Mayan Cocoa Spice

Made by Yogi, Mayan Cocoa Spice is said to be "tantalizingly rich and enlivening."

Flavor:  The first taste that pops out is chocolate.  It is definitely very chocolatey.  The aftertaste is somewhat brown and "earthy."  It has a deep flavor, with a very faint bitterness.  I did not taste the burn of a spice, but the earthy sense of spice was there.

Suggested Additions:  Milk and sugar.  The addition of the sugar seems to bring out the flavor of the cinnamon a bit more but I still find it is lacking in the "spice" category.  I'd love to add some chili pepper to see what happens.  The milk gives it that familiar hot chocolate flavor without the creamy coating on the back of the throat that you know you love when drinking hot chocolate.

Ingredients:  Cocoa shells, cinnamon, chicory, natural chocolate flavor, cardamom, natural cocoa flavor, cocoa powder, stevia, ginger, natural vanilla flavor, clove, black pepper, natural cinnamon oil, natural cardamom oil, natural ginger oil.

Purpose:  I would suggest to drink this tea on days when you feel a bit under the weather and don't want all that extra creaminess in the back of your throat from drinking hot chocolate.  Otherwise, just drink hot chocolate.  I think it would also be a good tea to try mixed with a tea bag of black tea for some caffeinated energy.  Plain black tea pairs well with milk and sugar as well so it would not be a problem to prepare them both together.  Personally, I'll probably be using this tea for the comfort it gives me.

Bonus:  Yogi puts inspirational quotes on all their tea tags.  Here are the most recent two I've seen:  "Greatness is measured by your gifts, not your possessions" and "Wisdom becomes knowledge when it is personal experience."

Raspberry Tea

This tea is made by Bentley's; its full name is Bentley's Pure Ceylon Tea Raspberry Tea.

Flavor:  Ceylon has a very light flavor which gives any Ceylon tea a unique taste.  The berry flavor is present, although I feel that there are better berry flavors out there in the tea world.  I also feel that this is not Bentley's best tea either.

Suggested Additions:  Honey makes the berry flavor more prominent, however it also provides a "heavy" taste that hides the light Ceylon flavor.  I would not suggest adding milk to this tea at all.

Ingredients:  Unknown, as they are not listed on the bag, and the box was a wooden tea caddy with no ingredients listed anywhere.

Purpose:  A light tea, good to use in place of an after-lunch dessert.  Although this doesn't seem to be a glowing review, I did enjoy the tea and would drink it again.  A possible option for next time would be to brew it and ice it (good for the summer, maybe with a sprig of mint).