Tazo

Finally just caved and brought a handful of these tea bags home with me on Friday, from the office cafeteria. No one was drinking this – and I kind of get it because we literally work for a tea company and there is never ending free, loose leaf tea in the lunch room for people to have. Still, I think that for a tea bag this tastes amazing so I just made sure that they were going somewhere where they’d be appreciated…

My giant tea stash.

Yes, I revisited this tea at work during the week. Yes it was still absolutely amazing. Sure, it’s bagged tea – but it’s actually really good bagged tea. Super sweet and rich, but it perfectly captures exactly what a Butterscotch Blondie, in my head anyway, should taste like. Which is incredible.

Recently had the chance to try this Tazo tea, and the two other teas from this collection as well. This was my favourite of the three, by a significant amount. To preface, I have been looking for the perfect sweet, rich caramel tea for the last few months and have simply not found one I have enjoyed. This, however…

It’s technically butterscotch, but it delivers that INTENSE creamy, over the top, sweet richness that I’ve been longing for in exactly the way I would want a caramel tea to convey. It’s just super extra – flavourful, sugary sweet butterscotch with buttery pastry undertones and hints of cinnamon. I honestly don’t know how you could better convey that sort of Butterscotch Blondie profile!?

I’m even more impressed because it’s a bagged tea (by Tazo, no less) that has finally sated that deep craving I’ve been holding on to for literal months.

I would 100% drink this tea again – and I may in fact pilfer some more of the teabags from our office cafeteria and hide them in one of my desk drawers at work…

Recently had the chance to try this and the two other teas from this Tazo collection.

I found that, of the three, this was the one I felt most neutral towards; I didn’t hate it or love it. Now, it’s quite sweet, but because of the “glazed” in the name, and the pictures on the tea box showing a slice of lemon loaf with a THICK layer of sugar glaze I at least knew to expect that it would taste very sweet and thusly I wasn’t upset about the intensity of the sweetness.

The lemon was very bright, and just a little creamy. It worked quite brilliantly with the green rooibos base, actually. I enjoyed this aspect of the cup the most. The most striking thing about the whole brew though was how shockingly accurate they were able to get the “Lemon Poppyseed Cake/Loaf” flavour – like I found it VIVIDLY reminiscent of the real deal! I also think it’s accurate enough that you could blind guess the inspiration for what you were drinking. Add on to that the fact that it’s natural flavouring in the blend and not artificial flavouring and, well, it’s very impressive!

So, especially for a tea bag, I think this is a very well put together blend – but ultimately it’s just a touch too sweet for me (in terms of lemon teas; that’s not why I typically drink lemon teas, personally) so not completely my jam. I’m still very impressed by it though!

Had a chance to try this tea, as well as two of the other “Dessert Delights” teas from Tazo. I had very low expectations for the line up, given prior experiences with Tazo brand tea being pretty abysmal. While I liked the other two a fair bit, this one was just down right terrible. I mean, I can’t argue that you definitely do get the French Vanilla flavouring coming through pretty clearly – but there’s also something that just potently tastes like some sort of pasty kind of dough (like fondant) mixed with salty Play-Doh. It was revolting, and I couldn’t finish the mug…

Hmm it’s difficult to pin down my feelings on this tea. It tastes generically desserty. I enjoy the tingly feeling the licorice gives my tongue. The flavor isn’t unpleasant, but it’s slightly musty and indistinct. I think I have two boxes of this one, so I’ll be sharing most of it with my family. The vanilla is tasty, but there’s also a hint of artificiality that hurts this blend. I sort of like it, but I wouldn’t buy it again.

Happy National Pack Rat Day!

I nearly missed it because I’ve been out of town this weekend for my sister’s birthday. It felt so good to get out of the house, though!

This is one of my cupboard staples… I’ll never sip it down because I’ll just immediately replace the box. I love this tea! Previously I’d only had it hot, but my coworker that talked me into getting a soda machine (I am loving infusing CO2 into my teas!) said this was one of her favorites to use in it. I haven’t tried that yet, but did cold brew it over the weekend, and it was just as satisfying as a warm cup! I need to cold brew another batch, and then tea soda will be next!

Raising the rating slightly, because for a simple bagged tea this just always delivers.

I actually sampled this for the first time last month when I had to go up to Boise to take care of some family things, so there was just no way I could write a note for it then. Decided to make another pot of it tonight for my nightly herbal. I did learn last time that like many grocery store herbals a single bag per cup comes out just a bit too weak in flavor for me, so I prepared this one with a ratio of two bags per cup of water (and my dobin teapot holds two cups of water, so four bags in this case).

The tea is a lovely lemony yellow and smells wonderful, very sweet with a strong lemon aroma. I really like this one; it has a nice lemon flavor that doesn’t have any of the “cleaner” flavors I find so often in lemon teas using flavoring, and the citrus comes off with a very juicy appeal. It has a sweetness with a slight vanilla note, and a bit of a lemon zest tart zing toward the end of the sip that I quite like. I feel like I pick up just a hint of the ginger in the aftertaste; it isn’t prevalent in the flavor on the sip, but I feel a small warmth on the back of my tongue after the swallow. And to my fellow chamomile haters: it is listed in the ingredients, and I don’t taste it at all. Another plus.

I imagine I’ll go through this box fairly quickly (which is good, since boxed teas are taking up a lot of cupboard space), but on the flipside I’ll probably restock this one at some point, too.

I love how you pick up the taste of GingerI also like the low key flavor of the pear you pick up as a flavor note after finishing your cup

A bit floral, a bit earthy, darned tasty.

Ah yes, Day 7 of Devon’s Advent Calendar brings tea I remember having before.
And I thought I quite liked it, but rating 60 says something else. I was too lazy to find my tasting note about this one… so let’s see if my tastebuds are same or not.

Well, green tea base is so astringent even I haven’t used boiling water. Spearmint is muted. Lemongrass and lemon verbena is highly medicinal. Everything was so wrong today morning? So flat tasting as well. I finished the sip, those flavours appeared, and somehow luckily they were gone quickly.

A tea bag from Izzy! Thank you!
And I got this tea, almost two years ago, from derk. It flies; indeed. See: https://steepster.com/Martin-CZE/posts/388552 if you dare to read my old and somehow probably not accurate tasting note.

The aroma was weird. Familiar, not really awful, but bit artificial in minty way? Well, it contains natural flavours.

Brewed it is sooo hay-like. And lemongrass.
In taste not much better than last time. Terribly same. More lemongrass present than actual tea. Tingling tongue even. Oh well.

I can understand it’s favourite; it’s simple mint/hay tea. I would keep some in the cupboard if there is nothing but this tea. But won’t drink it regularly.

Thank you Derk for variety of tea bags, as well for loose leaf.

I just came home from University, so I really wanted something simple – as well I am having a terrible headache. I took this, as it is a green tea with mint so I thought it could work together.

Honestly I am disappointed. The tea is having brown-green colour, without any dust, which is good. Smell is artificial lemon, and taste is not better. Maybe bit of cardboard. Something does not work as I have expected. More over, I think there is much more lemograss than actual tea, so it is not so good.

Well, at least I tried something new. And that is always nice.

It’s pleasant if you are looking for a mild tea. If you drink it right after a stronger tea, it tastes like spinach. Honestly though, it doesn’t really matter because the taste just isn’t exactly there.

Tea bag, boiling water and about 300 ml.

Dry smell is strong bergamot with little notes of lavender. But it smells quite good. I was afraid that one of that aromas will overpower second one, but it mixes quite good together.

Bit cloudy, red-brown liquor without oil spots. In aroma bit stronger lavender; with citrus notes of bergamot. Smooth taste where are bergamot notes stronger than lavender; but not overpowering the taste. I also think that 5 minutes steeping (as suggested) is bit too much, it become bit bitter for me. Not extra bitter though. Not so much tea taste there.

In conclusion I am rather surprised, because I expected awfully bitter black tea (as I know that from tea bags). But it isn´t and it is rather round and fresh taste. Nice work for tea-bag!

I got this a little while ago when I was super burned out on spiced and heavy black teas. I’ve made a pot of it before, but didn’t log it for whatever reason. Anyway, I made it again tonight.

The bag smells more like lime and peppermint than cucumber. As it steeps, the scent gets more minty and the water turns light tan. The flavor is mostly peppermint, with tart lime notes and I guess what’s supposed to be cucumber? I can’t really pick it out. I was hoping for something more refreshing and true to cucumber flavor. I suppose I will have to spend the money and get Tea Forte’s version, which is amazing.

Citrus galore. A bit much for me personally.

I absolutely adore this flavorful concentrate. What a treat! The tea is spicy and sweet and delicious. It’s fiery and strangely mellow all at once. Yum!

Meh. I had high hopes for this one; the scent was heavenly. It was sadly one-note and weak. I’ve read other reviewers say that double the tea bags might do the trick; not sure if I even want to go to the trouble.

11/18/18

I have made Earl Grey tea myself before, so I decided to pick some up from the store and give it a go. I made it similarly to how I have been making the oolong tea that I really enjoy. I let it cool down a bit, and was pleasantly surprised with the flavor of this tea. It had a bit of a fruity taste, but it was not too strong. It was a light flavor. I would definitely be interested in making this tea again. I think next time I might try adding milk to it, because I was reading some reviews and apparently it is very popular to be enjoyed this way.

I had a small cup of the sweet cinnamon spice tea again and it was very pleasant to drink. This time I added some brown sugar to enhance the sweetness some more.

This tea was very delicious. It reminded me of those red hot candies, spicy with some sweet cinnamon to it. It was sweet enough without any sugar so I just drank it as it is. I steeped it for about 5 minutes and I think I’ll steep it a little longer next time so I can really taste the cinnamon some more. This would probably go really well with a cinnamon scone and some butter.