ZenTea

I could really get into green tea. This is nice and light and a bit flowery. 2nd steep seemed MORE flowery and less tea-y. But yeah. I should have bought more. :P

Ancient Alphabet challenge – G

Another old tea I have enjoyed over the years. It’s sad not many of these teas lingering around are teas that I didn’t like. I liked all of these teas in the challenge so far. sigh. I always thought this flavor wasn’t exactly jasmine OR lemon but I just figured out what it reminds me of: that champagne flavor that is occasionally in a tea. Which fits: there are so many huge flowers in this blend it’s like a party in a cup. Maybe whomever named this tea just took a chance guessing this weird flavor.

Additional notes: ICED edition. I steeped two teaspoons of this in a mason jar for 24 hours and I’m so glad I didn’t let it sit longer as the green tea got a bit overbrewed. A little bitter. It was also a bit too perfumey cold. So I guess I liked this one better hot. Really, I guess I’m just writing these iced tea notes for myself, so I remember what I did or didn’t try iced yet and what worked!

Thanks Dinosara for the trade! The dry leaves here smell like a fruity champagne. I love the flowers. Though this says it it supposed to be a jasmine tea yet lists rose petals. This tea really could have used a brew basket instead of my infuser… hopefully next time. I wanted to order a brew basket but I just noticed Tea Lux is having a sale!! They have so many delicious sounding teas. Not sure if I should place two orders of tea right now — no money and too much tea! ha. Anyway, this one is very smooth, light, sweet, floral and slightly fruity (but not anything like hibiscus..maybe it’s lemony, but I can barely tell). It’s light flavored, yet complex. It’s very tough to pick out the white and green tea flavors, but I like that it is a blend of both. The steep color looked like it was going to be a light sea green color, before turning yellow. I’ve never seen that before! I really like it! I gulped this one down.

thanks again Dinosara for the trade! First, I must mention there are too many tea companies with the word Zen in them. I am getting confused. (But I must also mention that my very favorite is Zentealife.com!) Also, suddenly I have so many oolongs to write tasting notes for! Where did they all come from?
This one is good! The leaves smell like a sweet ripe raspberry (my favorite!) The first steep was three minutes. The raspberry tastes like a raspberry candy, rather than a tart raspberry. The oolong is hiding! I really can’t taste any. With the second steep (at five minutes), somehow the raspberry tastes more genuine, but maybe that is the oolong helping with that. The oolong flavor is much more present this steep. It is very vegetal but sweet. Not very floral or peachy. I’ll have to try this one iced…

Another sample I received from Zen Tea!

This one is a sencha base with gojiberries, lemongrass, cornflower petals, blueberry and pomegranate flavoring. Dry, it smells fairly potent, it’s sweet and tart, and pretty to look at. I can smell the pomegranate and blueberry quite predominately. Wet, the leaves gain a slight grassy scent to them.

Taste is sweet and tart. Not quite as potent as the dry smell though. This tea is dominated by the blueberry and pomegranate flavors. If I search I can find the lemongrass. I can’t say I taste much of the sencha base, if at all.

I can’t say I’m impressed with this tea. It’s not bad, I just like to taste my tea base. Unfortunately, I cannot in this blend. Maybe I’ll try this cold brewed, I might like it more that way. Even with me not caring for this tea, I have to say that I’m still impressed with Zen Tea. This is only one tea that I don’t care for out of five different teas I’ve tried from them. The rest I thought were all delicious! One out of five isn’t bad, plus I got an awesome yixing from them. I like this company!

Before Steeping:
Scent- Bluebery, black tea and lemon

Affter Steeping:
Scent- bluebery, black tea and clorox… Appolling to the scences.
Color- Amber

Taste:
Nude- Bluebery, Black tea (a heavy earl grey taste) with Carpet cleaner
With sugar- Sugar and Pinesole.

*in all …EW!

I think I’m not a huge fan of oxidized oolong teas. They just don’t seem like “real” oolongs to my tastes. This one has a nice caramell-y malty kind of flavor but it falls much closer to a black for the mood I was in.
I’m getting metal aftertaste flavors on this tea.
While I didn’t care for this much, it was exactly like it was described – If you like more roasty oolongs this might be for you.

Sample supplied by Zen Tea. This is identical to the tea I claim as my comfort tea. Ashmanra said she has found it in a local shop. I say shop around and find your best deal but do try this one. It is just a fruity delight. Warning – do not store this in the same drawer as your other teas. It is not over the top flavored when you sip it but in the package it is kind of powerful. Love this one.

Not sure why this is a separate entry from the other Zen Teas…

This morning on my way out the door I grabbed a sachet of morning tea. When I got to work I noticed it said herbal – no caffeine. Ok, that’s not going to happen. I NEED caffeine. I rummaged through my tea drawer desperately seeking the cure when I spotted this one all alone huddled in the corner. Come with me kid, I’m going to make you a star. Dry leaf is malty and grain, just like a hundred others. I know it has potential. Once it starts steeping this awesome fruity aroma is released. I don’t want to wait for it to cool. Then again I don’t want to get burned. Maybe if I just sniff it, I can inhale some caffeine?

Finally, the moment arrives. The house lights go down and the twin Super Troopers are focused on center stage. Is it the adrenaline or is it the caffeine? Who cares? I feel it surging through my veins. Zen Teas description is pretty accurate here – “a medium-bodied cup with elegant fruity flavor and nutty notes”. Smooth. There is not much in the way of ragged edges but this is no wimp either.

Going with my star analogy, this has more substance and attitude than say Justin Bieber. (I can still hear Ozzy saying in that commercial – what’s a Bieber?) Maybe, this is more Carry Underwood – you know all sweet and innocent one minute, ripping the seats in your pickup truck the next. Kind of cool. My only complaint this morning is I was in more of an Alice Cooper “Under My Wheels” mood. On second thought, maybe the day would go a lot better if I go with it and just let “Jesus Take The Wheel”.

Oh, and sip down.

Sample supplied by Zen Tea. The sip is medium bodied just as Zen Tea describes it. It is very aromatic and fruity without being overbearing. Zen describes this as having nutty notes. I wish I understood what nutty tastes like as I really don’t get that impression with this or most other teas. It has a strong woodsy aftertaste to me but maybe that is what they call nutty. There is a sense of dryness like found in a fine red wine. You can feel a bit of astringency along the sides of the tongue. It is well behaved and adds to the character and complexity of the cup. I am getting a strong mint like crispness that I feel, not only on my breath, but down in my lungs. I like it. Just slightly sweet. This takes sweetener well. I notice grape like fruitiness especially late in the aftertaste. Steeped two times.

This is yummy!
I wish I could remember who sent this to me – I think Amanda and I am so sorry – I failed to mark who sent it and have it in my box of teas to try.
So good I LOVE ice wine tea.
This one is a little different than others I have had – more berryish, more natural perhaps, lighter, more laid back and very naturally flavored.
I do indeed like this oh yes … this is the kind of tea to have with a veggie tray or fruit platter. Something for special times. :)
Glad I got to try it.

I drank this iced yesterday, I received it in my summer iced tea swap from Amanda.
I’m trying to go through everything in my cupboard and clear out what I don’t like.
I added a fair bit of honey to this to kill the rooibos, it worked but I think I lost most of the other flavours. it was drinkable but still not something I would stock, but those are just my rooibos loathing taste buds talking.

Special Thanks to Amanda for this one!

I would agree with Amanda’s comment about it smelling a little like Coffee after infusing and before sipping! Once I began my own personal sipping process – it was a nice change up!

The honeybush was nice and sweet but somewhat creamy at the same time. The caramel was sweet and creamy, too, but in a different way – from the honeybush. There was a noticeable Milk-chocolate creamy/sweet chocolate hanging out in the background, too! The end sip on to the aftertaste was VERY sweet – but naturally – and lingering. A pure delight!

Yes! This is a nicely flavored honeybush. Not over flavored but sweet and memorable!

Special Thanks to Amanda for some of this! :)

It smelled a little like Cherry Blossom at first but then nutty aromas popped thru followed but citrus along with black tea and green tea sniffs.

The black tea and green tea blended base is pretty good. I would say it’s a tad more green tasting than black tasting. Then the floral and fruit notes come thru. Then the nuttiness. Then more fruit, then more floral.

This is pretty good but I can see how if over-infused it might get that stale floral taste or a little too-grassy-green or something.

Pretty good, tho!

Since I need to cut back on the caffeine late at night, I thought I’d give this another try. This time I used double the amount of “leaf” and steeped for ten minutes and I actually kinda like it. The spice was comforting, and I actually tasted some of the chocolate. I guess rooibos is just sort of an acquired taste. Now I’m on the hunt for some tasty rooibos/honeybush blends for late night sippin’!

Backlog… I figured after I just did a review on another red rooibos blend, I might as well just get this one over with. I’ve been doing a lot of drinking teas and not writing tasting notes on them because they were boring or disappointing. But anyways…

As I wrote in my review of Teavana’s rooibos chai, I generally don’t care for red rooibos (with one exception being Tazo’s full-leaf vanilla rooibos). This one is pretty much on the same level as the rooibos from Teavana, maybe a couple points lower. I can barely detect the spices in it, the rooibos is (as always) watery and flat, and I taste no chocolate whatsoever. I can see why you didn’t care for this one, Amanda. But I’ve got good news, I passed this one on to my brother who is far less picky with teas than I am, so it will not be wasted! Thanks Amanda.

Thank you to DaisyChubb for sending me some of this Oolong! This is quite nice!

The Oolong has a buttery taste to it, and I don’t know if the flavoring has just really brought the buttery flavor into focus more, or if it is just a very buttery Oolong. The raspberry is stronger in the aroma than it is in the first few sips, but now that I’m about halfway through the first two (combined) infusions, I notice the raspberry much more. I like the way the buttery tones of the Oolong and the raspberry notes play together.

Quite a pleasant cuppa. Thanks again, DaisyChubb!

Finishing off the last of my sample of this one from Amanda. Yum, thanks! A pretty good honeybush blend. Honeybush is a lot better than rooibos, imo.

Time for a break from black teas – a brief honeybush interlude! Thanks Amanda for this sample!

Based on Amanda’s notes, I made sure to use an ample amount of the dry tisane and the tea ball has now been sitting in the cup for…. ever. I don’t know, maybe 30 minutes? Maybe more? I want something really desserty!!

Dry, it smells DELICIOUS! Sweet and caramelly with almost a hint of cheesecake zing? Odd, but whatever, it smells good! Not getting chocolate, but I don’t particularly care.

Steeped, I can smell caramel and honeybush. Mmmm.

It tastes pretty much like a caramelly honeybush, too. Ooh, and the caramel taste is lingering in my mouth! Delicious. It could definitely stand to be stronger yet, but I like the flavour. Desserty without being overly sweet. I think maybe I am getting a bit of a chocolatey flavour, but it’s pretty subtle. Thanks Amanda, this one’s quite nice!

I should at least take a picture of this tea so there’s something. I went to use a 50% off coupon at ZenTea and saw this. It’s not on their site, but it’s in the store so that’s all I really know about it.

It smells very caramelly in the bag. The honeybush is coarser than I’m used to, which is perfectly fine because that means less bits in the cup.

Steeped up, it smells a lot like coffee. Thankfully it doesn’t really taste like it. The chocolate tastes kind of artificial and thin, but the caramel is good stuff.

The honeybush is okay, I can’t really taste it. I would like to be able to because I think it would help out the chocolate taste. Maybe I should have just kept on steeping it, but I think it had already been 10 minutes.

I’ll let it steep much longer next time and see if I like it more.

This is WAY better when cold brewed I have to say. It’s like combining the best of the first steep (BOOM! RASPBERRY!) and the second steep (actual oolong taste!) when made hot. While the raspberry definitely had an artificial taste when hot, especially on the first steep when it just tasted of raspberry, cold steeping kind of tones it down while still tasting like a raspberry.

And then of course, it actually tastes like oolong was involved. I always like when I find I have teas I can use solely for the purpose of iced tea!

I decided to make this after my failed chai and it did not improve my mood (also ladybugs faking death on your nightstand doesn’t help). Opening the bag was like being hit with a raspberry, which is totally acceptable, because it smells amazing.

First steep: I steeped it for 3 minutes and it hardly tastes like oolong. It tastes like it’s trying but it’s just overwhelmingly raspberry, but not a good kind of flavor. Kind of artificial.

Second steep: Upped it to 4 minutes. SO MUCH BETTER. This is how I like a flavored oolong. The oolong is there, and the raspberry fits in much better now. It’s a green oolong, and I get more of a vegetal taste from it, not much in the way of floral notes, although they could just be hiding with the raspberry flavor.

I wish it tasted more like real raspberries, but considering I basically bought this for $2.50 I am not going to complain too much.