Tazo
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Starbucks appears to be phasing out Tazo, to my disappointment, in favor of its Teavana acquisition. That explains why the remaining Tazo looseleaf, whole leaf teas from the Collection series have been slashed to a fraction of their original price. I decided to pick up a few to see how they measure up. I have been very happy with other members of the Collection series, above all, Golden Monkey, so I was curious to know how they were at “curating” Japanese and some of the more sophisticated China greens. First up: Tazo Sencha Superior.
I am fairly sure that I have imbibed this delightful tea before. It meets the strict qualifications for “ichiban” and “superior” sencha, and I have consumed a few of examples of that grade in the not-too-distant past. The characteristic shimmering viridescence of the liquor, a slight cloudiness and some small particulate matter in the bottom of the glass, along with the strong roasted spinach scent in the very dark green dried leaves all led me to predict that i would enjoy this brew. And I do! It’s very good.
it is entirely possible that Tazo and some of the other tea emporia buy their Japanese first-flush sencha from the same producers. That would explain why this seems so familiar to me. Brands are not tea producers, so happily I’ll be able to enjoy this tea in the future by looking out for other ichiban senchas…
(Blazing New Rating #45)
Flavors: Spinach
Preparation
I picked up a box of the white enveloped filter bags of Tazo Apricot Vanilla Creme a while back. Today is the day to find out how they taste!
The dried filter bag smelled scarily like blue cheese, so I got off to a bad start, fairly pessimistic about what the brew would be like. Fortunately, it tasted fine. The liquor was a bit cloudy, and yellower than the loose leaf organic version of this tea from Tazo, but the taste was similar, if a bit less clear and distinct.
it tastes okay for a quick fruity filter bag tea. Nothing to cry about when this one is discontinued.
(Blazing New Rating #44)
Flavors: Fruity
Preparation
When you really think about it, white tea could be just about anything, produced just about anywhere. The only processing is letting the leaves dry—which is common to all other forms of tea. This raises the interesting question why white tea is sometimes depicted as more noble and sophisticated than other varieties of tea. You have to do less not more work to produce white tea, so how can it be more expensive to produce? That’s a puzzle. I look forward to your insights on this matter, my fellow Steepsters!
This flavored organic white tea, Organic Vanilla Apricot Crème from Tazo, has a slightly sweet and fruity scent and flavor. I’m okay with “apricot”, if that’s what they want to call it. The base tea is the uglier variety of white tea, not the beautiful furry silver tips. This sort of white tea always looks very random to me and makes me skeptical about descriptions such as “new white tea buds”. I mean let’s be serious: this looks like old, frazzled dead leaves, along with broken twigs, such as the ones we step on during the fall season.
The flavor is smooth and likable. When it comes to this particular genre of white tea, I say: bring the flavors on!
(Blazing New Rating #43)
Preparation
Don’t they normally use smaller leaves with white tea? If they do, maybe that’s why. It takes sooo much longer to pick only the smallest leaves. I’ve done it with my blueberry plant.
I’m pretty sure that back when China still had an emperor, white tea was restricted to the imperial court.
I generally like having a couple of pitchers of iced tea in the fridge, so I will usually make one with black tea and one with a flavored tea of some sort. This box of iced tea was an impulse purchase that I didn’t initially enjoy. A month or two after making the first pitcher, I made another, and this time I liked it much more.
I think what threw me off initially was how spearmint-y this green tea was, but once I grew accustomed to that taste, I started enjoying it a lot more. Now, it’s one of the teas I cycle into rotation when I don’t feel like getting out a measuring spoon and my pitcher strainer insert. Just throw the bag into a pitcher, fill halfway with boiling water, let sit five minutes, and top off with cold. Fast, simple, and refreshing.
Flavors: Spearmint
This tea is just… lovely. I don’t really know what else to say. It’s delicious!! The smell is like apple pie. The taste reminds me of a nice, sweet apple cider but with a splash of vanilla. It’s also has a very good calming effect. Definitely a favourite from Tazo.
Side note: tastes as great iced as it does hot! I like to add a little bit of my German rock sugar to this one, it really helps bring out all of the flavours.
Flavors: Apple, Vanilla
Preparation
Because of the cherry/berries, I’ve been wanting to try this chilled. Because of the green tea, I’ve been hesitant to cold steep or prepare this as sun tea. Hit sort of a happy medium; gave it a 20 minute start in the sunshine, then removed the bags and chilled it. Little rock sugar (just a teaspoon to a quart) to chase off the bitterness and it’s mighty nice after a bona fide hot day of mowing and puttering.
The mowing, inadvertently and unfortunately, displaced a couple of adorable baby bunnies the size of Twinkies who have spent a good bit of the day quivering in the flower bed. Can’t seem to convince them that the abode of El Puma, the serial rodent killer, is not a prudent place for them to take shelter. Anybody want to volunteer for the Rabbit Relocation and Protection Program? I could ship them to you in a shoebox…
OK, I’m a sucker for well-written marketing copy. This one had me at “jammy,” the first descriptive word on the box. Snapped it up before paying full attention to the ingredient list, and then I saw the h-word first on the ingredient list. Uh-oh. Cautiously followed steep recommendations (175, 3 min) and…
Surprise! This isn’t a bit tart. Smells and tastes like strawberries that you’ve picked exactly one day after they were too green to pick and are just now ripe. This might be promising sweetened and chilled.
Tangerine Tango is the reason why I have been shunning the new Oprah Chai chez Starbucks. It, too, boasts cinnamon as its number one ingredient. The overall effect of this tealess blend is similar to that of what I call “spice cabinet chai”, which always seems like an infusion of random spices thrown together. I prefer my chai to have a substantial black tea base—preferably Assam. Some of them (including, apparently, the new Oprah offering) are much more about cinnamon and cloves, etc., than about tea.
So, too, with Tangerine Tango, which is completely misnamed, in my opinion. Tangerine? Really? To me this is a big cinnamon infusion with a fair dose of clove and some ginger plus a variety of other stuff thrown in for good measure. Or not, as I do not find the proportions very pleasing. This is one of the Tazo teas which I don’t mind is about to be discontinued (if it has not been already). It’s just not my cup of tisane or tea.
You tasted Vitamin water, right? To me this is essentially Cinnamon Water, but instead of 10% of the RDA of some random vitamin, there are few other weak flavors as well.
(Blazing New Rating #23)
Flavors: Cinnamon
Preparation
I’ve tried this tea before and I did not enjoy it. After reading the reviews on here however, I decided to cold brew it and give it another chance. I am sad to say that I still did not enjoy this flavor. I can’t exactly pin down why, but it just didn’t work for me. Oh well.
Do I like this tea? No, not really. I think maybe I did at one time, but now it just tastes medicinal to me. I’m only drinking it because I just got home from playing a kickass gig, & I’m wired, naturally high as a kite on music, good vibes, adrenaline, etc. So I’m drinking 2 bags of this in my usual cup, with a double dose of Valerian tincture added, in hopes that I will come back down to the planet’s surface & be able to sleep soon.
Tomorrow will be known as ‘The Day She Planted Sweet Potatoes’.
Silly me, I ordered 24 sweet potato plants, 4 each of 6 different varieties from http://www.tatorman.com/
Vardeman, Red Japanese, Nancy Hall, Beauregard, Carolina Ruby, & Bunch Porto Ricans.
I always grow alot of sweet potatoes, & we eat them all fall, winter, & spring, but the local stores still don’t have plants, & they only ever have one variety anyway.
Of course, it’s insane that I bought so many, LOL, but they arrived today, & they are adorable, & I’m very excited! Tomorrow the entire day will be dedicated to getting them in the ground!! I wanted to get some of the purple japanese ones, but you have to buy 12 plants, & that would be 36 plants total! Maybe next year…
Hopefully this year I’ll remember to save one of each kind for starting next year’s crop.
I also almost ordered more garlic for the fall from another company. I currently have 5 varieties, but you can never have too much garlic, & there are some really interesting heirlooms, including a few amazing sounding Italian ones, & I also want a few shallots to add to my shallot collection. The company I order those from doesn’t take paypal though, so that order will have to wait until I actually have some money in my bank account.
That & my Laoshan Black order (not like I need any, I just want a bag of the new crop for comparison sake).
Sipdown…I have no idea what my total is though…
Wish me luck falling asleep…
Just checked my sipdown total. I’m at 373!
(Not counting any new teas that have arrived since June 1st…I’ll add them on July 1st)
Sounds like a fantastic garden! I’ve never eaten any different varieties of sweet potatoes, as far as I know. I’ll have to see if I can find some at the farmer’s market.
Maybe I should have realized, but I didn’t know there were other types of sweet taters than what we grow. Garlic – We have tried multiple times to grow garlic, never with success. The Amish fellow I last got them from assured me it was simple. Maybe for you and him. Hat’s off to you and your green thumb.
For years I just ate ‘the’ sweet potatoes from the store. Then one year I noticed there were too kinds: Garnet & whatever the other one was. They were both great. Whole foods carries Garnet, the other one (whose name I can’t recall right now, it’s too early), & japanese. So hopefully 3 months from now I’ll be in sweet potato heaven!! KS, some years are better than others. Last year wasn’t as great as the previous 2 years.
Regarding garlic, this will be my first successful year growing, LOL. I think I finally know what I’m doing :)
Anyway, I consider the whole thing a grand experiment, a mix of permaculture (“are you gonna pull those weeds?”), raised beds, companion planting, containers, strange trellising formations, etc. Most people who take a walk with me in my garden view it with either wonder, amusement, disbelief or possibly they are appalled, or maybe a mix of all of the above. I just view it as heaven :)
I haven’t stepped foot in your garden and I am impressed, and amused. :) Last year we had a good crop of red, white, and sweet potatoes. Pretty much nothing else did good.
My little piece of earth is basically 99.9% clay, & after years of double digging in my previous garden (different house, different lifetime), I’m basically too old for that crap. So I layer in soil, newspaper, compost, cardboard, manure, and anything else I think will decompose. I just keep piling stuff on each year, & the worms & moles take care of the rest. Most of my beds are edged with the trimming of my various trees & straw, which initially help hold things in place, but eventually help hold water, etc. There are deep layers of straw everywhere! And piles of dead weeds.
Hey if it weren’t for weeds we would have no lawn at all. And can definitely identify with the clay. That’s why the grass won’t grow. The potatoes were grown in raised beds with bagged dirt and compost. With what we have had to do it is cheaper just to go buy them but that isn’t the point.
Had to get an oil change. Decided to go wait at the Starbucks across the street as I waited and grabbed myself this! Not the best chai ever, but TONS better than the Oprah Chai.
So, a few weeks back I was grocery shopping with my boyfriend, and was looking at the teas. My boyfriend, tired of looking at tea, goes just grab one and lets go. I go to grab this one to compare to a different one, and he goes good lets go. The box looks good so I thought “what could possibly go wrong” and accepted the choice. Finally tried this last night, curious. Took one sip, looked at the ingredients, and dumped it down the drain. Licorice should be outlawed. Bleh. Nasty stuff. Oh well, all I need is to find someone who likes licorice tea to pawn this and Evening Lights on. Too bad I don’t know anyone who likes licorice.
Preparation
Backlog:
I don’t know if this is the entry for the box of large tea bags/filters or if it’s the entry for the black iced tea you might get at a Starbucks (I very seldom go to Starbucks). Anyway … I’m writing this tasting note for the box of large tea bags/filters.
The best thing I can say about this tea is that I’m glad I didn’t buy it. It was a box that was sent to me as a gift. I would have been very disappointed if I bought this.
I tried brewing this several different ways. I cold brewed the tea filters overnight. The result was a flat and dull tasting black tea. Maybe I’m spoiled because I’ve been drinking so much of the SBT as of late, but, this is definitely lacking.
I also tried hot brewing the filters … I also resteeped via hot brew the tea filters that I cold-brewed. Nothing that I did produced a pitcher of iced tea that I was happy with, and I just realized that the problem is not with the brewing method but the tea itself.
Put simply, it’s just a very sad, sad tea. This is the kind of tea that gives tea a bad rep.
As I mention in my review of this tea, I realized as I was drinking it why some people don’t like tea. I wouldn’t like tea either if this was what I was drinking. Tazo/Starbucks/Teavana should be ashamed of themselves.
Satisfying but it doesn’t quite give me that ‘I want more of this’ sensation. It’s smooth and has a strange slightly zingy aftertaste. It is indeed also fruity. Though if you were to ask me what fruit, well I couldn’t quite tell ya. Perhaps I should have steeped it longer because I really feel that it’s too light. Still has plenty of flavor but could use more.
Preparation
This is my favorite fruit tea of ones I’ve tried so far (which is not many, I am a new tea fan). I like it because it is naturally strong. The flavor is good but a bit sour. I like it iced with honey. Also if you like bubble gum if you make this tea and blend it with coconut oil it tastes exactly like bubble gum. I wanted to make jello with the tea coconut oil mix but I was out of gelatin. I am sure it would be fantastic though, and a great way to get the health benefits of tea, coconut oil, and gelatin into kids. They would think they are eating dessert!
Preparation
I drank a cup of this over at Tony’s a little while ago. It’s not my favorite chamomile type tea, but has a certain relaxing quality to it.
I am feeling much better, thank you! Good thing too, cuz I have to leave the house at 9am to go play a wedding! :)