Tazo

Vacation Tea
This cabin has quite a few Tazo teas in stock. I’ve tried most of them as they are in all the grocery stores near home and often in restaurants who serve something other than Red Rose, Lipton, or Bigelow. This one was new to me so I gave it a chance this morning. Steeped for about 5 minutes with boiling water. After the first few sips, I added a bit of honey to it to “improve” my mug. Okay, I used a lot of honey. Pre honey, my mug was lightly earthy and slightly grassy. No hints of citrus and I didn’t detect the hibiscus. All the flavors could have used a little boost.
Interestingly, a few days ago, I was chatting with the Manager of The Kitchen in Hot Springs, SD (definitely recommend the restaurant). He made me a Banana Chai drink that was fabulous. We got to talking about the chai mixes he uses and I should have written down the one he recommended. BUT he had some definite feelings about Tazo’s chai concentrate blend that mimic my experience with most of their teas. My poor family had to sit and listen to us talk about tea for a good portion of the meal.

Okay, this is going to sound crazy… I don’t taste the spices, I don’t taste the licorice…. all I taste is sour candy and I love it! Plus its a gorgeous color!!! LOVE (totally didn’t take from a hotel lobby in Philly).

I have a complicated relationship with this tea… It has a very obvious artficial flavor to it to bring the “pumpkin” element into this tea so it isn’t just a pumpkin spice blend, which I normally appreciate. The problem is, something about the flavoring they are using just comes off as kind of weird. Sometimes I make it and the warm spices and the sweetness really hits the spot, and other times something comes out in that flavoring that hits me in an off-putting way. I’m not sure why my feelings over the taste aren’t even consistent, but I do think I lean more on the “like” side of the line than the “dislike” side and may even buy another box sometime. But there are definitely pumpkin spice teas out there with added “pumpkin pie” flavoring that are leagues above this like the ones from Bird & Blend or Portal Tea.

I will say, yesterday before work I woke up to a very rainy day, which immediately made me desire the dark, roasty notes of houjicha… but houjicha just doesn’t have enough caffeinated oomph as a “first thing in the morning” tea. So I steeped a teabag of this in with the houjicha, and that might just be the magic ticket for me. The dark and woody houjicha base really overpowered the weird parts of the pumpkin flavoring and tamed the aftertaste, but the spices were still present and added a pleasant element to the houjicha that made it extra cozy. Plus, the black tea added some of that needed caffeine, even if I couldn’t taste it. Not every franken-tea I brew works out, but this one sure did, and I imagine that will probably be how I finish off this box.

VRBO cupboard tea. Good dry leaf aroma through the tea bag. Notes of various spices and a nice touch of vanilla. The infusing aroma is pleasent ntes of german christmas cookies.
Oh man. Licorice root! You know how some poeple think (me) cilantro tastes like soap? And others can only taste stevia when stevia is involved? Well I’m adding another one to the lise. Licorice Root. It overpowers this blend like a dictator. The spices and the black tea try to muscle themselves in but the licorice root is like a little mob boss. Overall, it’s a decent blend and I’ve learned a good lesson.

Leftover teabag from a TTB. This was much better than I would have guessed! The black base was hearty enough, and the spices were pretty well balanced, though I can’t tell for sure what I taste most strongly. I enjoyed it with sugar and milk and would drink it again if I came across it, though I wouldn’t go out of my way to purchase it.

TTB sample! This was pretty refreshing cold! I taste a bit of lavender or something like that. It’s sweet and nice, though not super special.

Grabbed a bunch of different Tazo teas to try from an awesome Airbnb in Las Cruces, NM. For a bagged tea, this really isn’t bad! It’s not as good as the peach cobbler one though. It’s straightforward, but the peach flavor is quite fresh and authentic. I’m not sure why the reviews are so brutal.

This tastes so much better than I expected. I generally don’t like turmeric in teas because it takes over, but here it’s just a nice, supportive flavor that adds extra depth. I also taste some fruitiness that’s appley and pleasant. This has some natural sweetness. I drank it cold, and I liked it so much I’d actually consider getting a box if I came across it at the store!

I really like this! It tastes like peach, but also something more. I totally get the desserty direction. It’s all quite nice together! I drank this sweetened cold.

Devon Bartholomew Advent Day 22

I hate chamomile almost as much as I hate hibiscus, so its inclusion pretty much ruins this blend for me, unfortunately. It did have a pleasant apple flavor and the cinnamon wasn’t overwhelming, which I appreciate. But the chamomile came through strongly in the aftertaste and just ruined the whole experience for me.

knittingopera Swap Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 19
Theme: Comfort & Joy
My pick: Bourbon Brew from Old Barrel Tea Co

This is not at all what I expected from the name. It’s a mix of black, oolong, and jasmine green teas with peach flavoring. Seems odd for a holiday tea, and I think it might be their only one?

Anyway, it’s a pleasant enough tea. I’m not sure exactly what temperature I steeped it at, because I had already cut open the bags and put the leaves in the steeper (which had residual water drops in the bottom) before I realized I had set the kettle to 200°, forgetting that this has green tea in it. I ended up putting a small amount of cold water into the steeper first, and then filling the rest with the hot water. Not very precise ha ha, but it seems to have come out okay.

Mostly tastes like black & oxidized oolong to me, with a touch of the jasmine green. I do get the peach flavor, and it’s surprisingly nice, more like a tart nectarine/apricot IMO. There is a haylike note as well, possibly from the green tea or the oolong. Overall, a nice cuppa but not something I would order for myself.

This one reminds me of the Hot Cinnamon Tea I take to work on a “I’m running late what’s easy to grab day”. I love a good chai but this one needs more spice. I do taste cinnamon but it’s missing the complexity of a good chai. I’m about to doctor it up with more cardamom and cloves and a splash of milk.

Sipdown 46 – 2024

Got this from an old TTB. It’s nice! Herbal and slightly sweet.

Cold and with enough sugar added, this is drinkable, but it’s really not a good tea. It’s overly tangy and tart. It’s just sort of fake and strange.

Whew, today was very tiring day. I am not used to stay 8 hours on my feet, I am more of an office person. But here, nobody asks and when it doesn’t work, you have to fix it (half of the shift) and then in second half you had to catch the work that wasn’t done because the break down.

So, when returning “home”, I bought raspberry flavoured energy drink, because honestly I didn’t had a mood for tea at all. But later on, for dinner I brewed this tea, being decaf, and with prominsing flavour profile. Sadly, the kettle I have here available is not temperature setting one, but I tried my “bubbles method” (first bubbles = approx. 80°C) and it went pretty well I guess.

It was quite floral, base tea of cut grass; and maybe the pear that Kaylee notices is there somehow as well. That said, thank you Kaylee for sharing this tea with me.
Perfectly serviceable tea bag when needed something simple.

may have taken two bags from a friend’s apartment social lounge that had these available…. really great choice on my end! the flavor is there and it is a treat. sweet and savory yet balanced and smooth. i definitely noticed the popcorn note as i was halfway through my cup.

I picked up a box of this to try it, and it’s not bad. It’s rather sweet, must be the licorice. But there is a gentle clove and pumpkin flavor underneath the sweetness, and the black tea base won’t get bitter with overstepping. I know the licorice is masking low quality tea, but I don’t mind. I’d buy this again.

Earl grey tea bags. The smell is extremely citrus forward, the black tea is overpowered by the bergamot. Gets a little astringent after a while and that is when the black tea win over the bergamot. A powerful tea bag.

Some how this product is not the same as their earl grey, the regenerative version doesn’t have natural flavors and vanilla extract.

Earl Grey product information:
https://www.tazo.com/us/en/products/tea-bags/earl-grey/

Different places sell this at different price points, I’m listing the price I bought mine for.

https://www.tazo.com/us/en/products/tea-bags/regenerative-organic-earl-grey/

If this is free in a hotel I will make a cup. But I will never buy this at a tea shop. Spending that type of money for this is a bit absurd. That being said this isn’t a terrible brew but it really only ranks in the decent category, The poor leaves are so small they really don’t afford you any true tea flavor, maybe a few woody notes here and there but most of this is covered up by the fake bergamot they use.

This is from Cameron B this summer — THANKS as I finally get to try Lemon Loaf which so many of you are always raving about. It is quite a delicious Tazo blend. And looking at these ingredients, I have no idea how most of them are even resulting in this flavor. Ginger? Apple? Licorice? Rose? Chamomile? ALL of these ingredients should result in the opposite of what I’m tasting — which is a lovely lemony dessert, also with the perfect level of sweetness. It’s such a great balance of sweet lemon, with a touch of tart lemon rind, and cream. It’s lovely all around.

This herbal blend from the Strange VariaTea TTB is better than I expected! The passionfruit flavor is clear and on point. While the turmeric is definitely present, it complements rather than overwhelms the passionfruit. This is sweet, it’s savory, it’s satisfying!

I really like this. It’s milder than most green tea and has a wonderful minty aroma and flavour.

Bagged tea from Tazo, great for a quick, no-brainer, I-need-something-sweet-and-comforting kind of brew. I mostly use this while traveling because of the convenience of teabags vs. loose leaf. It’s nice and vanilla-y with a tiny, tiny hint of warm spice. Honestly, the bar was really low on this one, so it passed with flying colors. Brewed according to the instructions on the box.