momo Send Message

Looks super pretty, but kind of like potpourri.

Tastes exactly like you might imagine steeped potpourri water would taste.

Teavana Champagne Sangria Punch + Cranberry Singapore Sling

I was clothes shopping on Tuesday and the mall was a fruitless endeavor other than tea buying…thank god for my 30% discount cause that sales associate overpoured my 3 teas for a total of 1.7 oz in excess. SERIOUSLY?

I came really just for Champagne Sangria Punch but then the two of us realized we had similar tastes and that’s how I ended up with three teas. It was funny because I said “it’s a new tea” and he’s like “passion berry!” “oh no, I am well aware of Passion Berry…I bought a tin on the day it was in my Starbucks.” Well he had already gotten a tin of it from Starbucks too – and I was about 12 miles from home where they don’t have Teavana in their stores yet so that was too funny…in fact he already finished his tin and had it with him to refill. SO YEAH you guys, Passion Berry is here and you need it http://www.teavana.com/the-teas/herbal-teas/p/passion-berry-herbal-tea

So this combination is pretty tart. But when I smelled Champagne Sangria Punch it reminded me of Cranberry Singapore Sling. Combined it’s pretty fruity, very much like fruit punch but with a little rooibos and a little black tea. I can get the sangria in here but not really the champagne.

This is like my first time making tea in a week it’s so sad.

this is two entries in one because I can

I call it: a story of hibiscus – or why do I keep drinking pink things even when no hibiscus is involved?: an autobiography

Teavana Very Berry White + Berry Kiwi Colada
so I went to Teavana just for this berry kiwi one, smelled it, loved it, and then the associate’s like “we have a sample on the floor” (THEY CHANGE THEM OUT?? what) and it was with very berry white, and it was amazingly good so I got 2 oz of both because I just found out I can get a 30% discount at Teavana.

then I came home and had some immediately, which I sweetened with some sugar I own for whatever reason. I probably used way too much because it was more berry than anything and I could taste the coconut prior to this. Instead I had hibiscus with some berry. That’s ok. This is a heavy mixture and it’s not going to take much to run out.

I also ended up just like room temp steeping the rest while I finished the first glass. That one worked a bit better.

Then yesterday I did Raspberry Riot Lemon Mate + Peachberry Jasmine Sutra which turned into an even worse hibiscusy mess but I couldn’t for the life of me remember which tea I liked mixing w/Raspberry Riot. OH WELL.

by the way if you like the tea/lemonade mixture at Starbucks I recommend sweetening it with raspberry, I am so addicted. I do the black tea but I was talking w/another barista who does it with passion tea. I also do half the pumps because otherwise it just tastes like raspberry and insulin resistance. And a cute guy gave me it for free today downtown FIST PUMP.

This tea is comparable to Tazo Zen except that it tastes way better. Whenever people get sad when I tell them we don’t have Tazo, we have Teavana I am all oh wait till you taste it, trust me here. There’s this one guy who would get China Green Tips every morning and he’s now exploring other teas haha. He had joked to me he was going to Caribou when I told him on Monday it was the last day for Tazo.

So I think this is pretty much the last of the bunch that I’ve never had previously, I had opened it so someone who had wanted to order Zen could smell it and she ended up going w/a different tea so I decided not to let it go to waste.

It’s definitely lemongrass in here. No doubt about that. I can only taste mint at the end of the sip, it lingers on my tongue even after just having the usual cooling sensation. Also can I say how much I love that it’s not just green tea, it’s identified as Chun Mee? Yes.

I don’t care for it overall, just because it’s too much lemongrass for my tastes. At least it hasn’t reached that fruit cereal flavor like I sometimes get when there’s too much. I’m guessing that’s the benefit of mixing lemon verbena in there too.

So I ended up buying a tin of this later on so I could take advantage of double stars. Fun things to note: the tin is really nice, I didn’t think it would be like their regular tins but it indeed is. It came sealed in a bag in the tin, complete with an expiration date on the bag of 2/15 (one year eh?). I also thought it didn’t look like 2 oz so I weighed it in the bag, then I weighed the bag again after I emptied it…there was 2.11 oz in the bag! How exciting.

For some reason it’s much more tart than the stuff I had this morning. I think I probably used a lot more tea though. I’ve kind of lost the little hint of cinnamon that really made it enjoyable.

If they ever start allowing us to mark out these teas I am in trouble.

I’ll add the actual description on Friday when I go to work again. This is one of the new Starbucks specific teas, meant to replace Passion — the iced tea is safe btw but I kind of wish it wasn’t, this is WAY better than Passion!

I put one sachet in about 6 oz of water and let it sit until my break. Then I poured it over ice. It’s a lot more reminiscent of Kanpe from DavidsTea than Tazo Passion. It’s less hibiscusy, and more fruity, with some other fruits in there, plus just a hint of cinnamon. It’s not too strong though, for me that’s where Kanpe fails.

I’m trying not to buy a tin of this but at $6.30 for a 2 oz tin with my discount I don’t think I can resist. I can reward myself for writing a paper right? I’m probably going to go to the Starbucks by home to finish up my paper later since I can’t bring myself to write it at home, and now I associate Starbucks with getting things done. I went to one yesterday and wrote 2 entire pages in just about an hour.

Yeah so I haven’t been drinking tea AT ALL, I just don’t care to even look at cups when I’m not at work even on days off. I just drink water. And beer.

Then, well, things are kind of changing at work. We were all presented with PerfecTea makers the other night. As of today, there are 12 Starbucks with Teavana PYRAMID SACHETS. No more Tazo. I haven’t gotten to see them yet so I’m kind of excited to go to work tomorrow. It’s kind of funny to get the tea maker, it’s honestly just sort of what I needed to get me drinking tea again because it’s such a piece of cake if I want iced tea. I gave my knock-off version to my mom awhile ago but I always use it when I visit. I’m so glad to have one again.

So I don’t think I’ve ever had an actual mint julep but I am familiar with bourbon. I do also get that kind of champagne-like flavor in here. I don’t mind it, I quite like champagne. I can taste every aspect of this tea, strawberry, spearmint, finished with bourbon.

Definitely very cocktail-like, and it makes me sad I didn’t try it sooner because it is an awesome iced tea. And after so many consecutive nights of drinking last week it’s quite nice to get the flavors of alcohol without drinking any. It’s so refreshing and the flavors are so good. I just guess maybe I wish it wasn’t white tea, but perhaps that really has more to do with the fact I want more than what I have.

Someone texted me around 1pm about switching shifts at work tomorrow so now I don’t have to open 5 days in a row! I think maybe people felt bad for me. I really was scheduled for 3 in a row but took on two more to help people out so they could go visit family.

Also it just got randomly cold here, like I had to wear a hoodie to work (and should have yesterday) and just now when I went outside again. I took a nap in a fuzzy blanket and didn’t get all sweaty. It’s crazy. So now I can have tea to warm myself up early!

I’ve been wanting to give this one another shot and I finally did. A lower temperature REALLY helped out here. I heated my water to 190 and steeped for 3 minutes. It was supposed to be 2 1/2 but I got distracted, but 3 has worked perfectly.

I mostly taste maple syrup, cinnamon, and butter. I know I was missing butter last time. Not really getting too much toast still but I definitely like it how it is! If this one hasn’t worked for you, try a lower temp!

Oh man this was worth the wait. As soon as the hot water hit the dry leaf the smell was AHHHMAZING.

I added just a little milk and had it iced. I think I’m gonna cut the time by 15-30 seconds next time though. The black tea got just a tad harsh for the delicious flavors of root beer. Maybe a touch of sugar too, to make it really decadent. But I guess doing that is more of an after dinner drink than one you have with dinner!

Lately the only root beer I have had has been “chai inspired” and it’s a nice change of pace to have a root beer tea, it’s actually very different. I also like how the marshmallow root gave the flavor and scent of ice cream to the tea.

I had tried to hold off on this one and I’m glad I failed even though again I am in this horrible I need money spot. I wish school would start already. Feels weird to say that. I also took too long to get stuff done and now I don’t even know when my school will approve my federal aid. I’m trying to see how much I get before I apply for my private loan but I already got turned down for one and I’m feeling really depressed about money.

Additionally I haven’t felt like tea lately because I get so much coffee at work. And I really want to narrow down my teas a lot, but this time I want to do it differently. For $27, I’ll fill up a priority mail medium flat rate box of teas for you. If you’re interested, send me a PM. It’d be easier if I just filled a box than go through everything making wishy washy decisions. It’ll only be in the US though because shipping that box to Canada is like $40 alone. And honestly I just don’t want to look at drinks anymore and I don’t want to waste this tea so I want it to go to a good home. I’m just not feeling much of anything anymore I guess, except oddly now I keep drinking coffee but I’m sure that’s the result of being in the midst of having more opening hours at work than even the manager! Ugh my body hurts.

This is freaking delicious but when on sale, a half gallon of Simply Orange with mango or pineapple is cheaper. As in, HALF the price. And that’s exactly what this tastes like, just with less body and a weird alcoholic drink aftertaste.

50g, $6.75, got me about 5 tbsp of tea. Nowhere near enough to do a double strength steep for a 2 qt pitcher of iced tea, and the big orange slices made me apprehensive about cold steeping because I didn’t want the peels to make this bitter. So I just dumped it all in a pyrex cup and let it sit for a long time and sort of cool before I diluted it with water.

I would probably prefer it stronger, but already at almost 85 cents a cup I wouldn’t ever get this again. What a rip off, I regret ever buying it. (Ugh and just think if I double strength steeped it for a liter pitcher it would be $1.70 a cup!!!! I could have a cup of tea 3x larger at that price at work!)