Refresh (Full Leaf Tea in Sachets)

My second serving of iced Tazo Refresh for 2014 this afternoon. I almost drank it hot because it was raining out, but then, in defiance of the weather gods, I stubbornly stuck to the iced tea plan.

It occurred to me while imbibing this refreshing brew that Starbucks really is achieving its goal of total global beverage hegemony. I began the day with filter dripped Starbucks coffee. Then I drank Teavana (now owned by Starbucks) Jade Dragon Mao Feng. Then I had a tall Americano with long shots at one of the stores. Then I had a refill of Tazo (also now owned by Starbucks) Refresh!

This Starbucks odyssey was in no way intended by me, but it illustrates how I’ve been sucked into the vortex!

Day infinity of this cold. Can I just say I am thoroughly tired of tisanes, herbal teas, green tea blends etc… I want me a cup of black tea with cream and sugar. Especially because I have some new flavours from Christmas and Boxing Day…

Alas… my cold has not left yet and I am stuck with herbals. I’ve definitely depleted my stock and Refresh was no exception. This is a nice peppermint and it’s soothed my sore tummy the last couple of days. A good option if buying loose isn’t your thing, of if it’s not available.

I prefer loose still though. Tasted somehow more fresh… har har.

I’ve decided that I like this better than Harney and Son’s Peppermint tea.

Bought a tin of this on a total whim and was really pleasantly surprised. The mint comes through strong and pure. It was a super quick tea to steep and it blended the spearmint and the peppermint flavours nicely. I got the bite from the peppermint but it was a little tempered by the sweetness of the spearmint.

This tazo tea is wonderful
Pairs well with chocolate
Melts in your mouth with an oat fudge bar!!
Awesome tasting, best mint tea out there for sure!

Normally when I think of mint it is paired with another flavor.
This tea was very minty and very pure. I was pleasantly surprised by its bite and ability to be very refreshing.

Sipdown no. 2 of 2018 (no. 358 total).

I still have the filter bag version, which is what I had logged this under when I first tried it years ago. It quickly became my favorite mint herbal tea. I tried unsuccessfully to replicate the ratio of spearmint to peppermint to tarragon. Blending isn’t my superpower.

I still have a box of the filter bags, which I bought about a year ago. This sipdown is of bags I had for much longer and was hoarding.

There is a difference between the full leaf sachets and the filter bags. The full leaf sachets give a more full, more balanced flavor in which the tarragon has more potency. The filter bags are more minty.

The hoarding behavior made sense in this case because apparently, Tazo no longer offers the sachets, which I personally believe is an economic decision — the tins the sachets come in are metal rather than paper, and the sachets themselves are in netting rather than paper, so I expect it’s more expensive to make the sachets and Tazo decided that they should reserve those for teas where it would make more of a difference. They still offer sachets on their web site, but not for this herbal or any herbals.

Alas, it makes a lot of difference to me with this herbal. I wish they still had it available in the sachets. It’s still my favorite mint herbal, but now that I’ve had a chance to compare the two, I have to give this a higher rating than the filter bags.

A tasty mint tea. Lightly sweet, pairs well with dark chocolate.

Backlog. Had this and my longtime favorite Calm with a big lunch after walking around all morning. Unfortunately the peppermint in this is overwhelming, and peppermint is not really my favorite. There’s a touch of spearmint but I’d prefer more, and the tarragon is just not there. The description is better than the brew, but it was still nice enough.

Before I left Starbucks, we could get two tins of Tazo sachets for free to clear out the stock of them in preparation for the Teavana tins. So I picked up two of Refresh since I really like what the tarragon adds. I have no idea what it adds, but it just really does make it different than the replacement for this, Mint Majesty.

I have a tin at home and a tin at work, though I have not had to open the one at home (it helps to already have a tin of spearmint and like that THE MOST), but you better believe the work one is in full use.

Whenever my stomach hurts, I make some.

When I was afraid to have any caffeine, this was my tea. I got sick of it though.

It’s hard to say much more about it…it’s mint.