Tazo

I gave this Calm tea bag from Tazo a very low rating when brewed hot. However, I just discovered that it tastes remarkably good cold! I’m on a mission to turn all of my filter bags into iced tea before the end of this summer, and I was wondering what a cold chamomile blend would taste like. These white-enveloped bags were near the top of my hit list, since I knew that I’d never drink them hot again. This was their last chance.

To my surprise, the blend tastes like a second cousin to Zen, which I also prefer iced to hot. This experiment gives me renewed hope about the possibility of using the teas in my cupboard which I simply do not reach for except maybe to write a review—once or twice. it’s funny because the flavor of this infusion tastes the same to me—but somehow it does not seem boring and flat at this temperature.

I am increasing my rating, but I still won’t be restocking once this supply has been depleted.

It has been five months since I last drank a glass of Tazo Calm prepared from the filter bags with white envelopes. I gave this blend a pretty low rating the last couple of times, so this time I tried to improve the experience by reducing the water so that the liquor would be stronger.

I remain underwhelmed. The chamomile and rose are too light and the sarsaparilla too strong. I must reiterate that this is a very different blend from the full-leaf sachet!

I’ve reached the bottom of the chamomile barrel, left only with the light-colored filter bags of Tazo Calm Chamomile. I had bought a couple of boxes of this (under the erroneous assumption that it was simply a quicker brewing version of the Calm served in Starbucks cafés). Instead, it’s a completely different blend.

I finished my last bag of Stash Chamomile (which isn’t great, but it’s better than this), so here I am drinking another cup, despite my becoming-ever-firmer belief that this formulation is truly mediocre.

I do have some new chamomiles on the way. Hopefully one of them will be better than this (shouldn’t be too difficult to clear that bar).

I am a bit disappointed by this formulation of Tazo Calm. They have changed the recipe several times, it seems, and this one, “Calm Chamomile”, in the light-colored envelope (not the darker yellow ones from the pre-Starbucks days) is weaker and less flavorful than before. I bought some boxes of this new version having been very happy with a cup of Calm brewed from the advanced mesh bags at a store. Unfortunately, this appears to be a different recipe.

Another taster (see below) suggested letting the bag steep for twice as long. I’ll give that a try. In the past, Tazo filter bags were always generously sized, but this one seems less full of sumptuousness and flavor. It just lacks that je ne sais quoi which I have found in excellent chamomile blends in the past (including previous versions of Calm).

Normally when I think of mint it is paired with another flavor.
This tea was very minty and very pure. I was pleasantly surprised by its bite and ability to be very refreshing.

This filter bag blend by Tazo includes a stout Assam-like black along with both oolong and green tea. As a result, it is somewhat challenging to get the right brew. Sometimes it seems closer to darjeeling; other times it may as well be a brisk breakfast blend. When I oversteep it (as I did today), it ends up looking rather close to Tazo Awake, and I add cream before drinking, but then it is not quite as satisfying as full-on rich and malty black tea taken that way.

A few years ago, this was a really excellent tea with nothing added. More recently, changes appear to have been made to the formula, with the result that it is no longer “foolproof” as it was before. In fact, it’s now easier to miss than to hit.

I’ll try the whole leaf version soon and report back…

Our ambient weather conditions in Boston today are empirically indistinguishable from a steam bath, so I figured this would be a good time for my very first iced Earl Grey experience.

I brewed up three filterbags in about 16 ounces of water and observed the liquor becoming progressively darker reddish-brown (read: Assam) over the course of a few minutes. I removed the bags and let the tea “cool” down a bit before pouring some over a glass of ice.

Well, it’s not very good. It’s quite bitter, a problem which I would address in a hot brew with a slosh of cream. Somehow the idea of cream in iced tea does not sound very appealing. It’s not quite a contradiction in terms, and I certainly have imbibed my share of cream-laden iced drinks (Frappuccinos, etc.), but I am debating adding some True Lemon instead, to turn this into a full-on lemon-tinged black iced tea…

update: I added a hefty spoonful of True Lemon and then the brew reminded me of instant iced lemon tea from my childhood in the burbs of a land-locked state. At first I tried to drink it, because I needed caffeine. But then I asked myself: Why am I doing this? I mean, it’s not as though I have some sort of tea shortage chez moi! ;-) I tossed the rest and brewed a new batch of a different tea.

In today’s steep-off chez sherapop, two filter bags of Earl Grey are going head to head, sip to sip: Tazo Earl Grey and Tea Forte Earl Grey. Both are filter bags, important to emphasize that point, for we are not comparing apples with oranges in this test!

As usual, I was impressed by the heavy perfuming of the Tazo. It literally smells like perfume! The brew was slightly redder than that of the Tea Forte, and I noticed that the spent Tazo bag was heavier than the Tea Forte… But what about the taste????

one last thing: I forgot to mention that this appears to be a sip-down! Both a steep-off and a sip-down!!

A vast improvement over Pukka. (faint praise)

I go through Earl Grey phases now and then. What usually happens is that I drink a lot of it for a while and then eventually I overdose on bergamot. This particular filter bag, Tazo Earl Grey, is very strongly scented—so much so that it could almost be a perfume! The scent is literally purple—veering even toward lavender.

After quite a break from all Earl Grey, I took up this version again today, adulterating it with light cream, as I often do with strongly scented black teas. I generally prefer my black teas on the stout side, so the Tazo tea bag works well. This was a tasty cup and perfect for such a frosty cold day.

This tea is much better cold than hot. I’ll be drinking the rest of my bag once the warm weather returns. (I had brewed a pot a couple of days ago and put some of it in the refrigerator.) The style is similar to Tazo Refresh only with citrus in place of the tarragon. Both are good iced, as the cool temperature enhances the minty flavor.

I have been through a real roller coaster ride with Tazo Thrive. I loved my first pot prepared with the loose leaf blend. Then I bought a bunch of filter bags, which were a huge disappointment.

Today, I am happy to report on my first cold-brewed pitcher of iced Tazo Thrive, prepared using 8 filter bags in 1 quart of water and steeped overnight in the refrigerator.

It tastes very good! What a pleasant surprise. I’ll definitely be using the remaining filter bags for iced tea this summer. The flavors mingle together perfectly. Especially prominent are mint, pepper, and green tea. Cold is the way to go for this blend, it seems! I brewed my pitcher on the strong side so that I could fill a glass with ice and it would melt without over-diluting the tea. The final iced tea is very refreshing.

One concern may be that I’m going to be consuming a large amount of caffeine if I finish this pitcher this afternoon. On the other hand, a single large iced coffee would likely have more! Oh well, I suppose that it does not matter very much since I appear to have adopted a nocturnal schedule anyway—up until 3am last night…

I count this as a new tea experience: first cold-brewed Tazo Thrive. I am increasing my overall rating for this tea, but it’s important to note that I approve of the filter bag only for iced tea.

(Blazing New Rating #78)

Scrounging around the tea which has yet to be packed, I found a cache of Tazo filter bags. I don’t know why these white envelope filter bags are so disappointing to me. Maybe because in most cases they changed the ingredients, so naturally I’m expecting the same tea as the whole leaf, but usually it’s not. It’s not just that the tea inside the filter bag is not whole leaf—the proportions and even the ingredients are different, too.

I don’t recall what the ingredients of the whole leaf Thrive are, but I do know that I prefer it to this blend. It’s not bad, mind you, but it’s just not that good. The green tea and the green yerba mate and the green rooibos are combined with mint and pepper, as in the whole leaf, but somehow the end result is not that flavorful.

Tazo Awake has always struck me as the tea equivalent to dark-roasted coffee. Some people don’t like it because they find it too unrefined and blunt. For me what matters is that it does what it says on the label. This Assam blend packs a mighty punch of caffeine, has a malty heft, brews up dark reddish brown, and tastes good with cream.

Awake satisfies both my Assam cravings and my need for an afternoon caffeine jolt. Dare I demand more?

I love this tea. I recently purchased a whole Tazo tea kit that has six samples of quite a few of their flavors. I would steep for a shorter amount of time though.

I love making latte’s of this to start my morning and to take my iron supplement and multivitamin. It’s also a lot cheaper then going to an actual Starbucks for the same thing when I buy 3 cartons from Costco for the price of one Frappuccino. Now I have to catch up on my tea news because I have been away from the community for a bit.

Still the cheapest way to have a Starbucks latte

I drink this when I’m too lazy to steep a real tea. It’s very yummy and I get mine at Costco because it’s just cheaper there. I love making my Starbucks latte at home and saving some much needed cash.

Made an eggnog latte with this earlier. I just can’t help myself once eggnog is in stores. Very tasty!