Trader Joe's

I’m either just not a fan of plain red Rooibos teas, or I’ve just yet to try one that is high enough quality to like. I only find this one drinkable sweetened with a dash of almond milk. Best when sweetened with agave. Not much to say about this tea although it does brew up a lovely color.

I love mint tea, good mint tea, which is surprisingly difficult to find. I bought a few mint teas at Trader Joe’s this morning, one of them might be “the one.” I am pleased with this one, it was my first try so hard to know how others will compare, but I did enjoy this tea very much. I think the lemongrass adds a brightness to flavor.

The aroma of this tea is nice but the flavor of the tea is weak at a 5 minute steep so I opted to steep it for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, and after squeezing the tea bag to extract even more flavor, the flavor was still watery and weak. I opted to add another tea bag to 8 ounces of water just to extract some more flavor out of this tea. The only flavor I picked up on was the tea flavor and some aftertaste of ginger. Not one flavor came through strong enough to be appealing to recommend or buy again. It was a bad enough brew that I opted to dump it and make myself another flavor of tea.

I love lots of Trader Joe’s products, but it seems their teas are not up to par in quality in what I’ve come to expect out of them. Fortunately their return policy is quite generous so there’s no risk to give a tea flavor that appears tempting a try. Unfortunately, its usually a return.

This tea is so simple and so delicious. It comes in mesh sachets, which maximizes the flavor. It’s blended perfectly. Nice and mild and satisfying. Why did no one else think of this before? I would only drink this one hot— not sure if it would be good iced.

I drink this a lot and enjoy it every time.

Heavy on the mint, but the sweetness in it actually makes this a mellow blend. Spearmint, peppermint, lemon grass, possibly some other lemony herbs. While this is not unique in flavour profile, I do appreciate its simplicity. It is really tasty hot or iced, it takes milk and is very nice plain, it resteeps a few times, and you really can’t overbrew it.

If you aren’t careful this pleasantly tasting tea can turn bitter and undrinkable.

I was able to make 2 cups of tea for each tea bag. If you don’t steep it too much, I stuck closer to 3 minutes with boiling water, you’ll avoid the bitter aftertaste, but just a little over and you’ll end up with an almost undrinkable tea.

It’s an okay budget tea less the occasions I over steeped it, but I have to agree with a previous reviewer who said they’re just going to avoid Trader Joe’s teas. It’s not one of their better offerings regardless of flavor.

Water: 8oz

Leaves: tea bag

Measuring Spoon: no

Steep: 5m

Aroma: apple, citrus

Color: Ruby Red

Clarity: Great

Taste: I spotted this tea for the first time a few days ago to at trader Joe’s. Seeing it again for the 2nd time I decided to give it a try. The packaging of this tea was different as the individual envelopes that contained the tea bags were clear. The aroma from the dry bag wasn’t that fragrant. As for steeping when the water was poured over it gradually released a ruby red hue, accompanied by a apple/citrus aroma. The clarity was great as i could see the bottom of my cup. As for the taste it’s more so tart than anything, no real flavor really stood out, simply hot tart water with a rich color. I most likely won’t will be reaching for a second cup.

Initially this was not a favorite tea for me. It came through with very weak tasting notes and, accidentally, out of boredom I began to dunk the tea bag which infused a lot more of the flavor into the tea.

I pick up on the cinnamon and black tea as it steeps. Flavor wise the cinnamon rules the show. The ginger is barely noticeable, a good thing for me, as I’m not a fan of ginger.

Trader Joe’s tends to be hit/miss tea for me with their tea offerings. Yes, I prefer loose leaf tea, but some nights (or mornings) I’m lazy and don’t want to put forth more effort than warming my kettle and using a tea bag.

I brought my water to a rolling boil and did not bother to remove the tea bag as the flavor never got bitter or strong enough to call for it. In fact, I was up to 3 tea bags (from prior steeps) before I emptied my cup and started over (on my 4th steep now).

I haven’t found it necessary to add any sugar or milk, but I did add some milk on this most recent brew just to see what I thought and I found it to be decent but unnecessary.

If I didn’t accidentally dunk the tea bag this tea would have gotten a much lower rating. Mixing the tea around saved it and it will, likely, make its way into my tea rotations this holiday season.

Hot Tea Review:

The aroma I pick up is a nice divide between the tea and mango. I allowed the tea to steep for 5 minutes at 200 degrees. The tea smells lovely and I hope the flavor carries through as I await the steep to complete.

The fruit flavor is lost under the black tea. The black tea tastes strong enough that it’s got a bit of a bitter aftertaste after a 5 minute steep. I’d probably do a 4 minute steep in the future. In order to draw out the mango flavor, I needed to added some sweeteners, which I prefer to not have to do.

Not an undrinkable tea, but not one I’m not finding a desire to drink again.

I have a cold brew steeping currently and will update my review tomorrow.

Update: Cold brew was uninspiring thus not giving any boost to this rating. If anything I’d consider lowering the rating a bit.

Vanilla, yummy, healthier and much better than the starbucks alternatives!

This combo is the best of both worlds for me when I really want some tea but I also need the caffeine from coffee to get me through the day. I figured the spiciness of the Chai would become more subtle with the creaminess of the coffee added. But it’s quite the opposite. The Chai seems to stand out even more.