Wild Sweet Orange

Jillian Lena sent me this tea.

Here is my review.

http://bit.ly/dlgPeE

Seriously. Look at the picture.

ETA: If you want an actual review, please read the plethora of other reviews on this tea. They paint its portrait quite nicely.

Smells like a cleaner
Did I eat a vitamin?
Tart, sour, orange-y.

Yep, that about sums it up.

I can get behind this one in summer as a cold brew tea. I like adding a bit of sugar too…though I’m also a fan of mixing this with lemonade. Had a bag of this left over that I wanted to finish off. Wheee!

After reading the…um…opinionated reviews on this tea, and seeing that Tazo has, once again, added citric acid to the ingredients, I steeped this for only 45 seconds. It was 45 seconds too long. This tea is not worth drinking on its own. There’s probably a way to doctor it up so that it tastes palatable, but as it is…blegh.
I do enjoy the bright orange color. It makes me feel like a kid. Reminds me of those colored drinks in those little plastic things that look like barrels. 25 cents from the corner store! I think those things taste better than this. Though to be fair, my short steep probably didn’t allow any flavors to develop. The tartness would have been unbearable if I let it go any longer though.

Ummmm…yeah. I am on business travel and his tea happened to be in my hotel room. I was working late in the evening and decided to give it a shot. OUCH. If I steeped my jock strap from 9th grade 2-a-day football practice in creek water, I am not sure it would have been much worse.

True Story: I had such horrible morning sickness and my friend did too. She told me to “get that orange tea at Starbucks” because it was the only thing that made her feel a bit less nauseated. So, I did. I thought it tasted weirdly like, wait for it, warm Tang. Gross, right? But not really? I just loved it. But my taste buds were all weird from the morning (noon and night) sickness, so I’d soon grow to hate it, right? No. I still love this tisane, a decade later. The end.

Last night I developed a wet cough – yeah gross, right? It could be symptoms of the horrific allergies I have as a Midwesterner. Or it could be because my husband has been out of town for the last couple days and I haven’t been taking the best care of myself while he’s away. (Staying up late, eating crap because it’s easier, you get the idea.) Thankfully he’s coming home this evening.

My throat is a little scratchy and sore, just enough to be annoying. Times like these I turn to orange juice, however there is none in the house (and I’m too lazy to go to the store). So I reach for this because it’s the closest thing that my lazy butt is going to get to OJ. Sadly, I have a ton of this from my early days as a tea drinker. 3 bags in 8oz of boiling water and iced with sweetener. Its a little better than drinking some disgusting powdered Theraflu-type stuff, but ACK! Must…. choke…. down….

This has been in my drawer forever. I have been afraid to try it. A bagged herbal infusion. Starbucks what were you thinking when you bought Tazo? Hibiscus, blackberry, orange, and spearmint. How could this be anyone’s idea of good? I at least waited until the cup cooled before dumping it out. Gross.

(Should my dear friends who gave me this tea today be reading this, please know that I loved the gift. That it came so thoughtfully from you makes my disappointment harder to bear.)

AUGH! Hibiscus! GROSS! Man oh man … this might be tolerable without the everlasting hibiscus. Tart to being sour, almost bitter. This tisane could strip paint. It smells lovely in the bag, and once the hot water hits it. Smells so refreshing — yet tastes like an axe made of leaden hibiscus. Seriously, that one ingredient ruins sooo many tisanes. So damn tart! And to think there’s lemon grass and citiric acid here, too …

A cup of Lemon Cream Rooios from David’sTea seems like milk in comparison.

Let’s look at the ingredients for Tazo Wild Sweet Orange here:

Ingredients: Lemongrass, blackberry leaves, citric acid, rose hips, spearmint, natural flavors, orange peel, safflower, hibiscus flowers, rose petals, natural orange essence, ginger and licorice.

At least ten tart/citric ingredients. Ye gods. Wild Sweet Overkill.

After reading some of the reviews, I decided to try cold-steeping this one. It was a sample provided by a co-worker/friend.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Sweet? Not. I’m getting SOUR, seriously sour, sour-pickle sour without the garlic, not merely tart. Also orange and spearmint, after about 3 minutes of steeping. The tea is a not-unattractive pale clear orange. Oddly, I don’t hate it. I’m not a big fan of spearmint.

After waiting a bit I’ll add more. I only have the one bag and I don’t think I am likely to buy this.

OK, waited a bit and tasted again. The sourness is becoming less extreme after another 3-4 minutes with the bag in, and now I can just barely taste the licorice.

I don’t think I’d care for this hot at all, but it’s pretty interesting with a cold steep if you’re patient with it. Maybe the “sweet” refers to the variety of orange that contributed the peel (sweet orange rather than bitter orange) so that’s a bit misleading, but wild certainly applies!

I’ve raised my rating twice. And I might try to cadge another sample after all.

Looks like the haters delight… However I see how this one could be decent. It has a licorice backtaste which for me is a turn on when it comes to tea. The citrus was really strong but some might think too strong. For the mood i was in this morning, I liked it however the citrus was too overpowering. This tea tried to do a lot of things, it fit the mood for this morning but any other mood and I would hate it. Well another travel day.. Talk to you guys later

A review of Wild Sweet Orange Tea by Tazo

Date: 10/02/2012
Company: Tazo
Tea Name: Wild Sweet Orange
Tea Type/Varietal: Herbal
Region:
Steeping Vessel/Amt. Leaf: Cup / tea bag
Plucking Season:
Liquor Color: light orange/yellowish color
Leaf Characteristics:

1. Steepings 1 steep in a medium cup of hot water

Note: I purchased a cup of tea while visiting my college library. College libraries have been sporting cafés, so this is not odd to see on campus. Anyhow, I had tried to ignore it but gave in and purchased a cup of tea at this Starbucks shop selling Tazo Teas. I selected the tea bag and was asked what size cup; I said medium and they filled it with hot water into which I added the tea bag with covering and a straw to sip the tea.

Tazo tea’s aroma are always very enjoyable and the tea’s flavor most noticeable and pronounced, this has always been my experience with them. Tea is very hot and smells very sweet with the lemongrass, orange peels and the other citrus vying for attention. Tea’s aroma is a medley, a citrus bouquet and taste very sweet with the lemongrass and citric being more noticeable.

In all, it was a good cup of tea and no need to say anymore.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 teabag
Water: hot spigot water
Steep Time: a little over 4 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: orange, lemongrass
Steeped Tea Smell: orange, lemon, floral
Flavor: sweet, citrus, tangy
Body: Full
Aftertaste:
Liquor: translucent orange-red

A fellow Steepster member was kind enough to mail me this and I am sad to admit I forget who it was!

Tangy, bitter, not very orange, not very sweet either!

Bleh :(

I couldn’t finish my cup.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/11/tazo-teabag-herbal-tea-wild-sweet.html

Augh, augh, what did I do to be punished like this? This tea smelled so good when I opened the packet with the tea bag, and it smells almost as good brewed, so I keep sipping it, thinking, Surely I must have been imagining how sour this is!

…It has a sweet if slightly medicinal aftertaste, at least? Once my mouth unpuckers, I mean.

I think I will try steeping this drastically less. Perhaps I will pour hot water near the tea bag.

To quote Starberry’s review: “I actually gave it all away to my friends… I wonder how much they hate me now. :’)”

GEE. THANKS A LOT.

First off, I have had this tea in my cupboard for over half a year. If that says anything about my excitement to try this, I don’t know what does. Starberry did nothing to ease my nerves after telling me she thought my glowing review for Teavana’s Wild Orange Blossom was about this tea. Oh yes, and then there’s her review about the tea… My confidence is high.

Took it out of the bag.. NOT EVEN THAT IS DOING IT ANY FAVORS. The ingredient combo doesn’t seem to thrilling either. I feel like there is going to be A LOT going on with this tea. Almost too much maybe? We’ll see.

The smell is most definitely agreeing with my “a lot going on with this tea” statement. There’s floral, citrusy scents going on, all being lead by orange. To me, its not pleasant.

OH DANG IS THAT TART. VERY orange indeed. It reminds me of when you eat a warhead sour candy and you have to get through the sour powder to get to the sweet candy. Now, I like warheads, but the powder has this strange gross element to it, maybe that’s what sour tastes like. It must be the lemongrass causing it. The aftertaste brings out hints of the spearmint. Now, I do NOT like drinking minty drinks, so that’s not doing this drink any favors.

I don’t like it.

AHAHAAHAHAH, I just gave a sip to my sister and she said the exact same thing I did, “OH MAN THAT’S TART.” She then made a nasty face. I asked if she added a crap ton of sugar (how she normally takes any of her drinks) to it would she enjoy it, and she just responded, “I don’t even know. 8|” She is not impressed. Tazo passion, is one of the few teas she actually likes so I thought MAYBE if she liked this she could just have the rest.

Guess I’ll have to find some other friend to pawn this off on… CARRY ON THE TRADITION.

EDIT: Lowering my review score because I have any awful tummy ache right now that only this could have caused…

I don’t usually drink bagged tea due to the quality often being suspect, although this is actually not a real tea, an herbal tisane. I do like Tazo’s teas though. My wife bought this because at her work they make this with honey and she says it helps her sinuses clear out. What I thought about this tisane is that it was really really bitter, to the point of not being able to drink it, even with a tablespoon of honey. I would drink it every once in a while but not recommend it.

Well, I had high hopes for this Tea. I mean, anything that’s WILD and SWEET, an oxymoron if you will, had to be good. I was wrong. I still enjoyed the tisane but it was way to sour and not enough sweet.

It was a beautiful, orange flavored candy color. I could pick up a faint lemongrass as well. Not my favorite Tea, but I have a full box and I think I could choke the rest down. ;D

Sorry, It seems very vague, this is my first review.

Picked up this tea on the ski slope today at the lodge. I didn’t like it. It tasted like hot Tang.

I’m honestly rather surprised at how poor the reviews for this are! Yes, it does taste like fake orange flavoring (hot kool-aid, maybe) and yes, using licorice was a poor choice (the aftertaste is unpleasant and doesn’t work with the rest of the flavors), but as far as similar fruity bagged tisanes go, it’s probably the best I’ve had. Love that the flavor is fairly strong, love the tartness, it’s probably the closest I’ve ever gotten to drinking liquid candy without adding anything to sweeten.

Whoa—Tazo wasn’t kidding about the name. Even after only a few minutes of steeping, this tea packs a punch! It’s sweet enough to make my mouth pucker. The zesty orange flavor might be more refreshing if it didn’t hit me in the tongue like a sledgehammer.

Maybe it would be better steeped for a very short time—does anyone have experience with this…?