ZenTea

Last sample I have to review from my order of Zen samples from a few months ago. This is one of my favorite fruit teas! Zen never ceases me with their blends! I was hoping the fruit flavor here would be this good. Pomegranate, goji berries and blueberries (though there aren’t actual blueberries, the blueberry flavoring is nice and sweet like ripe plump blueberries.) There are actual goji berries here though! There are supposed to be actual pomegranate, but I don’t see any in my sample at a glance. There is also lemongrass to give it a spritz of lemon. The green base is okay, but I’ve had tastier green teas. I’ve had some pretty bad fake “fruit” tasting teas (actually from some reputable companies) but this one is very nice! Refreshing!

ETA: Zentealife.com has a 20% sale right now that I just happened to notice!

Carrying on down the chocolate tea river with this blend.

It has an amazing chocolate caramel scent, like an actual chocolate bar or those caramel chocolate sweets you get in mixed tins/boxes for Christmas. As strong and delicious as this smells it’s also a little on the dry side.

The caramel comes through nicely, not too sweet but very nice against the rich chocolate base. It also has a wafer like flavour present amongst the after taste. Luckily there is no real dryness in flavour to this tea so it must have been in the scent only. The caramel grows stronger as I pour myself another cup, becoming more creamy and sticky like too.

I really like this tea though my husband said he prefers The Malt Shop by Della Terra which is the last chocolate tea we had together earlier on.

Tried this one yesterday evening, unsweetened. It smelled and tasted of toasted walnuts: a hint of bitterness, but mostly just slightly smoky and a lot delicious. :) I enjoyed it, but I do prefer my oolongs to be not quite so dark. My husband would probably have loved this one, so perhaps I’ll buy it for him as a present sometime. :3

sipdown! another tasty almond tea. I’m trying to drink other teas alongside my puerhs today to help with the sipdowns. This one was altogether pretty tasty, though not my favourite almond tea :)

Thanks dinosara! this is a pretty tasty almond tea. I didn’t ruin this one by steeping it at too high a temperature heh. I don’t know that this would find a permanent place in my cupboard but it is quite nice if you’re looking for that almond flavour. I agree with dinosara that the base is a little lacking. Overall though, a pretty tasty cup!

A very fragrant tea with an amazing first cup. Unfortunately doesn’t last past two brewings.

I received a sampling of this tisane from someone … and found it in my stash tonight. I don’t know how old it is … but judging from the existing tasting notes on this, it would seem it’s probably at least a year old. It’s still flavorful. I taste honeybush … nutty, sweet, honey-like. I taste caramel … sweet and the caramel adds a creamy element to the cup. The chocolate is weak. I don’t know if that’s because of the age of the sample or because the chocolate just wasn’t strong enough for my chocoholic tendencies. The flavor does build though, and now that I’m midway through the cup, I notice more chocolate than I did at the start.

Overall, it’s decent. Because it is an older sample … I’m not going to rate this.

Sipdown! Many thanks to my friend rashad for the sample.

This has sort of a floral, citrusy smell, which is about what you’d expect from a Jasmine Lemon tea. The flavor is heavier on the citrus than the floral. It tastes like lemon tea with a flowery undertone. And it is flowery – not distinctly jasmine. That might have something to do with the fact that there are a lot of other flowers in the mix. What are rose petals and lilac doing in a jasmine tea?

Overall, this is acceptable but utterly mediocre. Finished the cup, glad I tried it, not going to miss it.

I bought this on a whim after a rough day at work. It smells quite spicy and I wasn’t sure I’d really want to drink it straight. I bought it assuming it would make a lovely Saturday morning latte. However, on principle, I brewed it in just water the first time and drank it with no additives, and I really enjoyed it!

Usually, when I have a really spicy-smelling tea like this one, I find that the spice overpowers the tea, and it ends up tasting weak and like spicy water. This tea, on the other hand, was almost just perfect! It was full-bodied with the tiniest hint of sweetness, which I’m assuming is coming from the orange peels, and balanced by the spiciness of the cloves and ginger. The aftertaste is just a light spicy on the back of my tongue. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this tea.

Chocolate! This actually has chocolate chips in it, which is a bit gimmicky but I like it. The color is definitely chocolate-y, and it smells like dark chocolate. Tastes chocolate-y too. Kind of like thin hot cocoa. I don’t know whether it’s really this good or I’m just projecting my desire for a good chocolate tea. Either way, yum!

Note to self/others: do not cold steep in the fridge. Or, if you do, don’t use many pearls.

This is undrinkable.

Ok, so I just went outside with a flashlight and picked a whole bunch of honeysuckle for use in tea blends. I’m having this amber oolong with honeysuckle and it’s awesome!!

So the other day I used the rest of the sample in the TTB-A to make a cold brew of this, & then promptly forgot all about it. I think that was on Friday. I’m drinking it now, with a little stevia, & admittedly, it’s delicious! Very refreshing, kind of like koolaid for adults. It doesn’t really taste like wine to me, but that’s a good thing! :D

No 8 from TTB

I probably should have waited to drink this, as my sinus are still irritated from the momoko.
I’ve never had iced wine, never even heard of it until I joined Steepster, LOL. Of course, I gave up alcohol (& other substances) 29 years ago, so things that are suppose to taste like wine mean nothing to me.
However, I suspect that this will be really good as a cold brew. I think there’s enough in the sample to try it that way, so why not?
NEXT!

I saved the leaves yesterday and made a third steep to go with lunch today. The spinach flavor is seriously dialed back but it was still a good cup of tea. I miss the creamed spinach richness of yesterday, though.

This came as a sample with the matcha I ordered from ZenTea. I understand there is more than one company by this name. To clarify, this is the company in Canada whose site is ZenTeaLife.

I am having some of the Asian buffet leftovers for lunch and wanted a good green to go with it. I am delighted that I spotted this in my free sample and swaps box. I will get to do a sample SIPDOWN, which isn’t as exciting as for some of you because I don’t put samples in my cupboard, but is still exciting because I have reduced the embarrassing large amount of tea I own by one so I feel a little better about myself. Ha!

The color reminds me of the organic unfiltered olive oil I buy. The leaves in the sample pack are a good size but lots of teeny tiny bits escaped into my cup. It didn’t matter – it didn’t make it bitter. I have made two steeps so far and the second is as good as the first and just as flavorful.

My main thought as I drink this is that if I were chewing, I would know for certain that I was eating creamed spinach. I really like creamed spinach, by the way. So I thoroughly enjoyed both cups of tea and am glad to try my second gyokuro ever. Now I know what to buy for that rich, creamy spinach taste.

Thank you, ZenTeaLife for the sample!

I like this much more now. After a couple rinses you can taste the puerh much more and the toffee calms down a bit. Add a little bit of agave nectar and we’re in business.

I’m actually having this right now blended with Classic Chai from Teajo and Breakfast Blend from MarketSpice. I don’t think I could handle it on it’s own. The puerh base is fabulous but the caramel flavor is too artificial tasting for me. In this blend, however, it works phenomenally. Especially with a tiny bit of local honey.

Thanks to Amanda and the Traveling Tea Box for this! MustTryAllTheTeas! And I have a strategy! Okay then, chocolate rooibos here we go! Been awhile since I’ve had a rooibos and boy is that liquor ever orange! It also smells quite nice, not chocolately, no, more like warm honey and something a bit floral.

There’s that familar taste, but better than I’ve had before. There is a tinge of tobacco yes, but its smooth and non-abrasive. At first I didn’t get the chocolate on this but as I move my tongue between my lips, there it is, just like licking chocolate off my lips, only I didn’t eat any…

Very interesting. This tea is kinda sexy. And it does feel very Belgian chocolate, not dark chocolate, its creamy and warm and yes I think I’m going to have to stop there lest this note get more racy! Definitely better than Teavana’s Cocoa Praline Tart. Oh and this one is toddler approved!

Oops. I wish I had known there was almond flavor in this before I made it. I’ll at least give it a shot but I don’t know what it is about almond flavoring in tea that I just can’t stand. I love almonds by themselves, whatever else, but in tea I can’t stand the flavor.

In here it comes off a bit more like amaretto rather than the flavor I hated in DT’s Secret Weapon, but I still don’t like it. I wish I knew what these exotic fruits were, but such is what usually happens with ZenTea teas. The fruits are so exotic they are unknown. There’s orange, and there’s berry. Other than that I can’t specify even what berry. My first sip was almost raspberry, but raspberries aren’t very exotic.

Off to the swap list it goes too. Hopefully it can find a happy place to finish its life with someone who likes amaretto/marzipan flavors. For me it just sticks out way too much to be enjoyable. If it wasn’t for that, I’d enjoy this. I’m having it iced and other than that, it’s pretty good and refreshing.

Thanks for this, brandy3392