Tazo

I like the tea itself, but the bag stinks – it rips so easily! The tin is the perfect size to store regular sized teabags in. It’s what I use for my stash at work.

Been lurking and liking more these days than posting; since December, life has been full of serving as an executor, freezing in general, battling bouts of seasonal glums, dealing with the oncoming departure of a dear coworker (temporarily tripling the number of things under my purview), and as of last night, being the baloney in a three car crash sandwich. So there’s insurance. Lots of bricks in the barrel.

Shameless plea for empathy notwithstanding, those of you who drink for comfort as well as flavor know that life circumstances sometimes affect what you need in a tea. Lately it’s been unleaded, bagged, hot, strong. Red Rose and Murphy’s to the rescue. Extra stout.

This week, I just needed a little kindness in a cup. A box of Calm mysteriously appeared on my desk at work yesterday—and that was even before I smashed up Dear Gussie (yes, we name our vehicles). Used to be I thought there was too much licorice in this chamomile/minty blend. Today it’s pretty delicious.

What not to do with this one: do not attempt to tone down the l(ick!)orice with fresh pineapple mint and a slug of chilled apple juice. My tongue is still trying to shake off the taste of household cleaner.

On a temporarily brighter note: At the expense of personal sanity, family sanctity, and household sanitation, I am as of 2:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time NOT BEHIND ON ANY WRITING DEADLINES.

Still isn’t my favorite chamomile-based herbal blend, but its warm and gentle on a raw evening…even a little better when you leave a cinnamon stick in the cup. Tones down the insistent licorice.

For a while, Tazo was reading his name on the tea bag tag in the cup and nuzzling at it. He’s lost interest now and is napping in my lap like a lump of pumpernickel. Like I mind.

Work has been so mind-numbingly nuts of late I’ve been gasping for quiet and moments with no demands made of me.

Enjoying a few of those now, with a half-cup of Calm as a companion. Left the bag in, wonder if that’s the reason the licorice is coming through stronger than usual. The mint and other goodies in this blend keep it from getting too out of hand.

Funny story goes with this one: I think I told you we’ve been adopted by a cat? Turns out he was the semi-pet of a lady down the street who feeds any feline that shows up in her yard; when I apologized profusely and professed that I wasn’t a cat burglar, she laughed and said she wasn’t surprised; “Jellybean” wasn’t getting along with his kitty comrades.

I told her that “Tazo” was good therapy … so yesterday evening she showed up at my door with a grin, a bag of Meow Mix, and this box of tea. Guess it’s official.

This isn’t a bad herbal blend; the rose petals give it a sweet and delicate scent. Don’t care for licorice, but it isn’t annoyingly present. Wonder how this would do paired with something fruity and berry.

Tony still has some Tazo Chai in his cupboard, so I might as well enjoy a cup. It’s pleasantly spicy, good with a tad of sweetener, & fine without any kind of milk added.
Also drank today: a cup each of Elderberry & Nettles.

I meant to bring several teas with me to Tony’s last night, but got sidetracked, so digging through his cupboard, I found this. It’s pretty tasty, in my opinion. I wish I had some almond milk or creamer with me.

My tea swap friend also gave me a couple bags of this tea. Against my own judgement, I steeped this one hot. It really should be iced with a lot of sugar. I found it to be very tart, which according to others is because of the hibiscus? It is beautiful to look at though…very pinky purple. It gets dark really quick too. I think I only steeped this for 3 minutes, if that. I also didn’t think I could taste all the ingredients…there are so many! Next time, I’ll try this iced.

I love this tea with tad of honey, Starbucks has discontinued it. Anyone know where you can purchase it?

A marginal mint tea that’s rescued by the odd tarragon partnering. This is probably the best of the Tazo teas I’ve tried. I keep imagining this is due to the fact this is a tea made of herbs and actually has no tea in it (because the tea dust passed off generally as ‘tea of high caliber’ by Tazo is pretty awful). A decent tea when you need to come off a Starbucks buzz.

Someone left a few of these tea bags at work in the “need a tea, take a tea, have a tea, leave a tea” pile. It is ok, not bad but certainly not amazing. It feels like someone tried to dress the tea up with whatever flavours we left over in the cupboard. I can definitely taste citrus oil and cocoa. While it is not making me focus it is certainly waking me up. There is a mildly sweet cocoa aftertaste that lingers. There is a chicory flavour that seems to mask the flavour of the mate tea. It also feels like my mouth is coated in a fuzzy substance after drinking this tea.

I should have known better that if the tea was in the community sharing pile, it probably wasn’t the best tea, otherwise it wouldn’t have been left there.

Tastes like apple pie 3/5

have not been able to taste this one yet, but it seems really good! is it good with sugar, honey or plain?

Today my tea making experience was the epitome of teamwork! I poured soy, boyfriend poured water, I added mate bags, he topped me off with mint bags. I was too delighted he was helping to comment on how you’re supposed to pour The water OVER the bags not dunk them IN it… But before you get all “aw” about him helping, it was 4:15am and I am 99% sure he just wanted me out the door so he could go back to bed Haha. Anyway, the tea:

Had a date with my mommy last weekend and we found ourselves at Whole Foods for lunch. I cruised down the tea aisle to see what caught my eye. Saw BULK yerba mate tea bags, 75 for $12! Last time it was $6 for 25! This was like buy 2 get one free!

Anyway, since my morning blend has been 4 mate bags and 2 mint bags, I had to refill on mint. Tazo was on sale, so Tazo it was! I had been using Trader Joes mint which tasted more like authentic mint. This one is a little sweeter, but also a more aggressive mint. It definitely makes my mouth feel more refreshed. I don’t like the almost sugar aftertaste, though.

No rating since I mixed it up!

Edit: I reviewed the ingredients… Pretty sure it’s the tarragon giving it the aftertaste. I thought that before, too, but I didn’t know if I was spelling tarragon wrong so I had to check Haha

This is a weird one for me. I love how it smells when it’s dry and as it’s brewing. It really does smell like a spa – soothing, sensual, relaxing. (Or I’m assuming that’s what a spa smells like, this tomboy hasn’t ever been in a real one.)

But the second I sip it, all I can taste is…rose. I hate roses – most flowers, really, although I’m not anti-floral with my tea. But I really have a deep dislike of roses – the smell mainly.

I’m going to keep working with this one. I’ve tried it on two different steeping temps and I’ll keep working my way down to “delicate” at 150 degrees. Here’s hoping…