Salada Decaf Black Tea Review

I’ve consumed at least one box of this   Salada Decaf Black Tea   in the past few months.

My mother drank orange pekoe black tea nearly every day, while the siblings and me were growing up.  So I’m certain that I fell in love with tea by observing how much she enjoyed it. To this day, black tea is frequently served at my sisters homes.  So they must have been influenced by Mom to like it too.  The tea-drinking family tradition continues.

I drink this decaffeinated black tea during the hours immediately preceding bedtime, when I can’t afford the waking effects of the original version of this product.

As teas go, this decaffeinated version of Salada orange pekoe and black tea is decent; it tastes no worse than other decaffeinated black teas I’ve tested. I taste only modest differences in flavor between the two products.  The decaffeinated version is somewhat weaker-tasting than the original.  Yet it retains the clear, deep orange-red color with virtually no bitterness, that I identify with Mom’s black teas from so long ago.

This tea sweetens well with stevia or agave nectar, and for a name brand tea, is pretty cheap and easy to secure.  Plus, it stock piles well, for years in a cool, dry food storage bin.

I have here a 3.25-ounce, 48 tea bag box of this gentle tea for review.  Find my detailed impressions of it below.

Note that orange pekoe tea is a particular preparation of black tea.  So orange pekoe tea is indeed black tea.

Benefits, Pros, Features, and Advantages

Salada is a well-established name in the tea producing business, as they’ve been growing and packaging tea since 1892.  Their expertise shines through in this decaffeinated version of their own popular black tea.

This tea keeps for years without noticeable flavor changes, as the box comes wrapped in virtually air-tight cellophane.

This tea works reasonably well at appetite suppression, although not as well as green tea in my body.  Plus, since the caffeine content is much lower than in the original version of this product, its weight loss effects may be less pronounced.

This premium blended tea sweetens nicely with stevia.  Stevia sweetens the this product without destroying its signature black tea flavor.

Unlike the green teas I’ve sampled, you can put lots of honey into this black tea without destroying its not-so-delicate and bullish flavor, even though the taste is admittedly weakened somewhat by removing most of the caffeine.

Adding a bit of half and half or whole milk highly compliments the flavor here.

The best-if-used-by date is roughly two years out from the date I purchased my box.  But experiences proves that it will keep for longer without losing much great flavor.

Harvested from quality controlled tea estates, this high quality decaffeinated black tea has little caffeine. So it generally will not keep you up at night, even if you decide to enjoy a late-evening cup.

This is a low-cost yet excellent tasting beverage.

They use real metal staples to fasten the string and tags to each tea bag in Salada decaffeinated tea.  So these assemblies virtually never come apart, unlike some other brands that use a metal-free bag-string-tag construction.

With little caffeine, I can break with a daily pattern of drinking this tea without suffering headaches, dizziness, or other caffeine withdrawal symptoms.

This tea is naturally decaffeinated, without the use of harsh and artificial chemicals.

Cons, Disadvantages, Problems, and Concerns

The tea bags are not individually wrapped air tight.  Nor is the box in fact, once the cellophane is removed.  The bags are arranged in three rows in this 48 tea bag box I’m evaluating right now.  So as soon as you open the box, and assuming that the tea inside is fresh, you get a strong smell of orang and black tea.  The freshness begins escaping thus.  They paid low attention to ensuring long-lasting freshness in the packaging here.

Being darker in color than many green teas, especially when you steep it for a long time, this decaf black tea beverage can stain your clothes, should you accidentally spill it on yourself.  If this happens, flush it out with clear water immediately, so long as the affected clothing can be safely washed with water.

This decaffeinated version does not brew to quite as strong a taste or smell as the original version of this product.  But it is nonetheless, still quite delicious.

Brewing Instructions

Each tea bag makes one cup of decaffeinated black tea.

By The Cup

1. Boil enough fresh water for the number of cups of this tea you wish to brew.
2. While waiting for the water start rumbling, put 1 Salada decaffeinated tea bag into each cup you’re brewing.
3. When the water boils, immediately pour it into each cup.
4. Steep for three minutes or until it becomes strong enough for your liking.
5. Remove and discard the tea bag(s).
6. Sweeten tea as desired.  You might also try added half and half, milk, orange, lemon, or lime as tea condiments.
7. Enjoy.

By The Pot

1. Use hot water to rinse out tea-pot prior to brewing, to warm it.
2. Again, determine how many cups of this premium Red Rose decaffeinated black tea you desire.
3. Put the required amount of fresh, filtered water in your kettle or pot.
4. Put the pot on your stove and energize the heat.
5. While waiting for the water to boil, remove labels from the Salada tea bags, to avoid possible contamination of the tea with ink from these tags.
6. When the water reaches a rolling boil, immediately add the tea bags to it.
7. Remove kettle from heat and turn off the stove.
8. Allow bags to steep in the pot for three minutes.  Steep to taste here.
9. Then, remove the bags from the pot with a straining spoon and discard.
10. Pour the tea into cups, sweeten to taste, and add milk, lemon, lime, or orange as desired.
11. Enjoy.

For Iced Tea

1. Take 3 naturally decaffeinated Salada tea bags for a two-glass yield.
2. Remove the labels from them.
3. Put these teabags into a tea-pot.
4. Then, in a separate heat-safe container, boil two cups of fresh, filtered water.
5. Once the water boils, remove from heat and turn off the heat source.
6. Pour this water into the teapot, on top of the tea bags.
7. Steep for three minutes.
8. Remove the tea bags with a straining spoon and discard.
9. Add sugar, lemon, orange, and/or lime as desired.
10. Fill two glasses with ice.
11. Pour steeped and seasoned tea into them.
12. Enjoy.

Ingredients

Decaffeinated black tea.

Nutrition Facts

• Serving size: 1 tea bag (1.91 grams).  Makes 8 Fl. ounces.
• Calories: 0, 0% DV.
• Total fat: 0 grams, 0% DV.
• Sodium: 0 milligrams, 0% DV.
• Total carbohydrate: 0 grams, 0% DV.
• Sugars: 0 grams.
• Protein: 0 grams.

Our Rating

This tea is simple to prepare, and easy to flavor.  Plus, the process of removing the caffeine does not overtly impact the original tea flavor; though it does have a weakening effect on it.  Nonetheless, this version of the product is quite good tasting.  So I’d rate it at 91 out of 100.

Where To Buy Salada Naturally Decaf Black Tea

Look for this decaffeinated black tea from Salada in the blue and teal box with the white Salada logo at your favorite grocery store.  Most stores carry Salada teas, including this decaffeinated version.  I’ve seen it at Walmart, Home Town, Weis, and Giant Eagle stores among others.

References

• Orange Pekoe Tea  on Wikipedia
• Salada Tea   on Wikipedia
• Salada Tea    official web site
• Where to buy    Salada Decaf Black Tea

Revision History

• 2014-12-02: Content tweaks.  Added picture.