Gingerbread Spice

This is better than I expected. Even the color is spot-on for gingerbread. The sip starts off bready, with cinnamon and ginger coming in mid-sip. The ginger really lingers on the tongue in just the right quantity, definitely there but not overwhelming. I can see this being a good winter bedtime tea.

Ouch, I just poured half of this down my shirt by accident. But this doesn’t impact my review in any way. Though steeping this for a while, I find this tea a bit weak. I do taste some delicious ginger, but I’ve had much much better versions of ginger tea, chai, etc. I suppose I’m being too hard on a cup of Celestial Seasonings, but I’m just not a huge fan. Am dragging the little rating slider to right under the ambivalent face.

This time I brewed 2 bags of this in a tea pot and left it for about 5-6 minutes, the time it brews really makes a difference in this tea, I noticed that the spice aroma came out a lot more than before. I was worried that it would taste like a spiced chai rather than gingerbread but I was relieved.

After the first few sips I decided to add milk with this, to tone the spice down, as I do with most of my chai teas. The aroma now smells more like gingerbread than spice, which I’m very glad of. The taste is more of a spiced ginger, can’t quite write the bread part, it just didn’t reach that real gingerbread taste.

As for the texture, it was alright, nothing I could hint that really made a difference there, not light but not a smooth or heavy tea. Overall this tea is drinkable, for a quick sit down with a book or laptop. I personally wouldn’t serve this tea for guests, it doesn’t spark enough… For the price and for an everyday tea (which I will stick by) it was a good tea to drink whilst doing something, rather than relaxing and sipping in pure bliss, I still have yet to find a gingerbread tea to sit and enjoy sipping

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.

Oh, I totally forgot how good this is! I totally passed by all the Celestial Seasonings holiday flavors at the store since none of them really struck me, but I just had a cup of this at a work event, and it was delicious! It gets sweeter and spicier the longer you steep it – this is the only tea I can think of where I leave the bag in while I’m drinking. The flavor is quite similar to Good Earth’s sweet and spicy tea.

This one is not nearly as delicious as the last. This, to me, tastes like a subpar chai tea :(

Intriguing. Gingerbread is my thing after pumpkin spice, I like them at least equally but as soon as the Starbucks Gingerbread latte gets in I get that instead of pumpkin spice for the rest of the season. Also, Bath and Body Works gets a candle in that is gingerbread scent and it’s amazing. So this stuff, the ingredients are “cinnamon, ginger, roasted chicory, roasted barley, natural flavors (contains soy lecithin) and luo han guo.” Luo han guo, as best I can decipher, is a sweetener sort of like stevia. It’s not very strong but I think with two bags it could be if that’s what you want (which is what I want and what I’m going to do next time). It’s sweet and cinnamon-y and ginger-y. I bet if I made it in hot milk (with a little sugar and vanilla? hm!) it would be delicious. I don’t like tea generally but I swing this pretty well, well enough that I will try the Apple Cinnamon one I almost got with it. It’s a nice way to feel festive without any calories which I can totally get on board with. Steeping it for a looong time in hoooot water seems necessary to coerce the flavors out.

Not good. I vaguely remember enjoying this at some point in the distant past, but either I’m remembering wrong or my tastes have changed. I really like ginger, and I’m into the idea of a nice gingery tisane for the winter, but this is not what I’m looking for. This is very sweet, and it’s not as gingery as I’d hoped it would be. I mean, there is quite a bit of ginger, but it’s overshadowed by whatever else is going on. I should note that I’m very much not a fan of sweetened teas or very sweet tisanes, and I’m sure this is coloring my impressions here.

I love the idea of Celestial Seasonings’ holiday blends – that combination of ice-skating gingerbread men or polar bears and nostalgia is hard to beat, I guess – and I do find Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride and Candy Cane Lane enjoyable. But this one’s just not a winner. If anyone’s interested in an almost-full box of this, let me know!

… And today it tastes like raisins? What gives, taste buds? I fixed it almost the exact same way I did the other day, except I maybe let it steep a little longer. Le sigh.

In other news, this is my 100th tasting review!

After cringing at buying Candy Cane due to the ravings on this site & hating it, I was hesitant at trying another holiday tea from Celestial Seasonings. Good thing I took the leap of faith.

I love this tea!!!

As soon as I got home I opened up the box & the aroma of gingerbread filled my nose. I was whisked away to a holiday of long ago, eating gingerbread men & feeling so happy.

I heated the water & dropped in the teabag. I let that smell fill my nostrils with joy.

Then I decided to set the mood. The lights are off, my Christmas tree is lit up, I’m watching ‘Miracle on 34th Street’, a plate of tea biscuits sit before me & oh yes, the amazing smelling cuppa Gingerbread Spice tea is joining me.

The first sip is a test to see how hot the water is. Come on….we all do it. The second sip really lets me soak in the flavor. After that, I will have come to whatever conclusion about this tea.

So let me say it again…
I love this tea!

It’s a very strong ginger & cinnamon flavor. If you don’t LOVE either, then pass on this tea. You will not appreciate it. If you do love either flavor, then you will love this tea.

The aroma is as strong as the taste & is just as pleasing. There is a spice to it. Very well done.

I made my cuppa with a little local made honey. (Queens County Farm in Glen Oaks makes the best local grown honey!)

I did enjoy dunking a tea biscuit into this cuppa tea….just wish maybe I had an actual gingerbread man cookie!

Enjoy!