Zen Tea

Sipdown. For some reason, this bag wasn’t as good as I remember this tea being. They must have changed it up a little. Earl grey is a flavour that I really have to be in the mood for these days. I am really picky about how I like my Earl grey blend too be. This is a good combination for me though.
I will likely order this one again. Every tea drinker has to keep at least one Earl grey in their cupboard right?

Thanks for the sample Evol Ving Ness!
Some days, you just want to reach for something familiar. Yesterday was one of those days as lately I have not been writing many notes. I am still enjoying tea, I just don’t have time to write about it lately!

Earl grey is one of my favourite black teas, and this one in particular is towards the top for me. Today, it was a little less creamy though for some reason. Still a delicious cuppa!

This is such a lovely earl with soft hints of cream and vanilla to round out the sharp bergamot. This tea seems to have just the tiniest hint of some pepper to it this time. Interesting. It is just as delicious as I remember.

Shoot, I forgot to log this on the weekend.
I made some London fog cupcakes and infused the almond milk that I used with 3 tsp of this tea. They turned out ok, nothing I can’t live without or anything, but something a little different which is nice.
I then made a cuppa to enjoy along with my cupcake the next morning. I still love this tea!

This is my first time trying this company. This tea was fairly highly rated, so I thought I would give it a try. I am not disappointed.
I love earl greys, and especially cream earl greys.
This is no exception. Wonderfully smooth, creamy.

It is also great iced.

Whoo Steepster changed! And just like I always do with change, I have to say I’m not sure I like it. The older version was homier, bit more informal. With this version, I feel a little pressured to give a super-scientific review of the tea. Oh well, I’ll get used to it!

Egh. I am about done with this tea. I think I overleafed it tonight, and now both the cream AND the bergamot are coming off too strong for me. Kind of in the way that makes me have a queasy-headache. It’s a flavor I’ve been on the fence about for a while, and this just pushed me over to the not-a-fan side. Guess I won’t be drinking the rest of what I’ve got. Not that it’s a bad quality tea, but as I keep saying, the proportions of the flavors are really not my thing.

Firstly, I’d like to apologize for falling off the NaNo front last month. Well, I don’t think it’s something I really need to apologize for, but I’m doing it anyway. I got SO pumped for writing it, and then I went to do it, and 1) in less than a week, finishing that novel lost almost all importance to me, and 2) I was only reminded of life priorities that are bigger to me than writing a novel. I’m lame, huh?

OK, enough with the ramble. I’m still a little funny with this tea, but it was about the right texture I was looking for this morning.

I really don’t know why I’m in such a crappy mood this morning (headache? not enough sleep? just general ebb and flow of positivity and negativity?), but it’s Friday and I have a real weekend for the first time since September, so I should by all rights be in a really good mood. This is my wake-up cup before work today, and it does what it’s supposed to do. I’m getting a lot of the bergamot this morning, which is fitting, seeing as it’s grey and rainy outside and that’s what bergamot always makes me think of.

So I was going to make a particular remedial tisane, but then I got paranoid about the fact that it has natural aspirin in it and my foot seems to be collecting bruises. (I don’t know how, I think it’s just particular strain points from where it’s receiving extra pressure with the sprained tendon… ow!) So I poured it out, and was going to make myself a nice white tea because it’s late. And then TWEEEEEEEEEEET went the kettle and I thought, “Welp, I’m in it now! Black tea it is!”

So I did my Presley/Nixon tea (see my earlier review of this for that reference.) I’m still pretty conflicted about it, but at least it has nice comforting flavors.

Earl Grey Cream? Good LORD it’s Earl Grey Cream! Smell it out of the bag and the first thing I smell is CREAM! Super super sweet CREAM!

I have more of this tea than I originally intended. I was just going to buy a little bit, but then shipping was $5, and I didn’t know/see that other samples would be included, so I bought a bigger bag. I read several reviews on Steepster to find the highest rated EGC, and this one swept them away.

I’m trying to decide how I feel about this tea. The bergamot is pretty punchy, and the vanilla is REALLY REALLY SWEET, and the two flavors put together are kind of like that photo of Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon shaking hands:

http://images.usatoday.com/life/_photos/2007/01/08/nixon.jpg

OK so drinking tea is a little more fun than they look like they’re having. But like, the two flavors both have such distinctive reputations and personalities, but put together with both flavors turned up to the max, it’s a bit of an awkward combo, at least to my tastebuds. I think it’s the vanilla’s fault; it’s a little too sweet for me. Which was what I was afraid would happen. Maybe it’s something I’ll get used to, but I think I prefer Mahamosa’s version.

I feel like I’m the Simon Cowell of Steepster Idol! I keep having cynical things to say about teas everyone else raves about!

That said, however, I have a side question. Pumpkin flavored teas. I want access to pumpkin flavored beverages without always having to go to Starbucks for their pumpkin spice latte, which I find delicious. What are your recommendations? I’ve heard numerous good things about Butiki’s Pumpkin Creme Brulee.

It’s the end of a long day of staring at the snow all day at work; whacking myself on the chin with a collapsible yardstick; drinking tea, gingerbread latte, and water all at the same time; and listening to the first official Christmas music of the season, thanks to this next set of program notes I’m writing. And I have the next two days off again – yay! Will probably be used to write program notes and watch things on Netflix.

I decided to give this tea a second go because I remember having such high hopes for it, then being so let down. I tried a relatively cool steep temperature this time (again, I can’t give specifics since I heat the water by sound), and did like a 1 minute steep.

Yep. It’s still not good. The flavoring tastes like some kind of medicine almost, the kind that tries to taste like something good and just comes out like a nasty counterfeit. I can’t even pinpoint the flavor, maybe a bit of an attempt at rose along with something slightly pungent.

Thank you for the sample, Zen Tea, but it’s not one of my favorites. At least I know your vanilla tea is delish!

It’s busy season at work, and as of today it’s gone from “this is busy but manageable and surprisingly fun” to “this is busy and I’m starting to get really mad and I want to yell at someone.” So it’s what I call #@%&$! Tea Time.

This is a sample that Zen Tea Life sent along, and I will never complain about getting free samples, especially ones I don’t expect! The dry leaves smell AMAZING. It’s this fresh, floral, citrusy thing that Cher-slaps you and says, “Snap out of it. You are GOING to relax now.” The tea, however, falls a little short. The thing is, the flavors are all so distinct from one another that when you put them together, it winds up tasting like something that’s not really any of them. It tastes like an artificial version of the dry leaf smell. Then, right before the end of the sip, this slightly cherry-cough-syrup note comes in and it’s not at all present in the dry leaf aroma. And the aftertaste… it’s some weird combo of the cherry-cough-syrup motif and lemon. This kind of reminds me of how I always think fruity/flavored teas are going to taste and why I stay away from them.

I wouldn’t quite call it unpleasant, just pretty unimpressive, especially given how wonderful the dry leaves smelled. Glad to have tried it, though.

This morning I decided to use the last of this tea (which was roughly 10g) and make a large batch of just over 1 litre. Part of it was drank this morning with breakfast and a few cups were left over which became perfect for iced tea. It’s very nice actually, iced it has a wonderful musty/earthy tone that is stronger than when it’s hot. The fruity tones are also stronger when it’s iced.

It’s as smooth iced as it is hot and I’m sorry that I didn’t try this sooner.

I’ve always thought Assam teas were most appropriate for mornings and nights but no in between. It seems to energize yet relax and offers such rich, dark flavours that make you wanting more. Well that is usually what I find with Assam anyway, I always make sure to keep some in stock. That is why I was excited to receive this sample..unfortunately I have forgotten who sent this to me so I apologize. :(

This is a nice looking Assam with plenty of golden tips. Once aired the tea has a malted and dark fruited scent similar to currants.

First Steep – 1 minute
The colour is golden red brown and it has a sweet malted aroma with undertones of currants and fermented fig. Flavour is sweet, fruity, malty, smooth and rich. It’s soft like velvet but with so much sweetness and such wonderful malted tones and a touch of smoke. For a 1 minute steep it’s stronger than I had expected but also light and quite delicate in it’s full bodied flavours. Also has a leather like charm in the after taste.

Second Steep – 2 minutes
A much more delicate steep than the first. This has more fermented fruit tones and is a little sweeter. Also the malt is super silky smooth now. Still very rich but honestly this is my preferred steep so far.

Third Steep – 3 minutes
This has toned down substantially and all that is left is a sweet, malted scent with a slight after taste of currants. It’s still smooth and offers no bitterness or impurities.

Overall – It’s a beautiful tea and it offers everything an Assam should. This is the type that I would consider buying more of.

This is a pretty nice tea. It’s not as strong as say, Divine Temptation from Bayswater, it does still have a light hazelnut and vanilla flavour and warmth, but it is pretty mild and smooth.

I don’t know if it is something to have on hand all the time, or whether I would buy it, but it is nice, and I thank Cavocorax for including this with her samples at the Vancouver meet up/swap.

I have the chance to taste this lovely tea thanks to TheTeaFairy
I waited ages before having it but here I am and I love it.

The scent of the liquor was appealing to me, the kind of smell I recognize as a tea I would surely like…something delicate and floral.

Tasting it, it is clearly a citrusy with floral notes straight tea.More on citrus notes to me.
It has a light astringency in mouth and on the aftertaste but the kind of pleasant astringency offering a real personality to a blend.

I am often reticent to drink Darjeelings because I often had some unpleasant astringency with the ones I have had.This one is absolutely different and makes me change my mind.

Thank you so much TheTeaFairy for sharing one of your favourite teas with me !

Oops! I never logged this tea lol. Well, it was a free sample from Zen Tea Life, thanks! I got about 3-4 cups out of the little packet. This vanilla black isn’t too bad, pretty mild on the vanilla though. The black base is ok, but not the best. But I managed to sip it down at least :) I steeped for 3 minutes as per the directions, 2 probably would have sufficed actually. Oh and I enlisted my boyfriend’s help in my sipdowns, I made him 2 cups of my Tung Ting oolong from DAVIDsTEA tonight (overleafed on the second to get in a sipdown haha, but he still likes it, I steeped less to compensate). So yay, 2 more teas down! I’d probably purchase some Tung Ting again if I run out of oolongs from Verdant, as it is pretty tasty! Anyways, back to this one. Not bad, not the best, but drinkable. And free samples with orders are nice!

Sipdown!
I really love this. It’s creamy, sweet coconut with a hint of floral. Yum. I might need to restock it.

Reporting back on the cold brew. The base got a tad strong and astringent, and the jasmine note strengthened, while the rose note took a back seat. I actually prefer this hot, although overall, it’s something I would never buy. Still grateful for the sample from Zen.

Zen sent me a sample of this with my order, and was a little hesitant due to the jasmine. I dumped the majority of it into my 2L to cold steep, so that should be ready later, but left some to try hot.

I only steeped it for around a minute because I was afraid of the jasmine taking over or the base going bitter. Glad I did. This tea may be playing a trick on me because the steeped tea smells like there is peach in it. I swear.

Regarding the taste, this is supremely rosy. No jasmine! Looks like I harnessed it. The initial perfumey sip makes me think of what I’d imagine a classic Victorian perfume to smell like. But every sip thereafter makes me think more of rose-flavoured Turkish Delight, probably because this is tasting a little sweeter as it cools.

Now I wonder how the cold brew is going to turn out.

This one is from Cavo…unfortunatley, I’m getting mostly rooibos, with only a int of cherry, and nothing really almond marzipan like. Maybe it is that I’ve had a bunch of teas today, many of them tart and citrusy, so maybe my buds are off. Reserving rating for anther time since I can’t say whether it is me or the tea.

Day 4 of Little Terri’s Sipdown Extravaganza is well under way! Yay!
I started the day with 297 teas!! I’m back under 300, people! :)
Thanks to Cavocorax for this tasty Assam!