All newly posted tea reviews, including blends and herbal teas, all brands, styles, and regions; does not include news or site updates. http://ratetea.com http://ratetea.com/review/7177/http://ratetea.com/review/7177/Thu, 10 Sep 2026 01:06:54 ESTHere was another hotel/motel tea from my spring to early summer travels, now just getting around to trying and reviewing. Not being a big fan of either lemon or ginger, I nonetheless found this tea to be a great balance between them. The dry aroma was one of the most pronounced I've sniffed in an herbal tea that didn't have mint or cinnamon, with both the lemon and ginger showing out. In-cup, the tea steeps a semi-opaque yellow color (no surprise there), with a nice aroma and flavor balance intact. ...http://ratetea.com/review/7176/http://ratetea.com/review/7176/Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:47:56 ESTToo bad Citrus Berry is advertised as "LIMITED TIME" on its Trader Joe's web page, because this is a keeper. This tea is powerful and unpretentious, and that's how I like 'em. I might have to grab a few more boxes next time I go. It's hard to beat the value too, at only a little over a dime a bag. TJ's teas span the spectrum from great to terrible, and this one scores a home run—indeed, tied for the highest rating I've given one of their teas. [It's also refreshing to finally come across a tea des...http://ratetea.com/review/7175/http://ratetea.com/review/7175/Wed, 26 Aug 2026 22:47:35 ESTBased on the dry-bag aroma (or complete lack thereof), I began thinking: "If this is a legend of China, it's a story with no plot." I could not smell either rose nor the base tea at that point, and only in-cup did the rose aroma (but not the tea) finally peek out from behind some hidden curtain. Given that, I thought this tea would taste nearly flavorless and watery, so I let it steep 8-10 minutes. Even though the bag and amount of tea are small (like other Uncle Lee's teas I've tried, about 1/2–2/...http://ratetea.com/review/7174/http://ratetea.com/review/7174/Sun, 23 Aug 2026 03:42:37 ESTA couple bags of this tea came home with me from one of the motels involved in springtime travels, since I must have realized there that I hadn't reviewed this tea yet. Here goes... The teabags come in individually-wrapped foil-paper puches. Nonetheless, the dry aroma was faint, albeit at least like chamomile and not something else. Brewing it for recommended time rendered a very weak product with only light yellow color. To compensate for that, I let the next bag steep a very long time—probably 1...http://ratetea.com/review/7173/http://ratetea.com/review/7173/Fri, 14 Aug 2026 23:05:15 ESTAnother surprisingly good Farmer Brothers offering, especially for a food-service-oriented tea line! This came in a foil-lined pouch, with a fresh, cinnamon/ginger-dominant dry aroma that got much more evenhanded between the spices once steeped. The base tea is finely chopped, gets dark fast, and has a robust flavor. I suspect it is the same tea they use for their "Black Tea" product, which is a good thing. The spices aren't the strongest I've had in a bagged chai (that would be Trader Joe's, which...http://ratetea.com/review/7172/http://ratetea.com/review/7172/Wed, 12 Aug 2026 01:20:18 ESTJasmine green tea, flavored also with lemongrass, was a novel and interesting idea in my tea-chugging experience, and Teavana products are generally known for solid quality. As such, I did not hesitate a microsecond to grab an extra bag from a hotel's tea rack to test out. The dry aroma was more lemony than jasmine, but jasmine is slightly more prominent in the in-cup aroma and taste. The green tea seems rather flavorful and smooth, without being overly weedy or grassy, and accepts flavoring well wi...http://ratetea.com/review/7171/http://ratetea.com/review/7171/Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:30:42 ESTHibiscus Spice tastes like its title promises, and that's a good thing. The blend uses a sweet, smooth hibiscus as the main flavor, with cinnamon, apple, and perhaps cloves (all flavors I enjoy), in that order. It yields a delicious, non-caffeinated cup of warming fruit tea that should make a splendid wintertime bedtime beverage. Unlike some hibiscus-based teas, this wasn't at all tart, except at the end of the aftertaste, and even then, just slightly. Though I'm not a drinker of it, the flavor profile...http://ratetea.com/review/7170/http://ratetea.com/review/7170/Sun, 26 Jul 2026 13:50:27 ESTThere is a good amount of strawberry in this fruit cocktail flavored tisane. It is one of the better examples of the style. http://ratetea.com/review/7169/http://ratetea.com/review/7169/Sun, 26 Jul 2026 13:38:14 ESTA tisane made of dried fruit and natural flavorings. It did not have a lot of maracuja taste, but it was all right, pretty much what I expected. I notice that Upton gets its fruit tisanes from a company in Germany, and this makes me wonder if that is a style that is very popular there. What part of the world drinks the most fruit tisanes? http://ratetea.com/review/7168/http://ratetea.com/review/7168/Fri, 24 Jul 2026 19:53:10 ESTLemon Flavored certainly doesn't skimp on the flavoring, regardless of how much actually comes from lemon peel*. Both the dry bag and in-cup aromas are decidedly lemony, but with a sharper tone than the flavor itself, which isn't tart at all. The lemon flavor is sweet and smooth, more candy-like, and dominates the background tea. It could masquerade as a lemon herbal formula, or as mildly tea-flavored hot lemonade, except for the appearance of a good deal of finely ground black tea in the back and the q...http://ratetea.com/review/7167/http://ratetea.com/review/7167/Wed, 22 Jul 2026 21:47:32 ESTHere's another from this year's assortment of newly tried and/or reviewed teas procured at hotels and motels during typically extensive springtime travels. Stash is a common brand at a lot of chain hotels in the upper portion of the price/quality spectrum that still offers complimentary breakfast. This one came from a Springhill Suites near the Denver airport, and I was surprised to look on RateTea and find that I haven't rated it before. I took this blend home to my filtered well water to allow a fai...http://ratetea.com/review/7166/http://ratetea.com/review/7166/Sun, 19 Jul 2026 18:16:29 ESTRisen like a phoenix thanks to its Starbucks ties, the Teavana brand has rolled out an assortment of bagged teas available in online versions of retailers like Amazon (to where Teavana's website links point) and Wal-Mart, and found in some hotels and conference centers for guest breakfast areas and catering of meetings. I got this at a motel in South Dakota, and found more about a week later at a Colorado hotel. This variety retails for about 42¢/bag (in a 24-bag box) at Wal-Mart, as of this writing. ...http://ratetea.com/review/7165/http://ratetea.com/review/7165/Mon, 29 Jun 2026 23:39:37 ESTContrary to the English sound of the name, this tea has nothing whatsoever to do with the aroma or taste of glue, and that's a good thing! Glühfix is a herb-and-spice mix that comes in ordinary, string-and-tag teabags, but can serve two purposes: to steep and drink as with any other herbal, or as advertised on Teekanne's German-language website, use for mulling of red wine (by inserting teabag into the heated wine). As I don't drink alcoholic beverages, it's "just" an herbal tea for me, and turns out, ...http://ratetea.com/review/7164/http://ratetea.com/review/7164/Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:01:20 ESTBigelow has trotted out a few herbals with lemon and ginger involved, so I don't know how much this differs from the others in ingredients (aside from the presumed probiotics, which I still wonder about surviving the boiling water of the steeping process). Based on RateTea's listings, they are titled: * Ginger Snappish™ Herbal Tea with Lemon * Steep Lemon Ginger Herbal Tea * Lemon Ginger Plus Probiotics Herbal Tea (this one) This blend's dry aromas were modest and fairly evenly balanced between ...http://ratetea.com/review/7163/http://ratetea.com/review/7163/Thu, 25 Jun 2026 15:54:27 ESTThis tisane provides an excellent combination of ingredients (rooibos, ginger, spices, and flowers), leading to a warm, unique overall flavor. I did not try it cold, but it is just fine hot. This is probably the best rooibos blend I have tried to date. http://ratetea.com/review/7162/http://ratetea.com/review/7162/Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:02:55 ESTFor many years, I've simply avoided this herbal tea, given its promotion as an "alternative to coffee." I can't stand coffee, somehow, despite my parents both being avid drinkers of the beverage. So I didn't even give this concoction a second thought until this year, at a hotel in Denver, when I caught a dry-aroma whiff from a box of the stuff, and thought, "that's not exactly coffee, and might not even be a reasonable approximation." As far as I'm concerned: good! Instead, steeped up in cup, it look...http://ratetea.com/review/7161/http://ratetea.com/review/7161/Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:27:40 ESTThis is a mild EG that goes easy with the bergamot. Pleasant aroma and an unbeatable price. http://ratetea.com/review/7160/http://ratetea.com/review/7160/Fri, 12 Jun 2026 15:54:41 ESTThis is a light, pleasant tea. It is only my second time drinking a first flush release, and it seems located halfway between a green tea and a black tea. The taste is mild, with a gentle nip, and it goes well with a little milk. There is nothing wrong with it, but I was expecting more, since it is labelled and priced like a premium product. http://ratetea.com/review/7159/http://ratetea.com/review/7159/Wed, 10 Jun 2026 22:49:26 ESTThis is a somewhat sweet and strong chai, heavy on the cloves, cinnamon and cardamom, and with a little peppery nature to the aroma as well. It uses a pleasantly potent Ceylon base tea, along with other spices sourced from a farmers' association in Sri Lanka. It took some tongue acclimation for this lover of Assam to get used to a chai made from a clearly different sort of black tea, but it mostly works. It swaps out the rich maltiness of Assam for a drier, sharper Ceylon foundation that gets really...http://ratetea.com/review/7158/http://ratetea.com/review/7158/Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:09:59 ESTThis is made with chunks of dried tropical fruits along with some watermelon flavoring. The result is flavorful and fruity. A nice summer tea, this would probably be very nice on ice. http://ratetea.com/review/7157/http://ratetea.com/review/7157/Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:57:59 ESTA light tea containing a good amount of peach and floral flavors. One can tell that there are artificial flavors added. A pleasant summer tea. http://ratetea.com/review/7156/http://ratetea.com/review/7156/Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:42:58 ESTThis is a pretty average, everyday Darjeeling. It has a mostly dry, woody flavor and aroma. Unlike many Darjeelings, it goes better with a little milk than with lemon and sugar. I wonder which tea estates are considered the best. So far Castleton is not getting me very excited. http://ratetea.com/review/7155/http://ratetea.com/review/7155/Fri, 29 May 2026 13:33:25 ESTThis is a light, pleasant Darjeeling with a little peppery bite in the finish. The aroma is earthy and nice. It goes well with either milk or lemon and sugar. However, this tea is overpriced imho. My taste buds report that it is not greatly superior to an average Darjeeling, yet it costs twice as much. http://ratetea.com/review/7154/http://ratetea.com/review/7154/Wed, 20 May 2026 13:48:25 ESTThe aroma is mild. The liquor (5 min steep) is a medium brown, with a hint of red. Good flavor, no after taste. Very affordable, great value.http://ratetea.com/review/7153/http://ratetea.com/review/7153/Wed, 13 May 2026 18:13:50 ESTThe aroma is a mild fruit (peach) scent. The liquor (5 min steep) is deep brown. The flavor is mild, no sharp notes or after taste. Easy sipping tea, for anytime of the day.