Awake™ Full Leaf Tea

It’s a decent one to have on hand for running out the door. I’ve had these bags a while; it’s probably a bit stale. It is better than their other bagged variety, more depth in flavor. I’d be interested to try a ‘fresh’ bag but not interested enough to go buy some of this. :P

I think this tea is okay. I do put it through my Keurig so I am positive that makes a difference (rather than steeping myself). It’s more of a convenience tea when I’m feeling lazy haha. It’s quite strong and bitter, I have to put some agave in it to help balance it out a bit. I don’t mind the taste, I’m sure it would be great as an iced tea. But I do get a pretty astringent-y after taste with this tea. It’s just a little bitter for me! But…it’s still okay. I always get these tea if I go to Starbucks. My friends are Starbucks junkies but I don’t really drink coffee or enjoy anything else besides this or an Earl grey tea latte :)

I don’t drink coffee (a childhood mishap with a General Mills Vanilla Instant Coffee mix and overcrowded porta-potties at a New Year’s Day parade took care of that option a long time ago), but often will find myself in a Starbucks with a friend. This is really the only tea I will drink here, and to be honest, it is more like paying rent for the seats than it is paying for a drink.

I find that this tea has almost no flavor whatsoever. I tend to like smooth, but strong black teas, and I often add sweetener and milk. If I drink this straight, it really doesn’t taste like much beyond “HOT,” and if I add milk and sugar, that is all that I can taste.

After reading the other tasting notes, I think I should make an effort to steep this tea a bit longer from now on. However, I tend to avoid steeping my teas for very long because I don’t like the bitterness/astringency that comes out of them over a long steep. And this tea is simply not strong enough to leave me with any flavor in the amount of time I spend to steep it.

I have to say that, especially for a plain black tea, I find this divine. I’ve purchased a few boxes and it’s a staple go-to tea for a quick cup of tea that’s bold and refreshing when I have little time. I do drink it with sugar (1 tsp.) to enhance the flavor. Deep and rich, careful not to oversteep. My son enjoys it with me sometime. Just refreshing and a nice rich black tea taste.

Had this at lunch time today while on the run. I definitely like it better in this “full leaf” incarnation than the previous bagged variety. Nicer, fuller flavour. Richer and more enjoyable. I could go for a cup right now, come to think of it.

I loved this. Very strong in only 6 oz of water.

I’m spending my lunch hour at Starbucks today because I’m just sick of our cafeteria. Anyway, I got this as a latte and they accidentally sweetened it. Starbucks employees today have been a bit off their game. Anyway, it’s a decent black tea that holds up in the latte. I have to admit that I’m spoiled from trying a bunch of different high quality black teas in the last few months, so buying tea at Starbucks has become more of an excuse to take up a table for a while than for the tea itself. So my overall conclusion is that I won’t be buying any of this for myself to steep at home, but I’m perfectly fine buying a cup every now and then to justify hogging tables :)

I bought this tea with a discount and because I felt like having a no frills black tea. This tea was good, though I have had better. All in all, this is a nice tea to have when you’re not looking for something extravagant and in a pinch.

Mmmmmm, it smells like honey! And the forest. There’s a beautiful woodland quality to the smell Tazo Awake tea. Like I should be drinking it on the front porch of a log cabin, wearing a hand-knit toque, scarf, mittens and a big flannel coat, watching the little snows drift silently to the forest floor. I think I might have used too much water, because it’s a little on the light side, but it still smells delicious. It has a bit of sharpness to the taste (which I’ll attribute to the age of the tea itself*), but plenty of that down-homey black tea taste that I like. Can’t describe it, other than Black Tea.
Tasty! (But not ultra tasty. A good go-to tea.)
*Full disclosure: I HAVE the full leaf tea, but don’t care for it. I used the crumbly old tea bags that they used to have at Starbucks (making this tea a little on the old side as well, perhaps.)

After Red Rose, Awake has always been my favourite.

Probably the one bagged tea I’ll keep a mean, firm grip on. For one, so far it’s the only English breakfast tea I’ve tried that has that tangy taste along with the otherwise typical breakfast taste. But the main reason is that, as a Starbucks employee, I get to take a tin of this home with me every week for free. Hard to beat that. It’s also the only Tazo tea I can drink. Every other variety by Tazo? No thanks.

Awake tea is very, very fussy. Oversteep it even just by a marginal amount, and BAM it turns to mud. For me I’ve found the magic time to be three minutes. Two minutes it’s hot water. Four minutes it’s mud.

If you get the magical time, you get the typical taste of a breakfast tea, with a unique tang like finish that sort of buzzes on your tongue. The tang is the best part as it gives it a very nice flavor.

I like it with a little bit of golden sugar and a little bit of milk.

Unfortunately, if you oversteep this, the tang is the first part to disappear into the mud taste. Set the oven timer when preparing! :)

If you would like to order this a latte at your local Starbucks, I recommend ordering a tall size with one pump vanilla, no classic syrup.