Tazo

Picked this up today for lunch. It’s a little too sweet for my taste and although I am usually a huge fan of mint in my tea, I did not like the spearmint undertones of it. I wasn’t expecting much from it though so it was pleasant for a one time try but I don’t think I’ll be getting it again any time soon.

I think that some of the other reviews might be slightly harsh haha. But to each their own. Although not my favourite, this is still a decent tea. It’s the one I go to when I’m out of my Twinings Earl Grey. It has a nice flavour that gives me a good pick me up in the mornings. I don’t really taste the dark caramel, malt, and black cherries that it claims to have hints of, which is really a shame considering that would probably be a wonderful combination. I find this tea quite soft and subtle but I still enjoy it despite the fact that I like my tea with lots of rich and deep flavour.

Rating: 71/100
Steep time: I leave the bag in while I drink it.
Additives: Splenda and splash of milk

Backlog from Sunday

I had this the other day at a restaurant after my first VYO concert of the year!! It was pretty exciting and we sounded really good, and I can’t wait for the rest of the season (VYO stands for the Vermont Youth Orchestra, for those who are knew/have forgotten. It’s the top youth orchestra in the state and one of the best in New England). My parents all got food but I had had a burrito a little while earlier and I was literally stuffed so I figured it would be best for me not to get any food (but I really wanted to! It was this really good burger joint called Sky Burger and they have this burger called the jalapeno popper which has pickled jalapenos, cream cheese, jalapeno pepper jelly, and slaw and then has a jalapeno popper on top! Yum!!!!) so I settled on some tea instead. They brought out a little box of Tazo teas (which, I must admit, I actually like a lot) and I settled on this one.

In all honesty, I really liked this. I left the tea bag in the entire time so the flavors got a little too strong towards the end, but I really do like it for a nice alternative. I don’t know about it’s calming effects because I had the earl grey right after, but I do actually enjoy the taste of this.

i have to go to the store every week to get more tazo, passion in particular it has a slight orange taste as well as passion fruit. they don’t, however put what i think is the best ingredient, its called the “red jade Lilly” its a flower native to japan and it is really rare, for they only grow once every two years for only three months. but the taste is amazing. everything comes together into a big delicious cup of hot tea. i like passion because it fits my lifestyle as a zen monk i wake up at four every morning and witness the sunrise with my tea, and it fits. try it and you will be hooked. i know i was.

To quote Starberry’s review: “I actually gave it all away to my friends… I wonder how much they hate me now. :’)”

GEE. THANKS A LOT.

First off, I have had this tea in my cupboard for over half a year. If that says anything about my excitement to try this, I don’t know what does. Starberry did nothing to ease my nerves after telling me she thought my glowing review for Teavana’s Wild Orange Blossom was about this tea. Oh yes, and then there’s her review about the tea… My confidence is high.

Took it out of the bag.. NOT EVEN THAT IS DOING IT ANY FAVORS. The ingredient combo doesn’t seem to thrilling either. I feel like there is going to be A LOT going on with this tea. Almost too much maybe? We’ll see.

The smell is most definitely agreeing with my “a lot going on with this tea” statement. There’s floral, citrusy scents going on, all being lead by orange. To me, its not pleasant.

OH DANG IS THAT TART. VERY orange indeed. It reminds me of when you eat a warhead sour candy and you have to get through the sour powder to get to the sweet candy. Now, I like warheads, but the powder has this strange gross element to it, maybe that’s what sour tastes like. It must be the lemongrass causing it. The aftertaste brings out hints of the spearmint. Now, I do NOT like drinking minty drinks, so that’s not doing this drink any favors.

I don’t like it.

AHAHAAHAHAH, I just gave a sip to my sister and she said the exact same thing I did, “OH MAN THAT’S TART.” She then made a nasty face. I asked if she added a crap ton of sugar (how she normally takes any of her drinks) to it would she enjoy it, and she just responded, “I don’t even know. 8|” She is not impressed. Tazo passion, is one of the few teas she actually likes so I thought MAYBE if she liked this she could just have the rest.

Guess I’ll have to find some other friend to pawn this off on… CARRY ON THE TRADITION.

EDIT: Lowering my review score because I have any awful tummy ache right now that only this could have caused…

Sweet and smooth like, a con artist or a well-tipped waitress

This tea always puts me in a very mellow mood, the smell it gives off is my favorite part about it other than the taste.

A floral, earthy bouquet of goodness! I picked this tea up when my sister-in-law and I were doing a stay-at-home tea room day on a budget. She had mentioned a great rose tea that she has had at a hookah bar she likes, so when I saw this at Kroger I jumped. I have always been a fan of Tazo, so this was a really pleasant find! I was honestly surprised that a tea with rose petals as a main ingredient would be so good. I was afraid it would taste like soap, but with the other ingredients it was great. I was also excited for the potential mental/emotional/physical benefits given the presence of the valerian root which is often used for aiding sleep and easing anxiety (something I can also use).

Another thanks to CelebriTEA. Much Thanks. I’ve mentioned this a long time ago but I cannot buy this in bagged form around here. Well, I can, but it is always spoiled. Too much heat, too old, direct sunlight? Who knows but the local bagged stuff is not good. So I open the envelope and it smells of floral bergamot (Yum). Steeped and iced – this is going well with lunch. This will do nicely until I am forced into Starbucks and have a cup of their over pricey but otherwise very good earl grey sachet.

Back from our Halloween date – it poured on us all day. Who cares, we had fun. Ate lunch at Red Lobster. I love shrimp scampi. Took her to every craft and fabric store in town (without complaining!). Found some cacao nibs at the food mart. Now I have to figure out how much to use. Could not find any candy cane lane or sugar cookie sleigh ride but they now have a huge Ahmad selection (my favorite cheap tea). We started the morning with a stop at Starbucks. Since discovering that when this EG is fresh it is actually pretty good, this is the first time I have been somewhat disappointed. New girl behind the counter. She had a deer in the headlight look and had to have help. It showed. It was weak and bitter. How do you get weak and bitter?

Iced with Splenda for the monkey. Its like 68 outside and started pouring. I’m soaked and cold but not complaining because this tastes good.

Last time I mentioned this tea I was overwhelmed by homework and watching videos (at Starbucks) for my class. Yesterday the prof singled me out in class as having some real skills. He has even been showing me little things that he hasn’t mentioned to the rest of the group because I am further along than most. I guess old dogs can learn new tricks if they have enough tea in them.

Back at Starbucks today to use the WiFi yet again. There are 145 videos required to watch for my class. I am still about 15 behind so I need to go again tomorrow. The ones I have not watched yet are needed to complete the assignment I am currently working on. Not sure how people with jobs keep up with the work load.

I asked for this iced. She didn’t listen. They had to redo it. I still can’t get over how different this tastes when you get fresh tea as opposed to the sun baked old boxes I have tried in the past.

I really am not as grumpy as I sound – just a little frazzled.

Sorry Lala, no green tea frap today. :( My tasting notes have really dropped off and I am only taking one college class. Second week was a lot easier. I still had to sit in a public WiFi hot spot today to watch videos. Instead of the frap I had iced earl grey with one packet of Splenda. Saved enough calories to justify an everything bagel. Bagel was meh but the eg was a worthy companion to study time.

OK, I am sitting in Starbucks downloading a 2gb program. Looking around there are 5 other surfers in the room. I’ll likely be here for most of the day. So must have earl grey. I’ll have to ask them what they did differently – this may well be one of the tastiest eg’s I had. I can’t believe I typed that – it’s Tazo for goodness sake, but it isn’t anything like past experience. I am having it iced. The bergamot is strong and fruity with a hefty floral note late in the sip. It ends with a nice astringent bite that wraps the sides of the tongue. Majorly impressed.

Upping rating to reflect today’s icy cup – might be better if the solo cup were red.

I had this as an iced tea at Starbucks today. I have had Tazo Earl Grey several times at home as a hot tea. Only once, of those several, could I taste the bergamot. I thought everyone was crazy that said the could. Apparently the boxes at the grocery store, and even in Starbucks, had at some point been exposed to too much heat or something and the flavor was lost.

I said all this to say my expectations were not high.

Much to my surprise I could immediately smell the bergamot. I was starting to get my hopes up, but when I tasted, I was once again disappointed. The tea seemed OK but it was too hot when they poured it over too little ice. One of my pet peeves – watered down iced tea. I never add sweetener to iced tea but I did today in an attempt to salvage it.

Since I cannot avoid Starbucks, given my wife’s addiction, I guess I am going back to the green tea frap and just ask them not to add sugar. At least I always enjoy it.

This is listed under Tazo and Tazo Tea. I just grabbed one.

A coworker went to a fancy smancy dinner party held by the company his wife works for, and Tazo is the tea they served. He grabbed some for me – I have a bit of a tea reputation at work :) I have tried this Earl Grey a half dozen times in the past, always to poor results. Apparently, our local Starbucks and The Wal-Mart (according to Larry the cable guy you must add the “The” to Wal-Mart)… look a squirrel… anyway our local stores don’t sell enough for it to be fresh as I have never, ever, and I mean never, smelled or tasted bergamot in this stuff. So, I open the envelope. It smells a bit peppery and of lavenderish bergamot. Hey, so far so good. I steep three minutes and added my sweetener (why put it off, I know I am going to do it eventually). Wait for it to cool. Waiting, Waiting. Take a sip and… flowery, lavender tasting bergamot! Hallelujah! Except, wait a minute… have I just crossed the line into tea snobbery? This tastes kind of like the paper bag. I mean it isn’t horrible, and its Earl Grey – with freakin’ bergamot flavor, but the tea base is paper flavored. It’s muffled like someone talking with their hand over their mouth. As the cup cools the bergamot pops even more but the base just never develops. This is the best cup of Tazo I have ever had, but sadly (or happily), I know this is just ok tea. I did like the bergamot. Glad I could finally taste it. Next.

Tastes pretty much like any other black tea I’ve tried. Can taste just a hint of green in it, but not really much oolong. Bitter, but that could be due to oversteeping, I’m sure it would taste a lot better with a little milk and honey, and a shorter steeping time.

Holy mackerel, this is strong! The citrus is really tart and astringent— enough to make your mouth pucker and your throat dry. After reading the other reviews for this, I saw someone mention cold-steeping it, so I tried that. It wasn’t too bad. I wouldn’t recommend this one; if you happen to have some on your hands, though, try cold-steeping one tea bag for 5-10 minutes to flavour a water bottle.

I love this tea. I figured I would lead with that. Get to the point. :) This starts off as a woodsy rooibos, with a flavor and spice profile similar to apple pie, as other reviewers have said. When you swallow, you get the lovely licorice taste and coolness on the back of your throat. It is very smooth, and you can get away with forgetting about this tea steeping for a while. If you under-steep it though, this tends to taste watery. This is a great tea to wind down at the end of the day, or finish your meal off with a sweet but low-calorie treat. Also, last I knew, this was sold on the Starbucks/Tazo in loose leaf form.

I fell in love with it after one sniff and one sip.