Tazo

Okay so I like really sour things.
Like “i suck on lemons” sour.

So, as it may not surprise you, I loved this tea. Super tart and refreshing, I feel like it would be a good tea for kids. It’s like juice, but without sugar added!

No connoisseur would like this, that’s for sure.

I finally decided to open the bag of Black Dragon Pearls I got from Tazo. They were 50% off and since I really liked the pearls from Adagio, I got 4oz instead of the 2oz i was planning.

It says 2 pearls for every 8 oz, so I used 3 for the 12oz I was making. Brews up dark reddish with a tang to the scent.
That tang follows into the taste also. It has an almost…citrus sort of taste? I’ve never really gotten that from a tea, so I’m not sure if I’m figuring it correctly. I want to say it’s almost peppery, but again I’ve never encountered that particular taste in a tea that I figured out immediately, so I’m only going from a guess.
And it’s kinda….sour? But that might be the citrus taste from before.

The second steep was pretty similar to the first except a bit weaker than I was expecting. The leaves are kinda still twisted together, so they could probly do a third steep, but the taste just isn’t there for me to do so. Not to mention it’s just about midnight and I really should hold off on more tea. Lol.

It’s definitely not the rich malty tea I was expecting, that’s for sure. I might try this again with double the pearls with the same water, but I can’t see me getting the taste I want from these pearls.

I found a filter bag of Tazo Refresh in my chest of random assorted “maybe I’ll drink this some day” individually wrapped tea bags. It’s in the dark green envelope, so it’s obviously a bit old, since the latest crop of Tazo filter bags come in light envelopes. I decided to give it a try now that I regularly imbibe the sachet version of Refresh at Starbucks as a follow-up (and free refill) to my coffee.

The filter bag is perfectly potable, but, predictably, not as good as the sachet. One immediately noticeable difference, as the blend steeps, is that the scent of the filter bag is nowhere near as strong and—I dare say—aromatherapeutic as the sachet. I seriously walk around sniffing the Refresh fumes through the little hole in the top of my Starbucks cup. People in the street who see me probably think that I’m a real weirdo. Oh well, at least I’m not talking to myself. Or am I? One never knows these days with all of the newfangled gadgets available. In the post-Y2K world of Twitter and selfies, when people walk around incoherently babbling to themselves, everyone just thinks that they’re using a Bluetooth.

Now back to Refresh. I definitely did not notice so much the scent of the Refresh filter bag while drinking it. Yes, it smelled like a somewhat standard spearmint-heavy tisane, but it did not have the same “come hither, flaring nostrils” quality at all.

The filter bag is okay. I won’t buy it, though, so long as the sachet remains available. The dried powder blend in the filter bag does not rehydrate to the same degree as the shredded herbs (spearmint, peppermint and, most importantly, tarragon) in the sachets do.

This is my favorite Tazo tea option. The green tea is well balanced with the mint, and it is my go-to Starbucks option. The mint isn’t weak and packs a pretty good punch, and there is a citrus kick in there too.

I enjoyed this tea a lot, but I prefer it iced. I like having teabags around for travel and such, and this fits the bill well!

Not a fan – it just tastes like weak orange water. Never again.

I finally dove into my Tazo order that I bought before they turned into Starbucks. Granted that was, uhh, almost 6 months ago ish, but I figured it was all sealed so I’d drink the stuff I had in my cupboard that wasn’t. These all have best by dates good until the end of this year, so I’m not worried about them going stale or something. Lol.
Anyway, this one smelled pretty good in the bag. Peachy, but also kinda strange. Might be the pu-erh in the blend. I’m not exactly sure.
Unfortunately this was a complete disaster to make. I made it twice and both times it’s essentially undrinkable to me because it turned out so bitter. The first time I didn’t exactly follow the package time for steeping. The package said 5 min, which for a black tea made me give it a dubious look, so I did 4 min @ 208*. I should’ve gone with my first instinct and did less because UGH! Horribly bitter, so much so that I didn’t take more than a small sip before pouring it out.
But I wasn’t about to give up so easily, especially not since I still had so much of it. Lol. So I heated some more water up, this time to 200* and only let it steep for 2 min. While it was still bitter, at least it was vaguely drinkable. I don’t really get much peach or apple taste out of it. Just mediocre black tea that’s bitter. It’s rather frustrating actually.

I’m not really sure what to do with this now. I’m tempted to try it one more time with much cooler water and maybe a minute steeping time, but then again, I’m not sure I should bother since it seems so finicky to me. I guess this tea just isn’t working for me.

I found this delicious. It had some great, well-balanced flavors, and it gave me the kick in the pants I needed first thing in the morning.

Backlog:

I picked up this tea while grocery shopping, and thought I’d give it a try. It is VERY sweet. I was glad that the bottle didn’t have a lot of settled sediment at the bottom. It tastes strongly of peach with notes of apple. There is too much juice and not enough tea, in my opinion.

I tasted next to no tea flavor. Disappointment.

Oh gosh, all I can taste is the licorice root. How did I not notice that before? Straight to the traveling tea box we go.

I’m used to very strong and spicy ginger teas made from fresh ginger root. This tisane was surprisingly mild and ungingery o.O Tastes like orange with a hint of ginger. And by hint I mean like a smidgen or a pinch. This tea is gonna need a little help _ Tastes ok on its own really, but not what I was expecting.

I don’t know why I love this so much. For me, it’s the perfect blend of lemongrass and green, plus it’s great with a slice of lemon and some honey when I have a cold.

Great iced, not a fan of it hot.

Ahh, Friday. Its been a very busy week, compounded by the fact that I have been ill. I’m doing ever so much better, though, which is fabulous.
I’ve not been drinking anything that I like too well. My tasting has been compromised by a stuffed up head, so a lot has been drunk just to keep something warm in me.
I managed to drink up the last of this while at work, and I’m very pleased with that sipdown. Yay!

Ugh, now I’m all stuffed up and unpleasant. Ugh.
So nothing too flavorful, nothing I like too much. This fits the bill of being warm, soothing, and a bit vanilla-y. Nice on the throat and not too taxing on the nose.

I am quickly learning what it takes to be a good “at-work” tea.
1. Bagged.
2. Easy (no complicated water temps or steep times)
3. A little boring, but enjoyable.

This last one will not always hold true, but I’m quickly seeing that I can’t focus 100% on the cup if I am working. People call, come in, and generally need things done. I work on trainings and my tasks, and while I like the flavors and sensations of drinking tea, I can’t focus too much on them.
This is all really good info.
So I’ve brought some of my bagged teas, and this one lept out as a good choice. I want to be drinking less caffine in the afternoon, so a rooibos is the way to go, and this one is pleasant, but not exciting or interesting. So I won’t care too much if it gets cold while I work!

I got a lot of rooibos out of this, but very little in the way of the vanilla parfait. Too bad, a truly vanilla rooibos would be lovely.
Fortunately I don’t mind rooibos, though that’s the strongest I can say for it. Its alright.
This will be in my cupboard until its gone, but then I’m not getting more of it.

Its been a long day. Very long indeed. I am glad to be sitting with a cup of tea.
I like rooibos in sachets. Clean up is so much easier.

You know, I really like Rooibos in a sachet. It makes clean up so much easier. And I do like an easy cleanup.
This turned out really well tonight. Very vanilla icing like. Good, that hits spot.

Almost a little caramel-y tonight. Interesting.

Tea! But I’m still not really feeling up to the very good teas, so I am reaching for this.
Its a perfectly reasonable tea, but nothing amazing.
Still, there are nights when nothing amazing if a fine thing.

A very enthusiastic new fencer has bashed me in the hand, so that hurts.
Its been a long day. There was a point in the afternoon when I would have trampled over my desk for a cup of tea.
So, now, exsausted, hand throbbing, I am drinking this.
I like rooibos in a sachet. It makes the whole rooibos cleanup process that much easier.

Vanilla! I sometimes feel like the odd one out, in my love of vanilla. (then I come here and I know that its not true. I’m in good company.) The quest for vanilla perfection continues.
This was a gift, and a beautifully thoughtful gift, and one that I have not been paying specific attention to. Its a perfectly nice rooibos, with a vanilla mellowness to it. The perfect vanilla tea? No, but not a bad cup at all.

Came home from the anime convention, brewed up this, and put my feet up. It was a ton of fun. We went to some good panels, and I bought some beautiful art. My favorite part was all the talented artists who were showing work, and the magnificent costumes. Everyone is so enthusiastic at a convention!
This tea was a Chrismas gift from a coworker, who knows my love of tea and vanilla, so that was unbelievably adorable that she gave it to me. And despite the presence of at least three vanilla teas in my cupboard, and one of them decaf, I always operate under the opinion that you cannot have enough vanilla.
Its not a strong vanilla. The rooibos is a little stronger than the vanilla. Hmm. But its a perfectly pleasant cup of rooibos, and I will happily drink it all.
Whew, what a day.