Winter Wake Up Tea
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Commercial Description
...This special blend of black tea with cinnamon, orange peel, with hints of spicy ginger and warm cloves delivers a uniquely comforting yet invigorating cup of tea...
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Ratings & Reviews
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88 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5Tchuggin' Okie (398 reviews) on Dec. 28th, 2018
For a store-brand bagged tea, this seasonal offering was excellent! My immediate impression sniffing the dry bag was a striking resemblance to the flavor (not smell) of Good Earth's "Sweet and Spicy": very intense on cinnamon, with orange quite noticeable. However, unlike the Good Earth tea, this one has black tea (and caffeine), presumably accounting for the "Wake Up" wording in its name. The wet bag was milder, with more of the base tea and orange apparent, though still favoring cinnamon.
The flavor also is reminiscent of, but different than, "Sweet and Spicy"—similarly strong, much better-balanced, still cinnamon-heavy, but not as over-the-top with it. The base tea and orange flavors came through nicely, though I had a harder time pulling out the tastes of lower-order ingredients such as licorice, ginger and cloves. Oddly, this tea gets somewhat flatter after 2-3 sips, but the sharpness, sweetness and robustness of body come back after one steps away for a few minutes and returns to drinking it. Despite that one peculiarity, which was the only reason I deducted a star from the flavor rating, I finished my first couple of cups in short order, and will add this to my list of "keepers" to buy again, if it's reprised next winter. The aftertaste lingers with a distinct warming feel around mouth and throat, presumably from the cinnamon—an effect I've experienced more strongly only with a few good chais. This was a sweet, warm, soothing and enoyable beverage, one I'd recommend without hesitation for anyone wanting a cinnamon/black tea blend at reasonable price.
Note: Based on descriptions and Alex Zorach's onsite review of TJ's discontinued "Cinnamon Tempest" sachet tea, "Winter Wake Up" could be a flat-bagged version of that. Both used/use the same stated ingredients, as far as I can tell, but having never had "Cinnamon Tempest", I can't say if it's the same base tea and proportions of flavors, nor make a meaningful comparison.
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