Teavana Sweet Mango Chai

  

So, my haul finally arrived.  I tried to get a variety of teas to try from Teavana including 2 white teas, 2 mates, a green, an oolong, a pure herbal and a free sample of a mate/oolong blend.  But, I'm excited because  it's not often that I can actually afford getting this much tea from Teavana and they seem to have some unique blends.  As you know, I'm a huge fan of mango and a huge fan of chai so I thought this should be really good.  Plus, it apparently has oolong which is becoming a favorite of mine as well.

Outsides:  Ingredients include mango, apple, oolong, coconut, cardamon, cinnamon, ginger, tangermine peel, black pepper and mango flavoring.  So, I've made a few teas from Teavana before writing this review and have discovered a new game that can be played called Where's the Tea, because I dug to the bottom of this bag and only got a few oolong leaves.  I brewed probably around 2 teaspoons of this in 8 oz of 90 degree water for about 5 minutes.  The liquid is really cloudy, really light yellow and this smells like spiced mango.

Insides:  Um...where's the tea?  It's not that I don't like flavored tea at all and usually, I want more flavor than less but this is absolutely ridiculous.  I oversteeped the crap out of this and there still isn't any tea flavor to it.  On top of that, the chai is weak as well.  The head of the flavor is sweet mango which is followed by a mostly ginger tasting chai, light body, a little astringency but I did have SOME oolong in there.  It just seems like a mess.

Overall:  No.  This is not tea and if I paid the 7 dollars or however much it was SUPPOSED to be, I would be pissed.

Taste:  Fruit and spice but weak despite me adding an obscene amount of tea.
Price:  Whatever it is, you can probably make this blend for 1/4 of the price.  In fact, I paid 1/4 the price and I feel ripped-off.
Uniqueness:  You get this one, Teavana.  The concept is definitely unique and it would have been nice getting a strong chai with a mango base to it.  This tea is unique for all of the wrong reasons though.
Usability:  I'm updating these criteria for reviews a few weeks after I wrote this post and I have to say, this is not a bad blend for mixing with Prestogeorge's Fancy Mango to give it some umph.  By itself, this tea is utterly useless.

My Rating:  Stay Away!

Teavana is a chain tea retailer that is found in many a mall across the United States and Canada.  Their teas often start from 5 dollars for 2 oz of the most basic blends and they have a lot of flavored teas.  

Tazo Wild Sweet Orange (Herbal Tea with lemongrass, orange and a lot of other stuff)

You know, maybe I was wrong about Tazo.  Maybe they aren't so bad after all.  I mean, I now like 2 teas of theirs, although I still think that they are overpriced as all hell.  And now I'm going to try Wild Sweet Orange, which sounds fruity but pleasant.

Outsides:  This tea has a laundry list of ingredients; lemongrass, blackberry leaves, citric acid (first thing that should be noted), rose hips, spearmint leaves, color (tumeric, riboflavin), orange peel, hibiscus flowers, natural flavors, rose petals, orange essence, ginger root, licorice root and licorice extract.  It's in a nice foil wrapped packet and is your standard tea bag.  I brewed this at boiling for three minutes before i tasted it (the second thing you should take note of since herbals should steep for 5 minutes).  The tea is a brighter orange and smells like oranges.

Insides:  I don't know if I can properly put my feelings on this tea into words, but I'll try.  OHMYGOD THIS IS F***ING TERRIBLE!  It's sour, and I like sour but this is undrinkable sour.  The licorice makes the texture of this drink seem very thick so it's pretty much a thick, sour mess.  It's just terrible and I don't understand how Tazo can call this SWEET wild orange.  Maybe the licorice is supposed to act as the sweetener but then it should be the third ingredient instead of friggin' CITRIC ACID!  Also, why do we have all these ingredients if you're going to bombard your drink with sour and licorice.  This is bad and I honestly can't imagine someone liking it without copious amounts of sugar and bad taste.

Overall:  No, just no.  Tazo, my lack of faith in you is restored.

My Rating:  Stay AWAY!  It's not even worth stealing.

Tazo is everywhere.  I often get my Tazo teas from the hospital cafeteria because it's "free" there.  

TasTEA Time! Tazo Awake (black tea)

What's this?  A bagged tea?  That's right, I'm back with some tea I stole...I mean borrowed from the local hospital cafeteria.  It just so happens that they have about 6 different kinds of Tazo, so that's what I'll be reviewing.  Awake seems to be the company's breakfast blend and a rather boring black tea.

Outsides:  The tea is in a nice foil-lined bag.  It was brewed at almost boiling water for about 4 minutes.  As you can see, this tea is dark and murky, so it's probably an Assam blend and even smells like one.

Insides:  Oh Tazo, you and your mediocrity.  I think Twinnings may make a more flavorful breakfast blend than you, which isn't saying much.  It's bitter, not unbearably so but moreso than the loose-leaf teas I got from Prestogeorge or Adagio, but it DOES have a tea flavor.  If I have to profile it, I'd say bitter with a bit of musk and that's it.  Ugh, just...no.  You can get better tea at 1/3 of the cost and I'm not even talking loose-leaf.  There is nothing special here and I'm probably going to give my stolen...I MEAN BORROWED, tea away.

Overall:  You'll be getting better tea from Twinnings or Biglow.

My Rating:  Pass/Burn it!

I don't feel like putting up the link but Tazo can be found everywhere so it doesn't even matter.  

K-cups Review: Celestial Seasonings English Breakfast Black Tea

So, this one's the first Celestial Seasonings K-cup I'm reviewing, but not the first one I've tried.  Now, there's a reason for this, but that's going to be in the actual review.  Now, Celestial Seasonings is not my favorite mainstream company, they just have a certain niche making interesting fruit and herbal flavors.  I'm honestly not a big fan of their plain teas since you can get a much higher quality at a much better price, but I have like 7 of these K-cups so might as well try one out.

Also, one of my baby kittens (Otto) is sleeping on me, making me type in a weird angle.  I'd take a picture but it would require me waking him up.  Still, it's pretty cute.  

Outsides:  It's a fairly standard K-cup that makes a very dark tea.  It smells...meh.  It basically smells like a cheap black tea.

Insides:  I took the first sip and thought "Dear god, this is bitter".  On the second sip, "Ugh, is it really this bad?"  Third sip, "Yeah, it's that bad."  This is, quite possibly, the worst tea I have ever had.  It's undrinkable bitter and yet, there's very little tea flavor.  I will say that it's SLIGHTLY more bearable cold, but that's only because I didn't dump it last night.  It's just awful and I can't believe a company would put out a product this bad.

Overall:  I have seven of these and I have no idea what to do with them (although the kittens like playing with them and they kinda make reasonable cat toys).  No, don't buy these.  Don't buy these for anyone as a gift, don't buy them for yourself.  Just stay away!

My Rating:  STAY AWAY!    

TasTEA Time! Good Earth Red Tea with Lemon

What:  Possibly one of the worst teas I've ever tasted

Where:  USA

Why Should I Care:  I mentioned in another review that I was a little apprehensive about buying Red/Rooibos tea and the reason is this tea.  I found it when going though our kitchen's tea stash (as opposed to my own personal tea stash) and this was crammed in the corner because nobody would drink it.  Red Tea is practically idiot-proof in that you can stick it without regards to temperature, steeping time or caffeine levels (it's decaf).  I've also noticed that when there are flavored varieties available, it's usually more along the lines of sweet or spicy as opposed to zesty like a lemon.  Maybe this tea improves with time?

Packaging:  Lucky for me, it's in a lovely IWFS.

Non-Taste Senses:  This particular brand is lighter than the Heath and Heather tea.  It smells lemony...and spicy.

Taste:  It's not the red tea's fault.  I didn't realize this when I was young, but it really isn't the red tea's fault.  Whoever designed this tea should have picked a flavor and stuck with it.  You have the citrus, which is slightly faded due to the passage of time but it's still zesty and a bit bitter.  Then you have the spicy herbs like chicory root that make this spicy.  Overall, this is far too busy in terms of flavor profiles and and the naturally-sweet red tea doesn't help it.  Nothing, NOTHING, will save it from milk, sugar, ice, booze, anything!

Overall:  There are some Good Earth teas that I like.  This is not one of them.  I can't imagine anyone enjoying this but if you do, you are one heck of a masochist.

My Rating:  Stay Away!  If you ever have the desire to buy something that is liquid torture, here's the site.  Like I said, I don't hate every product of theirs but be warned that Good Earth teas tend to be....busy.   Apparently, they realized that this tea was horrible too since I don't see it on the site.