Straight up, this is a blatant, unapologetic and remarkably close approximation of Celestial Seasonings' Candy Cane Lane (one of my very favorite teas), right down to the decaf green tea, the rest of the ingredients list, and the square stringless flat bags housed in a gummed wax-paper pouch, within a similarly sized box. The main difference is that the TJ's polar bear is wearing one of those bad Christmas sweaters, and an inside leaf of the box features a happy narwhal.

In this instance, imitation is flattery. Both the dry-bag and wet-bag aromas are therapeutically soothing, practically identical to the big-brand version, and the taste weighs just a hair more toward creamy vanilla (versus peppermint). I only took a notch off the taste due to just a little bit more bitter finish from the TJ version. It's not going to stop me from getting more.

If you dislike the CS original, don't bother with this; the aroma and taste differences are minimal at most. If you love the CS original, you'll probably love this only a little less, but may find the noticeable difference in price (this is about 40-50% less) to be an acceptable tradeoff. After all, there is no unique way to arrive at the same cost/benefit ratio.

Since I'm a huge fan of the CS counterpart, the function of TJ's version will be as a completely acceptable alternative, in case the CS version is too costly and/or out of season (I got this at TJs in late February, perhaps bleeding off the last of their holiday inventory).

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