Zen Tea

This was the other herbal I ordered for my nighttime beverage. I really don’t usually drink herbal tea but caffeine has been bothering me lately and I wanted something good for night. I got Detox Mountain Herb and this. Last night I said I couldn’t wait to try this one, and I didn’t. I went ahead and made a pot. And guess what? When you drink seven cups of herbal tea before bed, you DO fall asleep but you DO NOT stay asleep. You have to get up at approximately 3:00 am apparently. Well, that is what happened to me, anyway.

So…the tisane. I am I the minority. I liked this better than Detox MH. I really like the taste of licorice root and the sweet and unusual flavor it lends to tea, so I totally dug this blend. As happens with many teas, I tasted very little when it was super hot but after just a couple of minutes of cooling I could taste the herbs and really liked it. Wishing I had ordered two and two now instead of three (DMH) and just one bag of this.

Sipdown. While I much prefer Zen’s coconut oolong to this one, it was still a pretty good tea while it lasted.

This tea is a bit finicky to get right, but it turned out well today. I think sticking to a 1 minute steep is key. I usually can usually get 3 rounds out of this one and they’ll all be nice and strong, the sencha has a lot of staying power.

Once I adjusted to shorter steep times, this one really grew on me. Light and refreshing, even if the flavor doesn’t immediately bring coconut to mind.

In other news, I’ve done my share of binge-watching on the new Jessica Jones. Just finished episode 9, and it’s definitely been impressive for sheer acting, even if the plot wobbles a bit here and there. I checked Adagio to see how many Jessica Jones fandom blends had already popped up, and to my surprise there weren’t any. So I made a few of my own:
http://www.adagio.com/signature_blend/group.html?group=8878

I happy to say that cutting down the steeping time has helped this tea a lot. The sencha no longer tastes overwhelming. I still find the coconut flavor a little unusual — as in, if it didn’t say coconut on the bag, I don’t think it would occur to me that coconut was in here — but it doesn’t taste bad. It reminds me more of pine nuts than coconuts. I can’t quite tell what they’re using to flavor this. There’s all these tiny minty green bits mixed in with the sencha. If that’s coconut, why isn’t it white? Whatever they’re doing, it’s completely different from their approach to flavoring their Coconut Oolong, which tastes thoroughly and obviously like a fresh bag of Mounds.

I really wanted to like this tea, but the sencha is so strong here that I’m finding it hard to handle. The coconut isn’t quite what I was expecting either — it’s very nutty and more savory than sweet, with something slightly odd in the aftertaste. I thought this would be the green version of Zen’s coconut oolong, but really, the two couldn’t be more different. I’ll probably experiment with shorter, cooler steeps on this and see if that helps, but right now I’m finding this tea a bit much for my tastes.

Aw yeah, it’s a tea-drinking kind of night. My Friday today, so I can be as hopped up on caffeine as I like. You know, in theory. I’ll regret it when I try and turn in later. Anyway, this tea is kind of a curious beast. Predominantly grapefruit with something almost nutty and grain-like beneath it. Possibly the fault of the green tea itself? I say fault, but it’s an oddly nice pairing. Vaguely comforting and warm as it settles in my stomach. It’s very breakfast-y for whatever reason, and I say this as a person who doesn’t usually indulge in the most important meal of the day. There’s a definite astringency to it as well, which I imagine is due in part to the grapefruit. I don’t know if I would buy this again, but I won’t have any issues finishing what’s left.

Zen Tea kindly included this sample with my order. The oolong is definitely on the darker side — it tastes slightly reminiscent of a formosa oolong, even though I’m pretty sure that’s not what this is. Though the hazelnut and vanilla flavors come through, they don’t stand out — this tea is much more about the blend of flavors, and no ingredient in particular gets a starring role. My general impression is of something dark and rich.
I’m glad I got to try this tea, because it does have a really interesting flavor profile, but I don’t think it’s something I would have chosen for myself, mainly just because I prefer my oolongs on the greener side.

I’ve been hoarding what little I have left of this tea, but I know I can’t store coconut forever. So I had a cup today and it was perfect coconutty goodness :)

Whoops, may have oversteeped this just a tad, and added a bit too much sugar. Still a great cup though. Not happy that I’ve nearly reached the bottom of the tin :(

Trying to ration this now that I’m getting close to the end, but I know it’s not going to last forever. Still so good!

Mmm, smells so good when you open the bag, like the boozy version of coconut! Once steeped it’s quite sweet — the label says something about cake, and I agree there is something a little cake-y about the flavor. The coconut is quite strong, which is great, although there are no actual coconut slivers in the mix. I think compared to David’s version of this, the Zen is a little sweeter and David’s is a little nuttier. I wish I had some of the latter on hand so I could do a taste-off, but unfortunately I’m out. I think I might like David’s slightly better? But maybe my memory is playing tricks on me since it’s been awhile? At any rate, they’re both delicious, so you can’t really go wrong.

Here’s Hoping TTB (round 5)

I do like me some hazelnut
Add that to a roasty oolong and I’m set. This cup did not let down a single expectation that I had as I went to drink it down before bed. The mouth feel is quite nice with the nutty notes bouncing off the roof of my mouth from my tongue.

This tea is a black basic tea. Nothing special about it but nothing awful. I can tell it will tend to get too strong or bitter if you oversteep or overfill. I managed not to do that. Not a bad tea at all for those who want a strong, basic black, but there are no special frills. I will drink the rest of the sample I ordered, but I don’t see myself ordering a full bag.

Burnt my thumb good with some water over 200f while ‘trying’ to brew this…
Ugh….

Made this one for my mom and I :)
Personally, I think pu’erh shouldn’t be mixed with stuff and what not so I had jaded thoughts going into this…
However, this is actually a great tasting tea and I have no issue drinking steep 4,5,6 as my mom likes her tea stronger.

Nice mint, pu’erh is the undertone which is interesting, and over a nice feel. There is just a minor dry throat that comes with this one.

Drowning myself 6-26-15 #2
Ceylon tea taste so bad to me that I want to cry when I have some. I brewed this and my bestfriend and I decided to dump this tea out immediately.

If anyone wants this just let me know :)

This taste like a black tea, looks like a black tea, and smells like a black tea… but dang, it is good!
Strong and brisk cup of joy that wakes me up with every sip :)

Really enjoying this one.

Not a fan TTB. This goes down so smoothly! So smooth I’m kinda amazed. I had a bit of a breakdown. Missing my grandma. I needed a bit of a pick me up and this did nicely in helping with that.

All of the flavors blend so nicely. Nothing is too overpowering. The sencha base is a great choice.

mmmmm this is exactly what I needed after vacation. A nice smoky bold hot pot of tea. The small leaves are black twisted BOP. The aroma of the leaf is a dry nutty scent. I place a generous amount in my yixing, and I inhaled a smooth buttery roasted nut aroma. I brewed up numerous cups of this delicious brew. The liquor was a glistening crimson,, and the taste was so good! I could taste smoke, wood, walnuts, and a sweet smooth aftertaste. This was bomb!

This is really good. I know a number of companies distribute this very same tea, but I got the best price from Zen. I ordered it because my daughter tried it from another company when she was in Toronto and loved it, had to have it. I told her I could get it cheaper for her than the company she bought it from there and here we are.

This is so good. A friend had it with me and had trouble figuring out the flavors. When I told her there was fresh ground cinnamon in it, the light bulb went off. The licorice root is nice in this, subtle and sweet. Mint is the main flavor up front, but I had one from another company called Vanilla Mint that just tasted like mint, no puerh at all.

This one has a much better balance, with the puerh serving as a good base holding up the mint, and the cinnamon sparkling as little hints here and there, with licorice root adding that sweet aftertaste.

We got so many steeps, too. This was a good buy.

It was served with some delectable cookies my youngest daughter made called “Will You Marry Me?” cookies. Oh my, they were good. I think I may not let anyone marry that kid, so I can have the cookies for myself.

’Here’s Hoping’ Teabox Round #4 – Tea #11

Dark oolong for this dark weathered day. I don’t think I’ve seen dark oolongs like this one before. The leaves almost look like a black tea, rather than like a bundled green oolong that is roasted. Usually this type of tea is not to my taste, but this one is delicious. The light amber brew has a sweet, roasted, nutty, buttery flavor… not as distinctly charcoal flavored as a Fujian oolong typically is for me. So that’s a great thing! Less of the charcoal flavor and more of the good stuff! This one and one other Fujian oolong are the only two of this type of tea I could see stocking up on, so this is definitely high up there. The second steep is almost exactly the same in flavor. Western brewing is probably not the traditional way to go with this one, but it worked here. Very tasty!
Steep #1 // 15 minutes after boiling // 2 tsps. for 11 ounce mug // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // few min after boiling // 2 -3 min