Celestial Seasonings has introduced two new teas for Breast Cancer awareness.

I think they both sound really good and, of course, they are pink.

• Cranberry Pomegranate Green Tea
• Tropical Grapefruit Green Tea.

I know I have been on a “Down with Healthy Coffee ” kick lately, and yeah that is an understatement..but tea is supposed to be healthy.  That is the difference.

Anyway, Celestial Seasonings has the coolest art work on their boxes, I think.  For these teas they asked  two breast cancer survivors,  Heidi Kummli and Dagmar Fehlau, to do the design and artwork for the boxes.

They are not showing the teas on the site yet, so I haven’t seen a box…but I think it is significant that they had asked these women, who have so much invested in the cause, to design the boxes.

I like the company, I like their ethics.  Unfortunately they are owned by Hain, which is owned by Heinz…and  I am not so keen on their ethics…but that is another story. Just because there is a law against monopolies does not mean they don’t exist!

Anyway..Back to the original thoughts, without the soapbox…

This was just released into the media yesterday so I don’t know when you will actually see it in stores.  I would think that it will be in the next week or so because I am sure they will want to have it in place before October’s big breast cancer awareness push…

Keep your eyes open for it…The grapefruit and green tea sounds especially good to me.  What about you?  Which do you think you would go for?

Image:Morguefile

Post from: Kettle and Cup

I was looking through the tea melange in the pantry on friday. I wanted iced tea that was flavored but different. Sometimes we get into an iced tea rut in the summer. Peach tea, raspberry tea, orange or lemon…you know how it is. God forbid that someone would think that we were boring and predictable around here.

I had picked up a box of Celestial Seasonings Powerfully Plum White Tea meaning to try it and review it. When I saw it on Friday I was pretty sure that it was going to make an amazing iced tea.

It did. Because it is a white tea we used extra tea bags. For one gallon of water we used 2 cups sugar (see how to make sweet tea) and about 10 tea bags, and let them steep longer that you normally would.

The tea is delicate and light with a distint plummy flavor. It is great as is but if you made a soda with it, half club soda/half tea it would be incredible. I can also see it with fresh berries added to it, strawberries, blueberries, etc.

Anyway, give it a try. I loved it and I think you will, too.

Image:Marye Audet

Post from: Kettle and Cup

If you read my post on the Chocolate Raspberry Bliss Tea you will absolutely understand how visual I am..because I totally picked these up for the boxes and the eye candy. Look at this box, could you walk away from that? Not me.

So admitting that…

The aroma is delicate at first, intensifying as it steeps. It really smelled good but not incredible.

I tasted first without any sweetener and was pleasantly surprised at the faint taste of strawberry, and the slight sweetness. I added my sweetening and tasted again. Definitly jammy. Distinct strawberry jam flavor. The vanilla is a delicate aftertaste and the rose blends well, giving it a floral note without being overwhelmingly rose.

I did the unthinkable (it is Sunday after all) and added heavy cream, just as if it was a coffee.

It was wonderful! Still jammy but with a richness added to it. I was impressed with this tea.

Now, the Chocolate Raspberry was a solitary tea. A tea to pamper yourself with during a long bubbly soak with a LUSH bubble bar. This, not so much. It is a tea to chat with a good friend over, maybe share some simple vanilla cookies. It would be a great addition to a cream tea, because the simple food offerings would be complemented by the complexity of this tea’s flavor. Don’t have it with chocolate. I don’t think it would be good. Still trying to explain..

Umm..this is a country Victorian tea. Verandas, and country kitchens, biscuits and strawberry jam.

Delicious. I highly recommend it. Serve it in an ever-so slightly chipped red transferware cupand drink whilst staring out the kitchen window.

If my mom was alive I think I would probably make her a gift basket with this, some of the rose scones, some of the strawberry jam, and a jar of clotted cream, and then tuck a magazine in the side.

O.k..well, it would work for me!

Image:Marye Audet 

Post from: Kettle and Cup

I like Celestial Seasonings. I like them because they have been around a long time, because their tea is good, and I like the artsy designs on the boxes. The quotes that are scattered all over the place give me something to do while I am mindlessly sipping the tea. It is a win win situation. I like them because they were involved in environmental issues and ethical issues well before it was popular. I like that their boxes are 100% recycled material.

The vanilla rose smells like cinnamon rolls as it is brewing. It has passed the Audet Kids’ Tea Test for Taste (AKTTT). This means that of my 8 kids, the 6 that are home have tasted it and I have to fight them for the last bag. Even little Kyrie gets involved in the melee.

The tea is decaffeinated, made from black tea- which is very good for your heart, cinnamon, vanilla, and rose. It has rooibis, hibiscus, carob, and chicory as well. I don’t generally like carob but in this case it gives it a faint ch0colate after taste which is nice. I don’t know about their description, which says that creamy vanilla flavor, fragrant roses, and mellow rooibos add a touch of romance and flavor…

Personally I would just say that it smells exactly like walking past a cinnabon store at the mall.

And..a portion of every sale is donated to the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. I like that too.

Give it a try. It isn’t as flowery as most rose teas… It goes GREAT with a Lorna Doone!

Post from: Kettle and Cup