January is Hot Tea month.
To commemorate, I sampled a different variety every day. I don't drink tea-plant tea (black, white or green), so these are all herbal varieties. Here is my report:
A recap of this month's tea varieties:
1- Yogi Tea - Egyptian Licorice Spice
2- Celestial Seasonings - Bengel Spice
3- Steven Smith's Blend No. 13 - Red Nectar
4- Teavana - Orange Blossom
5- Twinings- Herbal Revive (Cherry and Cinnamon)
6- Yerba Mate- Chocolate Spice
7- Yogi's - Echinacea Immune Support
8- African Red Bush-Cranberry Mint
9- Roasted Barley Tea
10- Trader Joe's - Raspberry Fruit Infusion
11- Roasted Dandelion Root tea
12-Twinings - Herbal Revive (Lemon and Ginger)
13- Market Spice's 'Sunset in Seattle'
14- Queen Mary's - Apple Streudel
15- Republic of Tea's - Coconut Cocoa
16- Celestial Seasonings - Almond Sunset Dessert Tea
17- Good Earth's Original (spicy cinnamon)
18- Bigelow's - Chamomile Mint
19- Trader Joe's - Ruby Red Chai
20- Traditional Medicinal's - Gypsy Cold Tea
21- Stash's Cranberry-Pomegranate
22- Twinings - Herbal Revive tea (blackcurrants, ginseng and Tahitian vanilla)
23- Teavana - Caribbean Calypso Mate
24- Bigelow - Blueberry Harvest
25- Celestial Seasonings - Red African Safari
26- Tazo's - Wild Sweet Orange
27- Trader Joe's - Organic Mint Melange
28- Lavender-Mint, with chamomile and rose hips
29- Stash - Lemon Blossom
30- Teavana - Citrus Lavender Sage
31- Teavana - Zocolatta Spice
Review: My favorite tea all month was Teavana's Citrus Lavender Sage blend. All of Teavana's blends are good, but the primarily herbal mixes (theirs or mine) are apparently my preference. Second favorite is a tie between my Lavender-Mint blend and roasted barley tea (which I could drink every day). I also like flavored Yerba Mate' - both for their taste and mild stimulant qualities. I pretty much universally do not care for rooisbos (African Red Bush) blends. They're fine, but not better than fine. Loose teas seem overall much tastier than bagged teas. Of the bagged tea brands, I mostly seem to get what I pay for - the cheaper brands: such as Bigelow or Stash have suspect, non-natural ingredients - which does not improve overall flavor IMO. Of the bagged teas, Tazo and Twinings are pretty darn good. Also Trader Joe's and Celestial Seasonings have some nice options.
I still have a number of flavors in my tea drawer that were not drunk this month. Maybe I'll have to continue to drink a different flavor daily until I've gone through them all. :-)
What is your favorite tea flavor?
What is your favorite tea flavor?
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3 comments:
Your winner sounds truly delicious! :-)
For a while, Starbucks used to carry Tazo teas, unfortunately no more.
A friend of mine took me to our local tea spot, The St. James Tea Room, for my birthday in January. In addition to the carousel of succulents and pastries, etc. - a different tea was served with each "course", three in all. Because it was my birthday I got to pick my favorite of the three and they gave be a sample to take home. My favorite was called Van Gogh Smiling - I'm not exactly sure what was in it, but the tea is pink when brewed. I think lots of flowers and some citrus, it's quite delightful. I have to go back and get some more - I'll be sure to let you know exactly what's in it!
Funny, I've never been much of an herbal tea drinker. I LOVE black tea. LOL.
BTW, I do like Gypsy Cold Tea. It does wonders for me when I feel a cold coming on and somewhere along the line, I just learned to love it for itself.
People seem to lean one way or the other I think. :-) I'm an herbal girl all the way!
And yes, I've come to really enjoy Traditional Medicinal teas for themselves in addition to their health benefits. As I mentioned via twitter/fb over the course of the month, I enjoy nearly all herbal teas I've tried with the exception of those rooibos blends...
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