1737 Tasting Notes
This was my second small pot of Tazo Decaf Lotus Blossom Green, and it occurred to me that I must be on some sort of cucumber kick. How can it be that never before in my life have I tasted a cucumber-laced tea, and yet this month I have tried three?! Luminesce, Adagio white cucumber, and this tea all boast a smattering of cucumber. So does hrh emperor #2, but I have not tested it yet…
I realized this evening that I really do have a dearth of decaffeinated teas. That’s of course because I love caffeine! I wanted to make some green tea after dinner, but I did not want to jeopardize my sleep tonight, so this was the choice. I like it.
The cucumber adds a twist to this otherwise light and smooth green tea. I am a bit confused by the floral aspect, which is extraordinarily light, to the point of being nearly undetectable. In the ingredients, marigold is listed, but in the descriptive text and name, lotus is implicated. Unless I’m missing something, marigold is not lotus. Marigold (aka tagetes) and lotus are certainly distinct notes in perfume, so I assume also in tea.
Anyway, this is light and refreshing. I suppose that it might seem a bit insubstantial to some, but I like it, for what it is. The color is a clear yellowish brown (not really gold, but not at all green).
I tried a second infusion of the leaves tonight, and it was lighter still. This almost seems like a white tea to me.
Preparation
Today was my idea of a perfect Earl Grey day: ridiculously cold and forbidding outside. I walked a few miles yesterday running errands and really just wanted to stay snuggly and warm inside this afternoon. I seized the frosty moment as a propitious opportunity to brew up and enjoy a full Bodum of Tazo Earl Grey Blanc.
I really find this variant on the Earl grey theme to be delicious. The stout Assam-like brownish red brew (not sure whether it is authentic Assam, but it certainly is Assam style) has a fair amount of bergamot but also a good dose of natural vanilla. Served with light cream this tea is truly satisfying. Creamy and delicious!
Preparation
To my amazement, this chamomile soliflore from Celestial Seasonings tastes quite decent. Why am I amazed? Because it expired literally years ago. The box was unopened and cellophane wrapped. I happened upon it while looking for something else (whoops). I was thinking that I’d give it a try just for laughs (and not rate it), but having found that it tastes just as fresh as a few other chamomiles purchased by me more recently, I can only conclude that either everyone sells old chamomile, or else chamomile is ageless!
Clean and simple, with none of the bells and whistles which some find annoying (especially hisbicus and lemon grass), this infusion has that indescribable texture and taste unique to the precious little yellow bud flower. Chamomile often smells sour or bitter in perfume—and that, I infer, is the reason why so few chamomile-centric perfumes exist. One example is the opening of Clinique Aromatics Elixir. Sometimes I find brewed chamomile bitter in that way, but not here.
I had thought that I’d be tossing this box from ancient history, but it looks as though I’ll be brewing up the bags instead!
Preparation
This chamomile blend is my favorite so far from the Tea Forte collection. Of course, it’s also the first loose tea I’ve tried from them… I have the single “dosed” packet format of loose leaf Chamomile Citron, which I brewed in my two-cup cast-iron pot. I used a finer sieve to filter the brew since there were lots of random broken particles floating about.
I don’t like the basket inserts in these cast-iron pots, by the way. Somehow I always feel that the water in the periphery of the pot is not getting any of the tea flavor. I also believe that the leaves need to be granted maximum liberty for expansion and the ability to float about the entire available volume of water. No, I’m not neurotic. ;-)
The chamomile is dominant despite the notable presence of lemon grass and hibiscus. The combination of everything works together harmonically. I enjoyed this more than the Tazo mesh sachet bags of Calm Chamomile, probably because this blend better showcases the chamomile.
Preparation
A second infusion of this tea was much better. I now believe that I made two mistakes: first, the water was too hot; second, I had put too much dried tea in my little pot.
I am encouraged by this follow-up brew and look forward to future infusions…
Preparation
I stopped picking up boxes and containers of tea from TJMAXX quite some time ago because of the inevitable mediocrity of the contents, even when the labeling indicated that the tea was years from being expired.
Today, in a random display of recidivism, I picked up a cylinder of organic green tea filter bags by Touch Organic, a company which I’d never even heard of. I’m always willing to pay $3 to sample a perfume, so why not tea? Perhaps I was charmed in part by the endearing reference in the description text to “our proud famers [sic] in Southeastern China”…
This is not bad, in fact. The tea has a bancha-character to it. The color is golden yellow and the taste is smooth. The Touch Organic “famers” have reason to be proud, for this could pass as a Japanese tea.
The package bears a batch number, so it is possible that the harvests vary a lot. Mine turns out to be pretty good.
Preparation
My first encounter with Two leaves and a bud, this inexpensive, grocery-store, China-sourced organic loose-leaf sencha is quite bitter and astringent. It is possible that my water was too hot, but I only steeped it for three minutes. I’ll try again with cooler water.
Of course, it’s also possible that it’s just not that good. The price was rather low: only $6.99 for a 4 ounce cylinder…
Preparation
I bought some bottles of Tazo Giant Peach at one of the local grocery stores because it was on sale for 25 cents. Otherwise, I would have passed, because I nearly always eschew sweetened iced tea. This is a good example of why.
The bottle packs nearly 200 calories, and it tastes much more like peach juice than like tea. It’s actually more like a peach solution. Think Vitamin Water with significantly more cane sugar and flavor.
Iced tea for me is all about quenching thirst. This juice tastes pretty good, but it is a juice solution (more cane sugar than fruit) not tea, and I opt for it only in circumstances when I am both thirsty and suffering from extremely low blood sugar and need some liquid calories ASAP, as in: before I expire.
So, not really a tea. Okay as a super-sweetened peach-flavored juice. I won’t buy it again—unless they sell it for 25 cents a bottle, and then I’ll just have more on hand for low blood sugar situations such as today, when I walked all over town without having eaten anything. By the time I got home I did not have enough energy left even to lift a fork, much less prepare any food, so I chugged this and then was sufficiently recuperated to be able to come up with a meal.
Honeybush is one of those strange non-tea teas about which I’m somewhat ambivalent (along with rooibos). This blend, Tazo Flowering Honeybush, jazzes the honeybush up with chunks of dried fruit: apple, papaya, and peach, plus blackberry leaves and some flavoring. The overall effect is, predictably, a somewhat fruity honeybush.
I have a feeling that this might be very good with sugar, which could augment and enhance the fruitiness. However, that’s a line which I prefer not to cross, since I prefer to drink my tisanes unsweetened. I also hate artificial sweeteners. Instead, I’ll just drink the rest of this packet au naturel and probably not purchase it again.
Honeybush blends often seem pretty interchangeable to me, so I’d rather try some others than stick with this one. It’s perfectly fine, but not very exciting or memorable—not something I positively look forward to drinking. I acquired 4 ounces of this loose-leaf herbal blend during the November half-price sale at Starbucks. It was a good opportunity to test out a bunch of their more obscure loose leaf offerings. All are from Tazo, but not readily available anywhere else, as far as I can tell.
The burnt-orange color of this brewed infusion is beautiful!
