100 Tasting Notes
Oh, wow. This is fantastic! Lovely and light and, dare I say, perfect. Dry the rose scent comes through a lot stronger, but mellows nicely when steeped and the vanilla gently escorts your nose into the first sip. I get a titch of what seems like a hint of almond? But all the flavors are so even, dancing with each other politely. No sign of a drunken uncle at this wedding ;)
Preparation
Another great tea from Zen, many thanks for the sample!
I love coconut as well as oolongs, so this was a big hit. The coconut flavoring is very similar to the Coconut Sencha that Zen also offers, but less toasty and more creamy – partially the oolong base I would imagine.
I’m on my 5th steeping and the coconut flavor has just started to fade. Impressive!
I’m torn between the Green Sencha and the Oolong to be honest. I think I might prefer the creamy nature of Oolong a little over the Sencha, but it’s a close call. Hmmm…I might just have bite the bullet and order both!
Preparation
Another gorgeous tea from Zen.
Dry, this smells amazing! Granted, I absolutely LOVE coconut. I’ve been on a search for a Coconut green and I think this might be it! It’s just lovely – smooth, toasty coconut with a great sencha base. Mmmm, so good!
All of the Zen teas I’ve tried thus far have been hits, and writing a review seems to be difficult as I’m not wanting to stop sipping and put the cup down. So good.
Preparation
So this is me right now – http://i.imgur.com/TmYTu.gif
Whatever they use as the black base is really nice, and then the creamy note with the strawberry…amazing! There are no artificial or bitter notes at all, which I was surprised about since Strawberry can be such a hard flavor to pin down right.
Definitely going on the shopping list. YUM!
Preparation
My thanks to Zen Tea for the sample.
Dry, this smells sweet, very toffee-y. Steeped it smells very similar, just less sweet.
This is lovely, but I am partial to white teas it seems. Tastes exactly as it’s described with a sweet toffee and nutty toasty flavor.
Preparation
It’s a really hot day here in New Zealand (being summer and all), so was in the mood for something refreshing. Upon opening the packet I wondered if this was going to make my mouth pucker when steeped, as it smells quite tart. I was definitely wrong however. When steeping this smells absolutely gorgeous! Very similar scent to when I make berry syrup oddly enough.
8 minutes – Ooh, this is quite nice. Not what I expected, but in a good way. It’s on the far end of light, moving towards medium strength at this stage, so I figured I’d let this one steep longer.
10 minutes – Very good, but now I’m interested in seeing how strong this will go before compromising the flavour – which is SO good! Not the most logical thought process for a tisane, but the man likes his flavor hits and I’ll be making an iced version at the same time.
16 minutes – Better and better. It’s now reminding me of a refreshing juice, but really hot obviously.
23 minutes – This is where I decided to stop, but I reckon that you could easily go for much longer and not have the tartness develop too much. Excellent blending by Teavivre. The flavour overall is an interesting one. It doesn’t scream apple, but there is a strong apple aftertaste. I definately get the lemon and verbena. I’ve never tried roselle before, but assuming that is the bulk of what I’m tasting, it’s lovely. Kind of berry-ish, but not. Hard to explain. The rosehip note has come out more and more the longer it’s steeped.
I tried this cold in three different ways;
Straight – Much more tart when cold (this is probably a “thing”, but I’m new to iced teas). Still refreshing, but I prefer it sweetened when cold.
Sweetened with sugar – Yum. I can tell this will be the man’s favorite.
Sweetened with honey – Yum! The honey I used has a very distinctive flavor (a native called Manuka) but they go together really well.
On the whole, hot or cold, this is an excellent fruit tea! I will definitely be including this in my next Teavivre order, and am curious about their other ones.
Preparation
Another of the samples sent by the lovely Angel from Teavivre.
As others have mentioned, this comes vacuum-sealed and boy does this smell fresh!
I separated my first steeping of this tea into three cups, each steeped for a minute longer. 1 minute was light, as you would imagine, and pleasent. Not tasting any honey at this stage, but the overall flavour makes me look forward to cup #2. 2 minutes and the flavour was beautifully rounded. I could taste the honey just barely and it complemented the oolong beautifully. 3 minutes and the vegetal oolong comes out. For personal taste, I’ll probably steep it around the 2 minute mark from now on.
I thoroughly enjoyed this tea and have marked it down as one to purchase. The little packets would make great stocking stuffers actually. Might have to pick up a bunch for Christmas!
Preparation
My thanks to Teavivre for the sample!
The dry leaves look green, freshly cut and smell faintly nutty. I’m really looking forward to steeping this – hurry up kettle!
This tastes a little like toasted nuts to me. I’m also getting a light freshly cut hay note followed by the vegetal wallop. Somewhat-light with a buttery texture.
I’m on the fence about this one. I’ll have to see what other steepings and cups are like – thanks to Angel for the generous size that allows me to do so!
Edit: Revisited this one and steeped for just over a minute. Beautiful light flavour – like an elegant vegetable broth, if there is such a thing. Flavour present to the 4 steep, where it starts to diminish.
Edit 2: Found out that I really enjoy this cold or cooling. No astringency present like I thought there would be.
