Teavana

Wow, that’s the most inoffensive, generic tropical fruit flavor that’s ever graced my tongue. I’m sure this is older’n since this was from Teavana but I guess it’s held up ok… Mild, mineral, lightly fruity, barely sweet.

Delicious! Warm pumpkin spice flavour, best with some milk.

I had planned for an Earl Grey this morning but as I pulled it from the cubby I realized what I really wanted was chai. I found this opened bag of chocolate chai from Teavana that my husband picked up from the local store right before they closed. I remember Teavana’s chocolate blends being pretty light and watery, so I doubled up and steeped a good deal longer than the package recommended. It’s a good strength, but there is no chocolate to be found – it’s all cinnamon chips. As it cools, I like the flavor less and less so that now it is almost undrinkable.

I don’t generally like lemonade teas, but I always try every herbal in a tea box, so here we are! I feel like I can taste the pink lemonade flavor pretty clearly. It’s still not delicious to my tastes, but it’s decently accurate. I overleafed, but it’s still a bit weak. However, I imagine this tea is pretty old by now, so that could be to blame.

Great Steepster Freeze of 2020 Review #2 (08/04/20)

So technically it appears the site is back up, but since I know everyone will be madly posting all their tea reviews at once, I’m going to continue to hold off for a few more days (which really isn’t that big of a problem… I write all my tea reviews externally, saved on a document for safe-keeping and backup, and then copy and paste to Steepster which I can do at any time, really). This is the last herbal from my teabox stash, which came from the Discovery Teabox, so thanks to Skysamurai for organizing and all who contributed! Confession: I had never once had a Teavana tea prior to their closing, despite their major “presence” (after all, I live in an area that doesn’t have any “retail” tea shops, chain or independantly owned). When I saw this in the box, I was curious… and the fact it had “Lavender” in the name (as I love floral teas, and lavender is a particular weakness of mine) pretty much sold me.

Brewed up a cup as my evening herbal. The aroma has a bit of a lavender smell, but mostly it smells sweet and caramelly. And… that is pretty much what I’m getting from the flavor, too. There were a lot of things in the infuser (like several whole cardamom pods!) but really all I’m getting in the flavor is a strong rooibos presence, with some notes of wood, honey, caramel, and vanilla, a very sweel caramel flavor, and a more subtle note of the lavender flower that mostly settles a bit on my tongue late in the sip. I’m not getting any of the more interesting ingredients listed (like fig!) or even the cardamom spice, despite the fact I could see it very clearly steeping in the infuser. It’s fine, but mostly just a caramel rooibos (of which I’ve had before) with some lavender flowers added, and the lavender presence still feels a bit weak at that. But it’s probably ridiculously old, so I feel I’m not in a position to judge it too harshly, and I am happy I got the chance to try it (if nothing else, I can now say I have “had Teavana’s tea”).

Thanks to whoever offered up this sample! I’ll certainly enjoy the little bit I have left in evening cuppas.

I didn’t think Basil belonged in tea, but I was wrong. I really liked it. Definitely better iced because it’s so fruity.

Oh, god. I hate this tea. Hate. It. I can’t believe how long it lasted at Teavana. It’s bitter, has a fake cherry taste, and if you burn it/oversteep it, it tastes like cough syrup.

I miss this tea so much. It used to be a favorite of mine years and years ago. It is very floral and isn’t for everyone, which is my guess why it was discontinued.

This tea is perfect for you if you like floral teas. I do think it’s a tiny bit strong and it’s very easy to burn, which makes it bitter.

I love this tea iced. It’s light and delicate and perfect for summer. To me, the tasting notes I get are mainly jasmine and hay.

this tea is so good its sad its rare and doesn’t come on christmas but its super good

God does this tea smell good in the bag. Like luscious fruit candy. I let it steep for 6 minutes on everyone’s recommendations. It’s better than I remember- sweet, but not cloyingly so. I think it would be an excellent summer iced tea with frozen fruit. Peach is mostly on the aftertaste- initial taste is citrusy and orange, maybe some of the pineapple or apple. Definitely fruity, but not much else. Still, pleasant cuppa.

1 sachet for 275mL water @100C, steeped 5 minutes, evaporated milk added.

A decent ‘breakfast’ blend, though not worth the premium price charged. Stands up reasonably well to a teaspoon of thick and creamy evaporated milk … but could be stronger. It does have an unexpected and most welcome floral-bread scent. If I had to guess, I’d say this blend is Nilgiri-heavy, with some heft but no depth and very little maltiness.

Enjoyed this iced, girlfriend’s purchase and recommendation.

Steeped hot, let cool overnight, iced the next day. We enjoyed a few tumblers of it next to the pool. Light, fruity, and sweet! I look forward to diving in for a full review with a future steeping. I will definitely be trying this tea again.

It’s good but it’s another one that I can’t help compare to another that I like better. This is peachy, no doubt about that but Just Peachy by DAVIDsTEA just tastes juicier. It’s always the number one pick of my friends from all my teas when they come over. Teavana is more tart, less sweet and has more flavours mingling with the peach whereas DAVIDs tastes like pure peach and is very sweet and almost has a fruit juice-like quality to it. I’m sure that both would make a great iced version. As long as I can buy Just Peachy, I won’t bother getting Peach Tranquility but it still makes a decent replacement in a pinch.

Received one tea bag from someone in Switzerland (she sent me actually 5 different ones)

I have again some panic attacks lately. I think it is caused by staying in household with same people and I actually do not meet other people too much. I rather stay at home, doing school shit work. I began being more rude as well, maybe I am stressed out somehow. My mother thinks I spend too much time in front of screen of my laptop and when I told her, I have to – because everything is on the Internet, she was just angry that it doesn’t make any sense and that I should not do that much to school. Well – if it was normal life outside, I guess, I will spend all days in University, so what she expects?

I miss inventory checks. The money for summer will be short too I guess. They haven’t replied to a summer job yet, I wrote them e-mail week ago, so I guess I will try it again.

To the tea:
I tried to do it as much as I could do with instructions. 80°C water, 300 ml water (they recommend 236 ml (8 fl oz) and filtered) and 3 minutes of steeping.
It made bit of foam, which is weird. Aroma little peachy and mostly grass seed. Taste? Quite weak, I hoped for very fruity flavour. Some warming notes of ginger, but not spicy at all. Base tea? Meh. Grass seed flavour as well.

Expected way more than I actually get.

Another sample from the lovely derk!

So, I’ve been having umm, issues with Rooibos lately. Don’t get me wrong, I love rooibos when done right. But I keep having trouble with brewing times. Since this was a sample, and Teavana has gone POOF, I couldn’t exactly look up brewing instructions or times anywhere but here. So I went with about what it listed here: 205F/6min/2tsp/12oz.

The problem is it still isn’t as strong a cuppa as I would like. I certainly get the tropical vibe that it presents. And the rooibos isn’t too woody, which I’m not sure is a plus or minus (for me anyway). Primary flavor notes are pineapple, citrus, and I swear I taste a touch of passion fruit. But it’s hard to pick out individual notes because the flavor is so weak. If it were up to me, I’d have this same cuppa, with the flavor turned up about three or four notches. I wouldn’t want to make it too strong – these kinds of teas can get super artificial fast. But I would love to have a stronger flavor in general.

Overall? It’s decent. Maybe even above average. I still have half a pouch of this from the sample, so I’m pretty sure I can make another brew. When I do, I’m just going to have to remember to steep it a bit longer than 6 minutes. Maybe 8 or 9 would be better. But I would gladly drink this again.

B-