I received this tea as part of my Steeped Tea starter kit. I was intrigued by the name...After Eight, like an After Eight dinner mint. I like dinner mints! So, I gave this one a whirl.
I steeped it for 3 minutes at 200 degrees. I sweetened it a bit with some rock sugar. Verdict: WOW. It really does taste like an after-dinner mint! I've been drinking a lot of this stuff ever since, and this is one of those teas that I need to make sure that I always keep on hand. I have started adding a touch of sweetened condensed milk for some creaminess, and it's delicious that way. This tea is a must-try if you like minty things.
Rating:
5/5 stars
Buy this tea here:
After Eight
Price: $7.50/1.76 oz
My first introduction to this tea was the Passion Tea Lemonade that Starbucks used to serve in the days prior to the company acquiring Teavana. I remember the drink being just the right amount of tart, and refreshing. So when I saw the Tazo Passion tea in the store, I decided to buy it to try on it's own.
Big mistake.
First of all, it's supposed to have a passionfruit flavor. I don't taste it at all. All I taste is tart hibiscus, and if that wasn't enough, there's added citric acid to make it even more tart. It's so tart that I doubled my usual amount of sugar, and it was still too tart. So I added more sugar...still not drinkable. I might keep it around to try to blend with other teas, but I honestly think that I can find much better teas to blend with more subtle teas.
Just...gross.
Rating:
1/5 stars
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Passion
Price: $2.98/box of 20 bags
Price: $2.98/20 bags
On my most recent trip to Teavana, this particular tea caught my eye. I love dragonfruit, though it is a subtly flavored fruit, and I wondered how it would work in a tea. The aroma of the dried leaves from the can was sweet and tropical. I smelled notes of mango and lemongrass along with the dragonfruit.
I decided to brew this up strong for a pitcher of it iced. At first, I didn't like it. The tartness of the hibiscus was all I could taste, but after a few more sips, it grew on me and I could taste more of the dragonfruit flavor. I don't love it, but I no longer hate it like I did at first.
Rating:
2/5 stars
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Dragonfruit Devotion
Price: $7.98/2 oz
I have been drinking this tea periodically for years. I’m not the hugest fan of black teas, but the aroma of this tea is inviting. I love blackberry, and the tartness of the blackberry and the grassiness of the sage bring out the tannins in the tea without it becoming too bitter (unless you oversteep, of course). This is one of the few teas that I just do not enjoy iced. I always drink it hot. It becomes a bit more bitter when iced.
I steeped 1.5 teaspoons of it in 200 degree water for 3 minutes. I added a teaspoon of sugar to sweeten it up a bit.
I do have this tea in loose-leaf, which is a little harder to find than the tea sachets. The good thing about Republic of Tea is that their teas taste pretty consistent between loose-leaf and sachets, so it's all a matter of preference or convenience.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Price: $10.00/3.5 oz loose-leaf
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Blackberry Sage
I am one of those people that loves the flavor of elderberries. I was excited to sample this tea, which consists mostly of elderberries and grapes (raisins) and manages to have a fresh, fall berry taste. I usually prefer to drink berry flavored herbal teas cold, but I sampled this one hot and it was lovely.
If you're looking for a berry herbal tea but are tired of the usual strawberry or cranberry heavy teas, this is definitely one to try. In my opinion,it's also more of a fall berry flavor, rather than the usual spring and summer berries.
Rating:
4/5 stars
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Berry Mania
Price: $8.00/1.76 oz
This is another one of those grocery store herbal teas that I actually really like. It has a strong peachy flavor, but unfortunately some of that flavor is artificial. Also, like a lot of cheaper fruit teas tend to do, they use hibiscus to add a tangy flavor. Aside from all of that, it's peachy and refreshing. This tea is great blended with a non-flavored green tea for the flavor punch while getting the health benefits from green tea.
Rating:
3/5 stars
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Perfect Peach
Price: $17.75/6 box case, 20 teabags per box
This tea had potential,but it didn't quite live up to it.
As the name implies, this tea is full of wonderful, fruity aromas, however, the peach, papaya and apples that lend their sweet, tropical notes to the brewing fragrance, but the flavor falls a little short. That said, I have found that the notes come out a bit brighter if it is cold steeped for several hours.
This is not a bad tea at all, just a little disappointing. One great quality of it is that it blends well with other fruity teas.
Rating:
3/5 stars
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Fruta Bomba
Price: $6.98/2 oz
It actually got chilly the other night (only briefly, it's back in the 90s again today), so I thought that would be the perfect time to try the Winter Sangria herbal tea from Steeped. All I can say is WOW! I love this stuff. It's like the best of all winter drinks combined...hot apple cider, wassail, holiday punch...all of it.
The predominant flavors are apple and cinnamon, but there are also hints of tropical and citrus fruits, and a nuttiness from the almonds. This tea is great hot or cold, and makes a great mulled wine type drink by steeping it in wine. I will be sharing this drink with all of my friends this holiday season. Fantastic!
Rating:
5/5 stars
Buy this tea here:
Winter Sangria
Price: $9.50/1.76 oz.
If you have never had a yerba mate drink, it seems a little closer to coffee in flavor than most other teas. In fact, it's a good introduction to tea for coffee drinkers, even though it is not a true tea.
This Yerba Mate Latte from Republic of Tea is what I like to drink when I'm craving a coffee drink, but I don't want the heartburn that coffee gives me. There is a creaminess to this tea, and a subtle chocolate and almond aroma. With milk or milk substitute, it tastes just like a coffeehouse latte.
This was one of my first introductions to tea, and it's one that I always go to. Try this if you are a latte fiend looking for something a little different.
Rating:
4/5 stars
Buy this tea here:
Yerba Mate Latte
Price: $10.75/3.5 oz tin
I had high hopes for this tea. It smells divine, both dry and while steeping. But it really is all smell.
The aroma is what you'd guess, a creamy strawberry fragrance, reminiscent of strawberry ice cream or strawberries and whipped cream. But both the strawberry flavor and creamy flavor ar absent in the brewed tea. Instead, there is a strong tart flavor of hibiscus, and not much else. It becomes a little more palatable with some sugar and vanilla almond milk, but it still doesn't taste nearly as good as I had hoped. The tart hibiscus makes it taste like a green, unripe strawberry, instead of a sweet and ripe one. Since the tea leaves still smell good, maybe I'll use this one as a potpourri.
Rating:
2/5 stars
This tea is no longer available from Teavana.
