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Raspberry Zinger by Celestial Seasonings: How Raspberry Tea Should Taste!

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Peach Raspberry TeaIf you pride yourself on being a tea connoisseur (*raises hand*), then you probably have noticed something about raspberry tea: it’s either bizarre and artificial-tasting, or it’s blissful and awesome-tasting. It’s one of my personal obsessions, so it’s safe to say I’ve tried every raspberry tea known to tea lovers.

While raspberry tea can, at times, be hit or miss, Raspberry Zinger from Celestial Seasonings is a HIT (all caps).  Like bases-loaded, let’s-score-the-winning-run sort of hit.

My favorite thing about this tea is the tartness you can detect: nothing sugary, but a taste slightly sour, like it should be with a raspberry tea.

It tastes exactly how raspberry tea fanatics (*raises hand again*) want their tea to taste – sublime.

Raspberry Zinger is delicious both iced and hot, which surprises me because normally raspberry tea is something I only want on ice. This particular raspberry tea is out of this world either way.

The listed ingredients for the tea are hibiscus, rosehips, roasted chicory, orange peel, blackberry leaves, natural raspberry flavor with other natural flavors (contains soy lecithin), raspberries and raspberry leaves.  Just brew your bag in about 8 ounces of boiling (or near-boiling, in my case) water for around 5 minutes (4 to 6, the company says), and enjoy!

The Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger may be in the “new look” box you see pictured here or may show up in your store in its old school “raspberry-colored” box.

In addition to having one of the best Raspberry teas I’ve tried, Celestial Seasonings also has a Fruit Tea Variety Pack (raspberry, peach, wild berry, blueberry, and black cherry) I’m obsessed with – as in I never allow myself to even come close to running out. Each of the flavors is more delicious than words could describe.

One of my favorite teas in the world is pictured above. I make up a Raspberry Peach tea by brewing an equal number of peach and raspberry tea bags. When ready, I pour the tea over ice and add a couple of partially thawed peach slices. HEAVEN.

Celestial Seasonings Fruit Tea Sampler

Celestial Seasonings Fruit Tea Sampler

Lipton’s Bavarian Wild Berry Black Tea: Strong, Fruity, Rich

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I’ve been drinking a lot of “berry” teas lately…I think subconsciously I’m getting myself ready for the fruity tastes and smells of late spring and summer. 🙂 Most of the berry teas I’ve ever had have been herbal teas, without an actual “tea” basis, just brewed herbs and leaves with fruit flavoring. However, if you’re more into actual tea leaves, and a stronger taste, I’ve found the right berry tea for you: Lipton’s Bavarian Wild Berry Black Tea.

This is a flavored black tea made with pieces of real berries, packaged nicely in Lipton’s awesome little pyramid bags. (I love the pyramid bags – you can actually see the fruit pieces basically open up after steeping, and the smell and taste are much stronger.) Here’s the tea’s official ingredient list: Black tea, dried apple pieces, rose hip peel, chicory root, cinnamon bark, licorice root, modified corn starch, natural flavor, dried blackberry pieces, dried black currant pieces, ginger root, orange peel, dried blueberry pieces, dried raspberry pieces. That’s a lot of fruit pieces, people. The fruit never overwhelms the black tea though – the strong black tea is just as easy to taste as all of the wonderful fruit.

I haven’t tried the tea iced yet, but I’m guessing that like most teas, it tastes even better hot. I let my bag steep for 3-4 minutes in boiling water. Each bag has 80 mg of Flavonoids per serving (that’s a good thing), and 20 mg of caffeine per serving.

Final say: The tea smells fantastic, and tastes just as good – this one’s a must-try.

My 5 favorite hot teas this month…

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As you may know (scratch that, you better know), January is National Hot Tea Month. I’m not sure how that works in other countries – I would recommend that they celebrate hot tea this month as well, but no one’s asked my opinion. Yet.

Anyway, as a way of celebrating hot tea, I’ve listed my current favorite hot teas below…obviously I’m pretty much crazy about most hot teas, but these are the ones that I just…can’t…stop….DRINKING. 🙂

White Coconut Creme by Tea Gallerie (official website): I cannot, with my great talent at words and description, even begin to describe how good this tea is. It seriously is amazing, and decadent, and reminiscent of a moist coconut cake that my mom makes that is out of this world. Make 2012 the year that you do nice things for yourself, and start by buying some of this tea.

 

Mint Chocolate Delight by Boston Tea Company (official website): Another tea that is delicious beyond words. Reminds me of those tasty after-dinner chocolates you get at Olive Garden when you’re ready to pay. Seriously one of the best teas I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking.

 

Chocolate Hazelnut Decaf Tea by Stash Premium Teas (official website): This tea is so, so decadent. It’s like you’re drinking a fancy chocolate Starbucks latte, but without the calories or caffeine. There have been times when I’ve wanted something sweet to eat, but I’ve just brewed some of this tea instead. Less calories, and all of the taste.

 

Wild Sweet Orange Herbal Infusion by Tazo Teas (official website): This is one of my 5 favorite teas of ALL TIME, not just for the month. It’s also the only tea that I’ve been able to convince Dill (my soda-guzzling spouse) to drink, and he loves it. As in, drinks about 2 cups of it each night. Success!

 

Mint Medley Herb Tea by Bigelow Tea (official website): I’m a hussy for anything with mint in it, and this tea is no exception to my rule. It’s delicious and tastes wonderful hot. We all know how good the herb mint is for us, and it goes without saying that tea does a body good, so do the math, people…drink this tea. 🙂

Another awesome tea gift: the Tea Bag Buddy

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I told you all a few weeks ago that I received some fantastic tea gifts for Christmas and I showed you a picture of the Better Homes & Gardens teapot clock that I got. Here are some pictures of another adorable tea gift I received, a “Tea Bag Buddy” by Primula…

Basically, it’s your best friend on the days when you use tea bags instead of loose leaves. You can put it right on top of your mug to keep the tea warm and hold the bag’s string (so that it doesn’t fall into your hot tea, creating quite the awkward moment when you need to remove the bag)..

When you’re done steeping, you just pull the Tea Bag Buddy off the mug and use it to squeeze the excess tea out of the bag….

..and turn it over and set your wet bag on it and start drinking!

Yep. Definitely in love with this thing. And with my Wonder Woman mug, another Christmas present. Yeah, I racked up this year. 🙂

Tea Bag Buddy on Amazon, in 3 Great Colors:

Boston Tea Company’s Delightful Coconut Joy Black Tea

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A few things I’m loving right now: AMC’s “The Walking Dead”. Olive Garden. The Hunger Games. Zombie video games. My Green Bay Packers. Tim Tebow. Oh yeah, something else I’m enjoying the heck out of? Boston Tea Company. Because my two favorite teas right now are both from their company (Mint Chocolate Delight Green Tea and Coconut Joy Black Tea).

I’ve already reviewed the Mint Chocolate Tea, and now I have the honor of reviewing their Coconut Tea. As you can see from the images above, it’s a beautiful, beautiful thing. The smell alone makes this tea worth drinking – honestly, it smells like a wonderful, edible sort of suntan lotion or dessert. The taste won’t let you down either. The coconut taste is noticeable, but you never forget that this is indeed a black tea. The ingredients are Ceylon Black Tea, pieces of coconut, and natural coconut flavorings. I use boiling water (or right about to boil), and I let the leaves steep for 4-6 minutes for the best flavor. The leaves do infuse a very strong taste, so for a 8 oz. mug, I don’t use more than a teaspoon of the loose leaves.

If you’ve ever read a review of mine, you know that I pretty much always prefer hot tea to iced tea. However, this tea is one of the FEW that is honestly every bit as good iced as it is hot. Seriously, it’s good iced.

I have nothing bad to say about this tea: the aftertaste, the smell, the leaves, the taste – it’s all amazing. Awesome job, Boston Tea Company. Very happy tea drinker here. 🙂

Boston Tea Company’s Mint Chocolate Delight. Delightful, indeed.

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Houston, we have a new favorite tea.

Let’s face it, I’m pretty fan-girly when it comes to tea, especially green tea. In my completely unbiased opinion, it’s the greatest and most delicious thing in the galaxy. Well, it and cheesecake.

I have to confess, however, that at the moment one tea ranks above all others as my current favorite: Boston Tea Company’s Mint Chocolate Delight. It’s an amazing combination of premium Chinese green tea, mint flavor, and natural cocoa. If you’re a frequent Olive Garden diner like yours truly, you’ve probably tried their delicious afterdinner chocolate mints. This tea actually smells a little like those mints, but the flavor is still predominately “green tea with the subtle taste of chocolate”, not “hot chocolate tea”.

The company recommends using one teaspoon of leaves for every 8 oz. of hot water, but I use a little more because the tea doesn’t steep very strongly, and one teaspoon is a little thin for me. The company also suggests adding milk or lemon as desired, but I kind of forbid you from doing that…messing up this tea with anything extra would be downright criminal.

To purchase this tea for yourself or some other lucky person, visit Boston Tea Company’s official website here or follow them on Twitter here. You won’t be sorry. Enjoy!

Ahhhhh…I’m so very proud right now.

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This is Dill. Rumor has it we’re married. He’s always been amused by my tea obsession but never really drank any himself. Until….

I got him hooked on Tazo’s Wild Sweet Orange, which he requests almost every evening now and has even gotten two of his friends to try. (They love it too.) In fact, I’ve had four guys try hot tea here at our place, and they’ve all loved the Wild Sweet Orange the best. Take note, any of you gents a little leery of getting into the business of drinking tea: Tazo’s business is booming, at least in this apartment. 🙂

Lipton’s Island Mango and Peach White Tea

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Confession: I’m a sucker for any product that has “island” in the title. I pretty much live for my annual beach vacation, and those marketing people know where to hit suckers like me. But this tea could be called “XYZ Tea” and it would still be one of the best teas I’ve ever had. Seriously, Lipton’s Island Mango and Peach tea is good.

For starters, the tea comes in pyramid-shaped bags, which allows the leaves a lot more room to spread, allowing for a smooth, rich flavor to flow into the cup. The leaves are infused with actual pieces of fruit, which gives the tea a REAL fruit taste – something authentic – as opposed to the flat flavor found in a lot of “fruity teas”. The box comes with 18 of these bags, and each bag packs 75mg of flavonoids per oz. serving. Ahhh, the healthy deliciousness of this tea.

This is technically a white tea, although the ingredients also lists green tea, along with rose hips, lemon grass, orange leaves, and a few other natural ingredients. I always drink this tea hot – the scent is pretty killer – but it also makes a great iced tea.

This is one of my favorite teas and one that I always make sure is in my cabinet. I recommend it for anyone that loves white tea, green tea, fruit tea, herbal tea, orange or peach tea, healthy and nutritious drinks…or has a pulse. That means you, buddy.