Chi-Town Anglophile Send Message

I’m very sorry this was my last pyramid ‘bag’. I really like the green, not-quite-floral clean taste this has. It’s a light, clean bright tasting cup of white tea, with peach-to-nectarine notes. I drank it today to compare it to the other Lipton Peach Mango pyramid. This one is MUCH better, and I wish I could find it again. Maybe it’s in another part of the country, like the one I’m comparing it to is. Too bad this one isn’t here in the Chicago area. I would buy more of it again in a heartbeat!

This tea is good value for the money. Aldi sells it, it’s very nicely packaged (each bag is contained in its own clear cello packet), and the price for 20 bags is less than $1.30. The green tea is light, as is the lemon flavor. There’s a certain astringent quality to it (the ginseng?), but not too objectionable. I prefer using a bag of this to boost a mix of herbal teas together.

I just made a big pot with the last five bags I had. I see I stretched it out not to make it last, but because it wasn’t all that great by itself. Normally I would use it one or two bags at a time combined with other fruity or herbal teas, to make the flavor fuller. All by itself it seems lacking, like there should be more flavor than there is, even after long steeping. I get the flavor of red generic berries, rather than a crisp cranberry note. It’s neither sweet nor bitter—just sort of blah, really. I will say the flavor perked up more once I had added sugar. I liked it better than Teavana’s Sweet Cranberry Black, but that’s damning with faint praise. There are many teas better than this one, though it blends well with other teas.

I’m drinking through my old stores. Teavana’s stuff is pricey, so I tended to ‘save it for later’. Now I realize I wasn’t drinking it because it was too darned sweet and artificial-tasting. When I was a kid our doctor would give out a Charms (brand) lollipop for being a good patient. Teavana Sweet Cranberry Black tastes like that candy, as in way too sweet and artificial-tasting. Its cloying flavor was only masked when I mixed other teas with it. I’m not sorry Teavana discontinued this one.

This tea has been discontinued. I was just starting to get into chai when I discovered this one. I used to make a blended pot, combining this tea with a ‘sister’ blend, CS’ Vanilla Ginger Green Tea. I wanted a flavor which evened out the over-sweetness of this one; the other added more ‘kick’. Milk and honey were perfect in this. As with the other, I’m sorry it’s no longer available. But I’ll recommend it anyway.

Another tea that has been discontinued. I was just starting to get into chai when I discovered this one. I used to make a blended pot, combining this tea with a ‘sister’ blend, CS’ Honey Vanilla White Tea. I wanted less caffeine, and also a flavor which evened out the spikiness of this one, with its strong ginger surge at the end. I loved adding honey and milk to this. Sorry I can’t get it anymore. I’ll click the ‘recommend’, even though it’s no longer available.

Like others here, I was summoned to buy this tea by Merlin on its box. Alas, that was where the magic ended. This is a pedestrian tea. It’s not bad for evenings, due to lack of caffeine and mildness on the stomach. It steeps to a light brown, due no doubt to the chicory, which I couldn’t taste. I couldn’t really taste the cinnamon or orange peel, either. As much as I enjoy the wizardly art on the box, I don’t think I’ll be buying this one again.

I bought this for the cute-as-hell little red double-decker bus tin. I’m reviewing this from memory, so I don’t recall steeping time, temp, or those details, since it was probably a year and a half ago I finished the last bag. I do remember it wasn’t as strong a black tea as I generally like. Others have mentioned Assam, but I think there was more Ceylon, since my experience is Assam is a stronger black tea (and I LOVE Ahmad Barooti Assam). This was definitely more delicate, which is how I’ve experienced Ceylon teas. Likewise, I remember being surprised when reading the label that it was supposed to have bergamot in it, since it didn’t taste like Earl Grey to me at all. Still, it was a nicely civilized tea, clean with a smooth finish, and I did enjoy it, even if it seemed weak to me. (And while I don’t remember specific steeping times or temps, I do remember preparing it the way I usually would Assam, and it was nowhere near as strong.) And now I’ve got the cute tin!

Clean peach, nice perfume. This has a nicer perfume than the other peach or ginger peach teas I’ve tried. It’s a more natural peach flavor, too. Still, that gingery essence is also stronger than most ginger peach teas, and it hits the back of one’s throat. I enjoy this very much, but I like it best when combined in a pot with other peach teas; that mellows out the ginger (and heightens the peach of the other teas, as this one is better). One of the teas I always make sure I have on hand.

A very mellow tea. In general I like to make a blended pot of more than one peach flavored tea; it averages out any ‘lack’ or ‘over-do’ in flavorings. Today I thought I would rate this tea individually. The smell is peachier than the peach taste in the hot tea itself. I noticed the black tea flavor first, then a very muted peach flavor; I didn’t really taste the ginger. I found myself less impressed with this tea by itself, than when blended with other, lighter peach blends. Still, it’s very mellow, and it was enjoyable—just not as ‘ginger peachy’ (in the old slang way) as I had thought it was. I would still recommend it.