Trader Joe's Candy Cane Green Tea

Doesn't the polar bear looks so cute in his Christmas sweater and his mug of hot beverage? What a funny picture. The polar ice caps are melting, and the bear isn't swimming for his life but enjoying himself a cuppa'. 

My coworker G and I rendezvoused at TJ's the other day in search of Mr. Fox. Sadly, the seasonal fall products are officially gone until next year. I can't even. While I'm carefully rationing my two-month supply until spring, I picked up this seasonal tea for kicks.  Candy Cane Green Tea. What an unlikely couple. But it's a "holiday favorite," so why not? 

But that ingredients list though is BUSTLING. Peppermint, decaf green tea, orange peel, vanilla, more mint flavor, cinnamon, milk something, blackberry leaves, roasted chicory, vanilla bean...Blah blah blah.

While I disagreed with my mother about the Fox tea, that it was formulated for people that don't know how to drink tea, I would wholeheartedly agree with her about this one. This tea was definitely formulated for non-tea drinkers. Especially non-green tea drinkers. It's minty, strong, and downright weird. This is the tea equivalent of the monster cookie, which consists of everything you have in your pantry; except monster cookies are moderately good and this tea on the other hand is just strange. There's just too much going on, and the flavors are not very complementary. Perhaps the peppermint, cinnamon, and vanilla would go well together, but that green tea sticks out like a sore thumb. This fusion just doesn't work. At all. And the tea is only drinkable when hot. When cooled or *gag* lukewarm, it leaves your tongue minty but tastes like water. Really bad water.

I might enjoy this as a toothpaste. Green tea toothpaste? I'd try that. Maybe this tea is meant to be served with milk and sugar, which I haven't tried yet. I'm not really a milk and sugar gal when it comes to tea, except for Hong Kong milk tea! I'd be really impressed if TJ's ever came out with a comparable Hong Kong milk tea. Trader Ming? Trader Wong?

But let's take a moment and appreciate the narwhal. Isn't it adorable?? Kind of sad though that the packaging is the only redeeming thing about this tea. Not a good sign. T, the college kid, gave it a 1.5.  Y'all can do the math. The packaging alone was not enough to bring up the rating. Looks aren't everything! It's what's on the inside that counts! That was free ahjumma dating advice, y'all.

TL;DR: Trader Joe's Candy Cane Green Tea. What does weird taste like? This tea! 2.5 out of 10.