Zen Tea

Sipdown!

I’m not a huge fan of Earl Greys, but I really enjoyed this one. The bergamot isn’t too strong but still packs a punch and the cream is very sweet and creamy. The two flavours balance each other out so nicely. I may even reorder this, once my tea box is under control.

Backlog from two days ago. I’m slowly getting around to writing notes on samples I’ve received from various merchants.

Not usually a fan of Earl Greys, but I’d heard a lot about Earl Grey cream teas around here, so I jumped on the opportunity to try a sample of this from Zen Tea.

I was pleasantly surprised with this! There’s a very creamy aroma, even with the dry leaf. The balance between vanilla and bergamot is perfect. Great on its own or with a tiny bit of sugar.

Backlog from yesterday.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a straight Keemun before (it may have been in some blends I’ve tried), but if this is what Keemuns usually taste like, I think I can safely say that I quite like them. Chocolatey and smooth. Tasty afternoon tea. Thanks to Zen Tea for the sample!

This was a free sample I received from Zen Tea!

It’s a small sample package, but it seems like I have enough for three cups worth. I’ve found with senchas that less is more. More leaf does not equal a better, stronger cup. It’s supposedly Ichiban Cha or first flush. Now, I like senchas, but I’ve never really been able to tell the difference between different pickings. Then again, I’ve never tried them side-by-side. So, I can’t say for certain that it is, only taking the word of the company, which I believe.

The dry leaf is a dark rich emerald color that smells sweet and grassy. The wet leaf is a gorgeous bright emerald that smells sweet, grassy, and buttery. The infusion is an amazing ghostly yellow-green color. It reminds me of Mellow Monk’s Top Leaf tea when infused.

The taste is amazing. It’s wonderfully sweet and grassy. There’s a smoothness to it with notes of butter and a hint of saltiness with a wonderful umami taste! I like this better than Mellow Monk’s Top Leaf.

My husband is sick and I let him have some and he more or less downed it. He said it was more for the warmth than the taste. But, since he is sick, I’m bound to get it and I can already feel my throat is scratchy after waking up this morning. This seems to help soothe it. I don’t know if it’s the warmth or the tea itself, I don’t care, it’s good either way!

Sipdown Sunday in effect y’all!

I have 3 more samples with just a couple cups worth of tea left. This is a favorite and a possible purchase :) It’s buttery and perfectly coconut-y. YUM!

Christmas decorations came down today. It’s always sad to see them go. If I had it my way, they’d be up all year. But honestly, I don’t want to have to dust them all.

A big THANK YOU to Zen Tea for this delicious sample. It’s so smooth and the coconut flavor is like drinking milk from a fresh coconut. The oolong is mild and allows the coconut to really shine. This is a tea I want to have around at all times. Looking forward to re-steeping it for another yummy cup! Hoping it motivates me to get my much needed house cleaning done.

Thanks to Zen Tea for a sample of this.

I have to admit that Genmaicha’s are growing on me. They’re not bad, and nice and hearty for a green tea. This is definitely one of the better ones that I’ve had. You can taste the toasted rice but also the green tea, which is a nice surprise. This is a yummy tea, and while it’s not necessarily something I would drink everyday – it is something that holds up nice to two or three resteeps and is still full of flavor.

Also, this tea is SUPER green. I recommend drinking this out of a white or clear cup so you can really enjoy this color.

I re-infused the leaves and it is still AMAZING. Still chocolate-y (maybe slightly less so than the first), still caramel-y, I note hints of honey now, and even some floral tones in the way-off distance. This cup is slightly more earthy, notes of leather and wood.

This cup isn’t quite as “thick and creamy” as the first, but, it is still so very yummy. Definitely worthwhile to re-infuse this tea.

Oh… this is so nice! Rich and sweet and wonderful!

The sweet notes here are profound, deeply chocolate-y, with notes of caramel. It’s one of those types of teas that are incredibly cozy … the kind you want to curl up with and just drink with joyful abandon.

Yum yum yum!

This tea is delicious hot, but also very good cold, something that I learned because I had to step away from the computer for a while and came back to a cold cup (I haven’t yet turned the heat on in the house, I don’t know why I haven’t. And I really don’t know why I’m sitting here, complaining about not doing it instead of getting up and doing it right now) and it is still really delicious! Sweet, earthy, and just plain good. REALLY good.

Used the last of the sample. I wasn’t sure there was enough for a mug. I forgot how tightly this is hand rolled. It expanded nicely and formed a carpet on the bottom of my press and a hanging canopy at the top of the water. Kind of cool. On the second cup the leaf hung throughout the press like a little jungle. Visual things like this amuse me.

First cup started bitter. My bad. I got the water too hot. As the cup cooled, it took it in stride and became buttered veggies. The second cup started more planty tasting. It turned more green leaf and veggies as it cooled. Nice aftertaste throughout.

I don’t think I got this as hot as I thought I did. It is cool already. The unaltered taste is a little sweet but light and passes through a short but nice bitter bite that fades into a light green aftertaste. I unapologetically add some sweetener at this point and the flavors really pop. This is now a wonderfully creamy green tea. The bite is smoothed out in the late sip yet asserts itself well in the lingering aftertaste. Zen Tea continues to impress me. This is a really nice cup of green tea.

Finally, a day off!
My dad was here for a few weeks, then my best friend. So many days of cleaning and entertaining. I got a few days to relax, then I need to prepare for my cruise.
So today I slept in, relaxed, vegged on the internet, watched UFC (OWWWW Silva, OMG) and cleaned the garage. During my relaxing, I had a few round of Zen Tea’s Coconut Oolong. So creamy and slick of a tea, with a great green floral oolong base. Great smell on this tea too. My cup is empty and I can still smell those juicy slabs of coconut. YUM.

Yes, Zen Tea’s Coconut Oolong – we are together again! I could not resist adding you to my cart.

I dig the floral and the sweet coconuttyness in this tea! The oolong here is fantastic as well! YUM!

And I drank my entire pot really fast while I was working on my crochet blog and pattern sales.

Wanna see? OWL CROCHET CUTENESS
http://awkwardsoul.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/owl-amigurumi-crochet-pattern-tea-mug-owls/
The Snowy Owl is a photo bomber and the Green Owl likes tea!

I had a rough brazilian jiu jitsu practice last night. Mostly involving a 220lb+ guy and having to repeatedly change levels, grab his legs, get up, practically pick him up and toss him to the ground. Got home, found out we had no hot water, so showered in cold water, ugg.

Woke up barely, hurting everywhere, and I made some black tea that I was intending to review for the blog, but inhaled it. Now I figure I should drink the rest of this oolong, which is like half a cup worth. Not sure why I didn’t leave much. I dig the floral and the fleshy cream coconut taste.
I’m hoping to do a Zen tea order and send it to Canada when I visit, or have family bring it to me before visiting.

AAERRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!
So mad right now! I was going to do a side by side tasting of Zen Tea’s Coconut Green and Coconut Oolong.. and a huge ugly a$$ fly fell into my cup of coconut green before I could taste both teas together! EWWW! I was almost tempted to scoop out the fly and drink, but decided against it. Eww. Cry.

I chose this Coconut green and their Coconut Oolong from Zen teas – see which one I like more!

DRY: Sweet, natural coconut smell, with a hint of smokey.
STEEPED: Milky coconut, light gold tea.

TASTE: Lightly floral, vegetal and creamy oolong, sweeter from the coconut with a really good coconut aftertaste. The coconut here is very natural tasting – I can almost sense the texture of the coconut flesh while I sip. Creamy taste lingers in my mouth.

Second infusion, I cannot get any coconut flavor but the oolong is still good – sweet, lightly floral and bright. I’d drink this second infusion on its own! No astringency.

COMMENTS: This oolong is pretty solid – a great combo with the bao zhong. The second infusion is pretty good too, despite lacking coconut.

Comparison (copy n pasted to Coconut Green)
Coconut green = More balanced flavoring with coconut and sencha together
Coconut oolong = the coconut melds with the oolong, enhancing the creamy and sweet of the bao zhong, with a coconut finish.

Tough call, I’m leaning on Coconut oolong more as the whole experience is overall fantastic, but coconut green has a really good flavoring as well.

TY out to Zen Tea for a sample of this!

I do like my coconut – especially these days since my husband and his family hate it, so I’m mysteriously drawn to coconut more and more.

I chose this Coconut green and their Coconut Oolong from Zen teas – see which one I like more!

DRY: Smells like coconut milk with a hint of grassyness. Interesting

STEEPED: Fragrant green, with a creamy smell. Golden green colour.

TASTE: Sweet coconut, like eating a fresh baby coconut – buttery, milky, naturally sweet. All this is balanced with a sencha base. No bitterness.

The flavor has no fancy frills – just coconut and sencha, no chocolate, pineapple or stevia. Actually, from all these Zen teas I’ve tried, they follow that theme – no frills or wild blends, simple flavoring, playing up the tea.

COMMENTS:
Very good! I like how balanced the coconut and sencha are. If you prefer a green over oolong, I’d give this tea a try.

Comparison
Coconut green = More balanced flavoring with coconut and sencha together
Coconut oolong = the coconut melds with the oolong, enhancing the creamy and sweet of the bao zhong, with a coconut finish.

Tough call, I’m leaning on Coconut oolong more as the whole experience is overall fantastic, but coconut green has a good balance I enjoy.

A review of Anti Strain by Zen Tea life

Company: Zen Tea life
Tea Name: Anti-Strain
Tea Type/Varietal: herb
Region: India
Steeping Vessel/Amt. Leaf: cup/ loose leaf
Liquor Color: light yellow
Leaf Characteristics: the leaves and coloring appears to be a bright green-yellow mixture with bits of cinnamon pieces, ginger pieces, fennel, orange peels and plenty of licorice roots.

1st Steeping:
Water temperature: 200 Fahrenheit
Time: 5 minutes

I am finishing off some teas that I found from earlier on in the year. This one is an Ayurveda herbal tea made to help ease off the days stress and I so need it. I take the remainder of this tea and put it in my tea cup and adding some freshly drawn tap water to my cup I put it in the microwave for two minutes and left to steep a few minutes more; about five minutes total.

Tea’ aroma is lovely fruity and herbal aroma with the cinnamon and ginger roots with the orange peels kicking and biting at ones’ nostrils. As I sip of this tea, the licorice flavoring is very strong, making this tea too sweet for me. I don’t like licorice so this is not as enjoyable a cup of tea for me. I had forgotten about the headiness of the licorice roots. Other wise this tea should be most enjoyable for those favoring herbal / Ayurveda teas.

2nd Steeping:
Water temperature: 200 Fahrenheit
Time: 5 minutes

I tried to have more steeps of this tea to try and unfortunately the licorice roots is still the major top note for this tea; drowning the other flavorings all together. I insist that it is because I do not like licorice and others liking herbal/Ayurveda teas will love, love this tea.

A review of Anti Strain Tea by Zen Tea

Company: Zen Tea
Tea Name: Anti Strain
Tea Type/Varietal: Herb
Region:
Steeping Vessel/Amt. Leaf: cup/ loose herbs
Plucking Season:
Liquor Color: Honey
Leaf Characteristics: there are pieces of licorice roots, ginger, orange peels, and cardamom.

1st Steeping:
Water temperature: 200 Fahrenheit
Time: 5 minutes
This is another sampler sent to me from the folks at Zen Tea Life. I open the tea pouch and find a heady mixture of herbals and smelling so very sweet. I take a small teaspoonful of the tea and put this in my cup and adding the boiled water to my cup, I live it to steep for five minutes. I take the cover from the cup and take the tea and begin to sip it slowly, all the while taking in the tea’s aroma which smells of licorice and the tea’s color is that of honey.

From sip after sip of tea, I am met with the licorice as the top note; the ginger and cardamom and fennel are next in the mixture of taste. This has got to be the sweetest tea that I have ever had. I have added nothing to this tea and yet it taste very strongly of sugar when in fact it is the licorice that is roaming in the cup.

I am not a fan of licorice. I would enjoy this tea much more with less of the licorice because I am finding it too overpowering, kind of like me and I can be annoying at most times.

I am hoping to have some vitalizing energy since I did have this tea today. Thank you Zen Tea for sending this sampler my way.

Very, very strong robust Irish Breakfast tea. Unusual looking and I echo the mysterious sentiments below. Definitely gives you a kick start for the day. Care not to oversteep and I add a little sugar to mine. Plenty of flavour and a rich aroma. Doesn’t have much scent before brewing. If you want like your breakfast teas hearty and strong, this is one for you. Thanks to Zen Life Tea for the sample!

Definitely my Sick tea. Got another cold yesterday I’m at my 7th cold since last September hope this one will not transforms into sinusitis just like the last 2( kinda getting sick of it .. ya i know bad pun sorry couldn’t resist it ) but where i leave it’s a total epidemic this winter.

Getting back from work this morning my throat was hurting bad, now it hurt so bad i can’t even talk i get back to work only Thursday so at least i have a chance to get some rest till then.

A extra strong cup of this one as been made in hope of soothe my throat but this time more than one cup will be needed it’s a chance last time i bought a lot of it i shall add some honey and lemon in the next one

First cup of tea since at least 2 week i mostly drink coffee this day because of my work but today it’s my week-end it’s cold outside and i have a really really sore throat i always think of tea when I’m sick nothing is better than a hot tea when sick .

I was searching something with ginger in it when i found that one got it with the sample promo from Zen tea a big while ago. I got a weird smell when opened the bag since it have only 3 ingredient i assume it come from the ginger smell kinda like some cough medicine well I’m sick so it okay if it can make my throat less sore and make me stop coughing it could have smelt like rotten fish i would still drink it.

The colour is a beautiful brown it’s like drinking maple syrup it burn when i drink but a good burn. Definitely liking this one a little sweet at first then after a few sip the ginger taste appear don’t really know how to describe it my mind is numb today so now i will go to sleep till my Hobbit moleskine get shipped at my place

Before Steeping:
Scent- Very nutty, mainly Hazelnut.

After Steeping:
Color- A very clear yellow, not yet green.
Scent- Hazelnut, and some other type of roasted nut.

Taste:
Nude- VERY nutty,not quite sure that I like it, tastes like rum without alcohol.
Experiment- added Captain Morgan Spiced Rum…FAIL,, just dont do it, it was VERY watery.
With Sugar- not that bad

*Though I am not a Oolong tea fan, I wanted to try something different, generally I am not in Love with it.

Sip down. The wet leaf is roasted cocoa. Smooth. Sweet. No bitterness. I kept thinking I needed mini-marshmallows with this one. Yum.