Calm

I was going to start a new profile for Tazo Calm in the sachet, since it is so much better than the filter bags, but then I figured: why bother? It’s being discontinued! In fact, it has already disappeared from the Starbucks stores, soon to be replaced by God knows what from Teavana. Do they even have a chamomile blend? Or anything approaching this:

Chamomile flowers, blackberry leaves, lemongrass, rose petals, spearmint leaves, lemon balm leaf, hibiscus flowers, lavender flowers, marigold flowers

Those are the ingredients for the sachet, not the filter bag. Note the absence of chunks o’ food (ubiquitous in the Teavana herbal blends…).

Well, I’ll enjoy my remaining sachets of Calm as I did last night. The array of petals is quite beautiful, and the taste is satisfying and calming. There is just a touch of lavender and more chamomile than lemon grass, so I do like this blend. It’s too bad that the marketing of Tazo teas was handled so egregiously by its new overlord. Mistakes were made—to put it mildly. Another casualty in the the corporate conglomeratization of the world.

My rating for the sachet: 75. My rating for the filter bag in the light envelope: 52.

What not to do with this one: do not attempt to tone down the l(ick!)orice with fresh pineapple mint and a slug of chilled apple juice. My tongue is still trying to shake off the taste of household cleaner.

On a temporarily brighter note: At the expense of personal sanity, family sanctity, and household sanitation, I am as of 2:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time NOT BEHIND ON ANY WRITING DEADLINES.

And that’s a sip down. I’m experiencing heartburn for like the first time ever practically (I’m looking at you, pan-seared salmon and broccoli and mushrooms sauteed in olive oil), so I figured that this is the perfect opportunity to polish off the other bag I got from the hotel.

Chamomile, licorice, and mint are all supposed to help heartburn, so we’ll just see about that.

In an effort to find non-caffeinated alternatives for the kids to enjoy, I steeped a cup of this tonight and gave them each a taste.

We have discovered that neither peanut is a chamomile fan.

After having quite a bit of the Independence Coffee Co. Chamomile/Peppermint Plus over the last couple of weeks to put out the five alarm fire in my virus ravaged throat, this was perhaps not the best choice for me this evening. I need a little distance from the flavor so I can stop associating it with pain.

The mint in this one is milder than in the Independence, and the flavor is more subtle and complex. Bumping it a few points higher than the Independence for subtlety and complexity.

Backlog from Sunday

I had this the other day at a restaurant after my first VYO concert of the year!! It was pretty exciting and we sounded really good, and I can’t wait for the rest of the season (VYO stands for the Vermont Youth Orchestra, for those who are knew/have forgotten. It’s the top youth orchestra in the state and one of the best in New England). My parents all got food but I had had a burrito a little while earlier and I was literally stuffed so I figured it would be best for me not to get any food (but I really wanted to! It was this really good burger joint called Sky Burger and they have this burger called the jalapeno popper which has pickled jalapenos, cream cheese, jalapeno pepper jelly, and slaw and then has a jalapeno popper on top! Yum!!!!) so I settled on some tea instead. They brought out a little box of Tazo teas (which, I must admit, I actually like a lot) and I settled on this one.

In all honesty, I really liked this. I left the tea bag in the entire time so the flavors got a little too strong towards the end, but I really do like it for a nice alternative. I don’t know about it’s calming effects because I had the earl grey right after, but I do actually enjoy the taste of this.

I have not slept well the past two evenings due to stress of everyday life.
I was working on organizing my tea when I decided to fix myself a cup of this tea.
This tea does seem to relax and calm as you sip and enjoy. This is a tea I like to keep in my cupboard.

I’m finally making headway with all these teabag samples I’ve had since forever. So since I’m kind of on a chamomile roll…here’s my last chamomile tea!

Oh, P.U.! This is not going to be a good one. It is stinky! Yuck. Well, it surprisingly doesn’t taste NEARLY as bad as it smells. I still don’t really want to drink it though. Who wants to hold their nose when they drink a cup of tea? Not me.

Ah, at long last! My cupboard is finally chamomile free! :P

Kaliskaa and I found this with the coffee in our hotel room a couple weeks ago, and I decided I should finally give this a try. After all, Tazo’s Earl Grey, Zen, and Organic Apple Red are pretty good, in my opinion. I had been sort of avoiding this one for the past, oh, ten years or so.

But anyway, there sure is a lot going on in this herbal blend. It smells like straight up Robitussin. I’m assuming that’s from the sarsaparilla and licorice root. Also, what exactly are the “natural flavors” it lists? Not impressed. I was really hoping this was just going to be something light and chamomiley.

When steeped, the chamomile flavor does actually come out both in the scent and taste. Oddly, it goes really well with the sarsaparilla. Despite the cacophony of herbal ingredients, it comes out smoother than I expected. The licorice root and mint are most noticeable at the end, leaving a sort of cooling sensation in my mouth. The licorice isn’t overwhelming like I’ve had in a lot of herbal blends. (I’m looking at you, Yogi Teas!) It makes a strange, vanilla-like taste that I’m actually liking. I thought this tea was going to be a medicinal punishment, but it’s actually pretty pleasant.

Thankfully the westin we are staying at had tea other than just lipton. I chose this as I knew it would help calm my nerves and mind during all the last minute pre holiday get together jitters. It even soothed my stomach which was off due to having dinner at 2am. Isn’t holiday travel fun? Wishing everyone a happy holiday and safe travels!

The flavor of this is a bit weak for me. Mostly chamomile and spearmint. Kind of a light fruity flavor. It’s enjoyable but not something I’ll ever buy again.