33 Tasting Notes
Unlike many fruit-flavored herbal teas, this tea has a smooth, subtle taste, neither sour nor artificial. The ginseng sharpens the brew, adding depth and complexity to what would otherwise be much like a German früchtetee. Be prepared for the stimulating mental effects of ginseng; this tea does not contain a very large amount, but neither is the dose small.
Preparation
There’s nothing like a hot cup of tea bursting through with the cool flavor of mint. The spearmint in this tea seems very fresh (it’s dried but not stale), and very intense. The rooibos adds a bit to the flavor, and dyes the brew dark red. While the chamomile flowers can hardly be tasted at all, you might, as if assassinated by ninjas, find yourself the victim of their soporific power.
Preparation
Really good — it’s unassuming but tasty! The bergamot, which has a spicy citrus flavor, is added to the tea in a very generous quantity. However, it isn’t completely overpowering — with this tea, unlike far too many flavored decaffeinated teas, you can actually taste the tea leaves.
When brewed for two minutes, it gets very bitter and astringent, and doesn’t make a good cup of tea at all. But brew it with boiling water for just one minute, and it’s great!
Each teabag is individually wrapped in a sealed, airtight plastic envelope. This should keep the tea fresh for a very long time.
It’s decaffeinated by the CO-2 process, according to the packaging.
Preparation
“Ingredients: Hibiscus flowers, licorice root, natural flavor, soy lecithin. Contains: Soy.” “Product of Indonesia.”
I bought this tea mail-order from Gevalia. It’s a strange-tasting, artificial tea. Imagine strong hibiscus tea blended with a weird, candy-like berry flavor. It’s quite sour. It’s not a relaxing drink. I can’t recommend it.
Preparation
This tea begins well. A full and rich peach-apricot flavor covers the faintly apparent taste of plain black tea. But as you continue to sip, the whole experience is overcome by bitterness. Soon, all that remains is a bitter and astringent aftertaste, and then your tongue and mouth begin to feel dried-out. Not recommended.
Preparation
Light in color, light in flavor. Astonishingly good for something you can buy at the supermarket. Darjeeling tea is almost never strong, but sometimes a rousting and nearly spicy flavor emerges from the small, lightly cured second-flush leaves. This is not one of those Darjeelings. But it is very good. It has a complex, delicate, floral flavor, is free from bitterness, and should accompany those contemplative moments that you claim for yourself over the course of the day.
I recommend drinking this tea plain after brewing it in a pre-heated mug with very hot water for a very short time (~2 minutes).
However prepared, it will disappoint those who prefer strong tea.
Each teabag is individually wrapped in a material that is not quite plastic and not quite paper. This arrangement succeeds in keeping the tea fresh for a year or two.
Preparation
A stand-out herbal tea. It shuns the hibiscus and citric acid that make so many herbal teas tangy or even sour, and still achieves a strong-tasting, darkly colored brew. It is very smooth and never bitter. The orange flavor comes together nicely and is natural and low-key. The abundant spices give it the character of mulled cider or mulled wine.
Preparation
This is a bagged tea product with two unusual characteristics: (1) the bags are not folded over and stapled like most other bagged black teas in the U.S. (2) each bag contains an unusually generous amount of tea.
And it is a rich, mellow tea. Really very good. The flavor is very plain. The brew is neither spicy, nutty, tangy nor sweet. But the quality of this tea is uncompromising for a bagged tea. Good with milk or without.
The bags are individually foil-wrapped, and have strings.
Preparation
A good rooibos blend. Tangy, but not to excess. The rooibos flavor is filled out by the lemon balm and lemon verbena. It is a complex, relaxing and very slightly fruity tea.
Note: it is not as tangy as the presence of “citric acid” among the ingredients would lead one to suspect.