Joy

Starbucks was having a BOGO on Tazo teas. I saw they had Joy, the seasonal blend, as part of this sale. $7 for 30 sachets seemed like a good deal, but I wasn’t sure if I would like the tea. So I bought just a cup to see if I’d like it.

The verdict? Bleh. I might have steeped this longer than I needed to, since it’s a little bitter. I’m mostly tasting black tea. There’s supposedly oolong and green in here, too, but I don’t really get it. I’d recommend this to someone who likes Christmad stuff and black tea.

I’d bet this might perk up with a little milk. I’ll give it a second steeping and see what happens.

BACKLOG!
I quite enjoy this one, for a bagged tea. It has some nice oomph. yum!
Now, I was at a friends place so didn’t have time to focus on the flavours etc… but I would certainly never turn a cuppa this beaute down :)

Sipdown!!
Thanks to threewhales, who I actually haven’t seen on here for awhile. This was part of our trade awhile back with the steepster book club. It’s an interesting blend of bold, tart, & a little floral in the there too. Not something I’ll buy, but not bad for a change of pace.

My only questions (not to anybody in particular) is why is this considered a seasonal blend, other than the name? I usually think of seasonal blends as having holiday-like spice flavorings, but this is just a straight mix of black, green & oolong.

This tea is actually pretty good if you do not abuse it too much.

The bag contains black, green and oolong tea, which makes for a strange brew time. The bag (I do not have a box) does not give any indication of how long it should be infused, so I played around with the few bags.

First, infusing hot, no additives, three minutes. Pretty good, light on all three flavors, but mostly a sweet clean green with a base note of black tea with the final mouthfeel-taste of oolong.

Second, infused hot, no additives, five minutes. Starting to get a little bitter, not really the best, can still pick up the green and oolong while the black plays a background note.

Third, infused hot, no additives, seven minutes (strictly because I forgot about it). Really super bitter, overpowered all flavors except the black tea.

The final verdict: this tea is decent if infused 3-5 minutes. It does not need anything added to make it taste good and be able to pick up on all three flavor teas. The brew is very good, especially for my morning cuppa on my way to work.

I was worried about this blend from the start since it is a combination of black, oolong, and green teas. Still I had to try it and so I did. It was very fruity. I have never been a huge fan of teas where the the strongest flavor is fruit. I don’t mind it being a part of a more complicated flavor profile but not so much the primary flavor. With that said it isn’t for me but I can see someone else liking it if they were a fan of fruity flavored teas. Oh and surprisingly this tea doesn’t actually have fruit in it, it’s the tea itself that has that characteristic.

Meh. It’s alright. I had it as a latte last night and it was decent. They gave me a bag and I steeped today, just with milk and sugar. Last night I could taste the individual teas, and a peachy undertone, but today, it was more black than anything, which might have been my brewing temp and time of steeping. I might consider getting this in place of the Awake Tea latte that I occasionally get from Starbucks at work (but I tend to get coffee from Starbucks more and tea from Teavana or both from Timmie’s since it is cheaper).

Bleeeh! This is very astringent to me, slightly bitter, a bit woodsy and I can smell muddled grass. IMO this is just a bad combo of teas…black tea, oolong and green tea? Perhaps it had potential if the tea ratios were different? I even added some cream and sugar to help mask the taste of this and as it did help I still wasn’t able to drink a full cup.

Picked this up at Starbucks while working on my exam stuff! I really liked it with a little bit of honey. Delicious!

Daughter brought this to me over the weekend…a blend of three teas…three is my favorite number. The verdict, it is ok. I only brewed this two minutes and I think that was enough time to being out the three favors. Will I buy it again? No, but it is nice for a surprise:)

I bought this tin at Starbucks – Well BOGO, so a tin was $3.50.
It tastes like an amp’d up Jasmine tea to me.
I’ve been drinking it at night, it’s ok, my first Tazo branded tea I’ve tried.
Would I buy it again, no.
Would I give it to a house guest? Sure, enjoy.

Sipping a big 500mL mug of this at Starbucks this morning … last time I tried Joy, Tazo was stiull using those little teabags with fannings. Now Tazo is all about full-leaf, and while I deplore the petroleum-based bags, the full leaf, of course, makes a huge difference.

How to steep a blend of black (including delicate Darjeelings), green and oolong? The hot water at Starbucks is just below boiling, as far as I can tell, and a 4-minute steep of one bag (they’re big bags, packed) in a 500mL cup yielded to me a toasty, slightly nutty and green, sweet and incredibly floral oolong bouquet. I would not steep this blend any longer than 4 minutes, and I would definitely use water below boiling. Don’t worry, the black teas will make themselves known. Might be soe Yunnan in here, too; definitely getting a peppery bite. I really like the 2010 Joy blend and would happily give it as a gift.

My roommate loves this tea and she wanted me to try some because she thought I would fall in deep long-lasting love with it too. In reality, it was a mediocre tea. The tea bag smelled a little bit like an apricot to me and the tea itself didn’t really have any flavor.

I got this at Starbucks today before going on my hike. I thought it would be kinda Christmasy and nice… I could not pick any flavor out of it whatsoever. Like drinking tea flavored water.

TTB Tea #15:

The problem I have w/ blends containing more than one type of tea isn’t the flavor… it’s the steeping parameters! I decided to steep this more like I would a green oolong since I figure the black tea probably only makes up 1/3 of the tea.

1 bag (2.23g)/6oz

After 3 min the liquor is VERY red. The aroma is heavy like a black tea, yet green… I can’t explain it.

The flavor is heavy like a black tea, yet smooth and sweet. I definitely wouldn’t steep this like a black tea. It’s ok, but I think a person that likes black teas would enjoy it a lot more.

My brother works at Starbucks, and yesterday night, he texted me saying they got in some Festive Teas for Christmas, and that he was going to bring me one called ‘Joy’.

Little did he know, I’m a sucker for blackgreen blends. He didn’t know what it was, he just saw that they had new ones in, and so he grabbed a teabag out of one of their serving tins and tucked it into a plastic glove (to preserve the freshness!) for me.

I didn’t think they would DO a black-green blend. You really have to have the taste for them. Even more interestingly, this is a black_oolong_green blend. I set it aside to make this morning.

The dry bag had a strong black-green odour. Brewed, not much difference. The brewed tea itself, however, had more of a bakey oolong smell in there.

Initial, first hot sip was green and black. As it cooled, you can definitely taste the oolong in there. It’s a very dark, baked taste, and I’m almost not sure if it actually fits in. The green is bright, almost jasminey (I think I’ve been tainted; I always associate green tea with jasmine, regardless of whether or not it’s actually been scented with it). The black is… black. It’s not there very strongly, the two greener teas taking over with just the black to ground them. Sipping it more as it’s cooled, the black is definitely bright, Darjeelingy, although I think there’s supposed to be another black tea in here as well. It’s darker, and I can taste it too. It grounds everything.

Overall, I wish the black were a bit stronger, but it’s still nice. I doubt Joy is sold outside of Starbucks, so I’d probably have to pay some outrageous price for a box (this is the fancy Full Leaf bag they get in).

Brewed at 85, for 3 minutes (first steep) and 5 minutes (second steep). Added a bit of agave because it was a bit bitter.

This tea confuses the heck out of me. I think it’s because there’s so much going on. I mean, there’s black, green and oolong teas plus natural flavours. When I opened the tin I got whiffs of a fruity alcohol flavour. I’ve never actually tried darjeeling tea (which I believe is in this) but maybe that was the smell?

Really full flavour and I’ll probably reach for this in the morning when I’m craving a big cup of coffee.

Rating: dear god, I have no idea. I don’t hate it but I’m not over the moon for it.

found this little bag sitting in our work tea bag stash, and because my sister is bonkers for it i decided to finally try it. it starts off bitter but finishes nice and sweet, i can see myself stealing a bag or two from her when i visit but other than that i dont think id buy it for myself. not to be a tea snob but i am a bit turned off by it because it is bagged. i dont really get the feel of it being holiday inspired, to me it tastes like an everyday tea but i feel that it may be because i have an uneducated pallet.

All right, I’ll admit it, this tea is nothing special. The aroma of the steeped tea is very much like Lipton’s orange pekoe, although, being pregnant, my sense of smell may be off. Can’t really smell any of the green or oolong at all (even though I can VERY clearly see them in the tea bag—one thing I do have to give this tea props for is making you visually aware of what’s in it, if that counts for anything). However, the teas that they included in the blend must either be not very fresh or not very high quality… or both, I suppose. I tried to steep it at a lower temperature this time, to see if the green/oolong flavors would come out a little more. I gave it a scoop and a half of sugar, but nothing else.

As it cools, I do begin to smell a little of the green tea. Still no oolong.

In the first few sips, I get a bit more of an English Breakfast instead of orange pekoe flavor, with some Dragonwell-like astringency in the aftertaste. I’m glad that it doesn’t taste as Lipton-y as it smells, because I would probably throw it out if it did. As it cools, I can detect a few whispers of oolong here and there, but not enough to say that it really becomes present. It’s kind of like the middle child of the three—surrounded on both sides by the tasty and lovable youngest and the responsible, take-charge eldest. It can be hard for the middle child to get noticed sometimes, and I sympathize completely. However, these teas didn’t blend themselves, and since the middle child is actually my favorite of the three… I’d like it to shine a little more.

Since this tea was a Christmas gift from some cousins of mine, I’ll definitely drink it without complaining. Overall, it’s a rather satisfying, if rather run-of-the-mill, experience. Sometimes I’m not picky about complexity of flavor or quality, and when those moods strike, this will be the tea I go for.

Y’know, it’s not bad. My husband works at Starbucks, and I like using the Tazo teabags at my work, so he nabbed me a box of this. It isn’t stellar, and I probably won’t drink it at home, but it’s a great work tea.

Piney, but not overly so. A bit fruity, like guava. Bitter, but the bitterness is mild and there’s no astringency to push it over the unpleasant edge.

No way I’d pay full (Canadian) retail for a box of this, but it satisfies the palate just fine. There are no major pluses, but there are no real minuses, either.

Purchased this a month ago and I just got around to trying it. I followed the steeping suggestion on the package and steeped for 5 minutes. While 5 minutes is needed to develop the black tea flavor I think it has done a disservice to the green tea. I smell the earthiness of the oolong and unfortunately jasmine (I don’t care for Jasmine tea)but the green tea is too tannic and bitter at a 5 minute steep.

I am intrigued by the blend and will likely try this again with a 3 minute steep. But at 5 minutes I find it unpalatable without the addition of something to balance the bitter notes of the green tea.