Sugar Plum Spice

I needed something to calm my nerves, because this day (nay, this week) has been nothing but, frankly, shit. I am apparently going to lose my job, and there is little I can do about it. They thought they gave me a choice, but there isn’t one. Unless “give up school for your job, or give up your job for your school” counts. Except school is why I need a job, thus if one goes, so does the other.

I have a stress headache from furrowing my eyebrows too hard for too long. I snagged this from my mother’s cupboard, because it seemed interesting enough. You can definitely SMELL the spices, and sniffing it, it’s very christmasy. Spicy sugar plum—very fitting. I just threw the teabag in and didn’t even bother with a set steep time—so yeah, the bag’s still in there. It’ll survive. It’s got a good spice base. Not too strong, and luckily the hibiscus (which is very apparent) doesn’t overpower it. I think I’m actually getting some form of sweet, plum flavour in there as well. The spices are solid—cinnamon of course, but there are others (I didn’t look too closely at the ingredients, forgive me).

I think it balances very well; I can see myself snagging a few more bags of this in the future.

This will forever be a part of my earliest tea memories. I remember having this tea with my childhood friends. The allure of Celestial Seasonings’ artwork on the tea boxes gets me every time! I believe I liked the old artwork for this Sugar Plum Spice blend instead of the newer image.. but then again, isn’t it the TEA that matters? Its scent is sweet and spicy — very much a holiday blend. The taste is a combination of spices, plus a heavy layer of something sweet. I don’t think that it’s exclusively plum flavor, but just a general fruitiness. I’m also tasting a bit of a licorice note in the sweetness (& I don’t like licorice in tea). I suppose I’ll keep drinking this because it’s a nice caffeine free, festive tea and it’s too deeply embedded in my tea memories for me to let it go.

so, obviously, I have a propensity for spiking my tea in the evenings (it’s cold in montana. rum is nice when it is cold). I’ve had this tea plain and it is fine. But, my dear tea friends, here is a great trick: brew two bags, add a touch of agave and a drop of vanilla, and a shot of dark rum. hello wonderful winter drink.

Ok, I gave this one more try. This time I made sure to brew for only 3 minutes. However, somehow two bags stuck together without me noticing before I poured the water. Took one sip, thught to myself “Life is too short to drink bad herbal tea” and dumped the lot. Never again!

Why did I buy this on impulse?
One sip and it was down the sink. Disgusting papery overly floral sweet. Man was this gross.

My aunt didn’t like this tea so she gave it to me. I love it! I actually quite enjoy it with out sugar, but tonight I thought I’d try it with a little bit. I asked my boyfriend what he thought and had him add the sugar. He added two level spoon fulls of sugar, and it tasted just like a candy cane. And I for one looove candy canes. I do have to say though, I think one spoon full of sugar might have been enough. I’m kind of sad that it only comes out during the holiday season, so I’ll have to get some more, ya know stock up on it a bit so I can have it whenever I want! :) I love this tea! It’s quickly become one of my favorites.

Backlog.

This tea was awesome; easily tying with DAVIDsTEA’s Spiced Fig for my favorite holiday tea. This brews up a very dark purple and has a deliciously rich fruit taste to it. The spices mimick those in Spiced Fig. The plum flavoring feels almost thick — this is one of those fruit teas that doesn’t waste time hinting at being fruity.

I even used some of this tea to make sugar cookies for my office’s holiday party — yum!

I never reviewed this? Hmm… Well I’m drinking it now, and it is almost the last bag. I don’t like this too much. It’s much like drinking potporri to me. ew. It seems like there is less of a plum taste and more of a hibiscus taste. And the plum that is there is bitter. I don’t think I would buy this one again, but the sugar plum idea is nice.

Don’t like this nearly as much as the other holiday teas I’ve tried from CS. It has a very light cinnamon taste with a miniscule hint of plum flavor. It’s just too weak.

This is a wonderful Christmas blend. I’m having it tonight steeped in a pretty normal little tea or coffee mug, to take off the edge of being so far from home and from my normal holidays celebrations. It’s sweet and earthy and the spice hits just right. (Which I really, really wasn’t expecting, because I remember disliking this Celestial Christmas blend a lot last year.)