China Green Tips

Ugh, this was a bad tea experience because I steeped it for waaaaay too long. I was running late at the airport and ended up steeping it all the way from Starbucks to my seat on the plane. Bitter is an understatement. I’d like to try this tea properly in the future!

I bought this tea for those late nights when I’m reading a good book and I crave a cup of something hot, but I really don’t want a jolt of caffeine. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised at the subtleness of this full-leaf Mao Feng green tea.

The leaves are in great condition: whole, for the most part, and they have a distinct (though soft) smell of freshly cut grass.

After four minutes in 180ºF water, I get a straightforward cup of green tea. Sure, it lacks those sweet, buttery, almond notes that a great green tea should have, but it makes up for it with a subtle, vegetative taste with a gentle sweetness. It’s far from unpleasant, but it does leave me wanting more. It’s still something that I’d buy again, if only for the convenience.

Dry bag smells like dry grass clippings, a hint of mint; familiar and comforting.

Aroma over cup has a hearty nuttiness with a distinct cut grass smell.

Cup is yellow with some faint green.

First sips have a powdery green tea flavor with some very faint bitterness and some seaweed flavor, with some faint mint notes coming in the aftertaste after the dried grass clippings. There is a nuttiness that is less prominent that I expected from the smell of the dry tea. Soft and smooth. Astringency is nearly non-existent.

Sips midway through the cup have some bright flavor along the sides of my tongue that I can’t quite place, bittersweet? This dominates the bitter and other notes, which are still quite subdued. Astringency is starting to tap lightly in the back of my mouth at the end of a sip. Green tea flavor and nuttiness are still quite faint.

I will finish the box, but I’m sure I can find another bagged chinese green that has more pizazz. If you like a smooth, smooth, smooth green tea in a bag, try this.

Smelling the bags, I’m getting a noticeable spinach odor. The liquor seemed a little weak, but could just be me. Tasting, however, I get this strange sensation of flavor around the edges of my tongue. It has a great vegetal freshness and seems to rejuvenate my mouth and ease me awake with my bien of Quaker oat maple squares… Yum.

I haven’t really been into green teas, but I could see myself drinking this one. Unfortunately it was the last bag, and I can’t exactly bring myself to go out and buy more

A little better than the loose leaf format I tried years ago. This was my very first foray into loose leaf teas years ago and I must admit, I did not like it, but thought I would revisit it since Tazo revamped their line and now offers full-leaf teas in sachets for convenience.

Aroma: Very grassy, herbaceous and vegetal (the aroma is a precursor of what’s to come).

Taste: Same as aroma…grassy, herbaceous, vegetal. If you like Chinese green teas, you should like this one…it is very much the Chinese green tea. The grassy, herbaceous, vegetal characteristics are more prominent than Japanese green teas which are sweeter and milder than their Chinese counterparts. There does exist a slight mouth feel.

Aftertaste: The mouth feel lingers as does all of the characteristics of this tea.

Personally, I prefer Japanese green teas over Chinese green teas. This is a nice tea, it’s just that, “nice”. Not sure if I would buy it again, again, I prefer Japanese green teas.

Now I’m new to this tea reviewing business, and according to tazo, this tea ‘s aroma is popcorn.
To be honest, when I first had a whiff of this tea, I was a bit worried.

The smell kind of assaults your nose a bit, but then your taste buds are shown compassion.
I am always one to drink my tea straight, like my vodka.
So if you want sweetening advice, I’m not the one to follow.
My sweet tooth is rather insatiable, but I just can’t seem to revert back to my overdosing of sugar cubes and milk in my tea anymore. Liquid diabetes is no longer my preference, it’s either sickly sweet, or not at all.
Probably why I like dry reds and sweet white.
Now that my slight alcoholic tendencies have shown their true colors, Backkkkkkkk to tea.
I tend to tank cups of tea, mindlessly gulping it down, while listening to dead man’s bones and writing papers. This tea is perfect for a non earth shattering taste explosion, it’s more of a steady tasty experience. (Like a silent ninja that sets up camp on the back of your tongue, and keeps dropping popcorn and plants on the ground.) Anyway. Very smooth, and the flavor is pretty consistent. The aftertaste is what predominantly the proof that you drank the tea in the first place. Not bitter, not sweet, just kind of there, existing, with a lingering plant taste, (but not like you just licked a tree plant taste). A pleasant I just ate dandelion salad in the sun on a picnic blanket taste.
Tazo might have the tea description down better than I do, but that’s my interpretation of it anyway. Enjoy
=)

I’m essentially tasting each flavor Starbucks offers, so I tried this one yesterday. I really enjoyed it. It’s a very simple, clean flavor. This is one I’ll have to order again.

Tazo’s description is actually pretty accurate! The tea is sharp and light-bodied, perched just on the edge of bitter and sweet. It’s refreshing, and comfortingly “unsurprising”—perfect for your daily mug of green tea.

My sister swears by this tried and true tea. I liked the taste but I prefer my Sencha Tea over this one. The taste was alright, I prefer loose leaf over bagged tea so maybe that’s why it did not blow my hair back. Not a bad tea at all just not one of my favorites.

So after my caffeine and sugar wake up this morning (courtesy of PG Special Blend and Domino Sugar), I pulled this out of my bag at work and made a cup. It’s green, it’s kinda toasty flavored, and grassy flavored at the same time. Nothing special, but not bad still. Kept me going at work through two steepings.
Can you tell I’m working through the Tazo Sampler pack that I’ve had forever? I really only bought it because I couldn’t find the Lotus flavor and the Sampler has two Lotus bags, but about two months later, I found it at Whole Foods.