53 Tasting Notes

80

It’s coooold, SO cold so cold. Down to the last teaspoon & a half of this great stuff. My brother’s got the rest of our stock in his Teavana storage tin, but he’s away at college during the week so I’ll hafta wait it out till the weekend to resupply. Since I’m drinking the last bits of this rooibos, all that’s left are the finer grinds that are typically found at the bottom of a can. These particles are so small that I didn’t wanna use our normal strainer for fear of getting lotsa loose leaf into my tea.

Luckily for me, my dad stitched together a homemade, reusable teabag made of superfine mesh cloth a few weeks ago. I spooned the loose leaf into my custom teabag and started steeping victoriously. I’m happy to report that none of the tiny bits of tea grind got into my tea! Padre did a great job at stitching this thing together, so I’ll have to report back to him as soon as he gets back from Philadelphia tomorrow night. The tea itself tastes as wonderful as usual, just a little laid back due to a lack of the bigger pieces of loose leaf that are in a normal scoop of this blend.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 6 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Tazo Chai Tea Latte by Tazo
53 tasting notes

Enjoying a Tazo Chai Tea Latte while waiting in line for ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in 3D. It’s got a very nice kick of spice that’s warming me up quite well on a cold & wet evening. More details to come after the movie!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

67
drank Iced Passion Tea by Tazo
53 tasting notes

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80

This was my brother’s first ever loose leaf tea purchase, which we bought at the Teavana located in Glendale, CA. It’s actually a blend of their zingiber ginger coconut rooibos and their honeybush vanilla herbal, so this tasting note would be more accurate had I created an entirely new category for it… As it stands, I feel that by including it under this tea the Steepster community would have a higher chance at coming across my opinion, even if it’s a blended one. ;P

The blend itself was more honeybush vanilla, less rooibos. Consequently, I’m sure most of the flavor is coming from the herbal side of the blend with touches of the rooibos coming through. But regardless of the ratio, this tea blend smells AMAZING. The first time Ryan and I cracked open the tin, our olfactory senses were bombarded with a sweep of gingery vanilla that pleasantly reminded me of Starbucks’ Tazo Vanilla Rooibos latte. I honestly didn’t wanna stop sniffing this tea. Interestingly enough, the vanilla plays largely a scented role… A lot of the sweetness is involved in the smell of this tea blend, of which I suspect the almond/honey/vanilla combination is responsible for.

But after steeping this tea for five minutes and giving it a sip, much of the sweetness has surprisingly subsided, making way for the flavors present in the rooibos side of the blend: apples, cinnamon, & ginger all swirling together with the red rooibos to form a nutty taste that isn’t actually as sweet as it smells. This is great because it still FEELS sweet; you’re smelling the blend while tasting it at the same time, so the vanilla and ginger eventually come together for a one-two punch that will certainly send you stumbling for more.

I can’t really hunt down the coconut in all of this, but I’m sure it just gets lost somewhere between the sweet honey-vanillas and the almond-cinnamon bits. The next time I steep a cup of this blend, I’ll log it under Teavana’s Honeybush Vanilla so as to spread the love evenly. That said, this tea is a delightfully tasty blend that smells better than it tastes. It’s not that knockout in round 2 that you were hoping for, but the zingiber ginger coconut & honeybush vanilla sure make for a great match nonetheless.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 6 min, 15 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

73

I’ve been drinking this for as long as I can remember, dating way back into my childhood. As much of an exaggeration as that may be, Nestea’s Sweet Tea mix stands alone as my go-to cold tea drink whenever I’m at home and there’s nothing comparable in the fridge. It really isn’t half bad once you get past the fact that it’s a powder mix. Sweet enough that you don’t need to add sugar, yet “thin” enough that the taste of lemon tea still comes through. Thanks for always bringing this home from Costco, dad. =P

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

77

This was especially good after a few hours of night snowboarding. The ice cold temperatures in the car kept the can cold while we bombed the slopes, so coming back a sore mess to my refreshingly frosty sweet tea—well, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. ;D

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

67
drank Iced Passion Tea by Tazo
53 tasting notes

Had Starbucks’ shaken variety today with 2 pumps of sweetener (when the barista asked me if I’d like any sweetener, I replied “Just a little, please,” in which she responded “Normally we put 4 pumps.” I figured “just a little” should translate into half that)… It was pleasant; not too sweet nor fruity, with a slightly tangy aftertaste.

I’m not too big on the tartness of this one, but maybe I should PUMP IT UP four times over with sweetener like the barista recommended next time to adjust it more to my liking. I’ve had several friends order it mixed with lemonade, so that’s yet another version I’ll have to try. Expect more tasting notes from me on Tazo’s Passion [Shaken] Iced Tea in the future!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

79

The best way to size up a tea, in my opinion, is to compare it directly to other teas in its category. Conveniently, I just had a can of AriZona Southern Style Sweet Tea last night, its taste relatively fresh on my brain—and tongue. The challenger? Gold Peak’s own Iced Sweet Tea.

They carry this at my local Pacific Theaters, and the first time I had it I hardly even noticed it was there… Next to the huge soda fountain machines by the concession stands, Gold Peak’s iced tea canisters are unassuming by comparison, timid in its plea to thirsty passersby. Fortunate, then, is he who takes the risk of trying something other than Coca Cola or—heaven forbid—Brisk Raspberry Iced Tea.

This sweet tea just feels lighter while you’re drinking it. Measured against the AriZona variety, it definitely tastes cleaner and more pure. The best way I can describe it is by comparing juice to water. AriZona’s sweet tea drink would be the former, thicker in substance and taste alike. Gold Peak’s version, on the other hand, would be the latter: thinner in substance and taste, less filler and more of what matters… tea.

Fortunate is the man who dares try the iced sweet tea in the unsuspecting canister. Fortunate is he who thereby benefits from ZERO high fructose corn syrup in said sweet tea compared to the AriZona alternative. Fortunate is he for this tea.

=]

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

77

I’ve had this tea latte from Starbucks a few times in the past, and each cup is slightly different from the ones before it. This might have something to do with the size cup you order, since I suspect each teabag is the same size. The smaller the cup, the stronger the tea flavors since there is less water volume for the tea to diffuse through.

Today I ordered a Starbucks tall, which is their smallest size. Consequently, I was able to really taste the flavors coming through the large, fine mesh Tazo teabag that @steepedintruth mentioned in his tasting note. I’ve never seen a teabag this big before, let alone made of such a high quality mesh compared to the normal paper stuff I’m used to (then again, I haven’t been a big tea drinker at all until recently). First thing to hit was the vanilla; like everyone has mentioned, there’s definitely an artificiality to the taste of vanilla in this drink, but it’s not unpleasant to the point of ruining the drink. Reason being the apple cinnamon flavors that hit soon after.

Again, I’m sure the flavors were twice as prominent because I ordered a smaller cup, but man could I taste the apple cinnamon flavors! Not too strong that I’d swear I was sucking on a sour apple Jolly Rancher, but just strong enough for me to acknowledge that the flavors are there… more akin to eating a bowl of Apple Jacks cereal in milk. Soon the apple cinnamon takes over—in a good way—as the vanilla takes a backseat to the fruity spices, offering quite a sensational tea latte that gets better over time.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

Marketing + product, freelance creative, part-time gamer, full-time athlete, penniless philanthropist, fresh-squeezed orange juice enthusiast, writer.

Location

Los Angeles, California [USA]

Website

http://www.twitter.com/ArsEle...

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer