I'll let you in on a little secret, for a while now I've been wondering (incorrectly) if people were giving me #faketeas to "find" and then laughing about it. Well I am here to tell you that -Margarita- was not lying. I actually found the tea in the store and bought it. With my phobia of #faketea now washed away lets get on with the review. A real review, not a fake one. Ok I'll stop with the fake jokes now.
Aroma
The tea comes in a TBDB box with a pull off opening strip that reveals a closing tab. Inside are individually wrapped bags in a brown color that matches the boarder around the text boxes. Once you open one up you are met by a mostly tea aroma. If you really hang in there you will eventually pick up some very slight citrus smells but as you can tell from my description, it's not much at all. So what is making this aroma? To the box we go:
"The oil of Bergamot is derived from the rind of the Bergamot orange. There are no flavors used."
And add that to Trader Joe's reputation for carrying alot of organic products we can hope this tea is a natural one.
As for the bag, it's your typical tea bag with no staples found on the bag or tag. It should also be noted that I will not be linking directly to this tea on the TJ's site because even after using their search engine I couldn't find it's location. Moving on.
Steeping Method
Directly from their box:
"Place one tea bag in an 8oz cup. Add Boiling water and steep 3-5 minutes"
So that means I will follow their directions and add the typical stress test times.
The Results
At the 3 minute mark the tea kinda surprised me. Normally this steep time doesn't really give me
much to talk about but this one had a bit of flavor. It was alot darker then I would normally see at this time, the aroma started to get cranked up and the flavor wasn't bad. I personally like a more balanced tea but for 3 minutes, not bad at all.
The 4 minute mark showed additional improvements but not much. The color change for me was hard to tell so I had my kids (ah to have young eyes again) compare the 3 and 4 times and they agreed there was a slight darkening. The aroma kinda stayed the same and the taste only improved a bit. I let it cool and it gained a touch of citrus but nothing great.
At 5 minutes things improved even more. It was noticeably darker, the flavor had more to it but the aroma remained the same. I'm normally a 4 minute guy but so far this tea was at it's best for me at this time. After I let it cool it smoothed out a bit and again added a bit more citrus.
That brings us to the stress test...... and it passed with flying colors. I made it all the way to 8 minutes without a hint of burning. I also gained some extra flavors and the aroma improved. The tea still could have used a bit more citrus to balance the tea out but at this steep time I think it's safe to say I was getting everything out of this tea.
Re-Steeping
It depends who you are and how you like your tea. If you are me, then forget getting a second steep. Just let the bag sit for the stress test time and if you want another cup, get another bag. If you prefer a lighter tea then I would go with 5 for the first steep and 5 for the second.
Final Thoughts
If this tea is created following the Trader Joe way of selling healthy organic food to people at a reasonable price then I would have no problems telling everyone to try this tea. For the price it has a decent range of flavors that should suit many drinkers. As I have said many times, not the balance I personally look for but everyone likes what they like. Also, if we later find out it's being created by some "third" party who doesn't share Trader Joe's healthy views then I would have to reconsider my suggestion. Either way leave a comment if you have tried it.
Aroma
"Ingredients: Black tea with Oil of Bergamot"That's not alot to go on but if you take the next few sentences:
"The oil of Bergamot is derived from the rind of the Bergamot orange. There are no flavors used."
And add that to Trader Joe's reputation for carrying alot of organic products we can hope this tea is a natural one.
As for the bag, it's your typical tea bag with no staples found on the bag or tag. It should also be noted that I will not be linking directly to this tea on the TJ's site because even after using their search engine I couldn't find it's location. Moving on.
Steeping Method
Directly from their box:
"Place one tea bag in an 8oz cup. Add Boiling water and steep 3-5 minutes"
So that means I will follow their directions and add the typical stress test times.
The Results
At the 3 minute mark the tea kinda surprised me. Normally this steep time doesn't really give me
The 4 minute mark showed additional improvements but not much. The color change for me was hard to tell so I had my kids (ah to have young eyes again) compare the 3 and 4 times and they agreed there was a slight darkening. The aroma kinda stayed the same and the taste only improved a bit. I let it cool and it gained a touch of citrus but nothing great.
At 5 minutes things improved even more. It was noticeably darker, the flavor had more to it but the aroma remained the same. I'm normally a 4 minute guy but so far this tea was at it's best for me at this time. After I let it cool it smoothed out a bit and again added a bit more citrus.
That brings us to the stress test...... and it passed with flying colors. I made it all the way to 8 minutes without a hint of burning. I also gained some extra flavors and the aroma improved. The tea still could have used a bit more citrus to balance the tea out but at this steep time I think it's safe to say I was getting everything out of this tea.
Re-Steeping
It depends who you are and how you like your tea. If you are me, then forget getting a second steep. Just let the bag sit for the stress test time and if you want another cup, get another bag. If you prefer a lighter tea then I would go with 5 for the first steep and 5 for the second.
Final Thoughts
If this tea is created following the Trader Joe way of selling healthy organic food to people at a reasonable price then I would have no problems telling everyone to try this tea. For the price it has a decent range of flavors that should suit many drinkers. As I have said many times, not the balance I personally look for but everyone likes what they like. Also, if we later find out it's being created by some "third" party who doesn't share Trader Joe's healthy views then I would have to reconsider my suggestion. Either way leave a comment if you have tried it.
