ZenTea

Since I had $10 off at ZenTea I decided to pick up 4 teas…and with one of those, return to the tea that got me hooked.

It feels like it’s been forever since I had this tea, I have missed it. I realize now why I never really could taste a medicinal type flavor with rooibos because I always thought of this one. It smells like it, but it doesn’t taste like it. It tastes like a savory hot chocolate almost. It’s not super chocolatey but it’s enough to be a good tea.

I have too much tea now. Way back I was so excited that I had purchased TWO!

So after my immediate love of Golden Moon’s Coconut Pouchong, I really wanted an unflavored one. I always thought it was more like a green-oolong hybrid but ZenTea’s site says black-oolong…hm.
The leaves look really oxidized, like a black, so I was confused because I’ve always seen pouchong being the least oxidized oolong. But they turned pretty green upon use, and the tea infuses to a nice peachy color.
So I made this tea a photo album because it was that confusing for me, the comparison picture is it next to the Coconut Pouchong: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thethrillstheyyield/sets/72157629252803537/with/6849744731/

I did 4 or 5 infusions in my gaiwan and I still have no idea how to describe this. (Yeah you’d think I counted but I am on the verge of freaking out in joy at all moments right now so counting didn’t happen.)

It was interesting. There was almost a sort of tangy flavor to it on the first two. Like beyond that I really have no idea how to even describe what I just tasted because it was like combining oolong, black, and green teas all in one.

But I liked it so that’s what matters.

This is another one from Amanda! Thanks girl!

Starting my day with this one! It’s Organic! It’s lovely! It’s not overly flavored like some Passionfruit flavored teas…it’s about medium strength on the flavoring but it’s really lovely! It juicy and fruity and awakening. It’s REAL tasting and not fake tasting. Since it’s so cold my hot tea didn’t stay hot long so this is good hot or cold! YUM!

Amanda sent me a bit of this one, too! Thanks girl!

This is wine like, floral, and perfumy! As Iced Wine is sugary-sweet this is a bit ‘drier wine’ like in comparison to the 3 or 4 other iced wine teas I have tried. Not that THAT is good, bad, or indifferent, just something I picked up on!

This is pretty good! It’s INTENSELY flavored. There is a tart lingering flavor of grapes, cranberries, and maybe apricot. There are hardcore floral and perfumy notes throughout.

Pretty good tho!

Thanks Amanda!

This one smells just like it SHOULD – Chocolate with Chai Spices and that natural sweetness of Rooibos…the rooibos is closer to the cherry cigar aroma side of rooiboses (or is it Rooibos-eye??? Just kidding)

First I can taste the spices and they are high up there with the stronger tasting spices then I can taste the chocolate on the end sip on to the aftertaste…a milky chocolate! Of course it could be a little stronger but this is NICE regardless!

Yeah…I’d say – this one is a winner – Pretty good!

Amanda sent me a sample of this one and I LOVE IT!!!
Thanks so much!

It’s been a hella crazy morning…we have had 3 different kind of storms since 1am this morning including Severe Thunder/Lightening/Pouring Rain, High Wind Storms, and now Blizzard Like Conditions…OYE! Anyhow…

This is FAB!
The Chocolate is PERFECT and over top of the Coconut but the coconut is nicely done, too! Very scrumptious!

Drinking one last cup of this hot before I use what remains for some cold steeped tea…definitely getting some of this again one day.

The more of this I drink, the more I love it. I wish I had bought another package of it last time I was at ZenTea. It makes such a good cold steeped tea.

I was trying to use it up so that I could put something new in the jar but I really just want to add to it! This is just so refreshing and it tastes so good. It’s just fruity enough, but the sencha still comes through. If anyone ever asked me for a recommendation from the tons of teas available in their store, I’d probably name this one off first.

Decided to have this again today, iced though so I could better drink it with lunch. I’m not really a fan of the double the leaves then pour over ice method because you still have to wait nonetheless. It was like slightly green tea flavored water, but now it’s finally gotten the fruit flavors, and they’re more intense than they were with the hot tea last night. I am trying to use this up so I can use the jar for one of my ten million new teas that I’ve acquired over the past week.

I’ve had this for awhile so I think it’s time to start using it up with how much tea I’ve recently acquired. ZenTea really updated their website so now I even know more about this, although I always figured it was a sencha base. Of course it’s nothing special but it goes well with the fruit flavors So now the guessing game is what are those tropical fruits?

I am definitely getting papaya, maybe some passionfruit and pineapple too. It also makes a fantastic iced tea.

Since I cannot take my allergy meds again until after my interview, considering how much I’ve slept since taking them, I must turn to my boohoo I don’t feel good tea. Although I feel fine, I would just like use of my nose.

This is still so good, I don’t know why I don’t drink it more often than when my throat hurts or whatever my problem is at the time. It always smells like it’s going to be super medicinal, from the moment you remove the steeper basket to every time you take a sip…it’s just so rooibosy. But the lemon and mint are pretty strong flavors so you’ve got a nice mix of them with rooibos.

I should have added honey to it, but for some reason it tastes really sweet this time around. Kind of weird but I’ll take it.

Oh, my “I feel like crap” go-to tea. I have been sniffling for days, and I went to drop off my rent check. The manager offered me hot chocolate, and I was like noooo, I need tea! I had drinking chocolate last night and that probably didn’t help hahaha.

I first got this tea like 2 years ago or so, I had used up any mint or citrus tea I had and I could not shake a cold, so I went to ZenTea. I was like I have a cold, my throat is killing me, and I love rooibos. Boom. I was given a pot of this with some lime wedges and honey.

Now it is always the tea I drink when I feel sick. It’s minty, it’s just citrusy enough, and it’s very soothing. Of course, I don’t think I actually have a cold right now, I just have a body that’s had enough of this ridiculous temperature jumping around here.

I bought this from ZenTea’s shop, so it just says “organic Darjeeling,” but on their site it looks to be “Darjeeling Avongrove (organic)” so now I have at least some idea more of the tea. (Although not much since the description just talks about the different kinds of Darjeeling and not about this tea itself. Agh. I should have asked but I had been there to brainstorm and I was too excited by my idea.)

I’m guessing it’s a second flush, because I’ve seen the liquor of first flush Darjeelings and this is much darker, and that Muscat grape flavor is really, really there. This tastes more like grape than teas I’ve had with grapes in them and it’s creeping me out…in a good way.

After a somewhat disappointing tea experience I don’t usually brew the same tea up again because I usually just want to move on. But the aftertaste that this tea had left in my mouth was so pleasant that I really wanted to be able to drink this tea and enjoy it. So out went the bitter cup and I brewed up another, this time with a shorter steep, and lo, all the bitterness was gone. All those nice flavors I mentioned in the previous note are there but they’re at the forefront this time. I also get more of the “alcohol” note, which is always sort of weird with tea, but all the alcoholic drink based teas have it, because I guess without it this is just grape/raisin flavored, right? Wow, that was a runon sentance. Anyway, the point is that it’s very pleasantly ice winey now.

I was pleased when I smelled the dry leaf of this tea that the scent of the flavoring wasn’t super overwhelming like some of the teas I’ve gotten from this company. It does have a nice juicy sweet grapey aroma, which in the steeped tea is similar but definitely a more winey note. Ice wine is so sweet and raisiny, and that’s born out in the scent.

This seems like it would be delicious… if it wasn’t bitter. Argh, I can’t seem to drink a black tea these days without finding it bitter. I am hopeful, though, because aisling of tea brewed this at 2 minutes and liked it, so I think I will definitely have to try that. Beyond the bitter it had nice grape/raisin/ice wine flavors that seemed natural. I do have an aftertaste as if I had been drinking ice wine, but without the alcohol. Better for work, that way!

Coldbrew sipdown (325/307)

My father in law secretly enjoys the iced teas I make and he’s always surprised by them. Every time I have coldbrew ready when they come over and he always sighs and says he guesses he’ll try one. This time he was intrigued by the ice wine tea, as he’s a big wine drinker, so I poured him a small glass and he was very surprised by the flavor of the ice wine. “It really does taste like ice wine!”

XD. He cracks me up. Anyway, this is a sad farewell, I love this tea dearly. But I have several other ice wine teas and they will keep me warm.

Holy cow I love this tea. I love ice wine and I love berries, so this tea is perfect for me. It’s that cool berry sweetness and it’s just so good. I’m sad this will be a sipdown tomorrow.

Mmmmmm, yep. I’m still in love with ice wine teas. I have three now and want more, more, more! De and I went out for breakfast (nom!) and when we got home, she began filling the thermos for her day at work, so I made a cup for myself while she was at it. I didn’t know what I wanted, so I broke out the tea game she made me for my birthday. I got a card that told me to pick something with raspberries….done! This was exactly what I didn’t know I was craving XD. I drank about half my cup and then got distracted by a two and a half hour nap. Ooops. When I got up (and rescued the tea from Pekoe), it was ice cold and equally delicious. I might need to invest in a larger amount of this beauty. Thank you so much, Dinosara!

Oh my goodness. First, a side note: I am endlessly amused that I had something containing Ontario ice wine shipped to me (in Ontario) from someone in the States XD.

I am in love with ice wine teas, I think…and I think I need to try some ice wine next time my in-laws have it in the house. The two I’ve had have been wonderful! This one was juicy and sweet and just a hint of tartness but not overmuch. Just enough to bring a smile to my face. It’s going to be a good tea day, I suspect. Thank you so much for sharing this with me, Dinosara!

So I never put milk and sugar in my tea, partly because I drink most of my tea at work and I don’t have those things there, and partly because I like drinking my tea straight. A tea has to taste good on it’s own for me, without additions. That’s not to say that I haven’t come across several teas that I didn’t love straight, and then never get around to drinking them even though they would probably taste good with milk and sugar. So I finally brought some of these teas home to have on the weekend with additions.

This one is tasty with milk and sugar. It wasn’t horrible without it, but it was kind of lackluster. Now it’s way more nutty and a lightly chocolatey, and the slightly bitter tea base is smoothed out and covered by the milk. I think the weekend milk and sugar teas will definitely be a way for me to use up teas I wasn’t very fond of straight.

I got a small pouch of this tea free with my order from ZenTea (i.e., eZenTea.com). However, it doesn’t appear on their website! There is a listing for it (and a tasting note) here on Steepster, but no product description. How am I supposed to know what to think about this tea?? Heh. It is rare that I drink a tea (especially a tea with such a non-descriptive name) without knowing beforehand what it’s flavored like. The dry tea on this one smells sweet and desserty, perhaps mostly like caramel. I do get some chocolate as well.

Steeped, it smells nutty, chocolatey and a bit toasted, a little bit like how chocolate chips smell when burnt. In the flavor, I find that caramel again, along with the burnt chocolate note. There is a very slight bitterness to the cup. As it cools a definite nuttiness (perhaps hazelnut) comes out that makes me forget about the bitterness a bit. I feel like this tea would be super delicious with milk and sugar, but I usually only take my teas plain, so that’s not happening. Perhaps I will take the rest of this sample (about another cup) home and try it some weekend with all the fixins’.

Thank you thank you thank you Dinosara for this generous helping of deliciousness!

I knew I had to have it tonight, despite it being the evening. It’s 9:12 and I should stop steeping but… it tastes so so good.

This great buttery taste pairs with the raspberry flavour, that isn’t milky or creamy per se.. but it’s.. full flavoured and yummeh!
On the first steep the raspberry overwhelmed the rest of the flavours, but as I steep more I get a different balance of leafygreen oolong with just a hint of raspberry flavour. Delicate. Delicious.

I tried cold steeping this one this one to see what I might get from it, but unfortunately all I got was cherry candy. Which would be not so bad if I liked cherry candy, but I do not. A hot steep was better for this tea.