Trader Joe's

A nice, basic peppermint tea. Nothing special, but good if you just want to sit back, relax, and unwind after a long day.

This tea has a wonderful scent, just like candy canes with a hint of cinnamon. I had it plain without anything added, but next time I would definitely add sugar or honey to sweeten it a bit. This mix begs for it.

winter fave

I love Celestial Seasoning’s Candy Cane Lane. And, as this is just that tea, repackaged, I love it too.

Really good for a bagged tea.

Not bad if you are travelling and need a quick cup of Earl Grey. I still prefer loose leaf tea to bagged, but this will do in a pinch.

tastes like snow in october

nice ginger taste, not too sweet or fruity, but i can still taste the pear and white tea.

the perfect blend of chamomile, mint, spearmint, and catnip. now called ‘well rested tea’ and comes in brown and black bags instead of gold and black. still tastes the same though.

This is a one of the better Earl Grey teabags I’ve had. I occasionally use it to flavor a second or third steeping of my loose leaf green tea, and it compliments the green tea flavor very nicely. It’s good on its own, too.

Can’t beat the price. This was my very first green tea. And I wish only to log it as such.

My favorite tea from TJ’s.

Cheap. Easy. Quick. Strong.
Can’t complain.

Too bad this tea was discontinued. We still have a few bags in our cupboard. It is very tasty.

I drank several more cups of this over the last two days, 5 min steep in 205F water, taken with milk. My main complaint before was that the bitter was out of balance—too strong. Hot, and especially with milk, the bitter is strong but I can enjoy it. There is no noticeable maltiness, and only faint sweetness. Every cup has a hint of cinnamon flavor and a faint rose aroma.

A 5 min steep at 205F produced an opaque cup with a beautiful red-brown color, with a fair bit of tea oil on the surface. The aroma above the cup was a bright rose aroma with a faint hint of wet bark.

Each sip gives a very strong bitter flavor, a bright, side of the tongue bitter, and also a powdery bitter in back, and not much else. There is a faint sweet aftertaste that is overpowered by bitter aftertaste. Astringency is there, but hard to notice because the bitter is so strong.

I like bitter, but in balance. This seems very out of balance for my taste. One dimensional.

A splash of milk knocks down the bitter to a more pleasant level, and allows some faint floral and evergreen notes to squeak out, but only squeak.

My Irish Breakfast ritual is the same as I used to do when I was a kid drinking black tea at a restaurant (with my parents looking askance at me, as if wondering, “Where did this kid come from? WE don’t drink tea…”): Lots of cream. I had a partly-used container of heavy cream at home, so this box of bulk tea bags kind of called out to me at TJ’s this afternoon.

My previous decaf Irish Breakfast was Stash, and I’m thinking after one cup of this that the Stash is tastier than this is. Maybe I understeeped (I’m too used to whites and greens, three minutes seems like an eternity to steep something!), but it just doesn’t have a lot of flavor. Tons of color—the spoon disappeared into the brew—but a less assertive, rich flavor than I’d like. The deep malty Irish Breakfast taste is supposed to blend into the cream and get deeper and richer, but this just sort of sits there in the cream, as though it’s been through a lot and wants to rest. For $3.49/box I guess I shouldn’t have expected much. It’s not that it’s bad—just that it isn’t standing up to my cream tea ritual. Sigh…

Yum. I really like this iced tea. I love that it is unsweetened and comes in such a large quantity. I can usually only ever find pre-made unsweetened iced tea in a small (and expensive bottle). It has a nice hint of lemon and mint. Very refreshing flavor.

Tea of the evening…..

Actually, I am not sure it is this one or Candy Cane Lane from Celestial. They are pretty much interchangeable, and match up exactly ingredient wise. This was the tea that started the tea obsession in my adult life. When they were out of it for the season at Trader Joe’s, I researched by ingredient list which lead me to Candy Cane Lane. (I am guessing that Celestial repackages for Trader Joe’s.) It is funny that they were sampling this out at TJ’s today, and made me decide to drink this one for this evening.

Lightly mint, with a touch of vanilla or something close….. still probably my favorite green, but I am learning to branch out.

4 bags in a 24 oz pot. 185 water for 3 minutes.

My tea of the evening. I am feeling a little under the weather….allergies and general yuck. The mint in this one is great for settling my tummy. I also find this tea identical to Celestial Seasoning’s Cany Cane Lane. For a bagged tea, this is pretty good.

24 oz teapot, 3 bags, freshly heated water (I have a new electric kettle…bliss!), 4 minutes. Lightly sweetened.

One of my favorite teas to brew. This is a specialty tea, Green tea bagged. It is mild and tasty; a delightful cup of Green tea and one can’t help but to think of health benefits found in Green teas.