Teavana - Jasmine Silver Needle White Tea Review

(photo credit - http://www.teavana.com)

OK, Teavana is really making it difficult for me to choose a favorite tea. I love love love the Mate Lemon Blast Herbal tea that is no longer sold (if anyone has seen it IN stores, please let me know), and I also love the Maharaja Chai Oolong tea. But, now that I’ve had several cups of the Jasmine Silver Needle White tea, I have to choose. The flavors of the two teas (chai and jasmine) are totally different, so I’m just going to say I have two favorites!

The chai is a rich and bold tasting tea, and the jasmine is a lighter and fresher tea. The Jasmine Silver Needle White tea smells amazing when you open the freshness cap on the tin. You smell the jasmine immediately.

The ingredients in this tea are simple.

-White tea

-Scented with jasmine blossoms

To me, “scented with jasmine blossoms” means the blossoms aren’t actually IN the tea, they just used the blossoms to give it a nice smell. I can actually taste the jasmine (does jasmine have a taste?), so something is in there besides white tea.

To make this tea, add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of the tea leaves for every 8 ounces of water. I guess I misread that because I only used 1 teaspoon for every 8 ounces. Tasted fantastic to me with that amount. Let it steep for 4 to 5 minutes and you’re good to go. I steep mine for the maximum every time, since I like my tea strong. I don’t think it would matter to let this steep longer than 5 minutes either. I might try that sometime.

So, another thumbs up for another tea from Teavana. I think I may have another tea or two from Teavana that I never got around to reviewing. If I find them, I’ll review those also sometime down the line. This is the third tea of three that I received for the holidays. All fantastic!

Check out my other tea reviews!

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!