Tazo

too sweet for me.

When you search “Tazo Chai” on here, WAY too many options come up! The one I had today was a standard tea bag.

I chose it because the water available for tea making was boiling hot, and I know this tea performs decently. And I chose well. It was really delicious. I got it after a ferry ride and before a walk! Added lots of milk (my tummy isn’t happy with me) and chugged it to help me get warm before heading out into the cold. There’s definitely some bias here because of it being quite chilly here, but I don’t mind. (Umm. -3C, I think? Not much compared to those of you in the Prairies, but weird enough for here.)

I think I took ~300 pictures today. What fun! And I’m pretty sure I got what I needed for holiday cards. Finally I found a holly tree with berries on it! I have at least 20 photos of bits of the tree. :)

My favourite with lots of lemon, hot or iced.

First off, the packaging recommends to steep it for 5 minutes but if you steep for only five, you don’t get that much flavor at all generally so it’s greatly recommended to steep it for a time more around 10 minutes so the flavors are really brought to the surface and you can taste each and every interacting herb a lot greater, otherwise this tea falls kind of flat.

However, that out of the way, this tea has a very pleasant and relaxing flavor. The chamomile brings in a nice, strong but balanced, calming flavor that can really put you to ease as all of the other herbs give it a earthy background. The aroma is just amazing as well. This is one of my favorite teas after a long day to unwind with. The tea can really give you a calmed state of mind if you kick back and relax to some music with it or do whatever your favorite past-time may be while sipping this.

Interesting aroma, perfect for winter time, it smells like christmas. :D

Compared to loose tea Chai from Metropolitan Tea, Tazo’s chai pales in comparison…lack of flavor and spice.

Bought a tin of this on a total whim and was really pleasantly surprised. The mint comes through strong and pure. It was a super quick tea to steep and it blended the spearmint and the peppermint flavours nicely. I got the bite from the peppermint but it was a little tempered by the sweetness of the spearmint.

I received this sample teabag from a co-worker. Don’t you love when people give you free tea just because they know you like it? Big thanks to my awesome co-worker!

The dry leaf aroma is floral but not recognizably jasmine. The taste? Hmm, it kind of just tastes like a generic black bagged tea. Weird. Isn’t this a green/black/oolong/jasmine blend? Why doesn’t it taste like any of those things? Well, besides black tea that is. Anything blended with black tea always seems to end up tasting like black tea. Why do people bother blending it with greens and oolongs?

Oh, this has Darjeeling in it. I can definitely taste that. It’s smooth and has a nice muscatel. It’s not bitter or astringent. Mmm, yum! For a bagged Darjeeling tea, this is pretty tasty! But I can’t say that it tastes like anything else. Overall, I like it! I definitely wouldn’t turn it down in the future.

The spearmint notes in this tea are very prominent. Initially, you’re overwelmed with mint with the first sip. Then, you’re greeted by notes of lemon, which leaves a faint aftertaste in your mouth. Very reminiscent of toothpaste, which I actually really like. This is definitely one of Tazo’s more popular teas, and I can see why. Very refreshing and light. This would be great in the summer, as an iced tea!

I enjoyed the filter bag version of this so much that I used my Christmas Starbucks gift card to buy the “full leaf sachet” version, wondering if there would be a difference in taste. Well, its tastes pretty much the same. You can’t really take perfection and make it any better. lol. Hmm, well I guess the flavor may have been a little bit stronger. I’ll have to revisit the filterbag version to compare. I don’t know how much honey I added, but it was too much. Or maybe this version is naturally sweeter?

Ran out of peppermint tea a couple of weeks ago and really missed it so I bought a box of this to replace it. I’ve only ever had the Celestial Seasonings peppermint tea, so this was a new experience for me. I found that having this as a mix of both peppermint and spearmint to be very pleasant. The tea was very cooling and well, "refresh"ing. In my opinion peppermint is one of the best winter teas to have. I have no idea what tarragon tastes like or if I noticed it in this tea, but either way I loved it and would definitely consider repurchasing :)

I’m not minding teabags at the moment so I may as well take advantage and clear some of the sample bags I have. My kitten is semi interested in this tea, he likes the smell of it which is unusual considering it’s citrus and that is supposed to repel cats. There is something he likes about it though, maybe he is just curious?

Sampling this without milk or sugar.

The black tea is rich, dark and smoky with an element of malt. The bergamot is actually very subtle in comparison and is not noticeable at first. It’s just before the after taste that the sour and sweetness of the bergamot kicks in but as soon as you taste it it’s gone again. Much too mild an Earl Grey for my liking, also it’s rather unbalanced.

Sampling with one sugar and no milk.

The sugar has worked wonders and the black tea is less thick and full on. You also get a sense that the bergamot is present at the start now due to the extra sweetness that the sugar has given it. Still all in all it’s pretty mild.

To sum it up:
Would I drink this again? Yes
Would I buy this? No
Why? I personally prefer stronger Earl Grey in terms of bergamot and citrus

The lemongrass is not doing anything for me, today. Too much of it in the tea.
Should have gone with China Green Tips, while I was at Starbucks.

This tazo tea is wonderful
Pairs well with chocolate
Melts in your mouth with an oat fudge bar!!
Awesome tasting, best mint tea out there for sure!