267 Tasting Notes
I really hate licorice, but Kristin sent me a bag of this, so I sucked it up and tried it. It reminds me of the tea they give out free samples of in Aveda stores and sell loose. I actually used to enjoy that tea. I DO feel like the licorice is fairly strong in this, with an herby, peppery undertone to it. The taste of this could certainly be relaxing for a lot of people, so if you like chais (although this doesn’t taste like chai), or like anise, do try this. I feel like my dislike of it is really subjective. Oh, and this really really reminds me of one of Yogi Teas’ medicinal blends- perhaps throat coat? I can’t remember, but the taste is super familiar and has a strong cinnamon component. It’s one of the ones that I try to get through when I need it for health reasons.
Preparation
This smells and tastes very strongly of honey- an herby, delicious honey that I’d love to get in a skincare product. But I don’t like to drink the strong taste of honey particularly, so as soon as I smelled this, I knew I was in trouble. The green tea was overshadowed by the ginseng and honey. I did get a bit of an energy boost from this, but it meant that I felt a bit shaky and no more alert. I knew I wasn’t going to like this one going in- trying to make things taste like honey is never a great idea in my book.
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Dear Teavana,
Normally I don’t think much of your tea blends. And I think far less of your customer service and store ambiance. But this chai blend is pretty okay. It truly does taste like warm red-hots, but I also taste lemongrass and pepper. I like that it’s not like any other chai I own… but of course now I own $40 worth because you bagged up a ton more than I asked for, and I stupidly paid for it because I felt badly about getting tricked.
Anyway, a pretty unique chai blend, but you must really love cinnamon tea. And I’m really only ambivalent about cinnamon.
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In the bag this smells just like astronaut ice cream, which was fine by me. I love astronaut ice cream (and in Houston, aka “Space City” it’s not too hard to find, but always overpriced.) I’m so glad this is a honeybush blend, as I don’t like to drink caffeine, and I believe that black tea would have drowned the other flavors out pretty thoroughly.
I’m not sure what cacao nibs are adding to this mix (they tend to taste pretty cardboardy to me, anyway), but I definitely taste the strawberry and vanilla.
Scratch that, I do taste cacao. Not chocolate, but cacao.
Hm, I think I do like this. It’s odd, and certainly not my favorite in my cabinet, but I like it.
This is an ’it’s okay’ tea day for me.
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Did you sweeten it at all? I liked it a lot better after I sweetened it (just a little sweetener; easy to overdo it on this one).
No, I’m going to try that next. I haven’t been liking the way sweetner tastes in my tea this week. I was too afraid of making this one too sweet! Next brew I’ll try that though.
It was all I could do not to eat the peanut butter chips out of this blend. Oh, how I love peanut butter. It is my dear friend. And I love chai. How could I not love this? Well….
When brewed it smells deliciously nutty, but definitely tastes like a chai. The black tea in this is as prominent as the nuts, which is why I usually like my chais without black tea and just spices. Hmmm I am on the fence about how to rate this…. I am a chai fan, and I am a PB fan, but I’m having trouble getting super psyched about this. “It’s just a’ight for me.”
Edit- Added some vanilla almond milk, and a touch of Texas wildflower honey. Mmmmmmmm! Much better. Drew out the sweetness of the peanut butter.
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I wonder how this would taste with milk, sugar, and a little bit of peanut butter stirred in…ponders
I think I may have to try this. Well, at least milk and honey. I have neither sugar or (horror) PB in the house right now.
Okay, it’s much better with milk and honey, Mmmm..
I don’t usually like flavored black teas- I so much prefer to get my fix from flavored rooibos or honeybush… but this one smelled deliciously like raisins or even blueberries in the packet, so I was hopeful. Brewed, I definitely smelled the toast, but was a little wary because that’s pretty strange. Ok, sipping this I taste two things- the black tea, which is definitely there, and raisins- I can actually justify this on my palette as cinnamon raisin toast, which is bizarre. I’m not sure, though, if I would have come to this conclusion on the taste without the flavor suggestion on the packet. Trying to taste this without considering the name is hard, but I’m not sure I’d have liked it as much without preparing myself for something strange. With a little almond milk added I feel like the flavors even come out a bit more. I even tried a little agave nectar in this, because I have decided that a lot of flavored black teas need it… but it didn’t really change anything. I have to come down on the side of ‘this is just okay’. Thanks for hooking me up, K!
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I’m tempted to dock them a whole bunch of points for overcharging me by a ton on the loose tea that I bought at the same time, and putting way more in the bag than I initially asked for. Anyway, I generally dislike the way Teavana does business, but it’s the only tea shop in the mall, and if I’m in the mall then an iced tea is my consolation prize. So I got the Blueberry Bliss to go, iced in addition to my loose tea.
This one is really, really good iced. I’d probably hate it hot, but I love the combination of cold and blueberry-roobois. I picked this having had prior good experiences with this type of flavor. The SA seemed really confused that I didn’t want it sweetened and commented that Western women didn’t usually take their tea plain (She was Vietnamese). What can I say? I like unsweetened iced tea. Anyway, I’d drink this again… next time I’m in the maul- that is if I decide to give Teavana any more business.
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While that stinks, that isn’t fair- I’d put a review up for that specific location in the places section.
It’s especially rude that she gave you the impression that she thought you were ordering it “wrong”. I can’t even tolerate sweetened iced tea so I probably would have come back w/ something smart like “Well, if you sweeten it I’ll to a spit take”. You’re lucky though. The only place I can get tea (not fast food “iced tea” or grocery store bottled) is at Gloria Jean’s. They do have a pretty good selection of Harney and Sons bagged though.
If it is the same vietnamese lady that manages the Teavana at the Willowbrook mall location. I have issues with her too she always puts way too much in my bag and looks at me wondering if I will notice and the first time I didn’t but now I’m on to her! She always looks at my selections and tries too make me blend various concotions too!!!! :(
Yes!!!! I think it must be the same woman- she acted like she didn’t know what she was doing, but it was totally a setup. And she was really pushing the blending thing. Ugh.
Teavana sounds horrible. I’ve read so many bad things about them that I’ll never buy from them.
I sympathize with the sales associate though…I imagine most Americans do order their tea sweetened, and she probably just wanted to double check.
The question was totally fine with me. Giving me about 10x the amount of tea I asked her to put in the bag wasn’t. She managed to confuse me with her questions until I wound up paying almost $40. I should have refused to pay, but I was doing that “oh dear, I don’t want to make a fuss” thing that I do. And I even went in knowing that all the employees there deliberately overfill the bags in order to upsell you.
The customer is always right. It also depends on if she asks “do you want it sweetened?” or “You don’t want it sweetened?”.
Lisbet, thanks for the upsell warning. I will deliberately do math before paying for my purchase. I got confused… you said “an iced tea is my consolation prize” so I thought she filled a tea bag, let it steep, then iced it or something… $40 for that would be INSANE!
Lisbet—I totally agree, that sucks about over-filling. I just meant regarding the question…if you’ve ever worked food/retail, I’m sure you’re familiar with the crap customers give you if you don’t prepare something exactly right, so it’s best to ask to double check. But yeah, eff Teavana. Over-charging + crappy tea = no business from me!
Lisbet, I go to Teavana all the time (I have a teenager who wants to LIVE at the mall) and so I know how she operates now. I always dread seeing her but I have to have me Zingiber Ginger Coconut so I put on my determined face and go to battle for my ZGC! LOL
Shanti, couldn’t you just buy it online (if, of course, you don’t mind the shipping- Idk how instore price compares to online+shipping)? That would be, of course, if you liked their teas. I’ve only tried two. I really like Sweet Oolong Revolution and Garden Aria is ok… it’s just not my cuppa- but I bet a person that enjoys hot fruit flavored white teas would really enjoy it.
Yeah Shanti, Teavana actually has some great teas and tea blends if you do not want to “battle” for your tea just order online.
Almost all the reviews of Teavana teas I read here are negative, based on the flavor :/ I’m not big fan of hibiscus, which they put in a lot of their teas, plus all the fruit they add seems extraneous. It’s usually the flavoring, not the fruit bits, that add flavor to the tea. Meh. But also, I’m not willing to support a company that treats its customers badly. Have you seen this before? http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=82428 It’s really disturbing.
*customers AND employees
Wow….. Shanti it seems like my experiences at Teavana were just the way they do business. I’ve never had someone sneakily get me to buy $40 worth of tea before, and am planning on writing an email to the company to complain, so they at least know that another customer is onto them.
Lisbet, you really should. I’m not one to complain about little things like incorrect steeping instructions (at least, incorrect for me) or misspellings, etc., but THIS seems like something really worth mentioning to them.
Okay, they just got an earful via email. The tea I bought is $10/2 oz so the lady must have given me 8oz even though I asked for 50g (about 1.75oz). Good lord.
Geez…that’s awful.
Shanti, The story you posted is SADLY not a new one when it comes to sales. In fact it is VERY similar to my experience while working with Mary Kay Cosmetics several years ago.
I realized in reading this later that it was very confusing- I bought two things at Teavana- the iced tea to go (thankfully no grief from them about making me a to-go drink, but I’ve never had a problem with that), and a bag of chai. The chai was what was the super overcharge aggravation.
Agreed. I just wanted it to make Red, White, and blueberry mojitos that I saw online in their recipes. They also put way too much in and kept asking “Is that okay?” at 4oz. and I said “NO”. I walked in and specifically told them which teas I wanted and that I only wanted 2oz. They need to stop saying that they sell it starting at 2oz because I’ve yet to find someone there who can correctly measure the tea I ask for.
Ugh, I am tempted to only buy from them online in the future so I know upfront exactly what I am getting. I probably ought to boycott them altogether but I am weak :)
yeah.. I was reading reviews though and someone recommended the website http://www.specialteas.com/ for their similar and much cheaper blends. They have just as much variety. Someone suggested it was the same tea, but I’m not sure that’s true. There are however very comparable blends like one called blueberry cocktail just lacking the rooibos of blueberry bliss. If you’re going to buy online I’m sure there’s plenty of options.
SpecialTeas and Teavana are the same company, owned by the same people and everything. (Some other companies re-sell the same tea made other companies, but SpecialTeas and Teavana are directly linked and owned by the same entities.) Personally I avoid both places because I’m unwilling to give them my financial support.
I did not know SpecialTeas and Teavana are the same 0_0 wow… whoops.
ooh. yeah. I personally prefer the same— to not buy from either.
I’m not a huge fan of red fruit teas, particularly those with either hibiscus or rose-hips as primary ingredients, but I’ll try anything once! Alas, this one tastes just like all of the other types I don’t much like- like warm jell-o. I wanted to love it because of how delectable it smells in the pouch, and even in the cup. And the idea of Strawberries and Cream in a tea makes me salivate. But plegh. Please take this review with a grain of salt of you tend to enjoy berry fruit teas. (I feel badly, because Kristin gifted me with this- but it’s just not for me.)
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Don’t feel bad. I sent it to you because I didn’t like it. :P It’s weird because I loved the sample and then ordered the big bag of yuck.
For anyone else reading this… I also sent her some tasty things too.
AHAHAHAHAHA! snarfs tea Yes, Kristin does send wonderful packages- it was worth a shot on this blend! :)
Not overly impressed with this, although black flavored teas almost never seem to wow me. This one gave me a bit of a dry mouth-feel, and tasted only slightly of sweet strawberry, but mostly of darjeeling? black tea. Next time, I’ll try steeping it 2 minutes rather than 3. I also tried my large cup with and without unsweetened vanilla almond milk- it didn’t actually make much of a difference either way. The tea smelled so good in the bag and while steeping that I was a bit disappointed not to like it.
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This is a delicious, unusual fruity tea! It’s got a pale sort of papaya sweetness with a hint of mango. I found it to be really relaxing, and tropical in a way that’s not overbearing. Plus, my first intro to ‘Green Bush’ aka green rooibos (which I could hardly taste in comparison to the lovely fruit). This would be amazing iced, but my sample might not last that long. It’s nice to taste a mostly fruit tea that I actually like. Perfect for the summer.
Man, you are not having any luck today! I can’t even imagine licorice in tea. bleah. Although I also liked Aveda’s tea.
Well I deliberately brought a couple of the ones I didn’t think I’d like to school with me so I’d be forced to try them using water cooler water. :)
Mmm, aveda tea :) I have a jar of it next to me…maybe I should make myself a cup :)
Y’know, I wish this had ended up tasting more like Aveda’s tea and less like it actually did. Blegh!