In June, after my friend Carolyn introduced me to soy chai lattes, I started trying different flavored teas. By the way, soy chai lattes are awesome. I get mine cold with a shot of espresso. This tea exploration I embarked on only included trying teas cold. The reason: it is really hot here, especially from May to the first of September. All summer if I drank coffee, it was iced coffee (with flavored creamer and sweetener) and if I drank tea, it was sweet iced tea. In July I posted reviews of a flavored green tea and a flavored black tea that I ordered from The Republic of Tea. I also mentioned in the posts other great teas that I liked cold like Lipton’s (regular and diet) Green Tea with Citrus and Bigelow’s Plantation Mint tea. Well, it is October now and it is cold. I have started drinking hot black coffee (I weened myself off of creamer) and hot teas. Here are my recommendations for hot teas. Again, I am from the South and though I am weening myself off of sweetener, I still use one packet of Truvia or artificial sweetener in every cup I drink.

• Pumpkin Spice Black Tea from The Republic of Tea
  I got this as a sample in the mail last month. It was so good.
• Bigelow’s Plantation Mint Tea
  This tea is great sweetened and over ice . I also like it hot. It tastes like a caffeinated version of the Sleepytime tea mentioned below.
• Passion Fruit Papaya Black Tea (from the August 3rd post) from The Republic of Tea
  This tea was pretty good cold and it is good hot too.
• Tropical Green Tea (from the July 27th post) from The Republic of Tea
  I prefer this tea hot. It is calorie-free and tasty.
• Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Herbal Tea
  It is like the caffeine-free version of Bigelow’s mint tea.