Caraway Tea Company

Sipdown! 275/365!

The tea I mixed with the last of Raspberry Pineapple Luau from Teavana. It probably mostly contributed the base green tea, but together they made an okay combination for a sweetened iced tea!

Ah. I had a feeling I hadn’t reviewed this, as there was more left in the baggie than with Strawberry Orchid. Whichever tea it was (I think it’s the one I just had a sip of, since it seems to have more of the characteristic cherry flavour I’m used to), it’s not bad for a flavoured green, with a decent sencha base that’s a bit grassy and mariney, but not unpleasant. A decent tea, but I’m keen on neither the flavouring nor the base, so it’s going to be iced up along with Strawberry Orchid.

Backlog:

The aroma of the brewed tea is quite lovely.

I can’t say that I’ve tasted a lot of currant flavored white teas. I’ve had many currant flavored black teas, but not so many white or even green teas flavored with currant. I really like this combination though. The crisp, sweet flavor of the white tea is nicely paired with the sweet-tart flavor of currant. It’s a really nice flavor combination.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/20/white-currant-tea-from-caraway-tea/

It’s a tasty tea – I’d be happy to drink this again.

Backlog:

Thank you Azzrian for sending me some of this blend. I really enjoyed this. I don’t know that what I’m tasted was necessarily “Tea and Cookies” but, I liked the flavors of spice in this blend. A nice black tea base to this, a lot of delicious, warm spices … and what it evokes for me is the thought of holiday time when there’s a lot of baking happening in the kitchen … the smells and the tastes from the kitchen during that time of year. The idea of tea and cookies is not too far fetched here, it just doesn’t taste specifically of tea and cookies … it just sort of evokes those memories.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/04/21/tea-cookies-flavored-black-tea-from-caraway-tea-company/

This from the Momo box! And Yay Steepster is back!

My sister put this in my pitcher steeper this morning when she finished off the Jasmine tea that was in there yesterday- I have trained her well! ;-)

It starts out with the taste of the base, which is pleasantly buttery and light. The raspberry is next and although it is bright and tangy like a real berry, there is a slight artificiality. It doesn’t take too much away from the flavor. At least it doesn’t taste like bubble gum! Also there is a warm, flowery element, which I’m starting to identify with safflower.

After a while the tea leaves me with a dry mouth. The tang of the berries grows and grows until it eventually leaves a bitter build up in the mouth, so I started to not like the taste toward the end of the bottle of it I had. If I had had just a small cup, I would have liked it the entire time, but the build-up was just too much in a 12oz size.

From the Momo box!

This is quite yummy as a cold brew. This is a nice creamy rooibos and the orange flavoring tastes just like a creamsicle

I had this last night after opening the package of teas I bought from Momo. I’ve been curious to try some more roobois blends. The base in this reminds me of the base in the blackberry roobois which I have fom Argo teas. It’s earthy, bold, and has the slightly menthol taste I’ve been picking up in quality rooibos blends.
The flavoring in this was ok. It was reminiscent of a creamsicle, but was not quite as smooth or or creamy as I would hope. I knew it would probably be a little artificial tasting, but the strong flavor of the rooibos helped hid a little of that. I’m glad I got to try this, but probably not something I’d buy again.

I am probably just going to toss all the teas I have from this company. They are so terrible. They are so overly flavored that it’s absolutely disgusting. Every single one I have tried has been so artificial. This wouldn’t be bad if it didn’t taste like that. I even purposely steeped this short to not get the taste of rooibos, and I had hoped maybe it would stave off that problem at the same time, but it did not.

And I think there’s still two I haven’t tried. Ughhhh.

I decided to give it a shot cold and it was even worse. Another one to toss. Unless someone actually wants this? I can’t imagine.

I’ve been kind of scared to try these Caraway teas I’ve been holding onto for ages. Might as well finish them right?

This actually isn’t too bad. I think if I had steeped it any longer, like the four minutes recommended on the bag, it would be horrible.

It’s basically just a black currant black tea. It seems like it’s on the brink of tasting really artificial. As it cools though it becomes a lot more tolerable, so this might be better cold brewed.

Which I might just do since it’s going to be 74 tomorrow…why!

Jaguar of course gave us a bag of swag and one of the things is a baller travel mug, which excites me so much because I hate the one I have. I can’t wait to use it but that isn’t going to happen soon :( My favorite thing though is this: it looks like the remote entry fob but it’s a flash drive! https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/381697_4131887984519_1099186710_n.jpg I of course attached it to the key for my car worth about 20x less than my favorite car today LOL

This is day four of abstaining from caffeine AND sugar, which is really limiting my choices of tea, and a lot of other things. As a black tea-lover with a bit of a sweet tooth, this (religious) act (which will continue for another 3 days) has left me very tired. It’s a little crazy to see how much caffeine and sugar I consume on a regular basis.

So thank goodness for this new-to-me tea. I believe this came from tattooed_tea – so thank you!

The dry tisane smells very sweet – almost vanilla-y and orange-y. Steeped, it’s not as sweet as it smells, but its still pretty good for an unsweetened tea. Good for morning as an orange juice alternative. Probably not something I’ll keep in the tea cupboard, but very enjoyable right now.

Thanks, Azzrian!

This is okay, I’ve not been trying any of the rest of my Caraway flavored teas because I just don’t like the way they taste. I’ve been steeping it as I drink it cold, and when I do get the cherry flavor it tastes very artificial. At least it’s actually cherry and not like cough medicine, but it just has an artificial aftertaste to it.

The black tea itself is pretty good though, it’s actually quite sweet on its own. Maybe that’s actually the flavoring playing into it slightly, which would be fine because it needs an appearance somewhere.

I didn’t get any of this when I ordered from Caraway because it says almond in the description…yet it’s not an ingredient. Whaaaatever. And like Kittenna said, it’s pretty clear just from the picture this isn’t just cherry, kiwi, and coconut.

This is a lot like my beloved Cherry Kiwi Coconut, but it seems like it requires more to make a cup. I think possibly it tastes like there are more apple pieces to it also.

At least there is something to go to when I’m out of that one. I probably should have just used the whole sample to make the iced tea cup of this but I was going by the other tea’s standards. Still eerily close though.

It’s mostly a watered down tart apple cherry juice taste, but it’s so close to that Mahamosa tea….just about the same price too. Weird.

Thanks, Azzrian!

…where’s the chocolate? There is no chocolate. I have one chocolate chip in my entire sample bag. I do have some cacao nibs so I threw them in with some agave to counteract their bitterness…so there’s that.

Before adding more chocolate (or really any at all) this did taste like a decent Ceylon, so that’s a positive. And with the cacao nibs, it’s not bad. Also, it’s making them a lot easier to eat which is probably not a good thing. I can tell there was added flavoring too but it didn’t do much.

So this wasn’t much of a winner but with cacao nibs it’s vastly improved and I’ll definitely finish the sample bag.

I love love love yuzu, and it’s pretty easy to find in NYC. I use it in cooking a lot, so it was kind of a surprise when I found out how uncommon it is in the rest of the US. It’s often equated to lemon, but yuzu is a citrus unto itself with no real flavor to equate it to. I suppose lemon + mandarin orange would be more accurate, but it still doesn’t capture the amazing aspects of yuzu. I’ve been looking for a yuzu tea, and I’ve been contemplating Mellow Monk’s but it’s quite expensive. Since this was on sale for like $4 for 4oz I decided it couldn’t hurt!

Like the Cherry Sakura, I treated this tea with kid gloves: a small amount of leaf cold-brewed for a pretty short amount of time. And holy wow did it work! There’s zero berry flavor here which I am quite pleased with, since I just wanted yuzu. This seriously tastes like iced sencha with yuzu juice squeezed in! I’m so happy that I’ve found a way to save the green teas from Caraway, and this one I would actually restock unless, of course, I find a better yuzu tea. I hear Den’s has a seasonal one…

I cold-brewed this two nights ago and really meant to write it up, but I had the Batman marathon to attend! Quite possibly the most amazing movie experience of my life! But that doesn’t really have much to do with tea (aside from the fact that I brought this with me into the theater—thankfully the one I went to lets you bring in food/drinks for midnight screenings or long showings!). As a side note, now that I’ve been making my own iced tea I find grocery store brands way too sweet.

Anyway, Caraway’s teas don’t have the best rep here, I think a lot of people were disappointed with their purchases even with the crazy discounts. Some of them smell horrifyingly artificial, this one included. It’s like BAM cherry cough syrup right in your face. Eurgh. But I was determined to make it work, so I cold-brewed this with a small amount of leaf for less time than usual, hoping to tone down the cherry-ness. And, thankfully, it worked! This really just tastes like a nice mild sencha until the end of the sip, where you get a bright burst of cherry that really doesn’t taste artificial. It kind of reminds me of DAVIDs Cherry Blossom without the floral notes. However, neither are actually sakura tea, since there are no cherry blossoms. What is up with “sakura” tea being cherry-flavored? Sakura trees aren’t actually fruit-bearing so it makes no sense to me. I’ve had 3 other sakura teas that are really sakura, and it’s a very different taste than cherry. Anyway, if I treat this as a mild cherry iced tea I think it’s actually pretty nice—I don’t think I’d buy it again (I prefer Den’s Sakura sencha and Tay’s Kyoto), but I will definitely finish off the bag.

Optimism or insanity – you decide.

Thankfully this one is a bit better so we can go with optimism that something I picked out works (somewhat). So glad still at this point I didn’t get anything larger than a sample size. The base is a bit harsh which is no surprise given the looks of everything: lots of dust in the bottom of my cup, lots of little pieces in the basket for a sencha.

The flavor isn’t cloyingly fake like mean green tangerine but it’s still clearly artificial. Actually now after a bit more I can feel it on my tongue. Gross.

Bummer. I was looking forward to these teas and so far that’s two misses. Or one miss and one near miss. I hope the one straight tea I got isn’t horrible, but I was in the mood for something citrusy and new.

oh dear god it really is Pledge in tea form.

I guess I’ll add something else despite the fact I tried two sips, dumped it, and am contemplating just throwing away the bag because I find it hard to believe I’ll be able to find it a home. It seems like it might be good if you love citrus. And then the wave of artificial flavoring rolls over your tongue and triggers your gag reflex.

So yeah.
If in the end it turns out I got just the teapot for $25, that would be fine with me. I’m now scared to try the other teas I bought.

This is from my big “I didn’t really need tea but there was a sale, so it’s okay” order from Carraway Tea.

This tea smells DELICIOUS. Very much like an orange creamsicle. However, when I went to brew it, I wasn’t getting much flavors of anything. Barely any orange flavor and certainly not enough cream flavor. I wonder if I should use more rooibos next time for a more potent flavor. After such a wonderful smell, I’m a little disappointed :(

Thank you Sil for this sample. I love orange and nothing sounds yummier than orange Sencha.

The raw blend smells strongly of orange and citrus with thick waxy tones. Also sweet and perfumey. I can see why people say this smells like Pledge or any sort of orange furniture cleaner/dust spray, has the same almost chemical perfume like scent. I did notice on the ingredients list that it contains ‘tangerine orange flavor’ which based upon the smell I am lead to believe is artificial.

Once steeped the tea is orange in colour and has a waxy orange and tangerine aroma. Flavour is strong and dry with a sweet and sour citrus tang. Very perfume like and with real artificial elements in the citrus flavours.

I decided to steep this tea different to the recommendations made on the packaging. They suggested to use boiling water for 4-5 minutes which in my opinion would have made it too strong and bitter, perhaps even undrinkable.

It’s an ok tea but my tongue and the roof of my mouth feels dry and powdery which is very off putting. Sencha is sometimes powder like so perhaps I should have done a quick rinse before hand. Never mind, one pot sample and I’m not sad about it.

Thank you once again Sil.

Thanks Kittenna for the sample!
Wowwwww cherry. Dude. I love cherry. Love it! Not so much on the kiwi, though it does balance things out. Coconut, well I’m ok with it here. Not too scratchy on the throat or overly sweet either.
Overall, a nice blend that I think would do well iced. Perfect for my midafternoon caffeine break (err, that is… break from caffeinated teas!)

Sip down! Thanks to kittenna for the sample. I did this one as a cold brew and its pretty tasty. Again, nothing I MUST have in my cupboard but it was nice to have. The fruit and nuts blends nicely in a cold brew….though there are a lot of floaters :)

Another one from the teabox! Alphakitty included this one. thanks so much! The price was pretty steep on this one, which I saw on the site while I was searching for steeping instructions. Since it’s a white tea and I knew I wasn’t going to love it anyway, I just wanted to try a cup before sending the rest on in the traveling teabox. It’s a nice white tea base, but I wasn’t tasting much raspberry or champagne flavor. (I feel like I’m saying that a lot now… that I’m not finding the flavors.) It is light and sweet. I think that Caraway might just be using the “champagne” in the name to up the price though. I hope not but that’s my cynical mind (not like I expect actual champagne in a tea or anything). And now that I think about it, sometimes white tea might already have a champagne type of flavor to it normally… though I haven’t had much experience with champagne. I certainly appreciate being able to try this one though!

The name of this tea is quite misleading, I thought it was cookie flavored but no, you are supposed to have it WITH cookies! In fact this tea is pretty far from cookie flavored, it’s a nice citrusy spiced blend that I am trying out thanks to Azzrian.

The smell is lovely, like orange and clove. It’s a beautiful blend too, large chunks of dried orange along with cardamon and bright red peppercorns. It’s very festive, I feel like I’m at a tea party! It’s funny that this is a spiced tea but it tastes nothing like chai to me, makes me wonder what exactly makes a chai a chai. After all the 3 “key” chai ingredients, ginger cinnamon and cardamom, aren’t found in every chai blend. One of them is here, with cloves and pepper which are often in chai, but it’s definitely not a chai at all!

There’s some fruity sweetness, soft and not overpowering, and the citrus is bright and refreshing against the heavy spice. Mm, delicious!

SIPDOWN! Thank you Kittena for sharing this one with me. I’m quite pleased with this one overall! I’m also planning on re-stepping the leaves as a cold brew to see how that works out. The strawberry and other fruits work very nicely together in this blend to give a tea that is that sweet and yet tangy strawberry taste. I also like that the tea base is still present and doesn’t entirely disappear in the fruity goodness.

Thanks for sharing Kittenna!