Tazo

Was at Starbucks until they closed tonight. (Last night? It’s almost 4am). Had this tea with my ‘free refill’ from my tea purchase earlier because of some sort of starbucks member perk. Convenient. Not sure I’m going to use it much though because Tazo teas are blah. Anyway.

Refresh tastes very like a generic minty tea. Just mint. The blend isn’t special in any way. I don’t dislike it but it’s just very boring. I’ve had much better pure mint blends than this.

Let’s put this in the right category this time.

This originally mediocre tea is definitively not improved by altitude. It cools too quickly on the steep and I only had cream available on the aircraft and not milk and I’ve heard that tastebuds are funny that high so I don’t know exactly what was wrong but it was all wrong. But it was something to drink so I drank it and it’s resteep because it was a 6+ hour plane ride and I needed to stay hydrated and I was tired of water. C’est la vie.

Sitting in Starbucks, having my first bit of tea in months. I got out of the tea habit when it got hot and combined with my complete inability to make iced tea, well, means no good tea for me.

I have had this tea before and it hasn’t gotten any better since the last time I had it, and was not helped by my inability to control all the variables, especially considering the fact that I ordered one of the herbal teas and therefore did not pay much attention to the steeping time.

Anyway, this is strong and malty but ultimately more bitter than I like with the amount of sugar that I am willing to put in it. I will make my next refill (for free since I’m a green level member or whatever the term is) the herbal I originally ordered, assuming they are still open. I am spending a lit of time here since I am out of work on a medical leave of absence right now. They also said they would give me free hot water if I brought my own tea, just have to get a thermometer because they use the same temperature for all of them.

At any rate, it’s nice to be back on steepster., even if it is hard to navigate the site on my phone.

One of my all time favorites. Reminds me of drinking hot lemon water but a bit sweeter. I don’t use sugar in my tea so that’s nice.

I don’t normally like mint flavoured tea but this one is pretty good. A nice smooth green tea, not to be steeped too long. 1-2 mins.

I don’t know how long you can brew this tea without it being sour or sickly floral, but it’s strong. I was doubtful that I would like this tea because I’ve disliked all other teas with hibiscus in it. All I can taste is that nasty flower and sourness. Stay away.

This is one of my favourite chais. I once temped at a company which required me to wake up at 5:30 in the morning for the cold -30C commute. When I got to work, they had this tea in the kitchen. Brewed hot, semi-strong and with milk: lovely pick me up. I went through the box in the first week.

The Version in Starbucks isn’t as strong as the one in the package…its great! lots of flavors, definitely a sweet-tart floral taste…great!

Ew, yuck.

Seriously, I am getting spoiled by loose leaf teas now, so tea bags are just not doing it for me anymore.

I grabbed a cup of this from the cafeteria at work because I was longing for some tea but I had left my tea press travel mug in the car (and I park 6 blocks away). Compared to Harney & Sons’ Earl Grey Supreme, this tea is bland and flavourless. I was getting just the tiniest bit of bergamot, just mostly bland black tea flavour.

Lesson learned: do not leave tea press in the car.

I’ve been relaxing at Tony’s this afternoon, watching back to back episodes of the walking dead. We’re in the middle of season 3, & this isn’t really my kind of show, but I feel compelled to watch it & see what happens, I don’t know why.

I wanted more tea, but I don’t have alot of options here: this, bags of ‘awake’, earl grey. This seemed like the best option. I used to like it more than I do now.

Leif asked me to get coconut milk french vanilla creamer from the grocery story today. I got some, & the next thing you know, it was in my Chai.
I blame Dag

This used to be my most favorite Chai, & I used to have a major chai addiction. I don’t drink Chai often now, & it’s just not the same without my old friend, french vanilla soy creamer. I gave up the creamer, & I just don’t drink very much chai now.

Tea with honey in it when you can’t stop coughing is the best. Especially when the tea also has spearmint and lemongrass in it.

Which this one does.

Not a huge Tazo fan, usually. Not a huge Starbucks fan in general, come to that. But this is one of two teas I’ve tried from them that they’ve got right! It’s smooth, aromatic, minty, and lemony, and the green base is perfect. I have no clue why it’s called “zen”- maybe this particular blend is harmonic and balanced?

Anyway, this is a solid, never-disappointing, steady choice for a bagged green. Excellent straight up, or with some sugar or honey, but only a touch of either is needed.

This tea is a pretty good bagged green tea. I like the pleasant balance of spearmint and lemongrass. A dash of honey makes it. Steep it as long as you like. It’s a low-maintenance blend, good for those mornings where you wake up in a fog and don’t have the patience to deal with measuring and timing.

Its description is a only a slight bit overblown, but what do you expect from a company owned by Starbuck’s? (eyeroll) Pretension is practically encoded in their DNA.

Just prepare this tea like you would any old bagged blend, put some honey in it, and enjoy. It’s a simple -pleasure tea, even though Tazo’s marketers would like you to think otherwise.

I got a box of this for work, since I managed to unearth the kettle and clean our food storage area out.

It’s not too bad. White tea, some berry flavour, doesn’t need anything added as I find it fairly sweet, at least until it cools significantly. Once cold it’s a bit astringent, but again, it doesn’t really bother me.

Bagged teas are so much easier for work, as we don’t have a kitchen area… rather, we have a table, then down the hall is the fridge and a cupboard for dishes, then further down the hall is a sink and microwave that’s shared with the department. I’ll probably bring some home-bagged teas to work at some point, but I’ll limit it to stuff I’ll use up within a couple days.

I admit the only times I’ve had chai are at Indian restaurants with tons of sugar. So I ended up killing time at Starbucks again today, and I thought I’d try something new. I ordered the chai latte, and I am pretty disappointed. I don’t like ginger in general and am pretty sensitive to the taste. Unfortunately, this particular chai seems heavy on the ginger to me at least. I won’t rate it because it’s not the tea’s fault that I don’t like ginger, but I guess this note is to remind myself that this one was a no. It also leaves that sticky, sugary aftertaste in your mouth. The kind you get after eating too much candy/chocolate. At least it’s keeping my hands warm on this chilly fall day.

Drinking this while sitting at my desk. It tastes a lot like David’s Tea The Skinny. For comparison the ingredients in this tea are: BLACK TEAS, CHICORY, COCOA PEELS, ROASTED YERBA MATÉ, ORANGE PEEL, ROSE PETALS, ROSEMARY, LEMON BALM, CITRUS ESSENCE OIL, NATURAL FLAVOR. YERBA MATÉ CONTAINS NATURALLY OCCURRING STIMULANT COMPOUNDS IN ADDITION TO CAFFEINE.

And the ingredients in David’s Tea the Skinny are:
Chinese oolong tea**, Chinese pu’erh tea, ginger, eleuthero root, orange peel. With natural flavouring*.

The similar ingredients are the ginger and the orange peel. This has a less harsh mouth feel but less intense flavor. I enjoy this flavor profile so both are winners to me! While both are different flavors due to different tea, etc. the flavor profile is similar.

I got to taste this as part of the “Considering a new Traveling Tea Box” tea box.

I drank this on the way to work today. It wasn’t a BAD tea per se but I really did not get any peach flavor. It tasted like a slightly straight black loose black tea. On the scheme of things it was better then bad bagged tea but nothing super spectacular.

I tasted this tea out of the “Considering a new Traveling Tea Box” tea box.

Ooooh is this one sour tea! It reminds me of the chewable Vitamin C tablet I had this morning. I chose this during my Starbucks run because the name sounded exotic and appealing, but I don’t taste any of the notes it says it has, just boiled orange juice, hot and acidic. Smells like the orange popsicles I loved as a kid, though. Maybe I’ve kept the teabag in for too long?

Not a huge fan of this, especially considering that I paid $2 for it, but given that I’m sitting in a library typing an essay on a cold October night, this is exactly what I need to keep going…

This chai is so unique! Instead of the usual cinnamon, or cardamon being the foremost flavor, the anise comes out on top. You can still taste all the other spices, but the fact that it tastes mostly of licorice is delightful.

Went to Boston Pizza with my mom after getting back into the city, and since they were out of chocolate milk I opted for some of this instead. Initially when asking what teas they had, she responded with “Green and Black”, but after a little prompting she was able to list this specifically.

Apparently I’ve had this before, and relatively enjoyed it – however today I was very disappointed in it: the water it was served with was definitely not boiling, however so that could be why.

Anyway I found it to be rather astringent and unpleasant despite a short steep time (2 minutes) in a large quantity (like 12 oz.) of water. I never ended up finishing the first glass I poured.

Lowering my rating.

Tonight, after my Dad came over, we went out for supper at Boston Pizza (my favourite restaurant, and the one I request to go to everytime he comes over – which he’s probably sick of by now). Since I last saw him, I’ve completely cut soda from my diet as well as most juices so I asked the waitress what teas they had. She kind of floundered a bit over the question, but I made sure she knew it was ok: if she just gave me a broad idea that would be fine. She said there were two varieties of green tea (ick), peppermint, and something that was a black tea. I opted for the black tea, and much to my approval was presented with an Earl Grey! Yum!

I actually made notes on how it tasted on a napkin using a purple crayon she was nice enough to grab for me. My Dad kind of teased me the whole time on how much of a “tea snob” I’ve become. The whole time I was thinking “If you only knew some of the people on Steepster” (no offense to anyone – the degree to which fellow steepster users love tea is something I, intern, love about you all).

So, these are the notes I made on my napkin:

- Dry Leaf (Bagged) smelled smooth with strong bergamot notes and faint notes of lavendar
- The hot water provided was definitely not 100 degress celcius as recommended by the brewing instructions – my best guess would be around 80 degress celcius
- I steeped my tea for 5 min. exactly using a timer setting on my phone (5 min. was the recommended steep time)
- The liquor came out to a very deep amber
- As far as taste goes, the tea was midly astringent and mildly bitter with an unpleasant aftertaste (which I was happy to mask with my pizza, once it arrived)
- There were strong notes of bergamot and less noticible but still present notes of lavendar and honey
- The front of the sip had a distinct taste of black tea right before the flavour of the bargamot kicked in

Overall, the tea wasn’t too bad as far bagged tea goes, but not the best Earl Grey I’ve had (by far) – some of that might be because of the brewing conditions, however.

PS. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 was AMAZING! If you liked the first one at all (even a little) you’ll love this one. 10/10 would totally recommend.

I don’t really like chamomile, but for what it is, this tastes plesant. However, the only way I could taste it, was to plug my nose! It smells exactly like cough syrup. I feel ill when I smell it, most definitely will not repurchase.