Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Teavana
Tea Description:
Well-balanced sweet and savory blend of tomato, lime, hibiscus, carrot and celery with a hint of chili heat finish. A modern twist on the brunch classic, this Bloody Mary inspired herbal tea is garden fresh and fabulously flavorful. Rich and sweet sun dried tomato, celery, beetroot, carrot, apple, plum and raisins get a quiet-heat and citrus kick from pieces of chili, lime, orange and cinnamon in this haute tea that is fashionably and refreshingly cool.
Ingredients:Apple pieces, tomato pieces, hibiscus blossoms, raisins, beetroot pieces, cinnamon, carrot pieces, natural and artificial flavoring, orange pieces, lime pieces, rose blossom leaves, plum pieces (plum, rice flour), celery pieces, chili pieces
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I know there area a lot of different opinions when it comes to Teavana. My general feelings are that I think they tend to cater to the fruitier and tarty/sweet flavored tastes more than anything. I have found most of the teas I have tried from Teavana to be TOO sweet and/or tarty for my liking but that hasn’t stopped me from trying some of their offerings at least once. I think the reason they are over flavored and sweet or tarty is because they over use Hibiscus which is something I don’t like. I’m not a big Hibiscus fan, overall.
Having said that…I wanted to try their Tomato Lime Cocktail Herbal Tea just because it sounded interesting. Again, I think they used too much hibiscus. BUT…looking around that…here’s what I thought about this tea from Teavana…it wasn’t bad. The aroma – once infused – was a combination of tomato soup and hibiscus. The color was a deep purple.
I don’t know if I would agree with the product description saying that this blend of flavors was well balanced due to the high tart flavor it has but I appreciate the ingredients they did use in this otherwise. Up front you can certainly taste the apple, tomato, and hibiscus. 2nd sip I noticed the carrot, orange, lime, and celery. It was the end sips that I noticed the plum/raisin notes. And in the after taste the chili and cinnamon were present.
I’m thinking they used the beetroot to enhance the color and not-so-much the flavor. And I have no idea why they added rose blossom leaves in there…maybe for the look of the dry blend to the eye, maybe.
I wasn’t happy with this when I was sipping on it SUPER HOT…only because of my dislike of Hibiscus…it was just way too tart for a hot tea (for me). After letting it cool for about 7 minutes I enjoyed it much better. I also think at a little warmer than ‘luke warm’ makes this cup fairly tasty! Overall – I think this was a good flavor attempt and offering by Teavana. I did like that hint of spicy kick at the end of the sip, too. I liked that it didn’t get too out of hand – as well. The company did do several things RIGHT with this combination of flavors – I just wish they would pull back on that hibiscus!
I’m fairly certain that another company could use less hibiscus and pair it with a black tea base or maybe even a green and create something really amazing! But if you are into really unique flavors and offerings and want to try something off the wall – try this one!
Almond Cookie by Joy’s Teaspoon
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Tisane
Where to Buy: Joy’s Teaspoon
Tea Description:
It is a taste experience unlike any other! Pairing sweet apple and beetroot pieces, this tea once brewed has a red color nuance. The flavor note is determined by tempting, sweet, roasted, caramelized almonds. Our tip: simply try it and…enjoy! For a perfect taste impact, brew for a full 10 minutes. Naturally caffeine free.
Ingredients: apple pieces, planed and crushed almonds, cinnamon pieces, beetroot pieces, flavoring.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I simply love a good almond cookie, however when it comes to almond cookies I tend to be very particular! The flavor has to be just so. I blame it on a small Asian restaurant my family would go to when I was young. They had the best almond cookies ever. Then again I was very young so what did I know. However to this day I always try to find that elusive almond cookie flavor when I pick up almond cookies at the store, or have a chance to have one from a restaurant. Until now, I can’t say anything has truly touched upon that flavor from days gone by.
This tea is my secret sin! I can’t get enough of it yet I tend to hide it away for those “me times” when I want to just slump back and savor every drop of sweet almond goodness.
Who would have thought that I would find my perfect cookie in a tea? Not only have I found my favorite cookie but with that a piece of my childhood, a good memory.
This tea smells so sinful when you open the bag. While steeping, like you are in the middle of a sweet cinnamon and sugar dream. I think perhaps the one ingredient other almond cookies lacked was the cinnamon. Its absolutely not a harsh cinnamon, I don’t even care for cinnamon in tea, and while I realize that cinnamon is not mentioned in the ingredient list given by Joy’s Teaspoon, I taste it. I don’t know if it is real cinnamon or cassia which is usually what you buy in a grocery store, a cinnamon knock off, but it is so delectable and in just the right dose.
It requires absolutely no milk and no sugar. It is quite perfectly sweet yet balanced all on its own. Usually I don’t use additives unless it is a “desert” type tea like this one and often I find you almost have to add a little sugar and or milk to help nudge the sweetness slightly over the edge to perfection but Almond Cookie is already right there!
The apple is fresh, crisp, and pairs wonderfully with the cinnamon giving it just a smidgen of a cider taste. I absolutely taste the caramelized almonds as I use them frequently in salad dishes I make at home. Now as for beetroot, I won’t even pretend to know what that should taste like but if it concerns you, don’t let it. I should google beetroot to find out what it is – something like rhubarb perhaps, root of beets I assume, I don’t even like beets, I detest them, they taste like dirt to me, but in order to end this run on sentence let me just say this tea tastes nothing of beet, beet root, or dirt.
Each ingredient is discernible if you sit back and try to detect each and every one of them, they are there, to be found. However this tea is meant to be simply enjoyed in my opinion. It is far more fun to just let the tea speak to you as a wondrous blend rather than sleuthing each element out. Granted tea reviews often tend to pick a tea apart looking for what makes a tea so scrumptious but as for this one, I am just going to enjoy the bliss that it is – melding in such unison, with such grace, that you won’t be able to determine the cider like flavor from the caramel almond flavor, from the apple itself, or that beetroot, it just blends so beautifully that it becomes the almond cookie to end all almond cookies!
