Celestial Seasonings Herbal Tea Sampler Review: Every Flavor Tasted

I have a confession to make. For years I walked right past the Celestial Seasonings tea shelf at the grocery store. I grow my own peppermint and chamomile in four raised cedar beds beside the back porch, I dry them on the enclosed porch, and I figured a box of commercial tea bags could not possibly measure up. Then my husband Ray brought home the Celestial Seasonings Herbal Tea Sampler, 18 bags, six flavors, all caffeine free, and told me to stop being a snob. So I brewed every single bag, one each evening after supper, and took notes like the retired bookkeeper I am.

Three weeks later I can tell you exactly which flavors I would buy again, which ones I would give away, and why this sampler earned a permanent place on my kitchen counter next to the butcher block. This is not a cure for anything and I am not here to promise you one. It is a plain review of what these teas taste like, how they behave in the cup, and who I think would genuinely enjoy them.

How I've Used It

My routine was simple and I stuck to it for 21 days. Each evening around eight o'clock, after the dishes were done and Ray had settled into his chair, I boiled water in my old kettle, poured it over one bag in a plain ceramic mug, and let it steep for a full five minutes with a saucer on top to hold in the steam. I did not add honey, lemon, or milk on the first pass. I wanted to know what each blend actually tasted like on its own. The first evening was a Tuesday in late September, and I started with Chamomile because it was the flavor I trusted least. I used my usual twelve-ounce mug, the one with the chip in the rim that I cannot bring myself to throw away. The kitchen smelled like hay and apples, which surprised me, and I wrote down 'sweet, soft, no bite' in my notebook before I underlined it twice.

I kept a notebook page for each flavor and wrote down three things: the smell, the taste, and how I felt an hour later. I also brewed each flavor a second time on a different evening to make sure my first impression was fair. That is the same way I test a new herb from my own garden, and it is the only way I trust. For the second pass I changed one thing at a time, cooler water one night, a four-minute steep the next, so I could tell what actually made a difference. My notebook now holds eighteen pages of small handwriting, one for each bag, and I would not trust a review that did not do the same.

One note about the box itself. The sampler holds 18 bags, three bags of six flavors: Chamomile, Peppermint, Lemon Zinger, Sleepytime, Mandarin Orange Spice, and Tension Tamer. Every bag is caffeine free, which matters to me because I am sensitive to caffeine after lunch and I wanted something I could drink in the evening without lying awake at midnight.

The Six Flavors, One at a Time

Chamomile is the one I was most skeptical about because I grow my own. Celestial Seasonings uses chamomile with a soft, apple-like sweetness that comes through clearly when the tea is brewed strong. Compared to my home-dried flowers, this cup is milder and smoother, with no bitter edge even after a long steep. I drank it every night for a week and it became the cup I looked forward to most. My own chamomile, the German variety I have grown for six years, comes out of the garden with a strong, almost honeyed note, but it turns bitter if I dry it too fast. The bagged version tastes the way chamomile should taste before a home dryer gets its hands on it. On the third evening I brewed a side-by-side cup, mine from a jar of last summer's flowers and theirs from the bag, and handed both to Ray without telling him which was which. He picked the bagged one. I have not fully forgiven him. If you have never liked chamomile because it tasted dusty to you, this version is worth a try.

Peppermint is the second flavor I would buy again. My own peppermint is sharper and more piercing, the way fresh mint from the garden always is. The Celestial Seasonings peppermint is gentler, almost rounded, and it makes a fine afternoon cup. It did not wow me the way my homegrown mint does, but I can see why it is a bestseller. It is clean, refreshing, and hard to ruin.

Lemon Zinger was the surprise of the box. I expected a weak, sour lemon tea and instead got a bright, tangy cup with real hibiscus depth. It brews a deep ruby red, it smells like lemonade, and it tastes like something you would serve over ice in July. I do not usually reach for fruity teas, but I finished all three bags and wished there were more.

Sleepytime is the classic Celestial Seasonings blend and it is pleasant, though it is not my favorite. The chamomile and spearmint come through softly, with a hint of something floral I could not quite name. It is a good wind-down cup, but I found myself reaching for the straight chamomile more often. If you like a milder, more complex bedtime cup, this one may be yours.

Mandarin Orange Spice is where I have to be honest. The orange smell is lovely in the bag, but in the cup the spice reads as cinnamon and clove with only a whisper of orange. It is not bad, it just is not what the name promises. I tried it three ways before I gave up on it: hot with a five-minute steep, hot with a three-minute steep, and iced the way I would drink a fruit tea in July. The iced version was the best of the three, because the cold seemed to hold the orange up against the spice. But I do not buy a winter spice tea to drink it iced, and in a hot cup the orange mostly disappears. I drank all three bags because I do not waste tea, but I would not buy a full box of this one.

Tension Tamer is the flavor I wanted to love and did not. The lemongrass and ginger are there, but the taste is thin compared to the others, and the herbal note at the end turns slightly bitter if you steep it even a minute too long. Ray liked it fine. I would not repurchase it, though I would not turn down a cup if someone else brewed it.

What I Learned About Steeping and Strength

Every flavor in this sampler behaved differently with the same five-minute steep, which surprised me more than anything else in this review. The chamomile and peppermint got stronger and richer the longer they sat, with no bitterness. The Lemon Zinger turned tart and almost sharp at five minutes, so I started pulling it at three and a half. The Mandarin Orange Spice and Tension Tamer both developed a bitter edge when I forgot about them, so those two get a shorter steep and a watchful eye. The night that taught me this was a Thursday. I had put a Tension Tamer bag in a mug, gotten a phone call from my sister in Roanoke, and come back eleven minutes later to a cup that tasted like floor sweepings. I poured it out, brewed a fresh one, and watched the clock like a hawk. At three minutes it was pleasant, at four it was better, and at five it was on the edge.

If you are new to loose leaf tea or to bagged tea with real herb content, that variation is normal. Herbs are not like a black tea blend where one steeping time works for everything. I keep a little three-minute timer by the kettle now, and I adjust based on which flavor I am brewing. That one habit improved every cup I made after the first week. The timer was Ray's idea, a little sand timer from the hardware store that he uses for his morning eggs, and it now lives on the windowsill by the kettle. It sounds fussy, but it is the difference between a cup that tastes like the herb and a cup that tastes like regret.

I also learned that these teas hold up to being made stronger without turning harsh. On the evenings when I wanted a bigger cup, I used two bags in a large mug and the flavor scaled up cleanly. That is not true of every bagged tea I have tried, and it tells me the herb content is real rather than just a hint of flavoring.

How It Compares to Growing Your Own

I have to address the question I asked myself before I opened the box: why would a person who grows her own chamomile and peppermint buy a commercial tea sampler? The honest answer is convenience and variety. My garden gives me peppermint and chamomile and lemon balm, but it does not give me orange spice or lemon verbena or the particular blend in Sleepytime. The sampler fills in the flavors I cannot grow in the Shenandoah Valley. My four raised cedar beds are two feet tall and four feet wide, and they are full. Peppermint takes one whole bed by itself, because it will take over everything if you let it, and chamomile gets a corner of the herb bed where it self-seeds every spring. There is no room for lemongrass, which wants a longer growing season than we get here, and no room for orange peel or hibiscus, which are not Shenandoah plants at all.

The other thing the sampler does well is travel. When Ray and I visit our daughter in Richmond, I toss a few bags in my suitcase and I have a familiar evening cup without packing jars of dried herbs. Last trip I packed two Chamomile and two Lemon Zinger bags in a sandwich bag, and they took up less room than a paperback. My home-dried herbs would have needed a jar and a strainer, and loose leaves in a suitcase always end up sprinkled through my socks. The tea bags stayed put. Bagged tea is not a replacement for a home herb garden, and I would never claim it is. It is a supplement, and a handy one.

The chamomile alone is worth the price of the box, and I say that as someone who grows her own.

Who This Is For

This sampler is for the person who wants to try several caffeine-free herbal teas without buying six full boxes. It is for the evening tea drinker who wants a wind-down cup that will not keep them awake. It is for the beginner who is not sure whether they like chamomile or peppermint or fruity blends, because three bags of each flavor is exactly the right amount to make up your mind.

It is also for the person who travels, the person who keeps a box at the office, and the person who wants a gift that costs less than a dinner out and feels thoughtful. I have already told two friends about the Lemon Zinger, and one of them ordered the sampler the same day.

Who Should Skip It

If you already know you only drink one flavor, buy the full box of that flavor instead. The sampler gives you just three bags of each, and you will run out of your favorite before you run out of the box. If you are a strict loose leaf drinker who finds all bagged tea thin, this will not change your mind. And if you strongly dislike hibiscus, skip the Lemon Zinger and the Mandarin Orange Spice, because hibiscus is the backbone of both.

One more honest note. If you are looking for a tea that will fix a health problem or replace a medication, this is not that product, and no tea is. I drink these because they taste good and help me wind down, not because I expect them to cure anything. Talk to your doctor if you have a real health concern, especially if you take medications, because herbs can interact with them even when they come in a tea bag.