Zen Tea

The tea smells like warm raspberry syrup and vanilla, slight hint of rooibos,faint dry woodiness, followed by a cool vanilla cream dominated raspberry, leaving a warm sweetened raspberry coulis aftertaste, leaves a drying freshening feeling in the mouth. Despite my initial description the rooibos is quite well hidden by the flavouring but acts to add depth to the tisane. The flavouring is
not as strong as the almond marzipan and chocolate mint rooibos.

I find that this tea requires a little more leaf than I usually use for Zen Teas Rooibos’, but it re-steeps really well and has a really pleasant flavour if you love raspberry desserts.

Not especially blueberry – appleberry, I would say! (Especially after DT’s Blueberry Jam, which is super blueberry-y.) It’s quite good though, one of my free samples from my last order.

This sample is from Cavocorax!

The dry leaf smells very funky but after the steeping process it’s fine. Tastes like a keen Earl Grey. It’s very enthusiastic on the citrus.

I will write more on it later and finish up the sample tonight!

I don’t know if I specifically get “Blood Orange” from this; it’s not very sweet and I get a good taste of indistinguishable sour rind. Although, a little sweetness does creep into the aftertaste. It’s disappointing for a fruity citrus tea but it’s perfectly acceptable, albeit a little sharp, for a Grey. I don’t think this has any bergamot in it but the tea manages fine without.

Another one from Starfevre! thanks so much! Raspberries are my favorite fruit and I love vanilla. This is very nice! It’s the perfect tea to have at night – no caffeine and a bit of a sweetness to it that could be a replacement for a dessert. It’s a lovely buzzy raspberry flavor (a bit like candy but mostly like an actual raspberry) and the vanilla evens it out on such a nice rooibos base. It’s simple yet interesting. Better than a plain rooibos, obviously! (But why drink plain rooibos when there are so many nice blends like this one?) The raspberry vanilla name isn’t lying!

Additional notes: I realized what cereal this tea reminds me of since I mentioned it in my last tasting note: Frankenberry. This hibiscus blend is tolerable because it has a creamy flavor to it and that helps cut the tartness. I say tolerable, but it might be my favorite hibiscus blend. I say favorite, but that still means tolerable for hibiscus.

thank you again Starfevre for trading! I definitely wouldn’t mind trying all of Zentealife.com’s teas. I didn’t want to expect too much from this one because of the hibiscus. It is a bit overpowering. If the hibiscus wasn’t too bad, it would have a nice sweet strawberry flavor. It kind of reminds me of a kid’s fruity sugary cereal. Yum! If you want to try a strawberry cream flavor, try Zen’s Strawberry Cream black tea! I love that one. This one is good but the hibiscus (or some of it) has to go! If you like hibiscus, you’ll love it, but it’s probably my least favorite tea ingredient.

This is a nice citrus-fruit tea. It’s interesting, the ingredients are almost identical to those in Orange Lemonade (tealux) (http://steepster.com/teas/tealux/33530-orange-lemonade) . . . except here there is “flavouring”, which presumably is the grapefruit flavour, as grapefruit isn’t specifically listed.

Overall, it’s a pleasant tea, and I liked it almost as much as the Orange Lemonade. Very nice blend of flavours. In a clear glass, it has a beautiful soft pink-champagne colour.

. . . Except for the grapefruit flavour, which is a slight drawback for me — there’s a bit of bitterness (or something) in grapefruit, that makes it not as appealing as the tart freshness of lemon. And I also prefer the more vivid orange flavour in the Orange Lemonade. Here, I found the orange a little muted.

Special thanks to Liberteas for this one!
First cup – 1st infusion was sweet and smooth with a little bit of sweet woodsy and earthiness to it! It was nice! Towards the end of the sip I got a little bit of cocoa flavor as well – close and comparable to a cocoa powder type flavor.

2nd Infusion – a bit over infused on purpose – was quite nice, too!

More hearty, more earthy, more cocoa-E. It’s still rich and still bold!
Very nice Black Tea!

I tried it again but I’ll pass. It tastes so much like dirt I can feel the grit in my teeth. I steeped it three times and sipped each to be sure.

Oh well. There’s plenty of tea out there.

This is my first Pu-erh. I’m a little nervous because people keep saying that it’s fishy.

I steeped it for 50 seconds like the package said, and then gave it a sniff. My immediate reaction? Bleeeach. I actually made a noise out loud and that’s saying something!

First sip? Oh geez. This is super fishy. And it’s thick and seaweedy and so very strange.

A few sips later – I’m not sure if this is for me.

Oh. I didn’t rinse it. So I steeped it again. Less fishy. Still seaweedy, with a darker malty taste. It’s drinkable though.

Maybe it’s an acquired taste? I keep sipping but I doubt I’ll come close to finishing my cup.

It doesn’t seem fair to rate this because I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with it.

I enjoyed this one. Not usually a big fan of Rooibos, but I’ve never had it flavoured. So I’m just starting to experiment with flavoured teas, and this one is very nice.
Nice, fruity, raspberry and vanilla.
I added about 1/4 tsp sugar, and a little milk.

And sipdown! I will have to replace this, either with the same or a similar oolong as it is just so tasty. Floral notes. Fruity notes. Very light and perfect for spring.

I wonder if there is a different between this and other TieGuanYin Oolongs. Are they basically the same?

What I’m drinking here is a first flush of Zen Tea’s Organic Darjeeling. Connie, the owner of Zen Tea (www.ezentea.com), mentioned that this was one of their best sellers – that people were buying pounds at a time every weekend from their shop in the Atlanta area. I grabbed 2oz. for under $7.

I’m going to try this gongfu style. I’ve never done Indian tea that way. We’ll see how it goes.

Oh man! This tea is good! I can see why it’s so popular. It’s not entirely special or original, it’s exactly what a first flush darjeeling smells and tastes like. It’s like several other darjeelings I’ve had, but still… this one is done very very well.

Light and crisp citrusy/woody/assamica aroma. Citrusy flavor on the back of the tongue. I’m getting apple notes and classic assam flavors. Very mild astringency at the back of the throat.

This tea would blend well with apples or ginger.

I totes mc’goats recommend this tea. – Your Friend Rashad

Just made a mug of this tea, and really like it. It made a beautiful rosy brew, and smelled heavenly.
I had it with less than 1/4 tsp sugar and a bit of milk.
Yes, I noticed the hibiscus, which I often find too tart, but in this tea it was good.

After brewing, I fished the bits of strawberry and apple out of the straining basket, and ate them. (Good heavens, how undignified. ;)
Thanks, Starfevre, for introducing me to this one!

P.S.: Starfevre, I just discovered your note about milk ruining this tea!
Since I liked it with milk, next time I’ll try it without – maybe it will be even better.

I love this tea. I’m drinking this tonight and watching Battlestar Galactica. See my previous notes on this tea.

Ahhhhhhh….. sweet serenity.

On stressful days White Jasmine Rose knows what I need. So relaxing. And such a pretty tea with the green of the Bai Mu Dan and the pink and red rose petals. This jasmine and rose offering from ZenTea brings me back to center.

Gotta have compassion for myself. It’s hard being a being.

This tea brews to the colour of maple wood.smells a little like something that has been treated with mild hickory smoke, mixed with chocolate and dried figs. It tastes of charred sweet potatoe, a touch of cocoa and a faint suggestion of smoke with an aftertaste like dried fig. A Sweet initial flavour is followed by a freshening tingle in the mouth, with little to no bitterness. The tea is fairly smooth. It leaves a tingling on the lips and under the tongue. Pleasant. The first time I had this it tasted very smoky, I think I overleafed it that time. This time I reduced the leaf and I quite enjoyed it.

This is my first unflavoured Keemum, so I am unable to speak about how well it represents it type, however it was enjoyable enough that I would like to try some more.

The package says to steep this tea at 93C/203F, and I definitely poured in boiling water. Oops. Luckily, this package Cavocorax sent me has a few more rounds of Darjeeling to play with.

This one is more malty than the other Second Flush’s I had, and also has more of a cocoa overtone. I love the floral-sweet finish Darjeeling seems to have. It’s a little astringent mid-sip but it’s not like biting into a citrus rind, and it mellows out a bit into that floral sweetness that I like so much.

Looking at all the classification information for Darjeeling tea makes my head spin. I don’t think I’m going to be able to tell the difference anytime soon.

I’m not a huge fan of coconut but I do really like this tea. The dry leaves are long, deep green, and very fresh looking. They are covered with a generous scattering of small flakes of coconut that are absorbing the colour of the sencha. The tea smells strongly of fresh coconut.

The brewed tea smells of a less sweet version of coconut squares, both sweet and of cooked fresh coconut. It brews to a deep yellow. The first flavour notes are a top note of nutty coconut meat, followed by a sweetness that hints of marzipan.

The Tea base is at first silky, with a flavour that adds to the teas sweetness and which is followed by a refreshing aftertaste and a tingling on the tongue. The flavour of the tea blends with the
coconut leaving just a hint of something savory and vegetal. This tea has a strong sweet coconut flavour.

During the second steep the coconut flavour is unchanged and present but the sweet green tea base is more present and softens the coconut and there is a faint bitterness and a hint of fresh green leafy vegetables. This tea holds up to around 5 steeps if one is careful with steeping time and brewing temperature.

This is a great tea for those who enjoy coconut and who value a well presented simplicity in there blends.

When I smell this tea brewed it always reminds me of two things, cherry soda crossed with cream soda, and babysoft perfume.

Having said that it is a really nice tea for those who enjoy floral cherry senchas and like all of the Zen Tea green teas I have had it comes to you incredible fresh tasting. I like that for this tea I was provided with harvest dates and provenance.

The dry leaf was quite pretty a bright rich green sencha scattered with rose petals. The dry leaf smelled about the same as the brewed but the brewed tea does smell sweeter.

The sencha underneath the tea is quite sweet, with little to no astringency. The tea has a medium body, and has a sense of thickness and creaminess in the mouth.

A sweet cherry flavour is prominent followed by a clean green flavour which is very slightly grassy, followed by a spicy floral taste from the rose, The rose doesn’t seem to be adding the bitterness I find it can add at some times. All of these flavours are neatly distinguishable from eah other and as it cools the tea base comes more to the fore front.

This tea resteeps well. I have resteeped it up to 5 times before and it keeps a consistent flavour for the first three steepings, at least, before it starts to change.

I don’t find that it tastes medicinal like some people report with cherry teas if anything the rose can make it taste a little powdery but the cherry is sweet enough that I dont feel like I am tasting perfume. It leaves an aftertaste like the one I get after eating black cherries. This is a nice example of this classic flavour.

SO I got this in a trade with Tea Sipper a looooooooong time ago. Really long. Really. Thankfully it has aged well and is still super good. Rooibos is not woody tasting and mint and chocolate, with added sweetener, make this like drinking a girl scout cookie. Yum.

Reminder to self if I buy this again: Use a finer filter. Rooibos attacking the tonsils is not pleasant.

This tea is from Tea Sipper!

So I finally think I’m developing a taste for rooibos, after so many of forcing myself to drink it because I liked the flavours it was mixed with. There is nothing about this tea that I do not like. It tastes strongly minty, but not in a bad way and it blends really well with the rooibos nutty flavour that I always hear people talking about but have never picked up on myself. The chocolate is more subdued, not really upfront about itself, in the background. This is an interesting addition to my collection of chocolate mint teas because I love them and this one is no exception

The dry blend smells of caramel and the liquor smells of my roommate’s Indonesian coffee candies (they taste vaguely like a TH double double). The taste is a combination of a watered down version of those coffee candies, nuts, and dry grass- like the grass that has gone golden and brittle after a long hot summer. Not that much toffee.

Edit- after trying to drink a pot of this tea, with the result of me dumping most of it, I guess I’m going to have to come to terms with the fact that I don’t like this one in the slightest. I feel awful about it. :(

I guess that flavour has it’s own appeal and place, but I don’t feel particularly won over by it. Thanks, Cavocorax, for the chance to try this!