Tazo

For a cheap, bagged Earl Grey, this one is in the “not bad at all” range. The bergamot is there, but it’s not too cloying or perfumey. I’d say it’s just right. The tea itself isn’t as strong as I prefer, considering I steeped it for five minutes, but neither is it terribly bitter. I like this brand better than others I have tried and for readily available teas that are probably in your friends’ pantries, this is one I don’t mind drinking. I drank my last cup with a splash of skim milk and no sugar. I usually drink it plain. Hot.

My last tea of the day. Taken with dinner at our office event.
Very tangy. But after the super sour lemonade mocktails they made for us, I didn’t notice much.
Everyone hates on this tea. I don’t love it or anything, but it was far from the worst option available to me at the time, and I was grateful for it!!
Also, I have a soft spot for orange candies. Especially tart ones

First off, I can tell this tea is a little delicate. I steeped it for 2 minutes and its showing signs of just a tad bitterness. I had to add some sugar to get much flavour at all with this tea. It was very bland without it. Now I can somewhat taste the apricot and vanilla. It’s there, but I definitely taste the white tea base. It isn’t a bad tea, but in my opinion it could be better.

Although I’ve been raised on earl grey tea, I can’t finish a cup of this tea. It is fairly unpleasant to drink, and my dentist certainly wouldn’t want me to put in the amount of sugar necessary to make it palatable.

This is a definitely a better black tea than their earl grey. A very good breakfast tea with somewhat of an aftertaste but still nice to drink.

It’s not that this tea is offensive, but it’s disappointing. It has a tantalizing, very subtle fruity smell that would make an excellent perfume (!), but the taste is nearly nonexistent. It’s as though Tazo took a mild green tea and then blunted its edge by adding other, sweeter flavors—but not enough to replace the tastes they dulled. The result is bland and watery tea.

I can possibly convince myself of a hint of sweetness and tang in the tea’s aftertaste, but it really takes focus! If the package weren’t labeled, I would have no idea what flavors I should be detecting.

This is a smooth, sweet and pretty true to caramel flavor chai.

It’s not very spicy, it’s hard to overbrew (not a big deal if you forget it for awhile) and generally a very agreeable chai. It takes well to a splash of milk and definitely doesn’t need any additional sweetener. I get an interesting cheesecakey note, like it’s just a bit tangy.

Tasty, but boy does it have a strong scent. Can’t drink it around my wife.

so good so good so good

Just picked this up at the store today. Delicious! The aroma hooked me instantly, in spite of the fact that I am battling a bad sinus infection and nothing really smells good at present! Illness aside, I really savored the taste. The spices were well-balanced. Definitely recommended.

It was another wonderful Christmas at my house, the day when we Christians celebrate the most precious gift of the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior. In addition to this miraculous gift, I also received some other cool presents this year. One of the great ones was a box of Tazo Joy tea from a dear friend of ours.

I don’t drink a lot of bagged tea anymore as I prefer the bolder and more complex flavors that more consistently occur in loose leaf tea. However, there are some bagged teas that are exceptional. I believe Tazo often falls into that category.

First of all, you know Tazo makes “classy” products because their teas are enclosed in “sachets” rather than “bags.” All kidding aside, they do use a silky woven material for their bags…uh…harrumph…sachets, instead of paper. One of my complaints with bagged tea is that you can occasionally taste the paper bag. The Tazo sachet material seems to be tasteless and odorless which allows the tea to sink or swim on its own merit (or lack thereof).

One interesting NOTE: When I was researching this tea on the Internet, I found what must have been an image of older packaging for this tea. At that time, the box said the tea was contained in “filterbags.” I guess “sachets” does sound more sophisticated. :-)

The Tazo Joy sachet contained long black full leaves, as advertised. Other tea bags that I’ve tried contained leaves/by-products that were pulverized to a dry powder. I haven’t found that method optimal for producing superior flavor. The Tazo sachet also had an enticing fruity aroma.

I steeped the sachet for five minutes in eight ounces of boiling water as recommended on the box. The resultant color was a goldish orange. The brewed smell was slightly sweet and fruity.

The taste of this tea was quite decent. The flavor was fruity, mildly sweet, smooth, and lower-end-of-medium-strength. There was absolutely no astringency. There really was no aftertaste either.

The package revealed that the fruity flavor came from peaches. My palate wasn’t sensitive enough to discern the specific fruit’s classification but I was able to identify the flavor as a resident in that family.

All in all, this is a nice tea that I will be happy to drink on those days when, for whatever reason, I don’t have time (or the inclination) to set up the Breville tea maker for a pot of loose leaf tea. Also, I would definitely choose this blend over some of the nasty tea-like substances produced by certain office tea pod machines.

Found this at TJ Maxx. I used to work at Starbucks and thought I knew all of the Tazo teas, but apparently not! I’d never heard of this one before. It’s kind of weird, but it’s a weird that I like. It’s green tea with rose and cherry flavors. (Ingredients: green tea, rose petals, rose hips, natural flavor, blackberry leaves) The rose is much more pronounced than the cherry, for sure. I don’t see myself finishing this tin, so if anyone wants a couple sachets, let me know!

Tastes like a scented candle. The cardamom overpowers all other flavor, no amount of cream or sugar or additional cinnamon could save it for me. The balance seems way off with this one. Can’t taste the pumpkin at all.

Second of the two earl greys I’m comparing today. This one I’m sure I’ve had before in my Starbucks days, I just hadn’t drank it since I joined Steepster I suppose. It’s very similar to Teavana’s earl grey tea, which replaced the Tazo version once SBUX bought Teavana and merged their product.

It’s too astrignent for me. I only steeped it for about a minute and already it’s rather bitter and drying, with a heavy hand of bergamont. It came in a teabag of a pale green colour – wasn’t sure what to make of this. Recycled paper? Old? Expiry date said July 2017 so it must have been just the type of paper they used.

Overall, I much preferred the Twinings Earl Grey I had this morning. It was definitely a lot smoother, not bitter or astringent, and had a more varied flavour profile with the citrus, lemon, and bergamont notes.

To me, this just has a grass/straw scent and taste. Maybe it’s due to the sinus infection that I have, but I don’t get any mint or lemon out of it. Just a pleasant, but bland grass tea. I’ll try it again after the sinus infection clears up.

This was the hotel tea when I was traveling a few days ago. It tastes just like fresh snow peas. Sweet, with a little crispness in it, and not too light.

I have lots of Chinese green tea in the house, and my family is from a green-tea-loving region, so I’m sometimes a little skeptical of Chinese green teas that are mass produced and easily found in a US grocery store. That said, this is pretty good, nicely refreshing, and not finicky to brew either.

Been a few Christmases since I’ve had this. Its description now reads:

A jubilant blend of black tea, oolong, jasmine green tea & hints of peach.

Memory may be failing (my family would instantly confirm that), but when this was first released, I recall it being primarily green/black without the more delicate peachy, oolong-y highlights. Still a good sip, just a different one.

Next in line from mom’s tea cabinet. I’ve had this one before, it’s a decent, solid green tea blend. I’m normally not a huge fan of blends, but this one is OK. Hints of grass and wet straw almost overwhelm the green tea flavor, but it’s still a good mix. Nice and tasty.

And, as the name intends, it is certainly quite soothing. Zen indeed.

This is my option for bagged chai at work.

My favorite element of chai is cardamom, but this tea is heavy on anise instead. These spices, for me, are best in a coffee or milk blended chai and not in a standalone tea. Still, it beats Stash and other bagged chais I have had.

Changed my mind on this one. It’s weak. Comes out tasting like cinnamon flavored water. Typical Tazo— overpriced and overrated. This would be better if they had used more rooibos in the sachets.

Quite liked this one! It tastes like apple pie. Perfect for the fall. I would only ever drink it hot, on cold dark November nights. I get apple and cinnamon most prominently.

Last Saturday, my MiL asked me to help clean out her tea shelf and take anything I wanted. One of the items in there was this tea. Now I know for a fact that this container is at least 5 years old, maybe even older. Actually I believe I’m the one who initially opened it.

Given its age, I have not has very high expectations. And brewing up a cup, the tea is pretty much dead. There is no flavor there, though the spices are still strong. And, nice bit here, no clove that I can detect, though it is on the ingredient list.

I’m going to try mixing this a nothing special black and see if it helps.

Not rating as its not right to do so with tea this old.

Not a fan. :/

Smells like a fruity oatmeal, which is lovely, but tastes like a watered down apple cider. However, you can definitely taste the cloves afterwards, which is nice.

If you’re looking for something with a strong kick of cinnamon, you will want to keep looking.