Zen Tea

I wasn’t expecting much of this since I haven’t really like the white teas I’ve had a whole lot. I think they come off too delicately for me. But this tastes great. It smelled like toffee, it tasted like toffee – sweet and nutty, stronger than I was expecting too but not so much that it is horribly artificial either. I like it so much I didn’t ask if anyone else at home wanted to try… I know, not nice. Next time…

I’ve never had a bamboo tea before! Somehow I knew it would be a bit plain tasting but this blend is really nice because it has some interesting ingredients: apple, lime and carrots. These ingredients spice up some plainer leaves. The lime is definitely evident from the fragrance of the dry leaves. The lime is perfect — just the right amount of tangy without being overdone. The sweetness of the apple and carrots cuts down the lime anyway. But the carrot isn’t terribly noticeable to make it weird. The second cup is completely different — still sweet and very smooth but the lime seems to be lost now. It is tough to say what flavor is from the bamboo and what is from the other ingredients, but this is a very different cup than any other tea. This blend is very refreshing. This would be the perfect representation of a bamboo tea in my tea collection! Zen is very selective and they make sure they are stocking the perfect blends. I just checked and the summer sale at zentealife.com is STILL going. Tempting!

Backlogging from the weekend. Thanks for the swap, Veronica! :) I enjoyed this one both hot and cold on Saturday. It was very enjoyable. The base is mild and the strawberry flavor natural but not overwhelming. I’m glad I got to try it but it isn’t going on my order list or anything.

I had a sudden craving for Genmaicha, so I went digging through my samples until I came out with this. I love the samples Zen Tea throws in when you place an order, and I really love that they’re in foil lined pouches. It makes it easy to tuck them away until I can fully enjoy them.

This is a very good Genmaicha. The savory toasted rice flavor is wonderfully strong. The green tea gives a grssy note and a sweet finish to the sip. The tea also resteeps very well. My second steep gave me a cup that had less of a toasted rice flavor, but the toastiness and the grassy notes from the green tea seemed to blend much more. Even though both steeps were good I enjoyed the second one even more than the first.

Genmaicha is something I only drink on occasion, but when I want it I really really want it! I’ll put the rest of my sample away to be enjoyed the next time a craving strikes.

I still need my milk training wheels for Darjeeling teas. I hope to remove them, and grow a proper palate, by the time I finish all six of the Darjeelings in my cupboard. I’m not entirely optimistic I’ll succeed though.

This is Darjeeling No. 1 out of the way. I took a few sips without milk, felt unsteady on the dry woody terrain, and slammed those extra wheels right back on. Yeah, it was a humiliating show but I felt comfortable. That’s the important part, right?

The highlight of this tea is the sour fruity note in the finish and aftertaste. It’s tangy and grape-like, and makes me want to pull out the cheese and crackers. There’s also a curvy floral tone that’s kind of fancy, and fluffs things up.

This last cup is the best this tea has ever tasted for me. I don’t know if that’s due to me finally paying attention to how it properly or because I was more generous with the serving this time around, but it’s yummy today. Maybe working through the other five Darjeeling teas won’t be so much like a chore after all?

Sample courtesy of Zen Tea. I’ve had it before but I’m going to quickly sip this down.

The strawberry in here still reminds me of Nutri-Grain bars. Nothing entirely wrong with that but I still prefer other strawberry teas.

Since my half and half “discovery” this fall, I’m trying this for the first time with some, and it’s a lot better. Thanks to Zen for the sample! It gave me a chance to experiment with this again.

Oh yeah, so I sipped this down yesterday evening. Now that I have my Steeps Chocolate Dipped Strawberry, I won’t be pursuing this tea again. It’s decent, but not worth the cupboard space.

By the way, semi-funny-but-sad sorry. I cold brewed some in my Timolino a few weeks ago when I was living in the dorm room sans fridge. Drank it in the evening, forgot about the tea leaves in the basket, left it overnight. Woke up the next morning to start a cold brew of something else only to discover mold all over my infuser basket. Sigh. Needless to say, it took a lot of elbow grease and baking soda to scrub that stuff out.

Forgive me, but I tried mochi filled with red bean paste a while ago and the texture was absolutely disgusting. So not worth the 300 calories. I washed that down with a bottle of water and am now turning to this which has been cold steeping in my Timolino for a few hours.

At least the mochi doesn’t leave an aftertaste, so it’s not affecting the flavour of the tea. This is actually more astringent this way, which was unexpected. Less strawberry too. It’s definitely better hot. Now I know!

I’m a fan of strawberry black teas, so this sounded promising from the get-go. The dry leaf reminds me of strawberry Nutri Grain bars. Not as much as a DAVIDsTEA strawberry tisane of which I currently forget the name, but it’s floating in the background.

I must say that this is one of the best bases I’ve experienced in a Zen flavoured tea thus far. Not astringent nor dry/hay-like. I seem to experience the latter a lot with Zen teas. The creaminess is quite muted flavour-wise, but it doesn’t disappear completely.

The strawberry adds a pop of flavour. While it’s not like biting into a fresh strawberry, it’s not artificial either. Good work, Zen!

Another sip down from the TeaFairy collection, and if I haven’t said it before, thank you for trading with me!

This is a pleasant cocoa & malt kind of cup. Tasty :)

Malt, cream, & bread :)
My tastes are still muted, but my mouth feels so happy right now.
This is a lovely yunnan tea, sent to me from the TeaFairy, although I tried it before when Cavocorax sent me some several month ago.
Drinking tea & watching baseball in my PJs: The St. Louis Cardinals are currently leading the Phillies: 5 – 3

My first sipdown of the month, leaving me at 217 teas in my collection.
This one was from Cavorcorax. The name of the tea brings to mind those pearl teas that so many of us love, but this is really more of a black bilochun “spring snail” style. I made a 16 oz pot of it, followed by a resteep. Excellent with breakfast, & now I feel a little more energy.

I really need to get moving! I’ve been slacking all morning, which Ms Theresa is grumbling about in my head. So much to do, & yet I have basically done nothing, save feeding myself, drinking tea, & goofing off on FB, Steepster, the NNWM site, & a few other places. Time to get a move on!

Thanks to Cavocorax for this generous sample of tea!
Initially I was surprised, because I was expecting marble sized pearls, like the red & black dragon pearls from other companies that I’ve tried.
As it turns out, this is more like Adagio’s Yunnan Noir or Mandala’s Morning Sun. The pearls are each individual leaves, twirled into a small pearl shape. (Cavo, when you finally get my package, you’ll understand my momentary confusion).

Anyway, this is a very tasty tea! Malty with a light cocoa sweetness. I’m glad to say that there is enough in the bag for probably 2 more cups at least! Thanks Cavo, you rock!

I got this tea awhile back.. maybe 2 oz? And I just sipped it down, didn’t last long! I’ve only made this tea iced, and tonight I needed a long steeping tea (10 minute steep uggg) while I load the dishwasher at a snail pace. It’s jiujitsu thursday and I’m super tired, got to the point where my opponent would grab me to take me down, and I’d just crumple to the floor.

Very berry – so berry, its hard to figure out whats going on, plus hibiscus thrown in there. This round? kinda blackberry mostly with a hint of raisiny notes. Hmmm, this tea is okay, a little flat but lots of berryness going on so that makes up for it a bit.

Tea of the morning. I had to be out of the house earlier than usual, so I grabbed the first sample I laid my hands on and decided it would be in my travel mug asap. This cup wasn’t quite as good as the last offering from this sample. The vanilla doesn’t seem to be as strong. Still, it’s a very nice cup. Strong, smooth, and sweet. I can think of worse ways to start a Monday.

I received this sample with my recent ZenTeaLife order. This is a tea I’ve almost ordered many, many times, so I was happy to be able to try it. Yay for free samples!

Oh, this is good. If you’re someone who likes vanilla tea then give this one a shot. Lots of vanilla bean flavor. Kind of that richer fuller vanilla taste that coats the tongue. High yummy factor. As always, the base tea is a good one. It holds its own with the vanilla. It’s strong but not bitter or astringent. Good grief this is good. I’m thinking this could easily work its way into my normal morning tea rotation.

I still have quite a bit of Starry Night from Art of Tea, so I don’t think I’ll be ordering another vanilla tea too soon, but when I am ready to order it’ll be this one.

I made this and H&S’s Florence this morning and thought I’d better drink this one first before my taste buds were corrupted by nommy flavoured tea.

I wasn’t sure about this one, but figured it’s a sample and a quick sipdown so why not get on it? And it’s great! Why do I always forget how great non-black teas are?

This really smells like honey, and it’s sweet, and tastes a bit like straw and grass. This is really gentle and delicious. It’s also a little toasy! I immediately want 4 more cups!

I’ll have to re-order this from Zen or somewhere else!

I had this earlier today, and I have to say I was surprised by how good it was. I mixed it with a little bit of the Zen Tea’s vanilla, and it was divine. Lots of tang and that tongue tingling feeling I sometimes get when eating an orange, but it was mellowed out just enough by the vanilla. Yum.

Backlogging.

Yesterday was insanely busy, and this ended up being my one and only cup of the day. On the plus side, we were able to start putting in the new floor – yay!. It’s great to not have to walk on the subfloor. The rest of the flooring will go in this week, and then I’ll be able to get kitchen counters and a sink. You have no idea how much I miss my kitchen sink!!!

Ok, on to the tea. This is a very citrusy tea. It has the super sweet, highly acidic flavor of a good blood orange paired with a smooth and almost mellow base tea. The combination is very good. I used the last of the sample Zen Tea sent, but I’ve put this on my shopping list and will definitely order some. I’m thinking this will make a fantastic winter tea. Just the bright sunny boost I’ll be looking for on a cold dark morning.

I received this as a sample with my last ZenTeaLife order. Blood oranges are one of my favorite fruits. I’m also big fan of citrus flavors in tea, so I have high hopes for this one.

Mmmm. I really like this. Plenty of orange flavor, but not so much that it hides the base tea. I wouldn’t swear that this is blood orange, but it does leave a nice tang on the tongue in much the same way orange juice does. I added some sugar and milk which turned this into a wonderful orange creamsicle treat. So good!

Oh yeah, I’ll definitely enjoy the rest of this sample, and it’s more than possible that I’ll add this to my next ZenTeaLife order. Which will be the next time they have a sale (sssh, don’t tell my husband!).

This tea makes a very enjoyable cup. Lightly oxidized, yellow tea produces a sweet and mellow flavor without any vegetal overtones and this one delivers. Yellow tea is more difficult to find and this one is sold at a very fair price. Grab some while you can!

From the Zen Tea website: “The process for making yellow tea is time consuming. In general, the leaves are first fried, as is the case in most green teas, but then the leaves are wrapped in thick paper or cloth. At intervals the tea is fried again and re-wrapped to cool and oxidize slightly. This process continues for up to three days and then slowy roasted at the finish.”

Dry leaves are medium brown, twisted and bent. No strong aroma detected but pleasant enough. The brew results in a yellowish tan liquid (golden) which is a delight to drink – gentle, sweet and mellow. The hot tea produces a honey-like aroma with lighter flavor at first and as the tea begins to cool down a bit, the flavor intensifies.

This is my first experience with a yellow tea but it will not be my last! I am definitely sold and I’ll be keeping an eye out for other yellow teas to try.

Brewing Notes: I often put my greens and whites in a Chinese-style glass thermos/tumbler. This is the way I enjoyed this yellow tea all morning long. Four teaspoons in a 16oz tumbler with filter for drinking. Added hot water 4-5 times throughout a five hour period.

I had a cup of this late last night before bed. I wondered about this one – I love mint and chocolate but am a little more reserved in my feelings about about rooibos. The dry leaves smell wonderful, with no trace of rooibos. I could definitely identify the cooling smell of the peppermint right away. The flavor is mainly of mint with just a little trace of chocolate. I wish the chocolate was a little more strong, but I realize that this could be because it’s been in the Traveling Tea Box for awhile perhaps. The best thing about this tea is that is has no mediciney rooibos flavor – hooray! I added a little sugar and it brought out a little more of the chocolate flavor. On a whim, I added a bit of milk and it made it absolutely perfect – soft and smooth and very comforting. This is a wonderful, calming cup of tea for right before bed, with just a little desserty sweetness to satisfy my sweet tooth!

-Dry blend has small red rooibos and small pieces of green mint leaves with pieces of cocoa.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of chocolate with a hint of fresh peppermint. Tea liquor aroma is heavily of mint with a small note of chocolate.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark reddish brown color.
-Strong and sweet minty flavor and finish. Subtle chocolate and cooling peppermint aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Excellent tea. A refreshing cup of mintiness with a touch of sweet chocolate. No rooibos flavor noticeable. Perfect before bed with a splash of milk.

I forgot to log this, I think I’d meant to put it in but forgot so before i remove this from my cupboard…. It brewed up pretty dark. I like the balance of vanilla, mint & cinnamon with the vanilla and mint being most prominent. There was that odd Puerh smell at first but only faintly and then once brewed it was barely there. The tea had a nice smoothness and body to it. The rest of this is gone to a swap, on it’s way. I’m not sure puerh’s are for me or if I’m just not used to it yet.

So this is very interesting; the most unique tea I have tried so far! It looks really neat huge chunks of carrots, apple, bamboo leaves and lemon grass. Brewed hot I mainly taste lemon grass with a bit of carrot (my scoop of this ended up with quite a bit of carrot pieces). I have the rest in the fridge to try cold. So far it might fit the bill of a non tart herbal blend that I have been searching for. However I will wait to rate this until I have tried it more.
I have to add that when I let my son smell it he said it smelled like citronella tea!

ETA: really nice as an iced tea all the flavours seemed to meld together and I ended up with a nice light lemongrass tea