Tazo&reg Iced Tea Bags (20-pc. & 24-pc.)

If you liked Tazo Black Iced Tea in the past you may not like it anymore. My wife and I have been buying Tazo's Black Iced Tea for several years. It was the best iced tea we ever found, and we enjoyed it immensely. Recently we ordered two more boxes from Starbuck's through Amazon. When we brewed the first bag, something wasn't right. The taste was bland, not at all like every other time we had it. We tried a second bag, and it was bland as well. VERY disappointing. My wife Googled and found on another web site that Tazo changed the formulation of its Black Iced Tea. It is a flop in our opinion.

Since the formula change, this tea is nothing special. For many years, I have been addicted to Starbucks Black Iced Tea. I live in a little town in the midwest that doesn't even have a Starbucks, but I have a gold Starbucks card. I would check every route when travelling to plan stops for this iced tea. I have purchased the quart sized bags from Starbucks and Target when available and ordered the gallon bags when that was my only option to brew this tea daily. I started noticing a change when I was in South Carolina in March, 2012. I thought maybe southerners just have a different tea preference. I then noticed it in Nashville over the summer. Since I spend time regularly in Nashville, I knew a change was on the way. The tea has lost its crispness and citrus finish. It seems Starbucks has purchased Tazo from Steven Smith and decided to change it. I hate to think it was to make more money with a cheaper blend, but I haven't been able to find another reason. Given the fact that I was paying over $3.00 per Trenta, I can't imagine the mark up was unfair to them no matter what the cost of the original tea. By buying Tazo, Starbucks cut out the middle man to make way for more profits, then made major change. Couldn't it just have started its own tea brand? It has lost a loyal customer in me (and many transfers from my bank account to the Starbucks card). If you are loyal to taste rather than brand, start your search for a new tea. I have started my search with the former owner of Tazo who has opened a new business. Maybe the old formula will come back before we find something we like better.

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It took a while to understand why none of the Starbucks stores could make a good glass anymore until I realized they changed the recipe. Now the mail order bags have also been changed and it is no longer that great Tazo tea anymore. So disappointed.

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I love Iced Tea & always have two half-gallon bottles of tea in the fridge. I use Luminarc Quadro 2-Liter Glass Pitcher with Lid. My favorites are Newman's Own Organic Tea, 4.95-Ounce Packages (Pack of 6) & Davidson's Tea Bulk, Moroccan Green with Mint, 16-Ounce Bag which I brew in a Swissgold TF 200 Tea Ball. So yes, I am a Major Tea Lover. I ordered the Passion Tea, based on the reviews. It seemed expensive, but after using it for the past ten days, I am very impressed. It is refreshing & easy to brew. Be prepared for a packaging surprise; it arrived in a plain brown commercial box, the same one they send to the stores. Easy to prepare after the first batch.

I like to have tea ready to go, so I fill my6-pack of Aquasana 18 Oz. Glass Bottlesand season my tea withNellie & Joe's Famous Key LEMON Juice, The Original16 oz and sip through a Zak Reusable Polycarbonate Stripe Straws Set of 12 which I keep clean with a Brushtech Sports Bottle Straw Washing Brush B23C. And YES, I am a PRIME shopper and love Amazon. At 70, I am a mainly home bound caretaker for my mom, who is 96, so shopping at Amazon is efficient and economical.

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Tazo Black Iced Tea is fantastic. Always has been. It is a brilliant blend of black tea and citrus that is simply beguiling. I drink a lot of tea. I am always struck by how refreshing and complex the flavor notes are, especially when I haven't had it in a while. The citrus notes are quite subtle on the tongue, but much more present in the aroma. It serves to highlight the black tea in much the same way that coffee brings out the flavor of chocolate-you don't really taste the coffee, but the chocolate is more pronounced and accessible. Very pleasant and delicious.

I wish I had such praise for Starbucks the company. Dealing with Starbucks in ANY capacity other than in one of the ubiquitous coffee-stores is irritating and unpleasant. Starbucks Store, the online retailer of Tazo, is especially egregious. Like ALL Starbucks products, Tazo teas are considerably expensive, almost to the point of price-gouging. To order the large filter-bags in the past was to recieve a resealable, coated bag to keep the tea fresh. Then when the Starbucks "Store" was created, they quickly ditched the resealable-bags for a crude cardboard box, with a gaping hole for commercial use that can not be resealed, with the unwrapped tea packed in helter-skelter. Moreover, they shipped the whole package in boxes literally big enough to fit a computer, filled with Earth-friendly styrofoam peanuts. Not only does the majority of their coffee benifit large corporations that rob the growers and harvesters of fair-trade, but their shipping practices are out of the Stone Age and, true to form, expensive. Stryrofoam is non-biodegradable and no cheaper than other, greener products, and those big shipping-containers take up unnecessary space on cargo-planes resulting in lost efficiency and increased use of diesel fuel.

Now, as if Starbucks wasn't making enough money off their overpriced-products, they have the audacity to short their 24-count Tazo Black Iced Tea by four filter-bags. Now 20 bags for the old price of 24 bags. Nice work if you can get it, I guess. They know that people love their products and will pay for the convenience with which they are offered. But their arrogance is systemic in many of their policies, and certainly no more apparent than dealings with customer service. God help you if you have a problem with shipping or product. I was treated with rudeness and indifference both verbally and with the resolution of my issue. It's like I said, it is a good thing this tea is so good.