Maharaja Chai Tea Oolong Tea Review (From Teavana)

(photo credit: Me)

Here comes another Teavana tea review. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a tea review. I usually receive three Teavana teas from my parents for the holidays, and this holiday is no different. Here’s the first one I tried. This is the Maharaja Chai Oolong Tea. Here’s some basic information and how to prepare it.

Ingredients:

-Cinnamon

-Oolong tea

-Ginger pieces

-Carob pieces

-Chicory root

-Artificial flavoring (disappointing to see)

-Pepper

-Nutmeg

-Cloves

-Cardamom

How To Prepare:

For every 8 ounces of water, use one teaspoon of tea leaves. The water should be heated to 195 degrees, just before boiling. Steep the tea for three minutes and enjoy!

They recommend to use more tea leaves for a stronger flavor, but I’ve found that steeping the tea longer has the same effect. For some of the teas from Teavana, I’ve steeped the tea for as long as 10 minutes. The only tea you really need to pay attention to time-wise is the green tea.

There is no mistaking this flavored tea. The scent screams chai. I love the smell of chai tea, with the cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon scents being the strongest. The container this tea comes in is very well sealed. It comes with a plastic pop top type cap under the tin lid. You can’t smell the tea until you pop open the top. Signs of good packaging.

The tea tastes fantastic too. I was a little worried the tea might taste a bit weak. I’m used to getting chai tea lattes from coffee shops, and the chai is so strong from those places, it would be hard to beat. The Teavana chai tea is a little weaker than coffee shops, but that can be remedied if I steep it longer.

I can separate out most of the ingredients by taste if I really try. I’m not sure what cardamom, or carob taste like on their own, but I can definitely pick out the cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. This is definitely going to be one of my favorites from Teavana. Nice to have on a cool afternoon. I’d like to say “chilly evening”, but for one, it doesn’t get too cold here, and two, I try not to drink anything after 6 or 7 PM.

I recommend this tea to anyone, it’s fantastic!

Check out my other tea reviews!

Mileage Monday

Not too many pictures to share this time around. I've been slacking big time. Need to get moving again. One big change around here...we got a dog! He's a little over year, and we got him at a pet adoption fair several weeks ago. He's a Chihuahua/Dachshund mix, and we named him Jax. He's smart, but stubborn. He'll learn who's boss though soon enough. He had a few health issues, but they're clearing up.

Back to the workout front. I've done nothing basically for about three weeks. With the dog and other schedule interruptions, it's been tough. I did do 1/2 mile on the elliptical Saturday, just to get me going again. And Sunday, I took a bike ride while my husband walked the dog. We went almost two miles. I was surprised the little pup went as far as he did. He conked out for a while once we got back.

Here are the pictures that I have from the virtual walk site. Looks like it's just one picture. Oops. Get moving Tee!!!!

Mile 710.8 (elliptical for .5 mile)

(photo credit - http://exercise.lbl.gov/index.html;jsessionid=1F4E2B8269D80C6DF557FB31D1D6D77B)

Mileage Monday And Unofficial SparkPeople Turkey Track (100,000 Step Challenge – FitBit)

(photo credit - http://weyrcat.blogspot.com/)

So, about a month or so after I got my FitBit Flex, SparkPeople came out with their own fitness tracker. It’s not as high-tech as the FitBit, but it’s great for beginners I think. SparkPeople set up a “Turkey Track” challenge for November, where members challenged themselves to walking 100,000 steps for the month of November.

When I got my FitBit, I joined the SparkPeople team “FitBit Users Unite”, and the leaders on that team decided to hold their own challenge. I jumped on board, and racked up a total of 179,885 steps for the month of November. Since I easily went past the 100,000 step mark in mid November I earned the neat little picture you see above. Near the end of November I slowed down with my workouts for various reasons.

That team is holding another challenge for the month of December, so I’m going to be taking part in that one also. I chose a goal of 200,000 steps for the month of December. I should be able to accomplish that, I just need to get back into my exercise routine, and not let things overtake me.

For the last few days the virtual walk site has been yelling at me because I haven’t entered any mileage in for over a week. Tomorrow, I’ll be back at it. I only have two pictures from the site this time around, and those are from over a week ago.

Mile 709.4 (elliptical for 1 mile)                             Mile 710.4 (elliptical for 1 mile)

               

(photo credit - http://exercise.lbl.gov/index.html;jsessionid=1F4E2B8269D80C6DF557FB31D1D6D77B)

Keep moving. I need a good kick in the rear!