grateful for the opportunity to try it, though!

I was pleasantly surprised with this tea. I bought a sampler of green teas, and this one was included. I never would have bought it by itself, but after giving it a try, I definitely will buy it again! I’m not a huge fan of jasmine green teas, but this one is very nice. The jasmine is not overwhelming, just a good complement to the green tea. When I drink some jasmine green teas, I feel like I’m chewing on flowers, but this one is nice and balanced. I like my teas a little stronger, so I steeped it for 3 minutes…it held up well, no bitterness.

I had two main problems with this tea. First off, I found it rather weakly flavored, even though I used more than was suggested. This is a problem I tend to have with this brand, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Secondly, the aroma was very nutty and sort of cookie-like, but the flavor was (weak) citrus with perhaps a faint creaminess. The difference between the aroma and the flavor was so pronounced that it was frankly pretty jarring. All in all, it was OK, but I just really didn’t enjoy it and objectively felt that it needed more of a taste.

I’ve had this one mixed with their Strawberry Lemonade Herbal and loved it. Decided I needed to see how it was on its own too.

The dry leaf smells very citrus-y. I think I am getting grapefruit and orange. I absolutely love the color of this as it poured into my cup! It mostly tastes like strawberry with a good hint of citrus, I’m thinking the grapefruit. The addition of a sweetener seems to deepen the flavors, making it an even more enjoyable cup. I really like this in the Winterberry Blend, iced and hot, but I think I like it on it’s own just as much. I know that Teavana gets a bad rap around here but I am finding a few that I really enjoy!

Unpleasantly sour.

Decent tea, but the mint and lemongrass flavors were a little much for me.

Gave this one another shot. It’s a good tea, just not my favorite. A little weak for my liking…it has similarities to gyokuro, but doesn’t have quite the bite and sencha grassiness. I’ll finish out the 1 oz sample, but I doubt I’ll buy it again. We’ll see…maybe I’ll change my mind.

Nice green tea, sweeter than most Chinese teas. Good flavor, but didn’t hold up to resteeping as well as I would have liked.

Very good, high quality tea. I love sencha, so I knew I’d love this one as well. It has the sencha flavor, but quite a bit sweeter.