Tazo

So I’m really torn about this one from the TTB. The first time I tried it, I really didn’t like it. Like, I had to force myself to finish it (I was too tired to go pour it out and too thirsty to just not drink anything). The juniper tastes very pine-y, and something about the mint and honey flavoring just combines to make the whole thing feel more like someone made a tea inspired by household cleaner than anything natural. BUT. Then I made it again today and added actual honey to it (basic grocery store honey because I was afraid of wasting good honey). And that made all the difference. The juniper-pine flavor mellowed into something actually pleasant, the mint became soothing, and overall it became at least drinkable and inoffensive. If you really like juniper and/or pine, you’d probably enjoy this tea (but add honey to it!).

Another tea I have received from Amy, swapped elsewhere.

And sadly, I have to say this tea is completely forgettable. Yes, it is herbal. Yes, there is turmeric. Yes, there is passionfruit flavour. Yes, there are ginger.

But that’s pretty much all I can write about this tea.

I haven’t lost myself in aromatic golden turmeric and sweet passionfruit flavor.

This is a decent, refreshing green tea. I enjoyed its lightness. I’m afraid I don’t find it particularly memorable. I like Tazo products, so I wasn’t disappointed by this tea, but neither would I look for it, unless there were other less drinkable choices at the time.
It’s good, but I would neither say ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ to it. If I’m in the mood for green tea, it would work.

I am puzzled about this tea. But thanks to Amy again.

I saw it is white, but apparently with hints of darjeeling. I have steeped it for suggested 3 minutes and it turned out quite floral, smooth and mouthcoating, but I haven’t noticed any fruits! Not even in aroma. Just light, floral tea. Interesting…

Another tea from Amy, a little bit a celebration tea (I have “celebrated” with Classic Black by Battler) Thank you! And now I bet you are wondering why I am celebratin. No, it’s not birthday… that’s in 10 days. But I am celebrating that I have passed last course and now only finals are remaining! They will be held in February 2023, a little postponed from June 2021, I know, but I am glad I can go there. Postponed because my unsucessful exams before… but now I have everything done, but defending the thesis (it seems its ages since I wrote it) and the oral finals.

But back to this tea… I am puzzled to read such a negative tasting notes. Yes, when dry the bag smells bad. Indeed artificial, medicinal, “tang” like, and overall not so pleasant. But when brewed, and I think I did longer than 5 minutes as on the outer wrapping, it delivered pretty nice hot orange drink. I never had orange from wild, so not sure if they (but surely they do) do taste different than store-bought oranges. It was quite mouthcoating and mouthwatering taste. If I could reproduce this tea with its flavours as ice tea, it would be great (although today we had only around 22°C (72°F) with strong wind gusts). I am quite happy with this tea…maybe they tweaked the recipe?

Another tea from Amy. Thank you!
Honestly I was afraid of this combo, green tea, matcha, both quite delicate flavours. Maté, quite on the other side of the spectrum and grapefruit is somewhere in the middle. When I took the bag off, there was a pithy aroma of grapfruit peel and honestly I thought it was quite genuine and real aroma, however weaker than I have been expecting.

Brewed and used colder water (I assume around 80°C, maybe even less) than their recommended 100°C (212°F)! gave me bright green-yellow tea. It is quite similar to the hue on the outer wrapping of tea bags.

It has smelled wonderfully after grapefruit and in taste it was nice level of flavour of citruses. The maté was almost unnoticeable and sadly, the green tea was quite flat — which was expecting as it is a tea bag.

Now, I am craving grapefruit tea… any opinions?

I really, really like lemon glazed loaf, its close to one of my tea bagged teas which is nice because I can buy at the Target really close to me. So because of that I wanted to try the other teas in the tazo dessert delight collection.

Prep: Western
Tasting note: Its pretty bland in my opinion, the licorice root is kind of there and there is some vanilla notes but the black tea is not very good or interesting in my opinion. Will do my best to sip this down but it is not a priority.

Sipdown (1688)!

So, one of the hotels we stayed at in LA had this sort of “Tazo Tea Bar” in the hotel rooms with some different Tazo tea bags. I obviously brought all of my own tea with me for the trip, but I realized there were a couple flavours in this bar that I hadn’t actually tried and so, being the good tea taster I am, I pocketed one of each that I had yet to taste.

Queue a few night ago, when I steeped this one up. It was on the same day that I drank the cold brewed Tea & Toast from Bird & Blend, and if you’ve read that tasting note then you know I was experiencing some pretty major congestion related issues with tasting. So, I sipped on this cup and I could VERY FAINTLY taste hints of orange and the sweetness of the licorice root in the finish but it was very much just a shadow of what I’m sure the tea should have actually tasted like.

So, my efforts to build a more comprehensive familiarity with Tazo’s selection were a little bit for nothing. I will have to try to find another tea bag to pocket elsewhere and taste again in the future…

An afternoon cuppa for me, but enjoyed with family around. After draining studying session.

Dry tea bag aroma was very familiar, but I couldn’t find anything to point on! Maybe it is similar to “Old Times Baked Apple” by Nordqvist? Does my smell memory picked this up, even it was 5 years ago since I had it?

Anyway, brewed it has got a wonderful aroma as well. Very genuine, apple with cinnamon. My mother, who adores teas with this flavour (and aromas) noticed it very soon as it was filling the living room.

Brewed, maye for more than intended 5 minutes, it has got also a very good flavour. Apples were pretty nice, cinnamon as well. The rooibos was good se well, adding its honeyish taste, however I think that black tea base would suit this tea much better. Why so? It was a little drying and a bit kind of flat. The mouthfeel wasn’t for the flavours long either and I think it is the biggest flaw.

Camomile is supposed to be in… but although I am quite sensitive to it, I haven’t noticed it at all in flavour, nor in aroma. Maybe because it complemented with the rooibos? I don’t know.

I can’t believe it was June when I had it! I thought it was a few months later, maybe October? No-way!

Anyway, this time, from Devon’s calendar — thank you, I feel it was fruitier and mellow, but no cream nor vanilla here. It was stronger in apricots only.

Also, dry bag smelled like a play-doh. Sadly, it is pretty much average from both attempts.

I feel that I will write (in near future) mostly about the teas I received from Amy, because we swapped a several teas and those teas are US based and thus not available for me at all.

And because they are available to you, it is better than write about those teas, but I am sure you are enjoying “my region” teas. too.

However, decided for this one in the morning, mostly because I was craving something sweet actually, but I didn’t wanted to eat anything sweet, because it could cause heartburns to me, if I start the day with those.

Apricots. Vanilla. Créme. All is saying it is going to be quite sweet. White tea base in tea bag is expected to be a bit more on rough spectrum, but it’s fine.

And it is pretty tasty. Smells wonderfully after dried apricots with vanilla undertone, and tastes good. Fresh white tea, a little more on hay note, but not rough as expected.Vanilla was mildly present and apricots, sadly, weren’t much in taste, but it is in aroma… I was hoping more for fruity and apricot taste. Shame, really. And yep, it is creamy, but again, I was hoping for more.

June prompts for Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – a cold steeped tea

This has been a slightly confusing tea. I bought it on impulse because there was a special and I wanted to get two different teas. This sounded enticing for a hot weather tea because cucumber and mint can be so refreshing, as well as lime.

Many reviews say it is terribly bitter. My first cup was hot and it was not bitter to me, but maybe a little brisk. I expected the mint to overpower all else because mint often does, but instead I got way more lime than cucumber or mint. The mint was a tingle beside the lime.

As it cooled, the briskness increased. So maybe hot wasn’t the way to go steeping this one.
I put two bags in a pint mason jar and stuck it in the fridge. The next day (yesterday) I had icy cold…lightly flavored water with great golden color. Really it was like drinking water at a spa – super cold with a hint of lime. I tried adding a little simple syrup but it wasn’t really improved and defeated my purpose. I want a cold, refreshing sugar free tasty summer drink.

So I tried again. I left it longer this time. I forgot there was darjeeling in this so I guess thats why it looks like a glass of iced black that you nearly finished and now the ice has melted.

This is still brisk, a little drying, or maybe it is just the lime being a little puckery. Now the mint seems more muted. It doesn’t taste bitter to me, just tastes the way lime tastes without sweetener. I wish I was getting wow’ed by fresh cucumber flavor. I guess I just need to slice some cucumbers in water and drink. Meanwhile, I will continue to cold steep these bags until they are gone.

I gave a jar of this to a neighbor, who said it was tasty but he didn’t taste any cucumber, either.

Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | February 2023 | A grocery store tea

A very sad sipdown indeed! This tea punches so far above its weight. It’s been a very comforting evening sipper this winter and I’m sad to see it go.

Leaving my rating the same.

2023 sipdown count: 22/75

Oh heck yes! I’m a sucker for dessert teas, and this one is inspired by one of my favorite baked goods of all time. My mom makes a killer lemon loaf (we called it a “tea cake” when I was a kid) and as such, the nostalgia factor is through the roof with this tea.

I snagged a couple bags from the TTB and my partner and I brewed them up last night. He was handling the prep while I read on the couch, and I heard an audible “mmm” when he sniffed the bag. We were both expecting the brewed tea to fall short compared to the aroma, but happily, it doesn’t. It truly does taste like the essence of a lemon loaf has been distilled into tea: creamy, lemony, and pound cakey, with a hint of vanilla and the suggestion of sweetness without sugar. Love it. I wouldn’t say no to a bit more zestiness (I like my lemon loaves sharp!). I might have to pick up a box and tinker with adding some lemon.

The takeaway: Bagged teas can still delight and surprise. :)

Thanks, getanzt!!
Preparation: Western
Tasting note: This is the closest thing, I have had to a glazed lemon cake. And its not overly sweet and really nice night cap. Lemony and has a creaminess. Also, its not too expensive. I will be finding more of this soon.

Apparently I’m a lone voice in the wilderness here, but I liked this tea. Normally I find most pre-made chai blends not entirely to my liking. But I found this one a well-balanced delight. It does seem to have an essence of pumpkin about it, as another reviewer here noted. It has a nice initial warmth, and the cool aftertaste of licorice, with a nice shunting between the different spices in between. I particularly enjoyed it with a bit of honey. I liked using a bag or two of this when blending a pot of mixed chai blends. I do hope TAZO brings it back this fall so I can enjoy it again! ((ALSO: Please note that the list of flavors under “What flavors and scents do you notice?” was automatically ALPHABETIZED, which is NOT as I originally ordered the flavors. I had put them in order as I tasted them: Pumpkin-Spicy-Cinnamon-Anise. The alphabetized list makes it seem as if anise is the strongest note to me. It was LAST.))

I was restocking the wonderful glazed lemon loaf, and there was a discount for buying two Tazo teas, so I grabbed this one for my work stash. It’s less tart and fruity than I expected. The first time I tried it, it was almost like licorice and Kool aid. I had it cold, and it was pretty muted and boring. The second time, I did get some authentic berry flavors, but it wasn’t super delicious. The third time, it was too medicinal and not that great. I’ve had it a bunch more times now, and I can say that it’s drinkable and different from other fruity blends, but I don’t like it that much.

A single tea bag received from Michelle! Thank you so much! I really wanted to try this, but getting any US tea here… it is rather a lucky accident to get some, than getting it somewhere commonly. US candy shops don’t carry them.

So I have brewed it about a hour ago, and I have sniffed the bag prior. It was spearmint with some unidentified sweetness and lightly pine.

Brewed it is very similar, quite spearmint-y and sweet. It was similar to Halls cough drops with its lemon-honey flavour. It wasn’t bad actually. In the end of the sip, there was some pine flavour. But it was quite weak and honestly I have hoped for stronger taste of juniper.

This is one of the four Target-exclusive Forager Edition herbals from Tazo, the one based on the Southwest US. So far, I have really enjoyed the Midwest “Wild Apple Sarsaparilla” and the Rockies “Juniper Mint Honey,” but really disliked the Northeast “Elderberry Blackberry.”

I was a little trepidatious about this one, as the “Elderberry Blackberry” listed chamomile quite high on the ingredients list, and this one does as well, and it’s a flavor I really dislike. I got a very off-putting soapy/baby powdery taste from the “Elderberry Blackberry” tea that I never could shake. And I’m picking up a bit of that same aroma here. But, there is a stronger melon/pear sort of aroma that is helping mask it a lot.

Thankfully, I’m okay with this on the sip. Perhaps it was the flavorings in the “Elderberry Blackberry” that created such an off-putting flavor, because I quite like this “prickly pear” flavor. It isn’t a flavor I could pinpoint very well myself (having tried prickly pear candy all of once in my life) but, I like it. It does have a strong mixed melon/pear sort of flavor, with a touch of florality. Hibi is listed first of the ingredients on the pouch, but honestly I don’t even notice it aside from a subtle pink hue to the yellow liquor of the brew (I’m a big hibi fan, so I wouldn’t have minded more of a presence from it, but for the vast majority of hibi-haters out there, don’t be turned off by its high placement on the ingredient listing). There is maybe a little citrusy-sort of tang, with a long steep? I’m not noticing the chamomile either, which is a bonus for me.

I don’t like this as much as the “Wild Apple Sarsaparilla” and the “Juniper Mint Honey”, but it is certainly enjoyable and I wouldn’t mind getting it again. I think this flavor will shine more prepared as a cold brew, which I’ll have to put on my to-do list.