Celestial Seasonings

I’m not embarrassed to say it…THIS is my FAVE tea from CS! I don’t care if it’s bagged, I don’t care if it’s cheap…I LOVE IT! The only bummer…it’s seasonal and not available year ’round.

Steeped two bags overnight in cold water. Should have stuck with 1 probably, as the toasted (almost burnt) rice flavor is a bit strong! Only 3 bags left and this one is gone! I’m pretty sure CS has discontinued their Saphara line. Let’s hope so. There’s a reason this was on clearance at the grocery store. Lesson learned! It was serviceable as an intro to genmaicha, but I’m ready to move on!

used a bag of this to make a simple ochazuke (green tea rice soup) for breakfast using some leftover rice & edamame. Mmmm…

another soothing morning tea

I find this really soothing at a lukewarm/room temp. I am icing the rest to see how it is.

I’ve created a monster! Genmaicha + malted milk powder + matcha powder + milk = ??? Just playing around, inspired by 52teas malted genmaicha which I did not buy but probably should have. I think this concoction would be great with the right ratios. It’s drinkable as is. Not sure why I feel the need to add anything to this tea, as I used to like it just fine as it.

Brewed for 2 min, then stirred in about 2/3 tsp matcha powder (from teavana) to make my own “Genmaimatcha” since I’ve been coveting the American Tea Room blend after reading everyone rave notes/ratings.

I like that the nutty/cereal flavor of the toasted rice tempers that sweet tone in the matcha, while also tempering the grassiness by supplying a complementary depth. (Does that make any sense? It’s Friday and my brain is fried…)

this was my intro to genmaicha (green tea w toasted rice). I’ve not tried other more “authentic” versions, but I love the soothing toasted rice smell and taste, plus a bit of green tea bitterness. I tend to have this when I’ve “overindulged” in food or drink and want to feel better.

I’m having a bad, bad, bad day, but this tea at least came out well. It’s comfortingly sweet, but I still put white sugar in it. My Mom doesn’t put any sweetener in it. Nice aftertaste. Chai-like.

This tea has a warm and spicy aroma. I don’t know if I would buy it again (I possibly will) but I have enjoyed it. It’s flavor is stalwart and a bit of milk is a nice touch. It’s a good late-night unwinder and has none of the insipidity that some “bedtime” or chamomile teas can have.

I enjoyed the flavors in this tea. I have to be very careful with chamomile in a tea as I’m not generally a huge fan. But the flavors in this one seem very well-balanced. Bonus is that, yes, it did help me get to sleep.

It’s like drinking a cup of weird — but a nice kind of weird. I love the artwork on the box. One day I hope Celestial Seasonings could add Prozac to the mix. It would make taking my antidepressants a lot more fun.

So I’m getting a lot of marshmallow out of this tea today. V. strange, but still awesome and holiday-y. I’m so at odds as to whether or not I like that its decaf. I like to being able to drink it before bed, but I need a kick to study.
I’m wondering if adding actual green tea to this will distort the flavor more than I’m okay with.
On a side note:
SNOW! I FINALLY GOT SOME. I AM PUMPED. for the 1/2 cm thats in very small patches…but its snow!

I am so happy I decided to buy this! So yummy and wintery and I can have right before bed! It smells very heavily of vanilla and tastes exactly as I want it to. I’m really liking the peppermint/vanilla, and the touch of cinnamon and spice is a bonus. As for the green tea aspect, its really just the vector and nothing special, but it really doesn’t need to be. A down point is that the tea does taste semi-stale, but I wasn’t really expecting high-quality leaves from this.
I like how sweet the aftertaste is especially because I refuse to put sugar in anything and rarely have sweet drinks. I do however eat cake like its my job.

Too much blackberry for me.

This was a decent chai.

This was decent.