Celestial Seasonings Black Cherry Pomegranate Black Tea

So, I stole a few boxes of tea from my mom in order to make some cold brew tea.  It's obviously not because I need more tea or anything, but because I happen to like fruit-flavored tea for the summer and am running low on it and funds.  This tea is old and I don't know if this even exists anymore, but I'll use it.

Hot version:  the color is darker in this one.

 Outsides:  Celestial Seasonings has those weird sachets that I personally think are pointless to me.  They're not individually-wrapped  and don't even have strings on them.  For the hot-brew, I put one sachet in 8 oz of almost boiling water.  It's a light brown color with a hint of orange or red and it smells like cherries.

Insides:  The hot one has a nice balance between the tea and fruit flavors, partially because the tea is just not very strong or full-bodied.  There's a pinch of bitterness in there but it's not too astringent.  The cherry flavor is light but tends to overpower any other fruit flavor in the tea.  It's sweet but has a nice tart note that pairs well with the tea.  And no, I don't taste any pomegranate except possibly as it complements the cherry flavors.

The cold tea is a bit different.  There really isn't as strong of a tea flavor and cold brewing gets rid of a lot of the bitterness.  Thankfully, the cherry flavor is brought out nicely and makes this more of a natural version of Kool-Aid.  It's actually quite fragrant and smells a bit like cherry chapstick. 

Tilt:  I honestly don't even know how old this box of tea was but I'd guess it's easily two years old.  Celestial Seasonings is cheap for a bagged tea but something people will learn when they become closer to the ultimate tea snob like me is that you can get whole-leaf teas from various places that are cheaper and tastier.  I like it more cold-brewed and during the summertime or when I feel like having iced tea.  I also think that fruit teas are generally a good thing to serve when you have company around since most humans tend to like sweet, fruit-flavored things. 

Overall:  It's ok.  I'm glad I finished the box and my housemates drank it. 

My Rating:  Pass

Celestial Seasonings is an American tea company specializing in flavored teas with beautiful artwork on the packaging (in my opinion, the artwork tends to be the only reason to get the box).  

Celestail Seasoning Lemon Zinger Herbal Tea (K-cup review)

So, I haven't done one of these in a while mostly because I just don't use any of my K-cups.  I got a Celestial Seasonings Tea variety pack and so, well, I need to drink them.  These have pretty much been laying on my counter since July.

Outsides:  A standard K-cup.  I brewed it like I brew all the other K-cups.  The liquid is red and it smells like fake lemon.

Insides:  This tastes like citric acid (the stuff that makes things sour).  Citric Acid and fake lemon flavor.  Now, I got this without any ingredients but it tastes drastically different from the zingers I've had from celestial in that it's more sour and doesn't have that sweet scent of rosehips to go with it.  That being said, this is not the worst tea I've had for the Keurig.  It's still pretty bad though.

Overall:  Just buy the normal Lemon Zinger and save 6 bucks.

My Rating:  Pass.

Celestial Seasonings and K-cups can be found in pretty much any grocery or department store.  They are expensive and the quality of the tea is....terrible, but they are easy to find so no link for you.  

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!    

K-cup reviews: Celestial Seasonings Iced Half and Half

I don't get Half and Halfs (half-lemonade, half-iced tea).  It's become this new fad and to me at least, usually just tastes like weak lemon tea.  Now, I'm not saying that's a bad thing and it does show that people like their black tea a little less strong once in a while, but it's not something I personally go and seek out.   Now, these brew over ice K-cups...they haven't made a good impression on me.  I actually have a little hope for this one because at least the tea shouldn't be as strong and terrible and the lemon should hide it even more.  Still, this is only speculation.

As I said with the other Brew Over Ice varieties, my Keurig doesn't have a Brew Over Ice button so I just brewed it on the 8-9 oz setting, let it sit for like 10 minutes and added some ice.  

Outsides:  Your average K-cup.  It's slightly lighter than the black tea.  The thing about the smell is, you can still smell this pretty bad quality of black tea, but it's masked by the lemon.  Like, completely obliterated and overpowered.  

Insides:  So, I'm not saying this one's great, but so far it's the best of the bunch.  The tea flavoring is masked pretty well by the lemon and although the drink is a bit sour and bitter, it's not to the point of being undrinkable.  Also, it's sweetened pretty well, bot being overly sweet but still being sweet.  It's not amazing, but it's enjoyable if you want some quick beverage.

Overall:  I don't think this is the best thing since sliced bread, but it is the only Brew Over Ice thing I've tried that didn't force me to dump the rest of the drink down the drain.  If you want some Keurig Iced tea, get this one.

My Rating:  Try it!  Here's a link:  Keurig K-Cup Celestial Seasonings Perfect Iced Tea, Half and Half

K-cup Reviews: celestial Seasonings southern sweet black iced tea

Oh goodie, we have another Brew Over Ice...thing.  I figured I'd try a tea this time and in general, I like Celestial Seasonings.  The quality of the tea isn't the best but they really excel in their flavorings and offering a great variety.  Plus, their normal tea makes great iced tea.  Now, I'm not the biggest fan of sweet tea and I'm curious whether this variety is sweetened or unsweetened (the K-cup feels like it's full of powder or grans), but I'm willing to give it a try.

Like the other Brew Over Ice variety, I brewed it, waited for the liquid to cool and then added the ice.

Outsides:  It's your fairly standard K-cup.  The outside is a dark black tea that smells like tea that I don't really want to drink.  It smells like tea you'd get from someone who doesn't know how to brew good tea, full of chemicals and like it's just too strong.  

Insides:  First off, it is slightly sweetened.  To me, it's sweetened pretty perfectly, still being sweet but not overpowering or syrupy.  Now, the tea part is awful.  It's bitter, as in all I can really taste is the sugar and bitter.  The tea is a blend of Assam and the dumpster.  It does have a bit of fragrence to it, but this is not something anybody who's tried decent tea would drink.  Oh, and it's like 60 cents to make a CUP of this.  A SMALL CUP!  Most people can make at least a pitcher full of sweet tea with that money.

Overall:  Now, I've had sweet tea that was too sweet and could still tell was quality tea.  This isn't TOO sweet and I can tell that it's crap.  You know what, save your money from getting these K-cups and make your own put of sweet tea.  Use Lipton Tea Bags or  Seasonings if you want.  It'll be better than this.

My Rating;  Pass.  Here's the Link:  Keurig K-Cup Celestial Seasonings Southern Sweet Iced Tea, 16-Pack