This Tazo Zen Green Tea with Lemongrass & Spearmint has a clear, light green appearance with no bitterness as long as you do not over-steep it.
This combination herbal tee and green tea sweetens well with stevia. For a premium name brand green tea, Tazo tea is not terribly expensive, fairly easy to find, and it stores well and for long periods due to the individually-wrapped and airtight teabags.
The box describes this tea as, “A harmonious blend with lemongrass and spearmint.” Well, this is true. This tea is subtly minty, quite “lemony,” and wholly, quite good. Uncanny, how much like real lemon the flavor here resembles. Guess that’s why they call the grass herein, lemongrass. This is one case where imitation lemon flavoring is accomplished naturally, by using lemongrass. Well done, Tazo.
Benefits, Features, Advantages, and Pros
Separately wrapped and sealed teabags. Individually wrapped for freshness; so tightly in fact, that neither green tea nor mint aromas I smell in or around the box; at least, not until you tear open a pouch.
Extra long shelf life. So this tea can keep for years without its delicate flavors departing through the bag wrapper.
On par caffeine amounts. Caffeine levels in this tea seem to match that in other brands. The low to moderate caffeine levels in Tazo green tea is strong enough to nudge you awake in the morning, but not so strong as to trigger heart racing and palpitations, unless of course, you drink many servings in a single day.
Low bitterness. The lack of that so-often-found bitterness in other green teas, flags Tazo Zen natural green tea, standing it above so many of the others. The mint hides some of that green tea bitterness, and the lemongrass has its own and expected bitterness to completely banish the sour taste of the green tea leaves.
Great tasting dietary aid. As an appetite suppressant during weight loss campaigns, this green tea will certainly not leave you wanting for flavor even though it contains zero calories per serving. It quells the appetite about as well as a diet pill; though I must admit that I haven’t used any diet pills since 1986. They may work better today than the ones I tried back then. Still though, this tea can effect significant weight loss in my experience when used to replace some of the high-caloric beverages in the average American diet. It not only weakens the appetite for a time, but also revs up the body’s metabolism; a one-two punch.
Sweetens well with premium or bottom-shelf sweeteners. accepts stevia sweetener without significant flavor changes except for the added sweetness. Or, agave nectar and honey produce a pleasant and unique flavor combination when stirred into this tea. Since the mint and lemongrass herbs herein already dress up much of the delicate green tea flavor, these non-neutral sweeteners typically do not further attenuate it. So add your sweeteners to Tazo Zen without worry of destroying its flavor.
Disadvantages, Cons, Problems, and Concerns
On expensive side of reasonably priced. We found little to gripe about in this herbal green tea combo specifically, and it has no negative attributes that other green teas lack, except for perhaps the slightly higher price. While this tea is by no means the most expensive, it’s not the cheapest on the market either, and costs about a third more per box than Bigelow or Celestial Seasonings teas. At $3.48 for twenty tea bags, this lemongrass mint tea costs a lot more per serving than the one-hundred bags of Prince of Peace Premium Green Tea we reviewed previously, which also cost $3.48 per box. However, the more airtight bag wrapping of Tazo Zen promotes a fresher-tasting cup of tea. So this added cost is probably justifiable, though we wouldn’t buy this tea all the time unless we found it on sale.
Can amplify hunger pangs during long fasts. But be careful. Though this is an herbal tea, it’s also a green tea, and that green tea component can actually exacerbate hungrier feelings with the caffeine it adds to this blend, especially if you’ve not eaten anything solid for twelve hours or so. Still though, when we are seriously dieting, and that knee-weakening hunger shows up, those pangs can often be quelled by drinking a glass of this Zen Tea product.
Ingredients List
Green tea, lemon verbena, spearmint leaves, lemongrass, and natural flavors. The caffeine present here is naturally occurring. No man-added caffeine.
Brewing Instructions
Tazo Zen Tea is an herbal tea (the lemongrass and mint parts anyhow), and it has green tea also, which necessitates removing the teabag from steeping after a few minutes; lest the flavor morph into a bitter, unpleasant taste. We just boil water, place a Zen teabag in our favorite tea mug, pour the hot water over it, and let it steep for three to five minutes. Note that this tea does not turn very dark. So, even though it still appears very light in shade after three or five minutes, it’s best to go ahead and remove the teabag. Then, add your favorite sweetener if desired, and enjoy the minty, lemony aroma while you wait for the drink to cool enough to sip. When it does, enjoy it heartily.
Our Rating
I’d indeed recommend this mint-flavored, “citrusy” green tea product highly, and rate it accordingly at 95 out of 100.
Where To Buy Tazo Zen Green Tea with Lemongrass & Spearmint
Look for this classy green tea in the classy, thick paper light tan box, with the tear-open flap on the box’s left side bottom, at your favorite larger grocery store. I found mine at a Walmart super center.
References
- Green Tea on Wikipedia
- Leomon Verbena (Aloysia Citrodora) on Wikipedia
- Lemongrass (Cymbopogon) on Wikipedia
- Mint Plant on Wikipedia
- Where to buy Tazo Zen Green Tea
Revision History
- 2015-01-16: Tweaked content.
- 2014-12-06: Added pictures, and the Zen Tea category.
- 2014-11-23: Fixed typos and adjusted ad placement.
- 2014-09-04: Extensive revisions.