Trader Joe's

Trader Joe’s never seems to disappoint. Really enjoyed!

I found this in the cupboard and tried it again. Yep, wayyyy too sweet, and in the artificial sweetness way. I ended up doing a cup of this, and a cup of ceremonial matcha, over ice. That makes it tolerable, but it’s still artificial sweetness. I have like 25oz now in my tumbler, so I’ll go through this cup, and maybe decide by the end of this whether to keep or dump the rest of it.

Medium quality rooibos that benefits from hotter steeps. Is also quite tasty cold brewed and brewed multiple times.

Sweet, rooibosy, natural sweetness of rooibos and apple, cinnamon in the background (but not too strong), caramelised brown sugar, wheat, spices. It all comes together well and makes for a nice cup for those who enjoy rooibos.

Sticking with my original positive review, but when they say “1 bag to 8 oz water,” they mean it. I tried this in my go-to-work tumbler, and it kind of fell apart. Less is more.

Many of us have discussed at length the difficulty of finding a cherry tea that doesn’t smell and taste like cough syrup. While this still has a cherry-candy rather than cherry-fruity personality, it does not have any chemical whang to it. Perfect cherry-to-cocoa ratio, and licorice (which I generally dislike) serves as a sweetener rather than an interference.

A work buddy graciously hooked me up with a couple sample bags. Wish I were closer to a TJ’s, because I would be snagging myself a tin of this sweet and dessert-y stuff!

My friend brought me back decaf Candy Cane Lane (green tea and mint) from the USA, and I’m thrilled! I’ve been wanting to try their teas for a long time, and the box is super cute too.

Strong flavours of sweet peppermint and mild green tea. Doesn’t get bitter/astringent if you leave the teabag in a bit long, but I find both green teas and mint will burn/taste funny if brewed in water that is too hot. This blend resteeps several times without any issue. I like that it is great hot, but I think it would do well cold brewed or with soy milk added. In fact, I’m going to make this as a latte right now.

What a lovely surprise! My expectations were low, as I haven’t had great experiences with Trader Joe’s tea in the past. But this one is delicious…one of the best bagged teas I’ve ever had! You really can’t taste the white tea base, but there is a very distinctive natural-tasting pear flavor and just the right amount of ginger to be warming but not overpowering. I received this as a gift, but I will probably buy myself another box when I run out!

I thought this was a herbal blend when I grabbed it at the store today. I’m a little disappointed, but it’s my own fault. I took a few sips when this mug was hot and noticed that the tea tasted cheap, but the flavors were alright. It had a sweetness to it, likely from the licorice, but it didn’t really have a licorice taste. I’m now getting back to this cup which has gone cold and the tea flavor is lost in the bright mint and cocoa. The mint is really the star and the chocolate flavor lays low. I can imagine this being very refreshing on a hot day served cold! Funny how mint is often a winter flavor, but is so appropriate for hot weather too! Overall I’m impressed with this tea for being bagged and a grocery purchase.

I think 3 minutes was understeeped. The flavor is underwhelming, will try again.

My favorite tea to drink on a daily basis (which means stockpiling during the seasonal months that you can actually buy it).

Who would have thought that one of my favorite Holiday teas this season would come from Trader Joe’s? It’s a bold black tea with rich flavors of chocolate and mint that far surpasses my taste for peppermint hot chocolate. Perfect for those Winter days when the weather outside is frightful, but when the fire is so delightful!

This one is a bit, um, grassy? for me. Not bad, and my sister loves it, but it’s just not my thing. It could be yours, if you like coconut!

I like this tea, because I can drink it without sugar. Also it can stay in the cup indefinitely, it’s impossible to over brew it.

After much deliberation between three of us (me, myself, and I), I decided to review each of the ten teas separately to make the individual tasting notes easier to find. With that in mind, the tea of the day is:

Vanilla & Rooibos Tea

I really like these cool glass “test tubes” that package the ten teas. When I unscrewed the lid of this one and stuck my nose inside, I could immediately smell the vanilla. I steeped the orange/brown leaves for five minutes at 212 degrees.

The brewed color was orange/gold. A faint presence of vanilla was detected in the aroma.

The flavor of this tea was pretty much all vanilla. I could taste the tang of the rooibos when I concentrated, but vanilla best described this selection. The flavor was smooth and there was no astringency. However, the vanilla aftertaste stayed on my tongue longer than I preferred.

This is the second of the teas in Trader Joe’s ten-pack that I’ve tried so far. It’s not an unpleasant tea. I would probably like it better in the afternoon than I did in the morning.