IKEA

A strange tea, I bought it because I expected the oak note to be super weird, but its honestly a pretty chill tea, similar to earl grey because of the black tea and bergamot, but a little different. Its a nice change every now and then, and I’d recommend it to anyone who sees it while shopping the maze that is your local Ikea and is interested.

I taste a combination of rooibos and fruitiness, which isn’t my favorite combo. I didn’t expect to like this one, but it’s okay! It’s a little murky, and I find it most pleasant cold. I haven’t been to IKEA before, but it was fun to find this tea in a TTB.

I thought this was overall the nicest tasting one!

Perhaps it impressed me so much because, with a description like “rooibos and rosehip”, I expected a more bland taste – but this was pretty sweet and fruity! I found myself getting a strong case of flavour note deja vu and it really upset me that I couldn’t more specifically name what I was tasting. It was like bilberry flavouring mixed with some type of red fruit note – but more exact then the normal generic “red fruit flavouring” that is something used. Frustration with naming the flavouring aside, the taste was simple and level throughout the sip. Just a nice sweeter and nutty rooibos with whatever this flavouring was.

Of the five we tasted, this is the only one I would consider buying and probably the only one I was drink again – though I guess the mint and cacao was also good.

I was a little surprised to see this in the line up. Floral teas are really polarizing and for a cherry blossom in particular the tea needs to be either really gentle or delicate so let those delicate florals come through or it’s gotta lean into a more sweet cherry blossom flavour. Like, it just feels too complicated and/or nuanced and gentle to work for a company like IKEA…

And, well, it doesn’t work. The white tea base is really choppy and harsh which is definitely a consistent across all of the blends from IKEA that are using Camellia Sinensis. The quality simply just doesn’t seem good. More than that, I’m not really getting cherry blossom. It’s a little floral but in a pretty generic kind of way and definitely feels at odds with this weirdly intense and bitter tasting white tea base.

Sorry but this one gets another pass.

I think this is the one that seemed the most interesting! A lemon green tea is just a classic profile but the pine was a very unique and potentially delicious twist on that profile! We began to get skeptical smelling the dry leaf because the aroma was all lemon and no pine.

Steeped up it was obviously quickly that the green tea base itself is a shoddy quality. Very poor clarity to the flavour with a lot of roughness overall. Sharp sourness and a lawn mowing body with just harsh bitterness in the finish. I think the addition of the lemon actually made those top notes feel more acrid. It was like piling a negative thing on top of an already quaking foundation.

And similar to the bergamot and oak… no pine to be found.

Weirdly this was the only one out of the four Ikea teas we tried that came in loose leaf instead of a tea bag! It seems like a slightly strange flavour choice for Ikea to make, but ultimately it was a pretty tasty blend. I don’t really find anything about it unique but as far as rich cocoa and cooling crisp mint combination go the execution was solid! Very faint licorice root sweetness in the back that boosts the richness of the cocoa/chocolate and just a little creaminess. With a splash of milk this would be very delicious, and for a LLT offered by a non tea company I don’t think you can really complain much here.

I realized this morning that when I was doing my tasting note recap of all the non-advent teas I had at the start of the month, I left out the Ikea teas I tried right at the very beginning of the month!

Truthfully I would probably normally not put a lot of stock into a tea line up from a company like Ikea – it’s sort of like buying a “Costco” or “Canadian Tire” name brand tea. Like, how good is it gonna be!? However, Ikea is sort of known for having some interesting and good food products – namely their Lingonberry foods. Which, like, how did they not put our a Lingonberry tea!? That feels like a HUGE miss to me.

So, with that knowledge I found myself curious about their assortment and along with a coworker we tried to get a box of each tea they carried. I think we ended up missing two?? I know we didn’t get the Elderberry Chai but I swear there’s one more we missed too. Anyway… five Ikea teas in total!

Now, my expectations for this teabag were lower simply because I don’t love bergamot but the oak was an interesting twist so I was keeping an open mind as much as I could! It was very abrasive and harsh though. If I had a chance to do it over I’d probably only steep for about a minute because I found this tasted aggressively bitter and almost chemically perfumed from how strong the bergamot was. Ooofff…

No oak to be tasted, either.

Of course I had to try it!

It’s a light EG, I don’t know about oak flavour though. It’s nice enough, and I’m enjoying drinking it.

(Also, hi! I’m still trying to drink through all my teas but they’re all the same old and this site is annoying on my phone, so I’m not on here much.)

It’s Chai season so I figured I’d work on finishing the bag I have of this. It’s almost gone and I realized I hadn’t reviewed it.
I don’t like this one but that is partially due to personal preference and partially due to the base. The black tea is somewhat bitter and the chili and spices in this create a very pepper-heavy taste. I do taste the elderberry and it’s quite nice but unfortunately, it’s rather hidden by the spices. I don’t think it meshes well with the spices. I’d love to see an elderberry chai that is more balanced spice-wise. I could see 52 Teas doing this flavor combination justice.

Given the price-point and that it was a peppermint tea, I wasn’t expecting anything too amazing. This tea, however, is surprisingly delicious! There is an almost cream-like, smooth element to the mint, maybe from the licorice root. The result is a tea that reminds me more of an after-dinner buttermint than a traditional, red-and-white striped peppermint. It is smooth and soothing. I have had it hot and cold and I like it both ways.

I really like this tea pot. For $10 you just can’t go wrong. It’s made of quite durable glass, has a well fitting plastic lid and a very fine, durable steeping basket. It’s fine enough to steep rooibos without loosing any through the mesh. It pours perfectly with no dripping. And the minimalist design pleases me.

One of my favourite features of this pot is that the steeping basket fits perfectly in almost every mug I own (the perfect diameter to fit into the mug, and tall enough to come right to the lip,) so it’s excellent for making just one cup of tea, if a pot is too much.

I am on my second pot. The first one held up well for quite a while, and then a big chunk of glass just popped out of the bottom one day when I put the pot down on the counter. My second pot has seen regular use for over a year without any issues.

Backlog, from the Here’s Hoping tea box

I love IKEA. I love their bistro, cafeteria eating, furniture displays, wandering in the showcase, digging in the As Is section, assembling my cool furniture and all their cool swedish goodies.

Finding this IKEA tea was like “WTFBQQ they have loose leaf tea?” I’ve drank their tea at the bistro, it’s like that red rose stuff.

Taste? Ehhh, I thought it wasn’t bad. Tasted like black tea (malty with some bitterness) and artificial blueberries. It was much better iced – turning into that classic snapple like iced blueberry tea. If this IKEA tea was hella cheap, I’d buy it just for making pitchers of iced teas for the family. Other than that, probably best to find a better quality blueberry black tea.

First cup of the morning from the Traveling Tea Box. I didn’t even know that IKEA made tea! I saw that it was a blueberry black tea and knew that I had to try it. One of my favorite teas is The Republic of Tea’s Wild Blueberry.

Sadly, this one is lacking. The dry leaves smell more of malty black tea than blueberries. I was expecting a strong blueberry scent while the tea was brewing, like other blueberry teas I’ve had. I couldn’t smell anything at all! There is only the faintest hint of blueberries if you put your face directly in the cup. The flavor is robust and malty, with a light blueberry aftertaste. There is a hint of bitterness that lingers, even after adding milk and sweetener. I’m glad I was able to try this tea, but I think I will stick to my juicy, bursting-with-blueberry-flavor Wild Blueberry tea. :)

One of our foster kittens just stuck her face in my tea! She has actually done this every day since she has learned to jump up on the table. As soon as she hears me making tea she comes running. All annoyingness aside, it is pretty cute. She’s the runt of the litter and we found out yesterday that she will be staying with us for two more months since she needs another (sigh) hernia repair. I am not complaining – I love that little tea drinking cat!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell of malty black tea with a blueberry aroma. Tea liquor aroma is lightly of sweet blueberries.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy very dark brown color.
-Robust malty flavor and finish. Faint blueberry aftertaste with a touch of bitterness.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Poor tea. Very weak blueberry flavor with a lingering bitterness.

I adore This tea, but am unable to use the sliding rating scale on my ipad. Anyway, I fear this tea may have been discontinued by IKEA. The Friggs is not black tea, and it comes in bags (I prefer loose). Does anyone have info on whether Ikea has permanently discontinued this tea? I am having a hard time getting clear info from Ikea.

Lightly sweet with many hints of berry flavoring. Overall a satisfying (and satisfyingly inexpensive) loose leaf tea from one of my favorite places, Ikea.

Just had to add another note to this as a follow up. I had tea in this last weekend. I never ended up drinking it. 28 HOURS LATER and it was still 106 degrees F. Not hot, but also not room temp. After 28 HOURS….

Finally got my hands on one of these. After Em’s review, I had to try one!

It keeps things just as hot as they go in for hours and hours and hours. A great thing to have at your desk if you work where you can’t get up often to get more hot water. My mom wanted one for just that reason and I believe she’ll love this.

The only downside for me with this is that when I take tea on the road (which is when I have the most issue with not being able to get more hot water readily) is that it isn’t a thermos you can drink from. You do need a cup or something to pour into. (Duh – been since grade school since I had a thermos – there is a cup built in as the cap) Also I’d like for it to hold more than 2 cups to be a viable travel thermos.

And it is very thin. Going to have to buy a bottle brush to clean it.

Thanks Jillian
I brewed this one “lukewarm” for about 8 minutes.
It’s a very weak black tea base with subtle blueberry flavor going on.
This is pretty good cold but lacking for a HOT and Strong Black tea or Flavored Black Tea. Regardless it’s alright cold. Nothing much to say about it, really, that hasn’t already been said.

I’m happy I was able to try it and would probably exclusively drink this cold.

A good morning tea to drink with milk, with a light blueberry flavor.

Just picked one of these up at IKEA yesterday. I LOVE it! I boiled water and poured it in to see how long it would retain heat. It’s been over 12 hours and the water is still hot enough to burn you. How can you beat $6.99? I look forward to taking extra tea to work and enjoying several hot cups!