Think of the song by the singers Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias “To all the girls I’ve loved before” as you hum along.

To all the teas I’ve drank before
Who left me always wanting more
I’m glad they came along
I dedicate this blog
To all the teas I’ve drank before
To all the teas I once poured
And may I say I’ve drank the best
India, China, Kenya, or Japan wherever you grow
I drink a lot I know
To all the teas I’ve drank before
The tea timers are always ticking
And every time I steep
The tea timer starts to beep
And the tea is ready to drink right away
To all the teas I’ve drank before
Who left me always wanting more
I’m glad they came along
I dedicate this blog
To all the teas I’ve drank before

If you made it this far….I apologize, just a little tea humor.

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This tea has a true “wow” factor to it. I often talk about teas that have lots of character. Unique characteristics are what make tea special. This tea has several characteristics that makes it very interesting and fun to drink. It starts with the name…Tie Guan Yin was named after a Buddhist Saint – Guan Yin.

Just4tea.com was founded by June Lau. Her family has been in the tea industry for three generations. June’s father and brother actually roasted this Tie Guan Yin. So many online tea stores all sell the same tea. In this case, you actually get a tea that is uniquely made by a family with 3 generations of experience. If you’ve never had tea that goes through a roasting process, you are really missing out. The nutty and lightly-smoked aroma that is created by the roasting of the Oolong takes the tea to a whole new level.

Just4Tea.com describes the tea as follows:

Semi-fermented and grown in the Wuyi Mountains in the Fujian province of China. Tie Guan Yin undergoes a longer fermentation period than ordinary Oolongs and is blended and roasted using our traditional Chaozhou family recipe. It delivers deep flavor, with an intense, floral and nutty aroma and a fruity finish. When steeped in boiling water the crinkly balls unfurl, revealing green-brown, lace-edged leaves.

As you sip this tea, you’ll swear you taste everything from chocolate to sweet fruit all floating atop a deliciously roasted Oolong. This tea is perfect for the cold winter months. It warms your senses as well as your body. So, I highly recommend buying this tea and trying to figure out all the various flavors your tongue will pick up on as you drink this tea. I followed the basic brewing instructions of a quick tea leaf wash (10 second steeping), followed by a 2 to 3 minute steeping time in boiling water.

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If you’ve ever been to a Starbucks, you’ve probably seen Tazo tea products. Tazo is obviously a very popular tea brand. Their affiliation with Starbucks certainly helps to further their cause. Their marketing is very stylish and their website uses a lot of Flash that helps to expand their appeal to young tea drinkers. I’ve been drinking a product of Tazo’s called Awake. This is a black tea that comes in a ‘filterbag’, and it can be purchased at most local grocery stores.

Tazo describes Awake as: A breakfast tea of character and depth, invigorating any time of the day. This eye-opening black tea blend has a full, rich flavor, with hints of dark caramel, malt and black cherries. Perfect with milk.

All in all, this is a very average bagged tea product. It’s not bad by any stretch. However, it’s missing that extra quality that could make it an excellent bagged tea. It is a very smooth and bold black tea. I taste more of an Assam and Ceylon black tea flavor in this blend. The blend is said to contain black teas from Kenya, Sri Lanka, and India. None of the noted tea producers really shine in this blend. If you enjoy bagged teas and you are looking for something with a little pick-me-up, this could be a good tea for you to try.

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Oolong (semi-oxidized tea) is often overlooked by tea consumers. With all the hype surrounding green and white teas and black tea (bagged tea) stealing the spotlight for several decades in the U.S., Oolong has been on the sideline. Oolong gives many tea drinkers the best of both worlds because it lacks the strong grassy flavor of some green teas, and it’s not as bold as many black teas. The Oolong I’m drinking today comes from the Fujian Province of China. Oolong is a traditional Chinese tea, but it is now consumed all over the world.

Oolong has a very fresh scent to it. If you could assign a scent to “health” it would smell something like Oolong. The aroma from the dried tea is almost intoxicating. As I try to describe it, I can’t stop enjoying it. For those of you that read my blog regarding Jasmine Pearl and thought the jasmine flavoring did not sound appealing to you, this Oolong should be perfect for you. It’s very natural – as tea should be.

Just4Tea.com describes the tea as:

Lightly fermented and grown in the Wuyi Mountains in the Fujian province of China. The amber liquor yields an aroma that is gentle, smooth, and refreshingly light. The flavor has a mellow and sweet finish that will please your palate.

I often disagree with descriptions provided by the seller of the tea, but this one is right-on-the-money.

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If you are in the mood for a truly delightful tea, try Just4Tea’s Jasmine Pearl tea. Just4tea.com describes the tea as:

Made by stacking up alternating layers of premium Oolong tea from Fujiang province and Jasmine petals. This scenting process is repeated multiple times. After the scenting process, the tea is then rolled to pearl-shaped balls, which gives the tea its name. It delivers a unique flowery scent with a fresh green tea flavor.

I love drinking this tea. It’s very relaxing to me. I can’t decide what I like best, the scent or the flavor. Regardless, the combination of the scent and flavor makes for a perfect cup of tea. As I take a sip, my senses are awakened and the stress literally disappears. Jasmine Pearl Oolong has so many attributes that makes it worthy of your attention. The round shape gives it a unique characteristic and adds a fun factor to the steeping process. The jasmine flavor takes the oolong to another level. There’s one catch to this loose leaf tea, you have to like jasmine flavoring. I typically do not like floral scented or flavored – anything. However, this tea in my opinion is perfectly balanced. So, the floral flavor is welcomed and not “in your face” dominant.

After you purchase the tea, experiment with the steeping process. You’ll be surprised how much tea you get out of the pearls. They unfurl as they steep. I don’t want you to waste the tea – you’ll get a feel for it after the first steeping. It’s recommended that you use 2 teaspoons of jasmine pearl with 180 degree water for 3-4 minutes for an 8 ounce cup of tea. The oolong tea is from the Fujian Province, China.

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Let me start by saying caffeine gets a bad rap. Now that I got that out of the way, I have a festive decaffeinated tea that I’d like to share with you. It’s a pumpkin spice flavored black tea offered by Stash Tea. I’ll admit it right now, I don’t eat a lot during the main course of Thanksgiving dinner so I can eat a lot of pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin spice flavored desserts.  So, the timing is right for me to enjoy this tea. I guess since sleep is important for our well-being, I’ll tone it down a bit and enjoy a few cups of decaffeinated tea this week. First off, the decaf pumpkin spice tea reminds of a lighter version of the Holiday Chai tea I blogged about a few weeks ago from Stash. The pumpkin spice tea is not as flavorful, but it certainly has a pumpkin spice flavor to it as suggested by its name.

The main ingredients: Naturally decaffeinated black tea, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, natural pumpkin spice flavor, and clove.

The scent of the tea in the tea bag does remind me of a a household cleaner. The dried scent is very strong. That said, I took the suggestion on the box and added a bit of sugar and milk to the tea after it brewed in 200 degree water for about 3 minutes. The overall experience of the tea when you combine the brewed scent with the flavor is average for this variety of tea. This tea is far from my favorite, but if you have to watch your caffeine intake, this is a flavorful choice around the holidays. You’ll need to try it for yourself. If you don’t mind the scent, you’ll probably love the tea. This is one of those teas that you’ll either like or dislike.

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The summer is gone, but I still had to try this ready-to-drink Rooibos (Red Tea) Snapple product. I like mandarin and tangerine flavored beverages, so I thought I’d see how the flavors would mix with Rooibos. As I expected this beverage is very “juice” like. That said, I could pickup the Rooibos flavor. It was faint, but I could detect a hint of Rooibos. There’s no doubt this beverage is very flavorful, but you’re not going to get a heavy dose of Rooibos from this product. Snapple’s Red Tea products are all about fun. They are flavorful and refreshing. Unfortunately, they lose a lot of points for me because they don’t do Rooibos justice. I do recommend trying it for yourself. The 17.5 ounce bottle contains about 7g of sugar.

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If you are trying to cut the calories during the holidays, and you like the flavor of chai lattes, here’s a great option for you. The chai tea latte is based off of the same-delicious ingredients as Oregon Chai’s original chai tea latte; however, it is sugar-free. If you look at the nutritional facts on the side of the box, you’ll see all zeros. Now, it still has a very sweet flavor to it. It’s flavored with Sucralose (Splenda-like). I’m not going to say this is better than the sweetened version of the product, but it was delicious and you don’t have to worry about the extra calories. I’m not a big Splenda fan. That said, it didn’t bother me too much in this product. If you’re comfortable with Sucralose, you’ll love this product. It’s a great way to start the day. I like it when I come in from the bitter cold. It’s a great warm-up beverage. Just like the other chai tea concentrates I’ve blogged about from Oregon Chai, you simply mix half of the concentrate with half of your favorite milk or milk substitute product. Stir it, heat it, and stir it. That’s it. You’ll have an instant treat.

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