JavaVana Mate

Twice now, this tea has made me feel sick after drinking it with an action that feels like acute toxin exposure. I have never had this problem with any other tea or mate, I have the caffeine tolerance of a large crack-fueled Grizzly Bear and I have no known food allergies. I threw the rest in the garbage.

Part of my “I have a giant tax refund check so let’s buy tea” haul. I like the smell more than the taste. I’m also a bit wary of anything that says it’s cappuccino flavored. Cappuccino isn’t a flavor! It’s a preparation! /rant.

This tea tasted a bit too much like coffee with cheap flavor syrups. That being said, I did drink two pots of it today, so I suppose I didn’t mind it as much as I thought.

This is not the type of tea that I typically drink, but I really enjoy this in the morning at work. I used to drink coffee and since giving it up I’d been missing that morning ritual. As much as I like other tea, it just wasn’t the same for the morning.

This tea has a very bold and complex flavor. It’s not coffee by any means, but it definitely has some substance to it. I typically steep mine for 7-10 minutes just under boiling. I’ve found that I can get two steepings out of it before it loses too much flavor.

OH SNAP! This is fantastic. I’m on my first cup and am already debating what my second cup will be: another cup of this, or MateVana + hazelnut creamer that my friend just told me about.

It smells better dry than brewed, but I like the taste with or without milk. Actually, I might prefer it with milk just a teeny bit more. Definitely reminds me more of the lattes I used to drink.

For 14-16o oz of water: 3 tablespoons tea + 1.5 rock sugar, boiling water, steep for 5 min, add a little milk

This tea is delicious and described entirely incorrectly. There’s little to no coffee flavor involved here; just chocolate. It basically tastes like chocolate liqueur made tea.

A fantabulous tea. Also, all blasphemy aside, it mixes well with coffee and gives it a mocha-chocolatey flavor when brewed with the grounds.

1.5 t per 8 oz at 208 for 5 mins.

Definitely the best of the Teavana mates.

Strong, chocolately smell. Better, fuller flavor than the other mates—sort of reminiscent of coffee.

If other mate teas did not help you kick your habit of coffee, this one is much more likely to do the trick since it has multiple strong flavors that really provide that kick-in-the-face that coffee sometimes has. I found this mate to be much stronger than MateVana and My Morning Mate. The vanilla flavor is well blended with a strong, almost toasted nut sort of taste. Even though the flavors are all strong, they are very well balanced and provide a long tea finish that will hold you over until your next sip. I put in an extra 1/2 tsp for a bit stronger taste since I’ve done that for the other mate teas, but for this one it may not be necessary. Just know that if you want it stronger, just toss in another teaspoon and let it jump start your day!

There’s a strong coffee flavor to this tea, which for those not used to coffee, like myself, makes this a little less than enjoyable, but with milk and honey it’s manageable.

I keep this little jem in my desk at work. It is the perfect pick me up on a long work day! It smells AND tastes delicious, and has a great caffeine boost.