Teavana

I love floral flavoring in food and dessert. Rose, violet and jasmine! Jasmine does well in tea, but I have found rose tea to be lacking. It seems like they rely on the natural concentration of rose and it just ends up seeming weak, empty and unbalanced to me. Because of that experience I probably never would have tried this tea, but I read a review that it was a revamp of the discontinued Almond Biscotti that I dearly loved so I had to give it a try especially when prompted by a super sale.

When checking it out in the store I noticed candied violets! There aren’t enough candied violets to make sure you get one in each cup or even each bag so I’m curious as to how that would affect the taste of the tea on a cup to cup comparison. The sales guy let me try one (it was delicious) and I let him pour me more tea than I asked for. The smell of the dry tea is overwhelmingly rose, but there is depth behind with the almond and black tea base.

The flavor holds quite well for at least two steeps with the rose weakening significantly on the third. The brewed tea gives off a lighter scent of what the dry tea does. I can taste the Almond Biscotti/marzipan that I love so well and it is nearly overpowered by the addition of the rose, but not quite. It’s like they took the rose level up to the line but didn’t quite cross it. It’s almost rose syrup like in it’s intensity. It is really quite amazing and the flavors pair well. I might have to eat my words and take back my damning of Teavana for discontinuing a favorite of mine because I think this just might be better than the original. I have had four cups over two days and found myself thinking about the next morning cup as I was trying to settle down to sleep. I would drink it in a box, I would drink it with sugar rocks!

Could it be I’m falling in love? I am totally going to hoard this one if I ever hear it’s being discontinued. Hell, I might hoard it anyways.

The smell of this tea dry is very true to it’s name. LOTS of rich berries with chocolate undertones. The smell of the tea brewed is pretty good too, but when I tasted it the power and flavor that I was expecting just wasn’t there. It seemed watered down and bland. A very small chocolate taste with a couple tart berries. I hate it when teas don’t live up to their smell! After trying it again at a higher concentration I gave up. This one was returned.

not bad needed a stevia,

When I was in junior high my friends and I would head straight to the local deli after school for one thing—Bubbilicious gum. There were a million different flavors but my favorite was always strawberry lemonade (and later, raspberry lemonade). I’m not sure why, but that stuff was like mana from heaven for a group of gossipy 13-year-olds. Chewy, overly sweet and utterly delicious.

This is one of the blends I got during the Heavenly sale, and upon opening the bag I was instantly transported back to that time. Hot summer days spent sitting on walls blowing bubbles, watching small town life pass us by. Idle chatter about who was dating who, as if at 13 you really could date something. As much as I disliked junior high and high school there were some shining happy moments thrown in, many of them revolving around Bubbilicious gum. And this tisane smells JUST like my favorite, strawberry lemonade! Like identical.

Of course that means it’s sugary-sweet, even without sugar. It’s got a strong lemon and strawberry flavor though without the tartness you’d associate with lemonade. It’s smooth and rather one-note, without the depth you’d expect from an actual tea blend. Granted, perhaps this isn’t anything special, but sipping it right now I’m brought right back to those shimmering summer days even though it’s snowing rather heavily outside. A+ for nostalgia, B- for flavor, but I’m still really enjoying it! I imagine this would be best in the summer, more like cooling juice than tea really, though I’m finding that is true of many of Teavana’s herbal blends.

I haven’t had this one for a while but the flavor is really hitting the spot. It’s sweet, light, and just a little bit savory. I love the color in my cup, soft pinkish\purple.

First cup of the morning. Flavor is still a bit mellow for me but I’m enjoying it.

This is surprisingly light in flavor. It’s sweet with berry and citrus flavors. There is a bit of an herbalish flavor, but it gets lost in the sweetness. It’s ok. Not really my favorite.

I was skeptical with this tea, being a chocolate tea I thought i’d taste it and rather just have some hot chocolate. The smell is fantastic. It has a chocolate taste with a hint of fruit, and then a spice kicks in. I think I would like it with out the spice, since the flavor of the spice just throws it off for me. It’s an interesting blend, not my favorite, but very unique. I would say it is a must try just because I have not had another tea like it. Not sure what I am going to do with the rest of it.

I think a lot of people have one ingredient that can ruin chai for them. With so many powerful spices in the mix, it’s no surprise! For some it’s ginger, or black pepper. For me, it’s cinnamon. It’s a spice I am very sensitive to if it’s not cinnamon bark—cinnamon flavoring reminds me of Big Red gum, and I find it way too overwhelming. In fact, it makes me a little nauseous.

Sadly, this blend has a LOT of cinnamon. Funny, because their other chai/chai blend (samurai mate and white whatever) smells much more cinnamon-y but is lighter in flavor. I placed an order at Teavana for just those chais when they were about 40% off and got an ounce of this blend as well. Of course I ended up adoring the other chai/chai and placed a second order for more (and like 7 other teas) during their Heavenly sale and got ANOTHER one ounce sample of this. Meaning I now have 2 ounces pretty much, funny that they are so generous with the samples. I was kind of hoping I’d love this one too, but alas.

At first sip it’s really nice: clove and nutmeg. There’s almost no ginger or cardamom though, which are my favorite chai spices. And while it says there is pineapple in the blend, it’s not really fruity at all like the samurai/white blend which had double fruit. It’s just… a kind of regular chai with too much cinnamon. The oolong/mate mix does add something extra, like a layer of richness, but honestly I can’t get past the cinnamon abuse. It’s drinkable, but I doubt I am ever going to think “man I could go for a cup of this tea.” This one just isn’t for me—which is fine, because I have 8 ounces of the other (better) one to tide me over until the next sale!

I steeped this with some dried chrysanthemum flowers. It gave it a nice, sweet floral note.

Woke up to this wonderful tea. The flavor is very crisp and fresh. I’m getting a nice, light vegetal note that has a bit of sweetness to it. Mmm :)

This tea is very crisp and has a sweetness to it. The leaves and liquor are beautiful. The flavor is very fresh and pure.

I have finally moved on to loose leaf tea. I received this tea as a gift and steeped it in my new ForLife Curve teapot.

My first impression right from the package was that it smelled amazing. I mostly smelled the cinnamon but could pick up a bit of nutmeg since I read the ingredients and knew it would be in there. There does appear to be quite a but of sugar in it, but it’s hard for me to tell exactly what is sugar and what are bits of fruit.

Upon taking my first sip I fell in love. I didn’t add any milk or honey, which I customarily do with bagged teas, because I wanted to taste it alone first. It’s a good thing that I like my tea sweet, there is more than enough sugar in this tea! This makes a wonderful dessert tea for me!

Got this in a discounted set. Eight ounces of assorted teas for 9 bucks! Woohoo!

This is very fruity, the blueberry definitely comes through, but I loves me some fruity tea so this is a super pleasant treat. Especially since the price was right!

With the price as cheap as it was I decided to pull the trigger on this one and get a pound. Ah the aroma on this one is intoxicating especially since I love curry! The mate and pu-erh combo I like as well. It kinda reminds me of a curried Tang. This one is especially good with a little straight Pu-erh mixed in as well. I fear I may be one to get the last of it with the sell off of Teavana teas as of late. If you added some cinnamon this would be Christmas tea.

This has to be one of my favorite teas to drink in the morning. Make a cup of this and you’ve got the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. Nice for those mornings that you need an extra kick!

The smell is almost intoxicating. As another reviewer mentioned, it smells a lot like Big Red bubble gum. Lots of cinnamon and other spices in this one. I’d almost recommend using 1 teaspoon instead of 1.5 just because the spices can be overwhelming sometimes.

So far this is my only mate tea that I’ve tried but I have a feeling it’s going to remain my favorite.

I used 0.8 tablespoons for 375 ml of water.

Thick and brothy. Savoury. Highly vegetal (spinach) with a pleasant astringency. Hints of roasted flavour. Mild complementary sweetness.

Got this tea during a 75% off deal at Teavana and I am very glad I decided to get the Black Dragon Pearls. Probably one of my favorite teas to have in the morning. Don’t even need to use a teaspoon for these. Just drop two little pearls in my infuser and I’m good to go. Only thing I don’t like about this tea is the smell. Still not sure what to make of it yet.

This tea can be steeped more than once and it still tastes good. When using two pearls I will only steep the leaves twice. If I do three I’ll steep them three times.

I’m new to tea, and this is half of the blend that my local Teavana puts out to sample in the front of their store. That blend is Samurai Chai Mate + Majaraja Chai. I have that blend and love it, but this morning I tried just the Samurai Chai Mate.

Overall, I think its very good. The blend seems a bit sweeter (I believe they add German Rock Sugar to it), so having this tea on its own really lets the subtleness of the spices come out. Unlike others here, I didn’t find the cinnamon to be too overpowering. Its a great tasting, slightly complex blend of flavors that I think will be a great tea for cold winter mornings.

This was a good choice to take to work today. :)