The Good: Good ingredients, Good aroma, Affordable, Does not taste bad
The Bad: Caffeine free, Very dry flavor
The Basics: Despite wonderful ingredients, Celestial Organics Cinnamon & Cardamom tea is an underwhelming tea that is weak and dry!
When I used to write for a review website, one of my staple reviews were for Celestial Seasonings teas. I became such a fan of Celestial Seasonings that every year on my annual trip to Las Vegas, I would stop at the Celestial Seasonings factory in Colorado to get the newest teas first. It has been years since I could afford to go to Vegas, but I am finally getting back to Celestial Seasonings tea reviews with some regularity. Unfortunately, some of the newer Celestial Seasonings teas - especially the Celestial Organics teas - are far less impressive than the classic teas that built the company.
Cinnamon & Cardamom Celestial Organics tea is one of those unimpressive teas that seems to trade more on the quality of the ingredients than actual flavor.
Basics
Cinnamon & Cardamom is a tea from Celestial Seasonings. It is a 100% organic "tea" (there are no actual tea leaves in it!) that is caffeine-free and made entirely of organic spices. Celestial Organics Cinnamon & Cardamom comes in Celestial Seasoning's standard stringless tea bags, which are paired together with easy to separate perforations that allow one to separate the tea bags. When I make pots of tea, I tend to use four bags and leave them connected. A box of Cinnamon & Cardamom comes with ten pairs (20 individual) of tea bags.
Cinnamon & Cardamom is marketed as a flavorful herbal tea and it falls dramatically short on that account; this is a very dry tea, though it lacks much in the way of flavor beyond the dryness and a vague cinnamon flavor.
Ease Of Preparation
Cinnamon & Cardamom is an herbal tea, which means preparation is as easy as boiling a pot of water! This organic herbal tea requires boiling water. A single tea bag will make the standard 8 oz. coffee mug worth of tea, though reusing the tea bags yields little more than hot water. These tea bags cannot be reused and even credibly call the result "tea." Indeed, the second pots I've tried were incredibly weak, tasting only like the remnants of tea. These bags are one-use only. I tend to make my tea using four tea bags in a 32 oz. steeping tea pot and with four tea bags, the Celestial Organics Cinnamon & Cardamom tea still comes out unfortunately weak on the flavor front - though it does not taste watery at all.
To prepare Cinnamon & Cardamom, simply boil up some water, and pour it over the tea bags in a cup, mug or steeping pot. This tea is recommended to take four minutes to steep and after a couple cups and pots, I've found that with boiling water, the tea actually takes six minutes to reach its full flavor potential.
Taste
Cinnamon & Cardamom tea smells strongly of cinnamon, which makes perfect sense. The scent is distinct and strong and has a slight underscent to it that implies something sweet, much like cinnamon candies.
On the tongue, Celestial Organics Cinnamon & Cardamom tea is very dry. The flavor is spicy, but subtle. Interestingly, the Celestial Organics Cinnamon & Cardamom tea is dry and tastes not at all watery, though it is not very rich or distinctive. This tea tastes very much like a pot of Bengal Spice tea (reviewed here!) that utilizes the tea bags a second time; it is like the aftertaste of a spicy tea.
The dryness of the Celestial Organics Cinnamon & Cardamom makes it very hard to enjoy or consider as a satisfying beverage. The aftertaste of the Celestial Organics Cinnamon & Cardamom tea is dry and strong enough that one is likely to need a drink after consuming it!
Nutrition
As the name suggests, the Cinnamon & Cardamom tea is comprised entirely of organic Cinnamon and organic Cardamom. Cinnamon & Cardamom tea is all natural, gluten free, and does contain not caffeine, but is (oddly) not marked as Kosher.
Cinnamon & Cardamom contains no calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates or protein. Unless one adds sugar, there is nothing of nutritional value or detraction in it.
Storage/Clean-up
Cinnamon & Cardamom is an organic herbal tea, so it comes out much lighter than other teas. As a result, cleanup is rather simple. The mugs and steeping pot easily rinse out. One supposes this tea will stain if it is left on fabrics, so simply do not let the tea cups or mugs linger on light colored materials that might stain!
Cinnamon & Cardamom is easy to clean up after - the tea bags may be disposed in the garbage, or composted if you have a good garden and/or compost pile. One of the nice things about this tea - like most - is that so long as it is kept cool and dry, it can last for a long time and it is easy to clean up. Because the boxes of Cinnamon & Cardamom come wrapped in plastic, they will last well over a year. My box, bought last month had an expiration date of November 10, 2017.
Overall
Celestial Organics Cinnamon & Cardamom tea is mediocre at best and even when made stronger than the directions recommend, the tea tastes more dry than actually flavorful.
For other Celestial Seasonings tea reviews, please visit my reviews of:
Celestial Organics Chamomile & Lavender tea
Sleepytime Sinus Soother
Powerfully Plum
4.5/10
For other drink reviews, be sure to visit my Food & Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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