108 Tasting Notes
Amazing, even though I brewed it incorrectly! It was a gift from a friend and is very fresh. The leaves are a deep emerald colour, and the tea tastes like very good quality matcha. I’ll brew it properly next time, which means I’ll have to bring my thermometer to work to get the water temperature right. Lovely.
Preparation
I got a sample of Tazo teas at a bridal shower this weekend, and I thought I’d try this one first. Opening the sealed pouch produced a very sweet orange smell, which was promising. I don’t usually bother timing herbal tisanes when they steep, but if I’d known that steeping it for too long would have really brought out the lemongrass, I would have been more attentive. Lemongrass … bleh!
Preparation
Picked this up on a whim while I was out shopping this weekend. It tastes quite different from other green teas, so much so that I had to look it up to see what category it falls under. So far, the taste really reminds me of darker oolongs. I don’t think I used enough leaf, since the instructions said to use 2-3 tsp/cup, so maybe my opinion will change later today when I try again! I like it, but I’m not a huge fan.
Preparation
I was excited to see this tin at my local Starbucks. I misinterpreted “full-leaf” tea to mean “loose-leaf” tea, though. There are 15 “sachets” (another word for bag!) per tin, and the sachets are made of nylon. Non-biodegradable nylon, and the price point is considerably higher than the previous line of Tazo teas. The taste isn’t even much better. It took quite a bit of searching for me to find out what material the bags were made of, but knowing that they’re non-biodegradable, I won’t be getting this again. (One FAQ said that users could open the bags to dump the leaves into a compost, but if I’m going to that much trouble, I’ll just use loose tea to begin with.) I can get more loose chai for less money at any of the fancy tea stores in town, and theirs tastes better. At least the tin is pretty.
Preparation
I won’t call this a bag because of what other people associate w/ bag- low quality, microscopic tea dust. And I definitely don’t want people to be confused. I prefer to call sachet another word for steeping vessel ;) I’ve always been curious as to the weight of the sachet- would you mind weighing one for me if you have a scale? Thanks! I agree though, this is chai I will only drink at SBUX (can’t stand the concentrate). I love my Mayan Chocolate Chai :)
Well the net weight on the tin says 45g, and there are 15 sachets, so that makes 3g per baggie. Which is roughly a teaspoon, and that looks right when I eyeball them. :) I don’t own a scale for stuff like this, sadly.
I’ve had tea bag where the weight of (at least one) tea bag was more than the weight listed though:)
I used the postal scale at work. XD The bag+contents was 4g, and the bag by itself (I emptied it into my 8oz teapot) was 0g. So the contents for this particular bag was 4g. I can measure the next one tomorrow, if you like! :)
I’m logging this again to follow up on my note to self: try it with some black tea, and see what happens. Well, the only black tea on hand here at work is Bigelow’s English Breakfast, which I usually avoid if at all possible. The combination of the two, however, was fantastic! See my note, here: http://steepster.com/teas/bigelow-tea/4311-english-breakfast?post=43843
I have found a way to make this otherwise unpleasant tea absolutely delicious! Just use one bag of this, add one bag of Four O’Clock’s Chocolate Spice (no milk!), and you get something wonderful. It’s like some kind of decadent dessert. I will call this experiment a resounding sucess.
I had this tea recently during afternoon tea at the Prince of Wales hotel in Niagara on the Lake. It was lovely! Of course, the whole experience was lovely, and that may be flavouring (haha) my review of the tea, but I really enjoyed it. It went well with milk and the delicous, traditional food.