Celestial Seasonings

This is by far my favorite pre-bedtime tea, and works wonders for my insomnia. It’s definitely more lemon than jasmine, but it tastes delicious and the relaxation effects sneak up on you. You can’t beat the price or the availability either.

I was very excited to try this one. It was a gift, and usually I’m not very in to herbal teas. But this one was very good. There was a strong essence of fresh blueberries upon opening the box. A tiny bit of tartness, and a little sweetness make this cup very balanced. This is the best herbal tea I have had yet.

Dude, this is one weird tea. I didn’t go into it expecting coffee. which is good, since I don’t think it tastes anything like coffee (unless you only drink chicory coffee.) I think that I like barley tea, which is itself a bit of an acquired taste, and I remember my Mom drinking this once upon a time.

I got worried when I opened the box and took a sniff. It smells of barley and chicory, which I expected, but I also sensed my one spice nemesis in there – star anise! I don’t know why I dislike it so much, but I do. Still, it was much in the background, and I tolerate some anise heavy teas, so I brewed up a cup. The smell of the tea was, I’m not going to lie, a little off-putting. I can’t explain it, it’s just funky. I like carob, barley, and even chicory well enough on their own, but mixed together with spice it’s all a bit much.

I took a sip. Then I added milk and sugar and took another. It was better, but it was still strange. The problem, I think, is that while the taste isn’t awful, the smell is bad to me, and I can’t avoid it if I’m drinking tea! I think that if it were just the grains it would be fine, but the spices shouldn’t be lurking. The anise came out as it cooled, and the tea gave a coated feeling to my mouth and throat. I tried to finish the cup, but I ended up leaving the dregs. My cat was begging for a smell (he always wants to sniff at what I’m eating or drinking, and I let him after I’m done, as he doesn’t want to eat people food, he just loves smells.) He bristled his tail and ran away. Smart cat. The smell of the teabag was threatening to make me feel ill so I threw it away. And then ate chocolate to get the taste out of my mouth. You see what you are doing to me, Celestial Seasonings? It looked all innocent in the box, and led to chocolate (wait, that part’s not so bad!) But I think I’ll skip the funky tea and go straight to the dark chocolate next time.

I had a couple of these teabags sitting around from an ancient Celestial Seasonings sampler. Zinger = hibiscus which I am not thrilled with so I thought I’d try cold brewing this. It tastes amazingly like fruit punch. If you’re a fan of Hawaiian fruit punch and are trying to cut back on calories, you may need to try it. I don’t have much else to say, it’s kind of a citrusy, hibiscus-y creation, the aftertaste is waaaay too TART for me. I don’t think I will be buying more.

Can’t go wrong with this classic. It is so good! Accept no substitutions!!!!

This a nutty, mild tea. They don’t go overboard on the spices, either. I do love it with milk. I am glad it’s not sweet! You could certainly make it sweet, but I prefer it without. That way it goes better with cookies! I drink it year-round. For a souter cup, add 2 bags to a mug.

This tea is a lovely tea for an evening. I drink it with milk. I did not find the maple flavor too weak. It was just right for me. I am a big fan of a good cup of decaf instead of an herbal.

Celestial Seasonings suggested this to me as a replacement for my beloved Cinnamon Rose tea. I looked at the box and thought “What the hey, Tiger” and then “Nope, looks like a chai.” However, I was at the grocery store with a coupon and celestial seasonings on sale, so I thought “why not? I like chai and this tea gets pretty good ratings.” Well, I tried it, and this is no not a chai. Maybe a cinnamon chai, but the cloves are playing a supporting role, and the cardamon has run off to hide from the wrath of all that cinnamon!

The tea is a typical celestial seasonings package – I like their dedication to minimal packaging. And I will say, they don’t skimp on the leaves. I was able to use only one bag in my large (14 oz) mug and it was plenty strong. The leaves smell dusty and strongly of cloves, which worried me – there are whole cloves in the bag that you can see when you take it out. I had a bad experience with Tazo Sweet Cinnamon Infusion, which was all cloves and licorice, so I am wary of spicy teas! I steeped it for 7 minutes in boiling water.

I took a sip of the unadulterated tea and immediately thought “Hot Cinnamon Spice.” The flavor is really similar to the Harney and Sons tea – it’s all cinnamon, so spicy that it has a little burn, with a great natural sweetness. It doesn’t have black tea, of course, which for me is an advantage, as I want spicy teas at night. I haven’t tried the herbal HCS, so I can’t say if this is similar, but I’d imagine it is after having both the black and green. There is more clove in Bengal Spice, but it’s nice – gives you a break from the cinnamon!

In the interest of comparison, I added 1/4 cup steamed milk and 2 packets of sweet and low. Here is where I was surprised – where HCS doesn’t take milk well (it kills the spiciness for me) this is great – it’s still spicy! My husband went out for Indian today, and came back asking me to make stovetop chai – I think he would like this one!

I’m really pleased to have made this supermarket discovery. This is the second Celestial Seasonings tea I’ve liked lately (I’m also loving Morning Thunder.) My Mom always had red zinger and Sleepytime in our cupboards, so I feel nostalgic when I see those cardboard boxes stacked up.

Tea of the afternoon here… planning to take it easy for the day since the Aleve regime the Dr. has put me on is making me totally nauseous. Not fun when you have to make a choice between being in pain or feeling sick to your stomach.

Anyway rooibos does seem to be good for settling the tummy and this is a good bagged tisane to have for that purpose. It doesn’t have a lot of funky flavors, just the nice creamy vanilla. Good with a splash of soymilk today. I think I’ll need to keep a box of this on hand.

Tisane of the afternoon here. For some reason I keep forgetting I have a box of this, but it really is a good rooibos even though it comes in a teabag. ;)

I used two teabags in one mug of tea to get a little extra flavor. The vanilla is nice and creamy here and this was very enjoyable with soymilk and some rock sugar. I like this better than a lot of more expensive rooibos blends I’ve had. Earthy and smooth.

After seeing the tasting note of gmathis the other day I decided to go ahead and get this today at the grocery store. I learned recently that rooibos is supposed to be good for heartburn so I am really wanting to learn to like this stuff!

I steeped this for 5 minutes with boiling water and used two teabags because I was planning to use my BIG mug with the owls on it (neither here nor there, but it is cute). I was very impressed with this stuff, it’s certainly one of the better red rooibos teas I’ve had. It isn’t sickening or medicinal, for one thing. :)) The vanilla is definitely there and it’s nice, not too sweet or anything. A splash of soymilk made this really good.

Bonus points for cheapness as well… this will be a really nice thing to have around.

Tastes mostly of lemongrass with a slight backdrop of jasmine. This is not the sort of tea I would ordinarily try, but I had a coupon that made the tea (on sale) pretty much free! The lemon is this is strong. At first I thought it tasted of cleaner (or what I imagine cleaner would taste like!) After I finished the cup, though, I found myself wanting more! There is little tea taste, and I also can’t detect the mint very strongly. This is a great bedtime tea. I’m actually pretty happy with all of the newer CS green teas. They aren’t super complex, but they are all good and flavorful!

I’m not a big fan of this tea. I was expecting more of a gingery desert tea, and I taste more of the chicory/barley. I guess it does really have the floury taste of a gingerbread cookie, but somehow that’s not as nice in a tea – and I really want more ginger.

This stuff is great with vanilla soy milk.

Sleepytime is so mild and soothing. The flavors of lemongrass and spearmint are noticeably present, but their sting is completely eradicated by the flowery chamomile. The tea is light-bodied and faintly sweet—but it could definitely take honey if that’s, your, you know, cup of tea.

I’d recommend this for its stated purpose of winding down, especially for those who find Tension Tamer too strong.

Omar: My favorite green tea so far… very smooth and tastes like magic with a drop of honey.

So, what can I say? I expected a lot more. This is what I remembered of “tea” before I started on my loose-leaf journey over a year ago. It’s very one dimensional with little character. It’s almost like a flavored water than a tea brewed with bergamot if that makes sense? Alright in a pinch if you really want an Earl grey, but I’d definitely hunt out something better.

Thanks Raul for this tea!

For a teabag, I don’t expect much. But then again, I shouldn’t knock them since we’ve all had one at some point. This tea was wonderful!

I didn’t get too much of a scent when I opened the individual packet, but I wasn’t worried. I figured the true test is the taste. And there is plenty of that!

Slightly sweet with a light floral taste. I love it! Good tea. Definitely one to keep on hand for a quick pick me up.

I really love it – although there is vanilla in it. Very yummy green tea – no matter if you drink it hot or cold, with or without milk. Too bad I need to buy CCL via eBay :o(