Tazo

There is a quite a hit of licorice in this complex ginger blend from Tazo. But since I love both licorice and ginger, I’m happy about that. Licorice root adds a viscosity which may be bothersome to some people, and it is also one of the sweetest naturally occurring substances around.

Come to think of it, I have a tin of a Harney & Sons Ginger and Licorice blend waiting for me to try. Perhaps tomorrow night…

The minute I took a sip of Tazo Organic Spicy Ginger, the first words out of my mouth were: “Tastes like Settle.” This was a pleasant surprise, because I’ve been finding pretty vast differences between the newer white-envelope filter bags and the loose leaf teas.

In this case, the filter bag does a pretty good job of offering a quick and easy version of the excellent ginger infusion. The bags smell like piquant ginger and orange oil, with faint wafts of licorice and a mélange of other stuff.

Looking at the box, I found that the current batch of Tazo Organic Spicy Ginger lists exactly the same ingredients as those of Settle (the loose leaf version), and in exactly the same order:

ginger, orange peel, green rooibos, lemon verbena, chamomile, fennel, licorice root, natural flavors, orange essential oil

Clearly Tazo has changed their recipe from the colored-envelope Ginger tea pictured above. A positive change in this case, unlike some of the others (especially Calm and Thrive). This is a good ginger tea, not as good as fresh, and not as good as Settle allowed to infuse for a lengthy period of time (such as overnight!), but it’s one of the better filter bag ginger teas out there.

If you like Settle, you’ll like this. If you like this, you’ll like Settle.
If you dislike Settle, you’ll dislike this. If you dislike this, you’ll dislike Settle.

Incredible iced. Its sweet, clean, and bright. If I was to make iced tea for a party, I would stock up on this and it would be the talk of the town. Guaranteed.

Make it iced and you don’t think you’re drinking bagged tea.

Make it hot, though, and everything changes. The sweet, fresh apricot sweetness disappears and it gets muted and everything turns thin. That nice and clean mouthfeel that mixed so naturally with the flavors when cold, gets turned down and becomes boring. Unfortunate.

Cold brew and smile.

Make it hot and wrinkle your brow.

I haven’t sampled many Tazo teas, but when I passed this one in the store, I just had to try it. I’m so glad I did, too!

The flavor and aroma is light and fruity. The apricot tastes natural and fresh and blends in well with the vanilla. This tea has a lot of depth, and I can’t imagine myself getting bored with it. It just tastes so wonderful!

Another tea I have been gravitating to whilst being sick.

Forgot to say before: Happy New Year everyone. We rang in the new year cuddling with our colds… so romantic I know.

I like the flavour of this green tea and it’s a good option if you’re looking for a flavoured green tea, but not something over the top.

So I was trapped in an airplane for more than 6 hours (all flying time, gotta love cross-country trips, coast to coast) and this was offered up under the tea selections. Since they had no hot chocolate and I was thirsty for something that was not water, I gave it a try.

First time I’ve flown first class on my own dime so I was trying to appreciate the super service. Seriously, I’m thinking of calling the airline to commend one of the flight attendants. I got a really nice real ceramic mug and a short juice glass to put the bag in afterward.

I steeped this tea for the 5 minutes that the package stated and it tasted very very tart. I didn’t taste any ginger or licorice root but there was orange flavour and definitely hibiscus all over this. I added a couple of sugars to try to tone down the hibiscus (seriously, how much sugar is in one of those sugar packets, can’t be a teaspoon) and it was marginally better. Added some sweetness obviously and the orange flavour came through more as well as the lemongrass which I do not approve of in this brew at all.

Second steep at 7 minutes was very lightly flavoured orange water that was not worth the steep but I had to try. Drank it anyway. Gotta stay hydrated on an airplane!

I get this whenever I go to Starbucks and I have to say it’s the best tasting chamomile I’ve had yet. Deliciously apply and soothing with an almost floral taste.

This isn’t the world’s greatest tea or anything, but it’s a reliable blend that’s commonly available. I keep it stocked for when I want to relieve a bit of stress at work but don’t have the time or energy to brew loose leaf. The flavors are nicely balanced between chamomile and rose hips, but it’s hard to taste much else in this. My favorites of similar blends leave a nice, citrusy mint mouthfeel which this fails to do. It works in a pinch though and is still pleasing overall.

Delicious, as usual!

This is my new favorite ginger infusion. The combination of bright ginger and citrus is wonderful and the brew is sweetened by the licorice root.

I learned last night that Settle can be multiply infused, which I did not realize in the several previous infusions. In fact, the second round was even stronger than the first, and my house guest (who happens to be the world’s foremost expert on preparing fresh ginger root beverages with lemon juice and honey) suggested that I leave a third infusion to “brew” overnight. He drank it this morning and reports that it was delicious.

Here’s a link to my earlier blog post on this scrumptious stuff:

http://salondeparfum-sherapop.blogspot.com/2013/12/when-tea-is-not-tea-but-panacea-and.html

First time having a darjeeling tea. Very earthy, bitter flavor. Definitely not for people who prefer fruitier flavors. Although sweetened with sugar, the taste is too strong to be made sweet. May not be the tea for me, but great for those who are fans of black teas.

Had a very enjoyable experience with this tea. Drank hot and with honey for sweetening made for a very tasty combination. I would love to also try this tea cold. The flavor is very potent for a caffeine-free tea, as I hear all Tazo teas are. It may actually be too strong for some. I’m a huge fan of hibiscus and this tea delivered the flavor of it.

:-( I seem to have caught the cold that everyone else had and that I thought I had escaped! I have a tasting appointment on Sunday with Tim at The Mandarin’s Tea Room, but I may have to cancel and do it next time I’m in town. That would be sad! Oh well. This tea is keeping me hydrated and the honey I put in it is soothing my throat, but I can’t really taste much in this condition…

This decaffeinated blend from Tazo is a rare example of a floral-scented green tea which sits well with me. I have serious issues with jasmine, and this tea is generously scented in a similar way—only with lotus and marigold. Somehow this works for me. The liquor is peach-orange colored, and despite being decaffeinated, these leaves can be multiply infused, yielding a beautiful peach color and a floral flavor each time!

I brewed up a pot of Decaf Lotus Blossom Green this evening because I imbibed black teas this afternoon, rather than green, and so had no spent leaves from which to prepare a post-dinner pot. This really hit the spot, as usual. I do believe that I could not drink such a markedly floral tea every day, but that’s just fine since most days I do drink a pot of caffeinated green during the afternoon, which I am then able to resteep long after the final caffeine bell for the day has rung…

I remain impressed by the Tazo offerings. I find the teas to be of high quality—relative to most other mass market varieties. I’ve been noticing that the fans of Tazo and the fans of Teavana do not seem to overlap much. The two companies seem to have very different approaches to tea and tea-like beverages. I’m a Tazo gal, myself.

Starbucks acquired both companies to cover all bases in their quest for total global beverage hegemony. I’m not complaining, mind you. They are a well-run company with high-quality offerings. Plus a most generous tea-refill policy!!!!!!

I was craving green tea but had already exceeded my caffeine limit for the afternoon, so I brewed up a pot of Tazo Decaf Lotus Blossom Blend.

Today it tasted much more floral than previously, perhaps because my last few pots of green tea have been sencha and Long Jing…

I had three nice infusions from this pot, all flavorful and thirst quenching.

Another pot of this excellent, light and refreshing after-dinner green tea. I’m on my third infusion, and the liquor is still yellow (from the marigold, I presume), and the flavor still tasty. Shall I try a fourth infusion? Perhaps. What have I got to lose?

The looseleaf version of this tea is good (haven’t tried the filter bags and probably won’t…). I brewed up another excellent pot tonight after dinner, followed by a second infusion. I am using a cast-iron teapot without the insert and pouring the brewed tea through a sieve. The spent leaves are huge and beautiful.

Once again, I feel that the character of this lightly embellished decaffeinated green is very close to a white tea.

This was my second small pot of Tazo Decaf Lotus Blossom Green, and it occurred to me that I must be on some sort of cucumber kick. How can it be that never before in my life have I tasted a cucumber-laced tea, and yet this month I have tried three?! Luminesce, Adagio white cucumber, and this tea all boast a smattering of cucumber. So does hrh emperor #2, but I have not tested it yet…

I realized this evening that I really do have a dearth of decaffeinated teas. That’s of course because I love caffeine! I wanted to make some green tea after dinner, but I did not want to jeopardize my sleep tonight, so this was the choice. I like it.

The cucumber adds a twist to this otherwise light and smooth green tea. I am a bit confused by the floral aspect, which is extraordinarily light, to the point of being nearly undetectable. In the ingredients, marigold is listed, but in the descriptive text and name, lotus is implicated. Unless I’m missing something, marigold is not lotus. Marigold (aka tagetes) and lotus are certainly distinct notes in perfume, so I assume also in tea.

Anyway, this is light and refreshing. I suppose that it might seem a bit insubstantial to some, but I like it, for what it is. The color is a clear yellowish brown (not really gold, but not at all green).

I tried a second infusion of the leaves tonight, and it was lighter still. This almost seems like a white tea to me.

I’m trying to use up all consumables in heavy packaging before The Big Move. Case in point: this bottle of Tazo Giant Peach. Since it weighs about a pound, I’m much better off imbibing it here and now rather than moving it first!

This is really a juice-type beverage—not so much a tea, at least not to me. Today I added a scoop of Madre Labs Madre-C, of which I have about a quarter of a cylindrical jar left—not sure whether I’ll be able to avoid moving this one! The colors match, so I figured that it was a good choice. A peachy-orange colored liquid with a Giant Peach flavor and a massive burst of wild harvested vitamin C (from camu camu, etc.) thrown in for good measure. It tasted fine.

Hopefully I’m healthier for having drained this bottle. One thing is clear: my moving load will be one pound lighter as a result!

Now perhaps I should go prepare some pumpkin soup with some of my stockpiled cans of organic pumpkin and coconut milk!