 Lowest Price: $5.95 
Product Description: ZenTM, a blend of exotic green teas and rare herbs. Includes: green tea, lemon verbena, spearmint and natural flavors.
ZenTM, like all Tazo green teas, is prepared in a way that maintains the natural health benefits, color and taste. The tea is steamed to neutralize the oxidating enzyme, then dried using a panfired technique to bring out the maximum flavor. Like black teas, ZenTM and other Tazo green teas are made from the same botanical species, Cameila Sinensis and can contain as much caffeine as black teas. Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-05-22
Very good for the price!
I find the spearmint in this tea to be very refreshing mixed with the green tea. Not the best, but certainly a good tea for those on a budget. I drink this daily, and have some better, full-leaf green teas on special occasions. Good, expensive brands of green tea are: Ineeka and Two Leaves and a Bud. Rating: 
Date: 2008-04-16
not so good..
I know people are going to rate my review not helpful but I can't help it... I think this tea is one of the worst I ever tasted. I grew up in a place where everyone enjoyed green tea, so this flavored green tea thing tastes just horrible to me. At Starbucks they serve this tea with boiling hot water, so naturally the green tea flavor is killed (like always as they never tell customers that hot water kills green tea flavor and make it bland). If you want herbal tea thats good, but if you are looking for "real green tea", I recommend you get once that don't have funny names like this one or Samurai, Sakura, because they usually arent real green tea but something people who haven't had real green tea thought would sound oriental and cool. Rating: 
Date: 2008-02-27
Simply the best tasting tea I have ever drank...
I am addicted to this tea. Maybe because as an ex Starbucks employee I use to make, serve and drink it so much. I have tried many other teas which are suppose to be better then Tazo Zen.( Numi, Trader Joe's etc. ) and I still go back to Tazo Zen. If you go to Starbucks on a regular basis to purchase their iced green tea and want to save some money...Starbucks uses this exact tea. A box of 20 bags cost around $4.00. The instructions state to use two bags for every 8 oz. of iced tea. At Starbucks they do not follow this. To cut costs they use one tea bag for every 8 oz. of water then they double the steeping time indicated on the box. I make well over a gallon of tea out of each box that I buy. And yes...it tastes exactly like the Starbucks ones. If you like it sweet DONT add honey or powdered sugar because it will have a totally different taste then Starbucks...instead just buy a bottle of the Starbucks classic syrup available at all Starbucks. They go for about $7.00. They are usually out of pumps but Ebay has plenty of Starbucks pumps. Enjoy! Rating:
Date: 2007-09-17
Mild, Relaxed Green Tea
****
Tazo's Zen Green Tea has a subtle, mild, light green tea taste, not bitter at all. I don't taste any of the additional flavors Tazo puts into this tea; maybe my palate isn't developed to this point. However, it still is one of their better teas, and has less of an artificial taste than the others I've tried. Maybe the flavorings are just too mild in this tea, but when it comes to flavorings, I prefer them this way; I like a natural, real taste with real ingredients sans vague "natural flavors" and sans flavorings, sans essences, etc. It is not a strong green tea, so it would definitely appeal to people who enjoy herbal infusions and milder teas.
The ingredients in Zen are: green teas, lemon verbena, spearmint, lemongrass, and natural flavors. Zen contains caffeine.
Tazo is an interesting company that makes only super premium teas. They are socially responsible, based in Portland, and have the motto, "The Reincarnation of Tea". Tazo is owned by Starbucks. Their web site is fun and quirky, with a Zen-type focus, definitely worth checking out. It is unclear, though, from their web site, how many of their ingredients are organic or kosher, and they do use some "natural flavors" in their teas--this wording seems a little vague for a super premium tea.
On the paper tea packet, Tazo writes, "an enlightening blend of the finest green teas and rare herbs available in this world." On their web site, Tazo describes the flavor profile of Zen as "smooth, lemony, earthy, refreshing". Tazo describes the aroma as "lemon, mint". The web site also says, "Select pan-fired green tea from Zhejiang province in China, artfully combined with lemongrass, spearmint and a hint of lemon essence. Zen's distinct green tea flavor accented with lemon and mint is impossible to express in words. Best simply to experience its sweet, lingering aftertaste." I don't taste the lemon or the mint or the sweetness; still, it is a nice green tea. It is relaxing and enjoyable to drink.
I would rate this tea, and Tazo in general, as very good---better than premium teas like Stash or Celestial Seasonings---but not as good as Numi. I'm soooooo spoiled by Numi teas, which is why Zen gets only four stars.
**** |
