Sleepytime Kids: Goodnight Grape

The thing that struck me the most about this tea upon brewing it for the first time was that the color of Goodnight Grape Sleepytime is no different than normal Sleepytime which is a refreshingly natural chance in a society obsessed with food coloring, especially in food marketed for kids, so I was expecting this tea to come out purple. The tea has a light but sweet grape flavor that overpowers most of the other herbs so it is the first and the main thing that you taste. A bit much on the sweeteners in my opinion but I am glad that they used Stevia and not chemicals or sugar to sweeten it. Personally I think a little less sweetness would do the kids good as I do not think it is a good thing to train kids that everything is supposed to be unnaturally sweet as it is just setting them up to have weight control issues when they get older. Regardless I’d say this tea has value as a midnight snack desert tea.

The dry tea bag had a slight sticky feeling, not sure why, and smelled strongly of the plain Sleepytime tea variety. It is pre-sweetened with stevia extract, and the final result is a little sweeter than I usually make my teas, but probably preferable to kids. The brewed cup had a natural tea color, almost like apple juice, and the grape scent was buried beneath a spearminty spice-drop type of smell. The taste is interesting. Minty, with faint artificial grape, though the main flavor is sweetness – a very faint spicy flavor in the backround makess this tea better. Wouldn’t drink it every day, but definitely worth keeping and sampling when bored of the usual cups.

I am not a huge fan of chamomile, but I really like sleepy time teas from Celestial. Mom found this on discount at Big Lots, and got some for her and my brother. I’m drinking some it it was flavored just right. Grape, spearmint, blackberry, and herbaceous leafs are the taste, and the smell. The blackberry is blended as a background, and it certainly moves the grape along. It does not need any sweetener whatsoever.

Some people might be offended by the ingredients that include things like lecithen, especially with the inconsistent health risks of soy. But again, it tastes good, and it’s helping me sleep. It’s also satisfying my tea cravings, which are BAD and I’m resisting the urge to get some oolong or black tea right now…

I bought this at Walmart on clearance recently, thinking maybe my grandson (7) or my daughter would like it. Both did, but my grandson LOVES it! He drinks it hot, with a spoonful of honey, and has adopted it as “his” tea.

To me, the taste is okay, but I’m not a spearmint fan, and there’s a little of that taste and smell to the tea.

Despite the prominent grape smell, I couldn’t discern much of a grape taste. The artificial sweetener was a bit offputting in combination with the rest of the flavor, but probably not a bad pairing for its intended audience. I think it’s an average to good tea for who its marketed towards, but probably not the best for adults looking for a change of pace.