For years, something about the taste of black tea, hot or iced, never failed to turn me away. I was an avid tea hater, until I sampled an iced tea in a bookstore Starbucks a couple of years ago. It turns out that tea can be any variety of flavors that you want, from sweet and fruity to spicy and minty. While I tend to use coffee to caffeinate, I love a cup of herbal tea to warm me up during the day or wind down at night. If you are a black tea dodger like me, here are some of my favorite herbal teas to try! Hopefully you’ll find one that you enjoy.
- Passion Tea – Teavana
This was my first herbal tea and still one of my all-time favorites. I usually get it as part of my go-to Starbucks drink: Passion Iced Tea with Lemonade. While there is a hint of herbal flavor to it, it’s tangy and fruity to the point that it feels like you’re drinking some type of juice rather than tea. Keeping tangy drinks cool might be your preference, but this tea is great hot too. It also has a really pretty deep pink color!
Here is where you can buy it: https://www.target.com/p/tazo-passion-herbal-tea-20ct/-/A-12954582?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df_free_local&CPNG=Grocery&adgroup=231-15
- Peach Tranquility Tea – Teavana
This was another tea I tried for the first time at Starbucks. It is part of their Cold-Buster, a drink that was viral a few years ago for making you feel better when you were sick. Once I tried this tea for the first time on its own, I was hooked. It does require a lot of steeping time for the peach flavor to come through, but it is totally worth it. This is my favorite tea for sitting down to relax.
Here is where you can buy it:
- Spiced Apple Cider Tea – Teavana
As you can probably tell by now, I’m a fan of most of Teavana’s herbal tea varieties but this one is perfect for fans of fall. It has a little bit more spiciness to it than warm apple cider and is much more aromatic, but it still brings that fall feeling and cinnamon-apple flavor to the table. This tea is definitely much better hot than iced for that warm, cozy feeling, but it is a great place to start if you want a tea that tastes like another favorite warm beverage.
Here is where you can buy it:
- Honey Vanilla Chamomile Tea – Celestial Seasonings
Stepping into the more classic, well-known herbal teas is this sweet chamomile tea. Previously I was not a big fan of chamomile because of how intense the herbal/floral flavor could be, but this was the tea that changed my mind. I had a vanilla chamomile tea at a friend’s, and afterwards, I knew I had to find something similar. The vanilla hides a bit of the floral taste, while the honey adds a touch of sweetness so that you don’t have to add any additional sweeteners. I always feel relaxed after drinking a cup of this tea to wind down for the night. If you want to go straight for true herbal teas, I would definitely recommend this one.
Here is where you can buy it: