Tazo

I like this. I’ve had strong ginger tea that tastes kind of flat but this one has a fresh, green taste. It’s good on its own or with sugar.

There aren’t many hugely favorable reviews for this Tazo dessert tea. It’s not my favorite in the line-up, either (Glazed Lemon Loaf is unbeatable). Today’s experience substantiated that—got interrupted at work and didn’t remove the bag promptly. The mate got unpleasantly bitter.

However, I’m not writing it off completely. It can be pleasantly sweet and cookie-like, but needs a little coddling and a little milk.

I continue to contend that any tea is infinitely better when accompanied by a spoonful of thoughtfulness. This was tucked into an encouraging card from a friend (thank you, friend!) that arrived in my mailbox exactly on the day I needed it.

But even without the sprinkle of kindness, this is pretty doggone tasty. Extremely sweet on its own, but the licorice doesn’t coat your tongue like it does in some blends. Very on the vanilla, somewhat on the cinnamon, and a viable substitute when you really, really need a cookie.

Not bad, though it’s not as lemony as I expected.

I don’t know what I did wrong. The first cup of this was sweet and had a decent caramel/butterscotch flavor/aroma. The second cup was astringent and awful. Maybe I need to use cooler water?

Not vanilla, not creamy, kind of bland and astringent. So disappointed by this one.

Wasn’t I just thinking about this tea? It showed up in the free tea area of the work kitchen and I am so excited to try it! I won’t even have to buy some to find out if I like it or not.

Gotta say, the smell of butterscotch is really strong. This is definitely a really desserty tea. It’s making my whole cube smell like butterscotch.

Taste-wise? Wow! Tasty! I added sweetener and milk because it’s a dessert black tea and it is really really good. I can taste the cardamom and cinnamon and what must be the chicory root and I was a bit afraid of that combination, seems like it would be too spicy for me but it’s actually very true to the butterscotch taste, with a bit of warmth at the end of the sip. I’d drink this again. I might even buy some if I come across some in the grocery store.

This one is heavy on the ginger, light on the green. Hot, I couldn’t detect any of the purported pear undertones and it was a little bitter. Meh.

However, the “meh” was upgraded significantly to “plumb tasty” when I iced it down. Ice cuts the bitterness, the ginger starts tasting a little like ginger ale, and by golly, there’s the pear! Now I’m looking forward to my next glass.

Kind coworkers continuing to prop me up with thoughtful words and boxes of tea; I know it’s a blessing to consider the folks you work with as extended family and don’t take it lightly!

So this was yesterday’s prop. And an interesting one it was, too. Definitely leads with the ginger, then the lemongrass, and pear? Well, your tastebuds have to hunt a little to find it, but it’s there. Thinking this will be refreshing chilled/iced.

Really surprised gmathis and I are the only ones who have reviewed this tea. I’m betting it’s in grocery stores across the country.

Anyway, found this on the clearance shelf for like $2. I really like dessert teas and Tazo is usually pretty good. Not spectacular, but good for bagged tea.

I actually really like this. Creamy vanilla and burnt sugar with a mild note of cinnamon. I swear I taste star anise faintly in this, too, but it’s not listed in the ingredients. Maybe nutmeg? Something like that. Cocoa peel is listed, however, and I don’t detect that. This is a lovely dessert tea, buttery and caramelly.

The more I sip it, the more I realize this tastes like oatmeal. Like brown sugar and cinnamon oatmeal. But with caramel.

Tazo is the institutional tea of my office, so we burn through this stuff at an unbelievable rate. The upside is that it’s about a fresh as your going to ever see this brand, and it still has a “tired, musty” taste. Another upside is that it’s better than the plain black tea version!
I won’t go spend MY money on this, but I’ll drink it as a last resort because it’s better than the charcoal w/ lighter fluid espresso that the $7000 automated coffee machine makes.

I don’t have that great a history with Tazo teas, and this tea didn’t help that whatsoever. I can’t put my finger on specifically what I don’t like about it. The apple flavor is very soft but doesn’t taste entirely like apple, and the cinnamon is very, very faint to me.

I wanted something minty and cool so I made this and let it cool down to room temperature. It’s a good minty tea, I like the tarragon in it, and it just hit the spot today.

…yeah, I actually liked this bagged tea. As in I really liked this bagged tea. I have an excuse-this is an herbal blend with green rooibos- a leaf that is very small and honestly belongs in a filtered bag so it does not slip through the frickin’ holes when you brew it.

I’ve had to cut back on the caffeine to wake up at 5 in the morning, and this has served as a good winter and desert tea that is not bad on its own, but good with a little honey. The lemon is sweet, and it does have a buttery bready body with a very nice touch of ginger and vanilla. Thankfully, the anise is something that blends into the bread flavor so I do not taste it as much. I’m sorry if I pointed out the anise or the ginger for those of you who hate those spices. It has also been an easy convert to guests. I actually want to get more of this, so it will be my BWB tea for the season or longer.

This tea has good potential, but I feel like the quality has declined. It often turns out sour, no matter how I make it. I used to really like it, but recently it hasn’t quite been hitting the mark.

The tea that got me started on black tea. On the search for a better version.

I decided to have another bagged tea revisit, and this seemed a perfect choice since “ward off the plague” mode means I’m trying to up my Vitamin C intake, and hibiscus is great for that! I had four bags of this left, so I decided to make this a sipdown and make a quart of this iced. I remember enjoying this well enough as a hot brew in the past, but in general tend to prefer my hibiscus teas more iced (and hey, a sipdown!)

This tea is just as good as I remember! It is a really strong hibiscus tea, that packs quite a punch in the tart ‘n tangy notes, and I realize that a large percentage of folks out there aren’t going to be into that. My tongue happens to be quite happy with tart flavors while it winces back in fear at anything spicy, so I can take this tea plain without much problem — I think most hibiscus fans will probably need to sweeten this one, though! (Perhaps even generously). This tea, particularly iced, has a very nice fruit punch flavor, with a lot of hibiscus and citrus notes, and just the slightest subtle floral touch right on the finish. I can pick up a very distinct lemon zing, with a more subtle and sweeter orange flavor in the hibiscus base. I find this tea really refreshing, with a nice punch appeal. Perhaps sometime I’ll add sweetener to my iced brew and properly make it like a punch, but this just tickles my tongue’s tart happy place so satisfyingly!

A nice, bold breakfast tea. Nothing to complain about, while also nothing special.

Sipdown no. 2 of 2018 (no. 358 total).

I still have the filter bag version, which is what I had logged this under when I first tried it years ago. It quickly became my favorite mint herbal tea. I tried unsuccessfully to replicate the ratio of spearmint to peppermint to tarragon. Blending isn’t my superpower.

I still have a box of the filter bags, which I bought about a year ago. This sipdown is of bags I had for much longer and was hoarding.

There is a difference between the full leaf sachets and the filter bags. The full leaf sachets give a more full, more balanced flavor in which the tarragon has more potency. The filter bags are more minty.

The hoarding behavior made sense in this case because apparently, Tazo no longer offers the sachets, which I personally believe is an economic decision — the tins the sachets come in are metal rather than paper, and the sachets themselves are in netting rather than paper, so I expect it’s more expensive to make the sachets and Tazo decided that they should reserve those for teas where it would make more of a difference. They still offer sachets on their web site, but not for this herbal or any herbals.

Alas, it makes a lot of difference to me with this herbal. I wish they still had it available in the sachets. It’s still my favorite mint herbal, but now that I’ve had a chance to compare the two, I have to give this a higher rating than the filter bags.

I love this one. The flavors are so delicate and just really delightful. Low-maintenance to make, and pretty to look at in the mesh sachet. A gem in the Tazo (aka Starbucks) empire.

Chinese black teas are my favorite. It’s odd that Tazo keeps touting this one on the packaging as a lychee flavored blend, when there is no direct mention of lychee in the ingredients (unless it’s included under the “natural flavors” umbrella). It’s smooth and sweet, fruity, and steeps up a muddy amber color. Slightly floral afternotes. Very delicate and lovely.

Sometimes adding milk pushes a certain element of a tea to the forefront. In this case, it is just sweet and scotchy with milk. Still quite tasty, but every bit as good straight up.

Jen vB’s review of Butterscotch Blondie reminded me that I have a few stray bags scattered in multiple locations, one of which was close by after lunch. It is far less buttery than the Savoy Caramel Buttercup I’ve been enjoying lately, but pulls off the almost-a-cookie vibe very nicely, even without the addition of milk. (Now what’d I do with the rest of the bags…?)