TAZO Orange Blossom

Some of you may have noticed tins of TAZO tea while waiting in line at Starbucks. This is due to the growing popularity of loose leaf tea, and Starbucks it hopping on the bandwagon. Today I have a cup of their Orange Blossom green tea in front of me to review and it smells like a good way to end the day.

As I said the fragrance is very nice but not orange, jasmine. Orange is there too but blends with the sweetness of the jasmine. Once on your tongue you can tell it's a green tea, I think it's a jasmine pearl like this one. Looking at the leaves themselves they're not pearls though. The lighter fruit taste isn't just oranges (tangerines) though. I believe other fruits are there as well with many herbal supplements.

TAZO has plenty of fine teas, but I think this one scores better as a frankincense than tea. The aura put off by this is fantastic but the taste of the tea doesn't follow up with it. TAZO's Orange Blossom gets a C (decent).

TAZO Zen

TAZO's Zen green tea has been a favorite of mine since before I got into loose teas and other more exotic drinks, and you can still find a box of it in my cupboard. The reason behind this is that it's good and easy to find!

Zen is a green tea with spearmint and lemongrass but that's not what makes it satisfying to me. The few components to this tea somehow create an equilibrium that can be a simple drink to enjoy while surfing the web or every once in awhile be the focus of your attention so you can relax and explore the harmonies of it. My approach today will be the latter of the two.

Before steeping the tea it the lemongrass is far more apparent than the spearmint but it doesn't overpower it. Once steeped the 3-4 recommended minutes the smell from your cup shows more symmetry between lemongrass and spearmint. On your palate you'll notice the body of the tea is very full and the green tea shines through for the first time and the lemongrass and spearmint are harder to distinguish. The finishing tone is a hint of lemon, and not the lemongrass something different.

I noticed when reading the box and visiting TAZO's website that they list spearmint not peppermint or just mint. The less sharp mint makes this tea work far better. TAZO Zen is a very good tea B (good).