Tazo

Full leaf sachet in 300 mL 90C water, 3 minutes for the first steep, 5 for the second.

A very nice blend. There’s a hint of cream to the oolong this year. I notice “natural flavour” on the ingredient list; I should really like to know what that is.

Try this one with oolong-temp water to coax out the sweetness of the oolongs and to pamper the Darjeelings. Light colour, light to medium body, mild mucat notes, gentle green notes, plus some cream and somt stone fruit notes. Really, really good.

Rating: 95.

1 big bag for 500mL water (medium take-out cup from Starbucks), no milk or sweetener.

Ai yi yi. Be careful if you get Joy to go. Traffic and other delays meant mine steeped wayyyy too long. The oolong is lost. Astringent and spicy Darjeelings, intoxicated with new power, have bullied this cup. Some stronger black tea is grunting in the background. Something else— oolong?— tastes scalded. I love a good strong tea, but Tazo’s Joy is delicate and complex. Steep carefully!

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.

The first time I brewed this, I forgot it was sitting there and it ended up much too strong and herbal. Because I knew it had sat too long, I was willing to give it another chance.

The second time I brewed it, I carefully timed it for three minutes before tasting. The stuff was awful- all I could taste was the dandelion leaves. Who puts dandelion leaves in with such light flavors as white tea and cucumber, anyway? I ended up dumping it out after half the cup. Figuring that the herbs should be mostly exhausted but the actual tea in the blend should still have some life, I stick the teabag in for a second steeping, four minutes this time. The dandelion leaves were pretty weak by then, and I could taste some of the white tea and lime, but it was still a little on the herbal side.

I ended up emptying all the tea bags into a tin so I could rinse them before trying to brew a drinkable cup or to use as something to put excess honey in when I’m sick so I don’t have to ruin a cup of something actually good. Drinking a rinsed cup as I type, I find that a single hot rinse is enough to lessen the flavor of the dandelion leaves, but not enough so that anything but a hint of limepeel comes through.

Received this from a friend—and to be honest, I don’t really like it. It has a really weird aftertaste.
I’d much rather have ‘Hot Cinnamon Sunset’ from Harney and Sons.

Tasting Notes:
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet, fruity
Flavor: sweet, hibiscus, cinnamon, apple, berry
Body: Full
Aftertaste: tart
Liquor: translucent purple

Tart fruit juice. Not bad, but not something I think I’ll get again.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/11/tazo-company-bottled-herbal-tea.html

Tasting Notes:
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea, sweet, lemon
Flavor: black tea hints of sweet and lemon, but not strong at all
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: black tea and lemon linger
Liquor: translucent orange brown

Very good bottled tea. I would happily select this while out.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/11/tazo-company-bottled-black-tea-organic.html

Definitely recommend steeping this on the light side of time and temp. No bad at all for a bagged tea. I usually manage to pull out a second, 3-minute steep that satisfies just fine.

Nothing stellar. A good work tea if you don’t want to be fiddling with loose leaf.

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.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 teabag
Water: hot spigot water
Steep Time: a little over 4 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: orange, lemongrass
Steeped Tea Smell: orange, lemon, floral
Flavor: sweet, citrus, tangy
Body: Full
Aftertaste:
Liquor: translucent orange-red

A fellow Steepster member was kind enough to mail me this and I am sad to admit I forget who it was!

Tangy, bitter, not very orange, not very sweet either!

Bleh :(

I couldn’t finish my cup.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/11/tazo-teabag-herbal-tea-wild-sweet.html

ehhh. blah. i think it’s interesting that they add turmeric for color, but mass market appeal is appealing, and turmeric is a pretty color, so, fine. i get it. Was at a meeting, this was the best tea choice to have with the conference room lukewarm water. eh.

Finishing this one off. I’ll be sad to see it go, but chances are I will buy it again next year (either that, or pick up Stash’s Christmas Morning—it’s always a contest).

I’m also finishing off an oolong on the side, but it’s not in my cupboards as it’s of unknown origin/company. It was a gift from a friend.

As always, there’s black tea in the smell. Same with the taste, a bright (and astringent) black, though it’s quickly followed by the oolong, I think. And then there’s a faint peach, though that’s more in the scent.

On a side-note: My stack of empty teatins is now larger in number than my currently-in-use teatins. It’s a shame most of them have company logos and teanames on them. I’ll have to sticker over them or something, so I can get more use out of ’em.

It’s that time of the year again, so I picked up a box of the full-leaf from Starbucks yesterday. Checked out Tazo’s fancy new website (redone for the launch of the standalones, I suspect?), and noticed that it describes Joy as having “peachy notes”.

Didn’t think much of it at the time, as it could just be describing one of the teas in the base as having a fruity note to it.

Picked it up from Starbucks and returned home, opening the tin to take a whiff. And getting… a strong peach scent. Confused, I looked it over—still Joy, still black, green and oolong. But looking at the “ingredients”, I found “natural flavours”.

I’ve had this tea many times before, last year. My brother worked at Starbucks back then, and he brought me home the full-leaf bag, which is what introduced me to this tea. I got it many more times after that, and I don’t remember any peach.

This is the second time I’ve made a cup from this tin. It’s definitely lighter than I remember, less unforgiving with steeping parameters despite being green, black and oolong. And I’m getting definite notes of peach. But I don’t remember any peach before.

I could have sworn this tea didn’t have peach in it last year. Am I going crazy?

I googled for an article about blend changes. Maybe this is the first year they’ve added peach? But I keep coming up with no results. So I don’t know (then again, when they switched from earl grey fannings to full-leaf, didn’t they throw lavender into the mix without saying anything too?). Maybe, because I had always had this tea from an already-opened tin, the ‘peach’ flavouring had dissipated before the tea made it to me. And since I bought a fresh tin…? But the tea overall is lighter.

Seriously, am I going nuts? I checked Steepster’s “Joy” reviews for any mention of “peach”. I found that the ONLY mention of peach was from a review from a few days ago—from this year’s release of Joy. No mention of peach in any reviews from last year or earlier, that I could find.

I feel like I missed something. Maybe I just suck at finding news articles. It’s an all-right tea, but definitely not the tea I remember (and loved) from last year. Peach just doesn’t do it for me in this (and peach is a fine tea flavouring—I have a peach white). I loved this tea because it was a black-green (and oolong) blend. My favourite.

Not changing my rating from last year. For now.

Last year’s tasting note, for comparison: http://steepster.com/supermoon10/posts/55853

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).

Just got this today, Perfect cup of spicy chai! Wonderfully exotic taste, cardamon & cinnamon bark really shine through ♥

500mL mug

1 part chai concentrate, 1 part 2% milk. Gently heat in microwave til steaming. Then add two Stash Ginger Breakfast teabags and a splash of boiling water. Cover and steep on a desktop mug warmer for 5 minutes. Allow milk to carry sweet hot spicy gingery bliss throughout body. Sigh. Smile.

I wish, I so wish, I could find or blend a tes and spice mix that satisfies like this concentrate; I always feel like I’m cheating somehow when I enjoy this. I make this withone part conencetrate, one part milk. If making it on the stove, I might add an extra ginger&black teabag or two (Stash Ginger Breakfast). Pleasantly warming with a goodly punch of ginger; creaminess from the milk soothes any burn. A bit sweeter than I’d normally drink milky tea, but then adding water or more black tea can help fix that. Fabulous treat when you’re chilled through to the bone. Not much black tea taste on its own. Prepares easily in the microwave, but it tastes and feels better to me on the stove, with extra black tea added.

Rich, bold, and robust. It hit the spot and it may have put that extra spring in my step that I so desperately needed. I feel this one would do in a pinch.

And I had such high expectations for this tea today!
I chose it specifically because it’s cold out. I put it in a fancy new mug that my dad gave to me that looks like something a Hobbit would use. I splashed in a little whole milk and stirred in my usual lemon honey.
But when I sipped it, I was entirely uninspired.
Usually this is my favourite chai. But today it’s like faintly spiced water.
SO SAD!
No body at all. It’s got a weight less than water.
Hardly any smell.
Almost zero spiciness…
Well, poop.
I’ll drink it, but I won’t love it this time.

Had this today with green tea! I didn’t realize it was so nice and warm out today and decided to wear long sleeves and boots! ACK! I was walking around today too and my friends and I decided to go to Starbucks. It was nice hanging out with my girl friends since it has been such a long time since I’ve seen them.

This is wonderful and I didn’t have any sugar added. It was sweet enough from the lemonade, which probably has sugar in it. I’m not sure though. I liked the hint of green tea on my palate. Delicious!

Much better than I expected for a bagged tea. When I opened the paper envelope, the scent of dried apricots came rushing out. Once brewed, the flavor is light, but I could definitely taste a creamy sort of apricot. (It was definitely apricot, not peach. There was a pleasant tartness that peaches just don’t have.) I would definitely drink this again.

Decently-interesting green. Good for work.