Zen

I liked this tea so much that it kicked me off into trying loose leaf. Now I have a large stash of loose leaf teas, yet I still like the flavor blend in Zen tea so much that I decided to make my own blend at Adagio to see if I could make it better. I ended up with what I call Meditation Bliss. It isn’t exactly the same, but I think it’s what this tea would be if it were fresher and higher quality. I love lemon grass and find Zen’s combination of lemongrass and spearmint definitely refreshing. Even their bottled version is good, although it is sweeeet.

I still like Zen well enough and am currently making iced tea out of it with their supersized teabags. It’s really the only bagged tea I buy, and it’s a rare purchase.

Be careful not to overheat this tea or steep for too long. Before I really got super into tea I would just boil water like usual and drop this bag in a teacup for 5 or so minutes. Blech. That will result in some pretty overtly strong tea and those gross tannins that come out when you overcook Green Tea.

Now that I have a real tea kettle (thank you Cuisinart!) with temperature controls and am more careful not to leave the tea bag in too long, this is great. It is a bit minty which isn’t a huge thing for me but the lemongrass addition is really nice. It’s a great green tea and quite tasty and enjoyable, just don’t put it in boiling water like I’ve been doing for years!

I agree with what a lot of you have said about the flavored parts of this being yummy and strong, but it does lack in actual green tea taste. But honestly, I’m okay with that. The lemongrass is the most up-front, followed by the spearmint. It’s better as it cools, I think, and am considering this iced. That could either be super refreshing, or toothpastey. I think I’ll take the risk.

Also, this calls for an experiment with honey. Take that, flu!

This is a bag from one of Tazo’s samplers, I think. It’s not the fancy pyramid bag, just a regular teabag.

What is it with mint being in everything I try here lately? There’s definitely mint in this one, as well as the lemongrass. But as for green tea? Definitely not the star of the show. In fact, this tastes much more like an herbal blend than a green tea blend.

And the longer it sits, the more pronounced the mint becomes. Definitely won’t be buying this one.

Smelling the leaf bag is almost overwhelming, the mint over powers every other scent. Strong veggie/mint flavor, not something I enjoy honestly. This might taste pretty good to some other people, but for myself I doubt I’ll even use another bag. I may try resteeping the bag to see if it dulls down the flavor, but for the most part I’ll either trash or give away the rest of this tea. Now I remember why I don’t like green tea’s.

I have a Starbucks on my campus and a whole lot of extra meal plan dollars- so this is my go-to morning tea. It’s not the greatest thing, but is a good, clean pick-me-up.

I’m gonna be honest with you: even tea-loving happy chicks get down. Today was one of those days….I was stressed, tense as could be, had a bad headache, and was down in the freaking dumps. A couple of things had depressed me and I was rocking some major sleep debt. Fast-forward to this evening, and s’all good, thanks to a big ole steaming mug of Tazo’s Zen Green Tea. Okay, and some retail therapy, but MOSTLY due to my cup of deliciousness.

I’m a sucker for the taste of mint, especially in chocolate or tea, and this green tea doesn’t let me down. There’s something very relaxing about the smell, not to mention the taste. Spearmint leaves, one of the main ingredients, are well-known for curing headaches, possibly relieving pain, and acting in an anti-inflammatory manner. So now here I sit, once-again in a chipper, laughing (slightly annoying?) mood, at peace with all and sending many happy thoughts to the good people at Tazo.

Cold-brewed!

Before I discovered how much I loved green, white, and oolong teas, I drank tea mainly because I enjoyed the flavor of herbal teas and fruit or spice flavored black teas. This tea strikes a balance between a nice green tea (nothing noteworthy, but definitely not a bad green) and a light, refreshing herbal tea. Overall, it reminds me of a Moroccan mint tea mixed with an herbal lemon verbena tea. The lemongrass adds a good citrusy flavor to round it out. This tea is a standby for me when I want something quick, light, easy to brew, and stimulating.

The main thing I don’t like about this blend is actually the name. Zen is a bit pretentious and cliche, and to trademark a tea name like Zen is just ridiculous.

Notes:

The smell out of the bag is very grassy and minty.

The recommended brewing time is 3 minutes — I tend to brew it two minutes or less, to keep the green tea from developing a more bitter taste and to keep the brew light and slightly watery (I don’t like heavy brews).

A previous tasting note mentions good quality tea bags — I agree. The teabags used for this blend are very high quality.

And yes…starbucks again. And that too, I think it was way beyond the shelf life. The green tea was still clean and strong but I could not taste any spearmint or lemon.
I am sure mint lovers understand my sentiment when I sipped my tea awaiting the mint….of which there was no hint.

However, I will give this a second chance – hoping that it was poor turnover at this starbucks and not dead tea!

The lemon and spearmint makes this one quite refreshing. Pretty delicious.

Being on the run constantly this week, I naturally forgot my tea mug at home this morning, so to Starbucks I went.

Honestly I picked Zen out today just because I definitely needed that word in my life right now. I’ve had it before and think it’s decent.

It’s not a very strong green tea taste. Without looking at the ingredients I could tell that there was spearmint and lemon verbena in this. The actual tea is very background, so it’s more of a lemony mint taste on a light green taste. A good cup if you want something refreshing and calm.

I was recently staying at a hotel that had a variety of teas so I thought I’d grab one. I ended up bringing it back home and tried it at work. Maybe it was the travel or maybe it was old, but the scent was less lemongrass and more lawnmower. It wasn’t terribly pleasant.

Honestly, I have grown up with these tea my whole life so I feel I have a personal connection with it. Green tea is my favorite and I especially love Tazo’s green tea because it really relaxes me and gets me ready for the day. Every morning I always drink at least 1 cup of green tea before I take my shower and this green tea keeps me relaxed and prevents me from throwing a fit at the children who I work with everyday preventing me from throwing chairs or bricks or other dangerous objects. This tea is seriously the way to go to start your morning on the right foot.

This tea just brings in fond memories in the begining of my tea craze! It was exactly this tea that introduced me to green tea and since then I have not turned away from the stuff! I just love how this tea was so greatly blended with an accent of lemongrass with the greens, just drinking one bag again would make me content for the whole day! Tazo sure knows its tea and does not disappoint on its crafts! Cheers!

Backlogging for the conference I attended last week. They had a sampler box of most of the Tazo teas, and I tried a few of them. I remember when I first started drinking tea, I liked this one. This time it tastes a bit bland, almost like the tea was a bit old. It wasn’t awful, but I think loose leaf tea from places that keep their stock fresh has ruined me for most conventional bagged teas.

Smells wonderful. Upon tasting you’re hit with a strong bitter type taste followed by a more pleasant one. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this yet. It is however, relaxing.

This seems to be my favorite green tea so far. The spearmint and lemongrass come through in perfect proportions. As usual, just enough amber agave nectar to barely cover the bottom of my tea cup provides a nice hint of sweetness.

Zen by Tazo was one of my favorite teas last spring. For me, it’s perfect for spring or summer as it’s refreshing and light.

Refreshing and light, the spearmint and lemongrass help make this green wonderful to drink every morning.