Tazo

I was surprised by how strong this tea was. Very fruity, very sweet. Almost like drinking juice. It’s good if you’re in that kind of mood, but it’s not the kind of tea I could drink on a regular basis.

Funny story! I was cleaning my room quite thoroughly, and came across a box under my bed containing one half Christmas decorations, and one half Tazo’s Awake and Chai (and a small amount of sweet orange). So yeah, I’ve got a lot. I remember my neighbour giving it to me (along with the Christmas decorations).

We’ve always had Tazo in the house, but the few times I tried Awake it was very bitter and gross right through the milk and sugar. And now I’m going to try it with nothing!

Not as bad as I remember. No bitterness at five minutes steeping. Then again, when I drank it in the past, I just left the teabag in.

It’s not remarkable. I’m getting a dryer taste at the back of my throat, but it’s nothing like I remember. It’s probably been in that box for quite a while though, and my neighbour’s probably had it even longer.

Edit: As it cooled it got more astringent, but then I noticed something else. There’s a very faint hint of cherry.

Sipdown no. 94 of the year 2014. Bye bye sachets!

I’ve been thinking about why this doesn’t do it for me, and I don’t think it’s the chamomile.

I’ve had some really terrific chamomile lately, either by itself or in a blend without any of the following: hibiscus, mint, licorice.

It’s these other ingredients that are making this not work for me. They suck the delicious natural sweetness and creaminess right out of the chamomile and reduce it to some straw-like imposter that’s tastes like a mouthful of chamomile potpourri.

I had the same problem with the other mint/chamomile blend I had a while back.

I think I’ll stock a chamomile blend when all is said and done, though I don’t often crave it. But at this point, I think it’s going to be Harney’s Yellow and Blue unless something else comes out of left field and bowls me over. (How’s that for a parade of cliches? It’s late. Night night all.)

In an effort to find non-caffeinated alternatives for the kids to enjoy, I steeped a cup of this tonight and gave them each a taste.

We have discovered that neither peanut is a chamomile fan.

After having quite a bit of the Independence Coffee Co. Chamomile/Peppermint Plus over the last couple of weeks to put out the five alarm fire in my virus ravaged throat, this was perhaps not the best choice for me this evening. I need a little distance from the flavor so I can stop associating it with pain.

The mint in this one is milder than in the Independence, and the flavor is more subtle and complex. Bumping it a few points higher than the Independence for subtlety and complexity.

In the “full leaf” sachet, this tisane is like a miniature bouquet of dried pinky red and yellow flowers complete with accenting greenery. Quite charming looking.

Its scent is hard to pin down as there is so much going on. I do smell the chamomile and the mint, but the overarching fragrance is floral with a tinge of spice. It smells like something you might take a bath in — bath-salty, without the salt.

The main flavor I taste is chamomile, and it’s a nice one. Some chamomiles have a tendency to taste a little like a mixture of paper and dried straw that’s been “flavored” with chamomile. This doesn’t. It’s a fresh-tasting chamomile, possibly aided in that respect by the touch of mint.

I don’t get an overpowering taste of mint as some other tasters have. It’s a suggestion more than anything else. There’s also a suggestion of something that is probably the hibiscus, a tangy, herby/earthy taste. It’s interesting to me that I don’t really taste lemon, though both lemongrass and lemon balm are listed in the ingredients. I taste lavender more than lemon, and that’s toward the end of the ingredient list.

It’s not bad, and I’m not a chamomile-hater. I like this much better than the Numi chamomile. The main thing I find objectionable about this is that it’s too busy to be calming. I can’t chill when I know there are nine different flavors, as I keep trying to account for all of them and how they interact with each other. It’s like trying to meditate and being unable to keep track of the mantra because the thoughts are coming too fast and furious.

Calm should be simpler than it is.

Had this yesterday when I felt like going to Starbucks but didn’t want any extra calories. Every time I try this I am surprised that so many people hate Tazo tea (and particularly the black blend), because I think this might be my 2nd favourite readily available iced tea. They always seem to steep it to exactly the right strength and I really enjoy the taste (plus it’s very inexpensive)!

Yep, it’s a big tea day today (I really need the caffeine). I know people have complained about the black Tazo blend before, but I really like it… it’s different than the usual Lipton or Bigelow that most places serve, and I appreciate the fact that there are never any floaty tea leaves at the bottom when I get this kind!

I always get mine unsweetened (I’m so not a fan of sweet teas, unless we’re talking chai), and it’s always perfect (and calorie-free). Big fan!

Celebrating bidding farewell to this today as I polished off the last of the bags in the home stash (never mind that I still have about half a box left at work).

I became used to it, and the lemon flavor was ok, but it never wowed me. It didn’t do much as a representative of mate either as it didn’t have enough of a positive effect on my tastebuds to make me want to try more or better mate.

Not a purchase I will repeat.

I don’t feel too badly about not loving Yerba Mate after reading at the Mayo Clinic site that some studies have shown it increases the risk of certain types of cancer, particularly for smokers, if drunk in large quantities over long periods of time. I don’t smoke (and haven’t for years) but if I’m going to be drinking something tea-like, I’d much rather drink something that’s believed to inhibit cancer, like green tea.

I like this one better than the Mate Lemon by Numi. It’s better without the imposition of a green tea flavor in the middle of the lemon/mate mix that the Numi has. The Tazo has ginger in it, but it doesn’t affect the taste as much as it does in the Green Ginger tea. It has a smooth mouth feel, and a lemony/herby flavor to it that is ok, but just ok.

I’ll finish what I have of it, but it’s not something I like well enough to replace when I’m done.

Today is back to work day :( I brought my Breville back in, but FORGOT MY BREWING MUG! Ahhhhhhhhhhh. I was craving Earl Grey, so I thought that a visit to Starbucks would be my best bet.

I have good associations tied to this tea. I used to get it before my favorite history class. So, this morning was made better by that memory to taste brain connection :) The tea is ok – I have much better Earls in my drawer at work – but that taste memory makes it my go-to Starbucks tea when the need arises. The hint of lavender is nice, too.

I had to get some coffee beans today, and I went through the usual rigmarole where the person offers me a free coffee and I ask if I could have a free tea instead then they look at me funny, go in the back to ask the manager, then come out to say I can have a free tea :)

Today I chose the Earl Grey because I was curious about how the full leaf would taste, plus I was less than happy with the Awake I had last time. I also have fond memories of getting a ritual cup of Tazo Earl Grey twice weekly before my Most Favorite Ever Class Ever Taken Ever :)

Well, I like it much better than the Awake for sure. I think part of it for me is the nostalgia factor. It has that special Europe from World War II to the Present flavor for me. Also, the bergamot livens up the bland black tea and hides some of that tastelessness yet bitterness that I found in the Awake. I think this will be my go-to cup for free-with-coffee-beans or stranded-on-campus-in-need-of-tea type situations.

I now have an overwhelming need to curl up in a chair and read Simone de Beauvoir, Camus, and George Orwell!!

I have to up the rating on this, because now that I am hibiscus tolerant, I’ve been drinking it a lot. It’s not bitter or too sour to my mind, just pleasantly tart.

Big change of heart on this one. It’s become a staple.

Finishing up this tin of sachets and decupboarding. I am likely to buy this again at some point. Not any time really soon, because it’s not a “can’t live without” thing, but I can imagine myself craving it at some point. Another reason I won’t buy this any time soon is that I found myself craving Teavana’s Caribbean Breeze, so I bought some of that and it’s very very similar to this.

I also want to try the Passion Lemonade at Starbucks sometime between now and the end of the summer. Just have to do it after I’ve been really good so I can justify the calories. ;-)

Anyway, I know this isn’t goodbye forever, so I’m enjoying this last cup.

Let’s start with the name. I’m a sucker for evocative names, and how can you argue with Passion? Who doesn’t want to feel that? It would be a real bummer to hate something with this name.

Second, the look and smell of the “full leaf” sachet bags is quite pretty. And the color of the brewed tisane is pretty amazing. Deep reddish purple, very wine-like.

But rose hips and hibiscus. I was afraid, I was very afraid. Because they can really ruin things for me, but somehow they worked in this.

I’m sure I have had passion fruit or at least its juice, but I can’t as I sit here remember what it tastes like. I made this with two bags in about 14-16 oz of water and unsweetened, the dominant taste in the infusion was of unsweetened black cherry juice. A surprising discovery as there is nothing cherry or even berry listed among the ingredients, but a pleasing one.

I decided to sweeten it up a bit to see what difference that made. OMG — grape juice! Seriously, it’s just like warmed grape juice, with a slight raisiny note.

Its shapeshifter qualities make this drink quite interesting, and while it’s not something I would make a daily habit of drinking, it’s unique enough to earn a place in my cabinet, at least when the cabinet isn’t full to bursting with things I like better.

I found this one at the grocery store complete with an “infusing kit” for the loose leaves. in other words, it had the cute little infuser on the top that you hang in the rim of the cup, scoop in the tea, and pour the water riht through it. I particularly like this tea, Earl Grey being one of my favorites anyway. It didn’t seem to taste all that different from the bagged tea, but I still enjoyed it with my usual sugar and milk additives. The infuser is a bit of a pain to deal with, but I don’t really mind for a tea that I find to be worth the effort. Besides, now I have an infuser for those loose leaf teas that don’t come with one.

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

Little by little, my original stash of what seems like thousands o’ tea bags that I bought to try to turn myself into a tea drinker (before I started reading up and realized that was not the best way to go), is diminishing if not yet dwindling. This is among that group, and one of the first I bought. I think it was part of the second wave of splurge, after the original Bigelow/Twinings purchases. It’s in one of those spacious rectangular tins that the full leaf “sachets” come in.

The sachets, by the way, are pretty nice. I feel confident I’m not going to taste paper, I can see the leaves, and there’s lots of room for them to swim in once they hit the water without being too compressed. They do expand to fill the bag and bump up against the sides a bit once they’ve steeped fully.

I expected to like this one quite a bit as it has a reputation for being one of the tastier Tazo blends. But I think I may have to come to terms with the fact that I am not generally liking flavored green teas. Green teas on their own, yes. But I haven’t yet found a flavored green tea that really sends me. This one smells quite nice, a little minty, a little green, and a tiny bit of citrus if I really try hard.

While this is a significant improvement over the Orange Blossom by Tazo, I like their China Green Tips better as a green tea. I can taste a grassiness in the Zen, but it doesn’t have the sweetness and succulence of the Green Tips. And I like Refresh quite a bit as a mint tisane. The combination of peppermint, spearmint and tarragon really works well, and is much more interesting to me than the spearmint present here. In fact, Refresh is still the frontrunner in my Tazo experience and I plan to buy more of it (loose this time) when I run out of the bags as I’ve not been able to duplicate the blend using my own peppermint, spearmint and tarragon.

This isn’t bad, it just isn’t as great as I’d expected, and it’s not something I’ll feel compelled to replace when I finish. I could see having it every once in a while when something I like better isn’t available.

Also, I should say that it steeps well at a longer time without bitterness, but there’s not a noticeable change in flavor between 1.5 min and 3 min.

Not one of my favorites… the cinnamon is overpowering. I keep avoiding the box in my cupboard.

This is one of my favorite teas to brew and pour over ice. It’s light and refreshing cold.

I don’t care for this as a hot tea.

Ordered myself a cup of this after work today. I needed a pick me up. They used 1 large full leaf bag for 16oz water, I steeped 2-2 1/2 minutes and added a splash of half and half and a packet of sugar in the raw. I enjoyed the first few sips of this the most, while it was scalding hot, but it was decent as it cooled down, just a bit perfumey. Not really floraly, but tasted like I was drinking perfume after awhile. I think it was just the way they used the bergamot. I’ve had better Earls, and worse Earls, this is a middle of the road Earl. I’d order again, but probably won’t buy a tin.

I’m sitting at the local Borders, enjoying their air conditioning and working on a paper. I’m not sure what the temperature was for this, since I didn’t make it, so I hope the kind lady that made this knew not to make it too hot.

This tastes pretty artificial. It’s pretty tart but not necessarily sweet. I’d get this again next time I come here (which might be pretty soon as it’s really starting to get hot outside), but I wouldn’t buy it to make at home.

Sipdown no. 127 of the year 2014. I didn’t drink a lot of tea today—a cup in the morning, two at work, and a commute home with this, plus the last two bags in my bigass Shakespeare mug that looks like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wedgwood-creamware-Shakespeare-mug-ca-1964-/161232245159?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item258a30d1a7

(Hope that link works.)

This isn’t goodbye, just until we meet again.

If LeafSpa Eagle’s Nest Ever Drop has been my commuting to work tea lately, this has been my commuting home tea. I am down to my last eight bags of this, two currently steeping, four in my work stash and two in my home stash. So there will be a sipdown coming next week.

I really will be sorry to see this one go and I expect I’ll buy more, eventually. I have to get closer to sipping down all my decaf options before I do, though.

It’s such a pleasant light floral flavor that really isn’t like anything else I’ve had on a green tea base that can be abused with impunity and which doesn’t taste at all like a decaf. My association with this tea is floating on my back in a swimming pool that’s deserted and still except for me, in the late afternoon while the wind is rustling the leaves of the trees around the pool.