Mayorga Organic Blueberry Acai
Tea Info
Type: Green Tea
Description/Ingredients: Organic Green Tea, Natural Blueberry Flavor, Natural Acai Flavor, Natural Raspberry Flavor 100% Natural - This product contains all-natural ingredients with no artificial colorings, flavorings or preservatives.
Review:
First and foremost, we got this has a wedding gift. I had never heard of this company before. When I looked into them I found out they were originally a coffee manufacturing company. They released a line of organic teas that seem to only be sold in costco's. (Then again I haven't looked in my store for them. They could be sold there too!) So this was going to be a different thing for me to try.
The first scent before steeping smelt of dried blue berries. If you know what those smell or taste like you would understand this. If not, its sweet with the undertones of a bitter bit though not in a harsh way. After it was steeped it smelt as if I had come into contact with a bushel of blue berries.
The taste of the tea on first sip was rather pleasant actually, I could easily drink this with no sugar and be fully happy with it. Which is saying something for me. Once I added sugar though it tasted similar to biting into a fresh blue berry. With a tiny bit of a bitter after taste, though not bitter in a off putting way.
I really liked this tea in the end. It was a refreshing for a new tea for me to try. I would highly recommend it if you can find it!
Lipton
Bavarian Wild Berry
Tea Info
Type: Black Tea
Description/Ingredients: Black tea, dried apple pieces, rose hip peel, chicory root, cinnamon bark, licorice root, modified corn starch, natural flavor, dried blackberry pieces, dried black currant pieces, ginger root, orange peel, dried blueberry pieces, dried raspberry pieces.
Review:
So the cold sniff of this particular tea it smelt of black berry bushes. Which I love black berries, so this gave me high hopes. Once steeped it took on a more overly several types of berries no special one sticking out. Though smell alone even gave off a ting of a sweet smell.
The first sip of it with no added sugar was bitter, which was not exactly a surprise in the end. Some of the ingredients already indicated that it would be. Not to mention it being a black tea. So after adding a bit of sugar it exploded a new flavor all together. It tasted almost as if it was a kool-aid made of natural berries or possibly a slightly watered down juice. This kind of caught me off guard though it was a refreshing taste.
All in all the the tea was decent, I could drink this daily and would recommend it to others. Specially if you are a fan of berries. I was also happy there was no artificial additives in it! Five out of Five Stars.
Lipton
Island Mango & Peach
Tea Info
Type: White Tea
Description/Ingredients:White tea, green tea, orange leaves, rose hips, lemon grass, licorice root, modified corn starch, natural flavor.
Review:
Okay first and foremost I have to state. I have no clue where they get the Island mango for a name when there is no Mango in the ingredients. It is actually kind of annoying to me. I digress though, the smell that came from the pouch was very much a peach smell. Which I love peaches so I really was looking forward to this tea. Once it was steeped it still smelt of peaches but had the subtle undertones of citrus.
The taste to this tea was just as pleasant though not what I thought it would be. It was almost hard to pick out any one type of taste. The best way to describe it would be to just label it as fruity. It was relatively sweet on it's own and didn't need much in the way of sugar. With the small amount i added it brought more of the flavors out in a singular way to each one. Though I think the all over taste of them mixed as one gave it a bit of a Mango taste. So had I not read the ingredients I would have thought it was in there.
Overall the tea was fairly pleasant, I do believe it could have been a bit more tasteful and from what I understand they redid this one's recipe and it taste awful. So I guess this is the best this particular tea from Lipton will get. Shame. Four out of five stars.
Giant Eagle (Market District)
BlueBerry Herbal Tea
Tea Info
Type: White Herbal Tea
Description/Ingredients: (I apologize here. I do not any longer have the box for this. Nor could I find the list of ingredients online.)
Review:
I need to first state you will only find this tea wherever you can find a Giant Eagle/Market District. This means for the most part you will only find this tea in and around Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. I can state I have been drinking this tea for at least three years now. I tried it when I was working for one of the companies gas stations.
So the scent of this tea is the same both on a cold sniff and once it has been steeped. It smells of sweet blue berries. It is a very pleasurable scent to intake. It is also a pleasantly naturally sweet on it's own with no sugar. Though I still do tend to add a tad bit to it. Just to develop the taste even more.
This is one of the few teas that is not a chai that I also add milk to. This makes a amazing difference. It brings about the taste of a blue berry muffin. It is in its own way a unique and cleverly designed tea combination. I love this tea. It makes for a amazing breakfast tea. Something I have and will keep recommending for the person on the go!
Twinings
Chai: French Vanilla
Tea Info
Type: Black Tea
Description/Ingredients:Black Tea, Natural Chai, Cinnamon & Ginger Flavours with Other Natural Flavours, Artificial Vanilla Flavour, Cardamom, Clove, Vanilla Pod Powder
Review:
Once more, and final one of the seasonal for this company for now, I promise. Off the bat I could not distinguish any specific smells in this. Which was sort of saddening I was looking forward tot he vanilla in this. In fact if anything the smell it gave off was very much a artificial/chemical type smell. Not pleasant at all and I almost passed on trying it past that. Once steeped though the smell got better, now I could pull out the smell of the french vanilla I had originally thought I would get. You could also smell the undertones of the spice's of the chai under the vanilla it was really warm and welcoming fragrance.
I was actually disappointed about this tea on first sip. It tasted the way it had smelt before I had steeped it. Very fake tasting, I am not a fan of artificial taste and this strongly tasted of a chemical flavor rather then a flavor of natural vanilla bean. I added sugar with that it did pull out the spice's in the chai, though it still carried that fake vanilla flavor. As well as held a bit of a bitter bite to it as a after taste. After adding milk it made it creamy and a much better taste. No longer as artificial tasting as it had been though the spice of the Chai still was over powering which left the cup of tea very much a bitter taste.
All in all I am not impressed with this tea at all and will most likely never buy this particular one again. Like I stated I am not a fan of artificial flavors and you could tell that it was a artificial one. I had high hopes for this tea and they fell flat on their face. One out of five stars
Twinging
Chai:Spiced Apple
Tea Info
Type: Black Tea
Description/Ingredients: Black Tea, Natural Apple, Chai, Cinammon & Ginger Flavours with Other Natural Flavours, Cardamom, Clove
Review:
This is another one of Twinings seasonal teas in the local stores around me. I saw it while shopping and figured it would be a interesting mix to try. My first reaction to the scent of the tea before it was steeped was that is smelt strongly of apple and ginger. Not exactly what I expected from a Chai but none the less oddly pleasant. Once the tea was steeped on the other hand that pleasantry kind of went away in my personal opinion. It was over whelming strong and almost border lining a potpourri smell.
Now I don't know about any of you but the smell of potpourri does not exactly make me want to drink something. None the less I sucked it up and tasted it anyway. It was majorly over powering and extremely bitter. It actually manged to make me gag and I almost couldn't drink it. So I added two tablespoons of sugar in hopes to cut through the bitter, perhaps make it taste less like what I imagine potpourri water would taste like. With the sugar it was a tiny bit easier to stomach. Not by much though. It was still very overpowering.
I added milk to this in hopes that this may change the taste, because thus far I was hating this tea. The milk added actually did help a TON! It no longer tasted like I said before what I would imagine potpourri water would taste of. Instead it actually kind of reminded me of apple and cinnamon oatmeal. This was much more pleasant then before.
My overall view on this tea, is not something I would recommend to anyone, ever! Though if someone was to try it I would say go straight with milk and sugar. Unless you want that flowery taste of perfume in your mouth. If you can stomach something like that props to you! Two out of five stars.
Twinings
Chai: Pumpkin Spice
Tea Info
Type: Black Tea
Description/Ingredients: Black Tea, Natural Chai, Cinnamon & Ginger Flavours with Other Natural Flavours, Natural & Artificial Pumpkin Spice Flavour, Allspice, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Clove
Review:
I am naturally a fan of Twinings products. I still though go in with a clear mind when it comes to any tea. Twinings Chai Pumpkin spice (unless bought on line) is a seasonal tea. It typically can only be found in the stores around me during the fall months. When I saw this I knew I just had to try it. I have a love for both Chai tea's as well as Pumpkin flavors!
The scent given before steeping that I could recognizable off the bat was cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Now this could be from the fact of being a baker but they were the ones that jumped out right away. It was a very pungent smell like most spices are, it actually reminds me a lot of fall weather. After steeping it had a very creamy freshly baked pumpkin pie scent.
Upon first taste minus the sugar it was bitter, but it taste a lot like raw pumpkin. The bitterness I would assume would be due to the allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. If you have ever tried any of those spices alone they are very bitter spices. Once I added sugar it took the bite out of the spices and brought all the flavors together nicely. I also added milk which gave it a creamy and smooth taste as well. Which seem to really pull it all together.
So my overall view of the product; it brings about the a flavor and scent of warm pumpkin pie. It is a Tea that ranks high on my loves of tea. It is the right amount of all ingredients to pull off the prefect blended taste!
The Republic of Tea
Cuppa Chocolate: Strawberry Chocolate Tea
Tea Info:
Type: Rooibos
Description/Ingredients: Rooibos, carob, cocoa kernels, chocolate flavor, strawberry flavor, sweet blackberry leaves and bourbon vanilla beans
Review:
I bought this tea at a grocery market. It was the first time I have heard of the company. Decided the tea sounded interesting and would be something to give a whirl. Upon opening the air tight canaster a mild pleasant scent came from it. Before it was stepped it gave off a bit of a bitter scent. Almost as if smelling a bag of dried strawberries.
Once the tea was stepped for the time recommend (Five to seven minutes in boiling water) the scent changed. It gave off a scent of warm chocolate with the undertones of strawberries. A very pleasant aroma for the sense. Leaving high hopes for the taste in the tea.
Keeping in mind I typically drink my hot tea's with sugar. For purposes of this review I did make sure to try the tea without sugar first sip. Without the sugar it was slightly bitter, with a hidden sweetness from time to time. It is drinkable this way if you can get past the bitter portion. The best way I can think to describe this bitterness is it taste almost like a dark chocolate that is a seventy precent or more cocoa. I could possibly even chalk up the bitterness to the bourbon vanilla bean.
I added only a half of teaspoon of sugar to my cup, which was the prefect amount to cut the bitterness. In turn it brought out a lot more of the flavors. Though mild you could still distinctly find the strawberries with the underlining tones of chocolate. The total vice verse of the smell. Was certainly a tea I could see me drinking often.
All in all the tea was delightful with a little bit of sugar. Is prefect for a dessert without the calories! It is something that I would recommend trying at least once.
