Starbucks is switching over from Tazo to Teavana. I don’t work there any more, but my brother does, so he got some of this for me. I was… not impressed.
The first time I tried it, I brewed it according to directions (3 minutes). It was weak and watery—even the color was only a very pale brown. I thought I might have used too much water, and, since it’s not CTC, I figured 3 minutes was too short. So, I tried again today.
It took six minutes before the tea looked about right, and it did pour a lovely color. But again, it was incredibly weak. I used 1 teaspoon per cup, and one for the pot, but I could hardly taste the tea at all (milk and sugar, of course, made it even harder to get any flavor).
Maybe this would taste good if I used 2 teaspoons per cup, but I don’t think I’m going to try that—after two failures, we taped up the tin and gave it to our daughter to use as a shaker.
This was one of the most disappointing teas I’ve ever had—not least because, if I hadn’t gotten it for free, it would have cost $8.95 pre-tax for 1.7 ounces. The taste wasn’t bad, it was just almost nonexistent. I’m a fan of subtleties in tea, but a tea that calls itself an English Breakfast should have a strong flavor, even with milk and sugar. I’d rather drink Lipton than this.
