Zen Tea

This is my first White Peony, and I really enjoyed it. I used 5g in a 100mL gaiwan with 175 degree water. This tea yielded the most distinct hay/straw flavor I’ve ever gotten from a tea. Beneath that were some plummy, malty sweet notes. The body was slightly thick, but not particularly so.

The leaves for this kind of tea are pretty interesting with some small fuzzy ones and some larger ones as well. A fun tea to drink and I’m glad I got to sample it. So far (take this with a grain of salt, as I haven’t had much of either), I like White Peony better than Silver Needle when it comes to white tea.

My coral colored teapot has become my genmaicha pot. I realized thay it’s pretty much the only thing I brew in it because I always want a nice big pot of genmaicha when I drink it. This one really does better with less steep times but it’s a very fine line between the creamy and the bitter. Maybe I should say grassy instead. Creamy just isn’t a descriptive word I think of when it comes to Genmaicha.

This is almost right on par with Zhenas Gypsy tea Coconut Chai. The steep time on this was surprisingly shorter then I thought. At least for the coconut flavor. It pairs well with my egg and toast. They could definitely up the amount of coconut they use in the tea. If you want a better coconut flavor it seems that the best steep time is around the 2 minute mark.

Oolong tea is so unique. I’m on the second steep now but it can go for 3 or 4 more? Wow! Grassy beginning with a mineral finish. Somewhat creamy. Definitely a flowery aroma.

How has this one not been reviewed yet?? I’m on my second steeping right now and that wonderful grassy, vegetal, flavor is still going strong. It’s slightly more bitter then the first steeping but still have that wonderful fresh taste.

The liquor of this tea is a very light orangey-yellow, which is lighter than I expected, considering it’s both roasted and pretty oxidized. I definitely got some fruitiness from this tea, not sure if it’s peach, though that’s probably the closest to what I’m tasting. The roast adds a nice caramel-like sweetness to the flavor of this tea. Body was not particularly thick. I did get the sour note that I’ve experienced with some Tie Guan Yin teas that I’m not particularly sure I enjoy, but it wasn’t particularly prominent in this one.

Green tea and colds don’t mix because you can’t properly taste anything. However, once you get better this is a good one to start off with! Floral notes. Hints of coconut especially in the after taste. My daughter is making faces at herself in the mirror and its pretty amusing (she’s 2.) Anyway, I’m going to try to cold steep this tea and see how it turns out.

Cold steep: I am a fan!!! I let it steep for at least 20 mins in cold water and yum. Quite good!

Another one from Zen! The leafy green tea has tiny cubes of mango and certainly has a fruity scent to them! I didn’t really notice any cranberry pieces in the blend. There wasn’t a fragrance or flavor of cranberry either. But this slightly vegetal flavored green tea sure pairs nicely with this mango. It’s very refreshing with the sweet fruit and slightly bold astringency of the tea. Very delicious. I bet it’s great iced. The second steep has plenty of flavor too.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a full mug// 33 minutes after boiling // 2-3 minute steep
Steep #2 // 25 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

A tea I grabbed in Zen’s super generous Steepster 50% off sale. Basically I grabbed a few favorites and a bunch of samples. The dry leaves here are short in length and black — looks like the typical keemun to me! The flavor has that lovely slightly tangy quality that keemun has, like the tanginess of plums. Along with the tiniest hint of smoke, really not much at all. Otherwise, the medium bodied brew has notes of bread, wine, and the hints of bright brassiness that I usually notice in assam. It’s a great combination of flavor notes and a keemun I could easily stock up on.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

Here’s Hoping Traveling Tea Box

Succulent, juicy, tropical fruit magic! I absolutely MUST remove at least another cup of this gem before I pass the TTB on this weekend. This fruit blend tea has several different fruity pieces that make up it’s bulk. I taste primarily Coconut and pineapple with a creaminess that must come from the coconut. I didn’t taste any of the hibiscus which others have, but I will agree with them as to the pina colada-esque flavour! I am very sad now that when Zen tea had that special steepster sale I didn’t have the funds to take advantage of their generous offer. :(
Anyway, if you get the chance to try this and you enjoy pina coladas I cannot recommend this tea enough!!

The tea itself has an incredible aroma a strawberries and creme, it is like aroma therapy in a can. The tea tastes really good too. The flavor of the strawberries comes through strongly as does the creamy taste. It does not taste artificial.

I brewed this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 minutes.

Mmm, this one satisfies the chai craving! The smooth medium bodied black tea has the perfect balance of spices and hints of sweet vanilla. I wish it were superpowered vanilla but I can live with this. The vanilla really lingers. The spices are perfect on this day of reappearing snow… in April. The cup was gone in a flash. The second steep didn’t seem as awesome as the first, losing a little of the vanilla qualities and transforming into more of a typical chai. Still good though!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// few minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 6+ minute steep

I also just finished Zen’s Raspberry Vanilla rooibos the other day. Though ancient, it was still pretty tasty.

Tried this in my 20oz cast iron enameled teapot this time rather than attempting to use a gaiwan. I used 6.3g of leaf and 160f water (increased to 165 after two steeps) and did steeps of 1m, 30s, 1m, 2m.

The first steep was the best – Crisp and vibrant grassy flavor with a lightly fruity finish that lingered in the mouth. The flavors of this steep seemed to explode in the mouth.

Second steep was a more subdued version of the first.

Third steep had a sweet and grassy start with a bit of a dry finish. The fruity notes were no longer present.

The fourth steep was more a corn sweetness with a bit of a mouth drying effect.

I much prefer sencha this way to attempting to do it in a gaiwan, and I’m excited to try it with some other small sencha samples I recently received in a swap!

My first sencha! I thought this one was pretty decent. Not particularly suited to brewing with a gaiwan due to the small leaves, but I made it work. I used 3.6g and did longer steepings than usual: 30s, 20s, 30s, 60s, 2m. Liquor looked like yellow gatorade lol. Very grassy flavors and something remaining on my palate that reminds me of some sort of fruit, but I can’t put my finger on what kind. Extremely smooth tea, and body was decent as well.

I notice a few notes to this. There is a creamy note. There is a note that seems spicy to me, I suppose this is the bergamot. The tea itself seems to have a slight malty note. Overall this is good.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 4 min.

I needed another tea to cold brew without the dreaded hibiscus. I don’t mind hibiscus when it doesn’t overwhelm the tea, but it gets a little tiring when it is in EVERY fruit tea. Anyway, there’s none in this one so yay!
And really, I couldn’t pass up the 50% off sale they had in March. I have so much tea already, so what’s a little more right ;p. I picked up 100g of it because it was so cheap!

I cold Brewed this tea for about 20 hours. This tea is sweet coconut and pineapple. It tastes very tropical and almost like a pina colada, which is my favourite alcoholic drink. Yum

Here’s Hoping Traveling Tea Box

This is a creamy, toasty coconut-y chai. I enjoyed both steeps that I had of this. The first I added some honey and almond milk to it which was really yummy. I felt that the chai & coconut flavours were spot on and mated with the black tea very well. It was a cup of comfort really. The second steep was slightly less coconut and cream flavoured but still a nice chai blend with a hint of coconut. I’d have it again if offered. :)

100 Hooray!

Here’s Hoping Traveling Tea Box

Another wonderful black tea! Nice notes of cocoa, and baked bread abound in these lovely little pearls. I infused them 6 six times (all day!) I did however brew these at 180 degrees, which is slightly less than the requested temperature I believe. I was able to watch the leaves unfurl a bit each time which was really quite lovely. It was interesting to see a black tea pretending to be a green oolong. You know what I mean. Hehe.

If you read my note here before you could probably guess I was sick and couldn’t taste anything correctly. My apologies to Zen Tea because this is a great tea. I’m a little disappointed that they had to add milk flavor to it but of all the Milk Oolong I’ve tasted thus far only one has been a true milk oolong. This one is by far my favorite in the flavor added category. It’s rick and smooth. Milky, of course and I detect flavors of melon too! It’s light and leaves a good feeling on your tongue. The dry and wet smell are also amazing.

This blend tastes of raspberry, it tastes of vanilla, and for better or worse depending on your perspective you can taste the rooibos. It is a flavorful blend. I think I would like it better if the rooibos were a little less strong. But still, it is good.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for five minutes.

Being sick is really doing weird things to my taste buds. The more you steep is the earthier it becomes. I’ve cleansed my palate with the first brew. Hoping for more floral notes on the second brew. A bit of floral notes along with some grassy notes. Going in for a third round. Hmmm nothing much in the first couple of minutes. Third infusion was very bland. …. I feel that I need another cup of this tea. You know maybe its because I’m sick but I really can’t quite get the floral notes from this that I was hoping for. I’ll have to come back to this later after I’m better.

Here’s Hoping Traveling Tea Box

While I do believe I got more of the green tea flavours that make up this blend in my sampling of it, I really must refer you to Tea-Sipper’s Review. I agree with it completely. It was a primarily strawberry flavoured green blend. I didn’t detect much, if any, citrus flavour at all. I was able to get a roasted green flair in my cup from the genmaicha in the blend though. I enjoyed it. Thanks Zen Tea & Tea-Sipper!

Here’s Hoping Traveling Tea Box

What a yummy sweet potato delight! The heaviness of flavour was remarkable so I knew I would be able to steep it many times. I got about 6 or 7 infusions before I gave out (it was bed time!) I think I could have maybe gotten another steep too.

My first Dragonwell, and I think it’s probably my favorite green tea I’ve tried yet. Really love the crisp flavors from this, quite refreshing. Sharp grassy notes, almost resinous, dominate the early steeps. Crispness remains but drops off to some degree in later steeps. Also get a lot of nice, nutty sweetness tempered by a bit of astringency. Body had some almost creamy aspects to it, but was not extremely thick. Very refreshing tea. If there’s a green tea that I would enjoy enough to want to order a lot of, right now it’d be Dragonwell for sure.