Teavana

I had a very good cup of this at a friend’s house before watching Christmas Story for the first time. Made for a lovely afternoon!

I can see the ingredients here clearly. I’t smells kind of sweet strawberry kiwi like. I only steeped it until the color showed not the full five or six minutes or too long. This brewed to a medium pinkish purple. And suprizingly the dreaded hibiscus did not overwelm and make this too sour. And this was good slightly sweet sour and tasted like strawberry with abit of kiwi.

The first tea from Teavana that I can safely say isn’t the slightest bit overpriced. As soon as I took my first wiff in the store, this became an instant favorite. The leaves in this tea are of a very high quality that no other Teavana tea that I’ve tried has even come close to matching. I use a mesh ball strainer for loose tea which usually leaves a tolerable amount of tiny escapee leaves and general detritus floating around, but this tea has none of that whatsoever. The flavor itself is surprisingly similar to the smell of the dry leaves minus an extra chocolaty note that I didn’t pick up in the actual tea which isn’t incredibly strong, but has a deep complexity which seems to dance around in the space between floral and crawfish boil. I can’t really describe it, to be perfectly honest. You’ll just have to try it yourself.

Not the best Earl Grey I’ve had, but it’s the best among what’s available in my local area. It’s also the cheapest thing on Teavana’s menu, making it a good daily drinker for patrons of the store. I typically use this tea as filler to get the 10% discount that Teavana offers when you buy a pound or more.

I was skeptical about the chocolate chunks from the beginning, but being the chilehead that I am, my thoughts of “OMGOMGOMG PEPPERS IN TEA!!!” overwhelmed my judgment. On the first try, I found it to be fairly lackluster in flavor with or without additives like sugar and/or milk. It also left me with a headache and deep feelings of buyer’s remorse after drinking it. I believe it would be more enjoyable to eat this tea as trailmix rather than to steep it into the bland, cloudy liquid it is intended to be. Maybe then, you would actually be able to taste the peppers.

I do plan on trying it again for the sake of second chances and the fact that I spent $6 on the stuff, but it won’t be any time soon…

Like any Assam variety, this yields a very strong-tasting brew that one can either love or hate. This is a tea that you need to keep a close eye on. If oversteeped, the result will put hair on your chest, among other things.

As a standalone brew, it has this strange aftertaste that left a sickening sweetness in the back of my throat. I had to add a pinch of something more abrasive like Earl Grey just to make it tolerable. Aside from that, the flavor was alright. Nevertheless, I ended up giving about half of it away and I have no plans to purchase this blend again.

4 tsp. @ 208º in 20 oz. teapot for 7 minutes. This tea offers a mild pick me up and, although I don’t know if it really does this or if I think it does because the package says so, I do feel more focused when I drink this tea. This is a good thing, because this tea is my second pot of fuel for my paper writing today.

4 tsp. @ 208º for 7 minutes in 20oz. teapot. This is my favorite tea from Teavana. It is sweet, complex, nicely spiced, and very soothing. Today it is fueling my paper writing.

An excellent mate/ chai. Goes exceptionally well with turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw). Lightly caffeinated to offer a pick-me-up in the afternoon or early evening hours. The sweetness is well balanced by the spices in this tea. Highly recommended.

Backlogging.

When we last left Chrine Tuesday night, she had just tealogged the teas she drank that day and was about to go into the forum for a certain chai recipe she’d see and make stove top chai from the last of her Rooibos Chai…

Oh.my.gawd. It was SO good! I used Takgoti’s chai recipe which teaplz posted in the forum using Lena’s suggestion of brown sugar (to spread the credit around for this wonderful experience). It didn’t even come out as good as I could make it and it was still so good.

With the Rooibos Chai at least, I could have added more tea cause I would have liked the chai flavors to be a little stronger. I also could have used less sugar. But this is the last of the Rooibos Chai that I had so I will be moving on to trying it with Rishi’s Marsala Chai. I also covered the pot when I turned off the heat to left it sit and steep so it would stay hot and it bubbled up out of the pot a bit. Next time I won’t cover it or at least won’t cover it right away.

I also got to use my big big lavender and gray swirl pottery mug which I got when I was around 11 visiting my grandma. I don’t use it much anymore cause it holds two servings of tea or coffee. Although, it is cavernous and round and stays warm really well for a long time.

I am sure I will be steeping my chais this way from now on for the most part. Although, not too often because of the milk and sugar.

1 c boiling water. 1 tbsp brown sugar. 1 tbsp Rooibos Chai. simmer 5 min. 1 c milk. bring to boil. turn off heat. steep 10 min.

I brought my second steeping of Rooibos Chai back to my desk to drink while I made of 1010 Challenge thread on LibraryThing. Alas, I’ve already consumed the whole thing while reading Tealogs here on my way there. The tea was steep for 9 min and drank without milk this time.

After a lovely dinner of beef stroganoff and a glass of red wine whose name I can’t spell at the Glass Onion, I am having some tea at home for dessert. A bit of milk and sugar have made this Rooibos Chai a lovely drinking experience tonight. I plan to steep a second cup as soon as I’ve finished this one and feed my cats.

I brewed my Rooibos Chai a second time earlier this evening. After 6 min, the color was very weak so I tasted it before adding milk. There was little flavor. I continued to steep and taste and steep and taste. I finally just drank it rather weak without milk. It was still pleasant but I probably won’t brew this multiple times again.

2nd brewing: 1.5 tsp. Over 12 min.

After watching Inspector Lewis being given cups of tea for over an hour, I was longing for a cup. I enjoyed Rishi’s Masala Chai quite a bit the other day so I was thinking a Chai sounded good. I went with the Rooibos Chai because it’s late and it has no caffeine in it. It’s yummy but less strong, in both spices and the taste of the rooibos.

Striped pottery mug. 1.5 tsp. Milk.

As I was drinking from my favorite tea bowl, I became concerned about being someone who has a favorite bowl.

I was inspired to put in a bunch of work in my mouth by Owl City’s Dental Care. Not sure if I have weak gums, but the floss caused most of the spots between my teeth to bleed. Then I decided to eat pizza from breakfast (because I’m an adult and adults can make these type of decisions) which I added a thick layer of crushed red pepper (because I’m an idiot, and that’s the kind of choices we make).

Busted gums + crushed red pepper = ow ow ow

White needle tea actually does seem to help. Unlike regular water, which makes things worse.

This is Teavana’s crème de la crème of white tea. This is my bread and butter tea. While I’m on the topic of bread, I’ll also point out about the flavor that if tea and butter had a child, this is probably what it would taste like. The texture of the tea liquor has almost a viscosity to it.

After a day with challenges, this is my tea. After a day with something to celebrate, this is my tea. Fortunately, today I am celebrating a good day with this tea and the Avett Brother’s Pretty Girl from Cedar Lane.

Love love this one from Teavana. A fantastic green (actually green) tea!

If ANY tea smells like a coffee – it’s this one. I totally forgot about this one…that is why I haven’t logged it. Totally forgot I had it and must say after tasting it again today I remember why. It leaves a really bad aftertaste and is like black coffee with sugar taste. The coloring is nice tho…a vibrant reddish-brown. I think this one will remain in the back of my desk to be forgotten again for a while, at least.

Another tea that I have but haven’t Tealogged yet. I made my husband a cup of this this morning when I had my first cup of the Orange Rooibos. I made myself a cup from the same leaves as a break from the Orange Rooibos. I find this tea so-so and am just using up the last of it. The green rooibos in it isn’t really noticable but you can taste the green cardamon and lemon grass as well as the floraly tones. I brewed it a bit weak because I think the taste is rather strong.

Dark blue pottery mug. 2nd brewing: 1 tsp.

Backlogging. The night before last.

I tried to talk myself into another tea. But the Orange Rooibos experience the previous night was so nice that I couldn’t. Thus the experience was repeated. I steeped the second steep even longer than before and it came out alright again. This tea is one of those teas where you keep picking up your mug for another sip right after you put it down, then you keep picking up your mug for a sip even after you’ve finished the tea, sometimes more than once.

2nd steep: 15 min.

So. I haven’t had any red rooibos, plain or flavored, in quite awhile. I loved rooibos, both red and green, when I first started drinking loose leaf teas/tisanes primarily. I had been wondering if I would still love red rooibos, or even like it anymore. I had been wondering if reading so many negative “sour wood” red rooibos tealogs, it would taste that way to me now.

I am happy to report it does not and I still love red rooibos. I think perhaps some people’s taste buds taste differently because I couldn’t get sour wood even when I was trying to find it. Perhaps that’s why some people like red rooibos and some people will only drink it if the flavor is masked.

I could find wood though.. woods, woodsy. Tongue depressor or popsicle stick in scent. In taste, like woods. A woods of birches, with a light early winter snowfall or the last snowfall of winter almost melted, in the early morning or early evening light. You know, like those photos with very little color, almost black and whites. That’s what rooibos tastes like to me. Serene and easy to drink. The orange in this one is very natural and more citrus zest than orange juice.

I remember steeping red rooibos twice when I used to drink them more often. But I’ve also read on here that rooiboses don’t resteep. Indeed, the last rooibos I had, a green one, was too weak on the resteep. I tried this one anyways, giving it a long time, since I did not think it would work. But it did. It was lighter and thinner, but not weaker and not watery at all. Still, next time I will steep the second steep even longer.

2nd steep: 10 min.

I enjoyed a cup of Orange Rooibos tonight while watching The Return to Cranford on PBS Masterpiece Classics. I am finding it a bit more lacking than Cranford, not sure why. I had seared scallops on grits with a sweet fennel broth at The Glass Onion for dinner. The Orange Rooibos with a bit of milk was my dessert. I was also really cold and couldn’t get warmed up.

2nd steep: 7 min. No milk. Not as strong. Still plenty of flavor.