Tazo tea is one of the most popular brands of specialty tea. Tazo teas are sold as bottled ice tea and as boxed filter bags for brewing. You can find Tazo tea products in grocery stores, in coffeehouses like Starbucks and Seattle's Best Coffee, and through various online retailers. The Tazo tea company attributes its widespread success to the company's stringent selection process, use of high-quality natural ingredients, vast selection of original exotic flavor blends and its colorful origins.
The Tazo tea comes in over 80 unique tea flavors such as fruit, berry, citrus, mint, spicy and floral flavors. Tazo tea products include a colorful combination of green teas, black teas, red teas and non-tea herbal infusions. Tazo's tea specialists create these mixtures by merging specially selected ingredients like cinnamon, hibiscus, chamomile, orange peels, blackberry leaves, dried fruit and dried bark.
Consumers touts some of the benefits of Tazo's products, including that there is less than one gram of carbohydrates and zero calories in almost all of its teas. Also, all of its teas are kosher, and all but four are gluten-free. And although all Tazo teas contain caffeine unless stated otherwise, generally tea contains half the amount of caffeine found in an equally-sized cup of coffee.
The leaves of the camellia sinensis plant are used to make green tea. Green tea, a mild tasting tea, has been used for centuries in Traditional Chinese Medicine for anxiety and blood pressure. Arthur Roberts, M.D., author of "Nutraceuticals," writes of many health benefits of green tea such as preventing blood clots and lowering blood pressure. Green tea also contains several free radical fighting flavonoids.
One of the most commonly cited health benefits of tea in general is its supposed anti-cancer properties. Tazo tea is derived from the camellia sinensis plant, which recent research has shown, has cancer-fighting properties. However, there has been no substantial proof that this is the case in tazo tea.
The leaves of the camellia sinensis plant (also known as tea leaves) contain polyphenols, which are what give tea its widely-touted antioxidant properties. The polyphenols in tea have been known to help protect cells from the physiological process known as 'oxidative stress,' help prevent blood clotting, help lower cholesterol levels, help neutralize enzymes that aid in the growth of tumors, help deactivate cancer promoters and help stimulate the immune system. In addition to polyphenols, tazo tea contains several other ingredients with health benefits: the amino acide theanine, methylxanthines, minerals and vitamins. These ingredients are known to help fight against mutagenic agents, delay aging, help fight high blood pressure, help fight against viral and bacterial infection, and help improve the functions of the digestive and excretory systems.
Green tea, both plain and infused with different flavors, comprises one of Tazo's three major tea product lines. The company calls its leaves "rare," and reports that they're derived from plants found in the Himalayas, as well as Kenya and Sri Lanka. Green tea presents several potential health benefits. For example, it is rich in potent compounds that may help to reduce the risk of various cancers, including skin cancer. Drinking green tea may also help reduce your blood cholesterol levels, enhance weight loss and protect your skin from ultraviolet light-related damage.
Black teas make up another one of Tazo's three major product lines. Like the company's green teas, these black teas may be purchased on their own or infused with various herbs and spices, such as cinnamon. Black tea may help with several specific health conditions, including reducing the risk of heart attacks, protecting against kidney stones and reducing the risk of contracting Parkinson's disease.
TAZO ready-to-drink iced tea blends come in several flavors made with natural ingredients. Tazo currently makes five different green tea blends. Organic iced green tea consists of green tea, lemongrass and spearmint. The lemongrass gives the green tea a refreshing lemon taste while the spearmint provides a sweet mint flavor. Organic iced also contains organic cane sugar for sweetness and lemon verbana for a light, sweet lemon flavor. Citric acid is the preservative used to keep the tea fresh. Giant peach ingredients added to the green tea infusion are natural peach flavors and concentrated juices from apples, peach and elderberries. The concentrated fruit juices mix with the green tea to give it a fruitier taste without a lot of sugar. Ginger adds a bite and energy kick to this tea blend and organic cane sugar sweetens it. Tazo adds concentrated plum and pomegranate juices along with other natural flavors to the green tea infusion for their plum delicious tea blend. Lemon green is a lightly flavored tea from Tazo with a list of ingredients that compliment one another. The tea infusion for this blend consists of green tea, water, spearmint, lemon myrtle and peppermint. The lemon myrtle is an Australian citrus flavored plant to provide a non-acidic lemon taste. Concentrated lemon juice adds more lemon flavor and malic acid preserves the tea. It is sweetened with organic cane sugar.
Hot tea varieties from Tazo come in eight different versions. All containing a form of green tea flavored with black tea, ginger or lemon. Several of these Tazo hot tea blends come in both full-leaf and bagged tea versions. China green is a simple tea made with a variety of green teas. Om green tea consists of both organic green and black tea varieties roasted to create a Darjeeling flavor. Envy tea blend changes the flavor of the organic green tea by pan-firing it instead of roasting. The pan-fire gives the tea a strong astringent flavor. Tazo's Zen tea adds subtle flavors of lemongrass, lemon verbena and spearmint to its green tea for a lightly flavored and simply sweetened tea. Ginger green is a tea blend where the green tea is steam-fired as well as pan-fired for a stronger taste. Ginger root along with lemongrass is added to balance out the strong flavor. Tazo also provides a decaffeinated green tea blend. It is called Lotus. The green tea is flavored with lotus flower flavor for a light tea with a fruity taste. Additionally, Tazo makes a green tea latte called Matcha. Matcha green tea is a special blend of green teas flavored with honeydew juice concentrate and fruit flavors. Matcha is made as hot tea but can be served either hot or cold after mixing the tea infusion with an equal part of milk or milk substitute.
Chamomile flowers are listed as the first ingredient in Tazo Calm tea. These flowers have been used for centuries to make various medicines. According to Medline Plus, the flowers contain chemicals that may relax muscles and cause sleepiness. It is considered safe, though it should not be used during pregnancy as it may result in a miscarriage. Some people may be allergic to chamomile, and in large amounts, it can cause vomiting.
Tazo Calm tea also contains hibiscus flowers. Some evidence suggests that tea made from these flowers helps to lower blood pressure. In a study funded by the Agricultural Research Service, volunteers who drank hibiscus tea daily for several weeks had a drop in blood pressure compared to a test group that drank a placebo tea.
Tazo Calm tea uses dried peppermint leaves. These leaves have a high content of menthol, making them aromatic. The leaves have been used traditionally for a variety of conditions, including anxiety, headache and stress, according to Home Remedies Web. Peppermint has no serious side effects, though it is not advised for pregnant or nursing women, and people with gastrointestinal problems such as heartburn or acid reflux should avoid it.
Blackberry leaves are also included in Tazo Calm tea. These leaves have been used since ancient times as a curative. They contain high levels of vitamin C and tannins and they may soothe the gastrointestinal system. Blackberry leaves have no known side effects.
Except for its herbal infusion product line, all of Tazo's teas contain caffeine. This includes its decaffeinated teas, as all decaffeinated beverages contain trace amounts of caffeine, even after undergoing decaffeination. For example, decaffeinated black tea can contain as much as 10 mg of caffeine on average. While caffeine content will vary from batch to batch, as well as depending on how the Tazo tea is prepared and steeped, the typical cup of green tea has up to 50 mg of caffeine in an 8-oz. serving, while black tea can have up to 72 mg. While caffeine in Tazo tea can present negative side effects, it also has its perks, including better mental focus, reduced migraines and lower blood pressure. Enhanced mental focus is a common reason for drinking both green tea and black tea.