Tazo Tea is a brand of tea that is best known for being the brand of tea associated with Starbucks Coffee. Indeed, the Tazo tea company is owned by the Starbucks corporation. But Tazo tea is also available in some supermarkets, other stores, and other coffee shops. Although Tazo sells a few bottled teas, this article focuses on Tazo's tea bags.
Reviews of Tazo Tea:
Tazo Calm - This is without a doubt my favorite of Tazo's offerings. Tazo calm is a distinctive herbal blend, combining chamomile, rose petals, and a number of other herbs. Unlike some chamomile blends, it is not dominated by the chamomile, but rather, the various aromas of the different herbs blend together seemlessly, producing a balanced blend. I also like the way this herbal tea makes me feel: it's not as strongly relaxing as a number of other products on the market, but I find that it is very pleasing to drink at any time of day. It leaves a clean, fresh taste in the mouth as well.
Tazo China green tips - This green tea originates in China's Zhejiang province. I like typical green teas from this province, as they often have a briskness and a pleasing hint of smokiness to balance the familiar grassy qualities characteristic of green teas. Although this tea will not impress loose-leaf connoisseurs, it is definitely a notch up from most boxed green tea bags available in a typical supermarket. I think Tazo could do better, but this is still a drinkable and pleasant tea.
Tazo Awake - Tazo awake is Tazo's strong black breakfast tea. I find it to be somewhat atypical among black teas marketed as breakfast teas: it has some malty qualities as well as some lighter qualities characteristic of high-grown tea, but I also found it to be rather sour, and leave a harsh astringency on the palate.
Tazo Passion - This herbal tea grabs people's attention with its deep purple color, which is reflected equally in the packaging as in the brewed cup. I absolutely love the aroma of this tea, which is hard to describe, but has a pleasing floral and fruity quality, balanced by some light herbaceous tones. However, I find this tea to be so sour as to be undrinkable -- reflecting the fact that Tazo has added citric acid to the blend. Fortunately, citric acid is highly water soluble, and a brief rinse of 10 seconds or so of this tea under cold water will remove nearly all the sourness, allowing people such as myself who prefer a more purely aromatic cup to enjoy the aroma of Tazo passion in a cup with a milder, smoother flavor.
In Summary?
I like Tazo tea quite a lot, and am always content to drink it whenever it's available among a mix of the mainstream tea brands. It definitely is one of the mainstream tea companies that gets my attention. But when I'm at home, I drink almost exclusively loose-leaf teas; I think that serious tea enthusiasts will do well to branch out and explore other teas, even if they do enjoy Tazo tea.
No comments:
Post a Comment