Zen Tea

This one was pretty alright for me, nothing really extraordinary. But I do love watching oolongs unfurl! It didn’t have as much of a rich, creaminess that I tend to associate with oolongs, and I didn’t get ANY hint of vanilla, but it did taste and smell very nuttytoastyroasty to me. I didn’t put any sugar in. I went outside in the cold and read Norse creation myths while drinking this. Kept me warm!

I must say the main reason i choose that tea was because i love the legend that go with it ( the Wei legend ) ans because i always wanted to taste it

The dry leaf: look like uneven small pearl ( seeing that i should have made it in my perfect steeper and not in my perfect cup they quite expend and maybe use less leaf so they could expend more i put that mistake on another cold coming since i get 1398129387 colds by years that normal ) It as the grass smell of green tea and some flower fragrance too i can’t say which im no good with flower smell and flavor yet for my re-steep i will transfer the leaves in my perfect steeper.

Once steeped the water get a pale green color that look wonderful in glass mug the aroma is still grassy but a smooth grassy i can’t detect any other smell in it no bitterness at all in the taste some astringency that one taste better when hot as he cool down i find that the taste become bitter ( mostly i like my tea when they become a little cooler i suppose everything need a exception lol ) for now i really like that one it’s goes on my maybe keep in stock list will taste it more before giving it a note

Updates: For the second steep i transfer the leaves in my perfect steeper and just WOW some much leaves no surprise they did not expend well in the perfect cup half my steeper was made of leaves lol 3:30 steep this time
Already a more strong green color appear it still really taste like a green tea it’s so smooth and buttery

I had received a sample of this many years and I am pleased to get it once again with a recent order.

This was my lunch tea to go with some ramen noodles that I had doctored up. I like to ditch the flavoring pack that comes with it – way too salty – and add my own seasoning. Younger people may not remember that the first ramen noodles we could buy here in the US said that it tastes best with a bit of oil added! I usually make my own seasoning with a little bouillon paste like Penzey’s or Better Than Bouillion, then a smidgeon of low sodium tamari or soy sauce, a smidgeon of fermented mushroom sauce, maybe a little Korean Sweet Chili sauce – whatever we have on hand and I am in the mood for. I usually add frozen peas and this time I added some leftover diced sautéed onion, too.

I made three steeps and I had added extra leaf to my Kamjove to make up for the fact that I was planning to do so. And this was really good! Delicate and soft, it would win over a green tea hater. It is lightly buttery, lightly vegetal in a creamy way, and after you have a cup or two the flavor lingers more as well as developing a slight drying.

Really good with a meal or by itself.

This is a sample provided for review by Zen Tea. Thank you for the generous samples!

The name of this tea is CURLED Dragon Silver Tip, so why was I surprised when I poured out some leaves and they were curled? LOL! I don’t think I have ever seen a green tea curled this way, only oolongs. This is really pretty, so into my little glass pot it goes! The little dragons are green and white and the dry leaf smells very nice – floral with a bare hint of mineral. I want to watch this pretty tea steep. All steeps were two minutes. I think next time I make this I will try a three minute steep and see what happens! My samples were large enough to play with the parameters a bit.

First steep: the leaves are only partially unfurled and the liquor is pale. The aroma is sweet and floral, with a hint of buttered sweet vegetables. The taste matches the aroma – buttery, floral, fairly light, not sour or bitter, the taste of sweet, tender vegetables. Very nice!

Second steep: the leaves are fully expanded now. This is a very nice green tea that you could enjoy every day. There is no sour taste and it is sweet, smooth, and mild. The more you drink this, the more flavor lingers on the tongue. There is a tiny bit of pleasant drying, not much.

Third steep: pale peachy gold, very pale. Aroma now faint, flavor lighter but present. The third steep is really a stretch for me but you could probably do three rapid steeps in succession and combine them in one pot as I sometimes do and let all the flavor levels of the steeps blend and balance each other. Or just use two steepings!

Thank you, Zen Tea! This is a lovely green, both in appearance and flavor!

I had two nice surprises today. I found this rice pattern tea set at an estate sale for $5. I almost didn’t get it because I really don’t NEED it, but who could possibly leave it there when it is only $5?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24998856@N06/8036999258/

Then I got home and discovered that my samples from Zen Tea had arrived! These are very nice size samples, too, leaving plenty of room for experimentation.

I love roasted oolongs and I especially love monkey-picked tieguanyins. I was glad to see steeping instructions on the front of the packet so I didn’t have to stop and check the instructions online.

The dry leaves are large and very dark, and you can readily tell by smell that this is a dark roasted oolong. After steeping the liquor is a beautiful golden color, very pretty in my double walled glass cups.

The flavor is nice and follows through on its roasted aroma like a memory of the processing it went through. This reminds me a little of a Da Hong Pao. There are hints of spice and baked apricots – you know the ones near the edge of the cobbler where things start to get crispy. The more I drink, the more the flavor is lingering. As it cools, it just keeps getting better. Yum!

The description says this is a good tea for digestion, and I am grateful because I am trying to get off of omeprazole and need all the help I can get!

This resteeps well and seems to be a very good quality oolong tea. Thank you, Zen Tea, for the opportunity to try it!

Oh, and all you folks who are getting into matcha, keep an eye on Zen Tea’s site. They have a great sifter like you see in videos but I have NEVER been able to find, but they are sold out right now. I want one!

I have loved everything from Zen Tea thus far but this one is not one of the loves.
The flavoring is too artificial tasting to me.
It leaves this almost oily feeling in my mouth and reminds me of what I dislike about many of David’s Teas.

Many thanks to Zen Tea for this sample!!
I really wanted to try this; chai is such a comforting beverage that I always crave it at bedtime, but never have it because of the caffeine. Perfect solution!
Well, almost. I think I’ve decided that rooibus isn’t my favorite, but this will do in a pinch, especially when paired with milk and honey. Then I don’t taste the rooibus as much and I can still have the rich spiciness that I find so cozy.
I think rooibus enthusiasts will like this one! For people that want chai at bedtime, it’ll do. :)

Steepster gobbled up my tasting note on this last night. Many thanks to Zen Tea for their generously sized complimentary samples! This one is definitely darker than the light and medium roasted oolongs I have been drinking. I normally only discard the first short steep (rinse) on pu’er’s, as the are often the sweetest most sparkling infusions and I really enjoy them, but this one smelled, odd.. and was light purplish hue, one taste told me I best treat it as a rinse.

The next infusion and the leaves had a similar smell. It wasn’t fishy like bad pu-er, though perhaps it was a bit metallic, but really I think it was just charcoally from the dark roast, which I suppose I’m just not used to. The third and fourth infusion were quite nice and left a very satisfying cool and filling feeling between the back of my mouth and my throat.

Next time I would like to do a longer rinse and a longer steep, basically follow the western instructions provided on the packet, instead of the gonfu I did. Thankfully the samples provided allow for several sessions. I will update with my observations then.

Thank you Zen Tea for the samples! I decided to go with this one first because I want iced tea, and I assume I picked this one out for that reason. I actually completely forgot about picking out these samples so it was a nice surprise to get them.

I was surprised by the water temperature called for, but went with it, and there is definitely no bitterness to be had! Yay!

The Chinese sencha is the predominant flavor on first sip before it gets super fruity. I added a bit of agave and it made the fruit flavors pop more. Beforehand, it just seemed like I couldn’t even pinpoint that there was cranberry and mango. Now, it’s very apparent that it’s mango, although I think it probably lost a bit of the tartness from the cranberry.

It’s nice and refreshing to drink this one. I love the combination of these two fruit flavors. It makes them taste more exotic than they really are!

This should be great even hot, which I’ll try next. And I definitely need to cold steep it too.

I am perplexed by this tea! It sure smells like other Irishy/Englishy breakfast teas I’ve had, but it doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen before. Well, I take that back. It looks like coffee. Coffee grounds. Super weird, but exciting! Used a big-ish teaspoon and boiling water…immediately when the water hit the tea, it darkened up considerably. Like, to a color that I would perceive as done in other teas (I sometimes judge my tea’s doneness by it’s color, which is okay sometimes…but definitely not others. I have a problem overbrewing more delicate teas). Oof, this is a dark, STRONG tea. Definitely will keep me awake for a day of studying! I’m too much of a wuss to drink it without sugar. Hmm, upon poking at the used up leaves, they almost seem to mush together. Like coffee grounds. Mysterious.

Wow, it took me only five days to sip this 1 oz. of tea down. I tried the last of it as a cold brew. It’s better this way than hot, but it has a weird dry undertone like a lot of other Zen teas. Must be that base again. Plus the vanilla flavouring is a little artificial.

Oh hi, Zen teas that I purchased back in April but still haven’t touched yet! As I’m sure everyone knows, I’m always on the hunt for a wonderful vanilla black. Zen’s prices are super sweet so I definitely couldn’t pass this one up.

The dry leaf is quite bland. It smells sweet, but like a watered down sugary vanilla. Like adding a drop of vanilla to corn syrup. It doesn’t quite grab your senses. It’s also not an obvious vanilla. If I were to smell this without knowing what it’s supposed to be, I’d just assume it’s a vaguely sugary black tea.

Without any additives, it’s also very bland. The base itself is on the weaker side even though I steeped it for three minutes as per their directions. While it’s nice to not have an extremely robust or astringent base blocking out the vanilla, I still expected more from the base itself.

The flavouring doesn’t even taste like vanilla to me either. Maybe like a light vanilla caramel, but artificial. I added some soy milk and while I prefer to drink it this way, it’s ultimately underwhelming. Maybe I’m going crazy but after a while, so many of these flavoured teas start to taste the same. You know, like a vaguely sugared up black tea.

I’m trying to try all of the new-to-me teas because I am one person away from getting the tea box! I can’t wait. This seems to be another cut-tear-curl blend but I don’t think Zen mentioned that in their description. I like to have a couple of these on hand, since they are good for 1)caffeine and 2) the strongest flavor possible. It wakes you up! The tiny leaves are black with a bit of gold occasionally. This one is nice for a cut-tear-curl. I steeped for just two minutes both times. The first steep was a bit more astringent than the second steep and I could probably steep these leaves a dozen times and get a nice flavor. The flavor is tough and a bit like rye bread. The dried leaves smelled like a dry field. This is a nice one but there are SO MANY nice teas at Zentealife.com. I think their sale is still running! I’d definitely be buying some more if I wasn’t overrun with teas right now!

I’ve not had this tea hot but lately, as I try to reduce my caffeine consumption, I’ve been drinking this rooibos iced quite often. Very sweet as is so I’ve not needed to add sugar. Makes a nice cold beverage on these summer days. I’m not a real fan of the rooibos taste but in this particular tea, the rooibos flavor is minimized by the sweet buttery caramel flavor.

In between all these caffeinated black teas I’ve been drinking all day, I decided to try another new tea and made a cup of this. I was pretty sceptical after reading the ingredient list and smelling the tea, as it smelled soo darn fruity and there’s just so much in it, I didn’t know how it would taste. I also worried it’d be fairly tart due to the hibiscus. I steeped for 4 minutes in just under boiling water. Ehh, the steeped smell is a bit tart and fruity, not sure if I’m a fan lol. The liquor is also a bright pink, definitely hib in there.

As for the flavor, it is definitely fruity. I’m trying to figure out which one is the most prominent, I think it’s the hibiscus, currants and apples. And also maybe the citric acid? I am getting a tart almost lemony flavor, but more like orange vitamin C tablets haha. Just the aftertaste though, so don’t be too freaked out. It does say there’s vitamin C in it, so maybe it’s a similar flavoring? Haha, not much yogurt flavor, or blueberry for that matter.

Overall, it’s not nearly as scary as I thought it would be from the dry scent, with all the fruits and flowers and blargh, more like potpourri (sp?) than tea. I might use the rest of my sample to make some iced tea to see what that tastes like. Not a bad tisane, but not my favorite.

This is actually the very first oolong I tried. Even though I now prefer the aged and roasted oolongs, it is still quite enjoyable and somehow very comforting. Today I enjoyed two hot infusions and then went for a third to enjoy iced sometime tomorrow or the next day. It’s one tea that will remain in my tea cupboard.

This tea makes me happy! I like coconut very much and I have become quite fond of oolongs so the combination is great for me. The coconut flavoring seems quite authentic (i.e., not at all artificial)in my opinion. The oolong leaves open nicely on the first steep and unfurl completely through the 2nd. I’ve not tried for three because I would not want a flavor any weaker than that resulting from the 2nd infusion. This will be a staple in my tea cupboard – I’ve already reordered.

I found a small plastic bag with one pot’s worth of something labeled “Grandma’s Garden” in one of the cupboards in my parents’ house. In a Christmas themed tin, of all places. If I recall correctly, we got it from a little tea shop in Urbana-Champaign when we visited my sister, so that must have been at /least/ three years ago…

It’s obviously not the freshest, but it still tasted all right — like those Celestial Seasonings fruit zingers, but better, with a better balance of the acidity and sweetness. Not my favorite, but take that with a grain of salt, since I’m not even /entirely/ sure this is the same tea we’re talking about… =P

Violently pretty! I like this tea – it’s not super tart & the strawberries are really out there. Not creamy at all, to me. I’d like to try their black/strawberry next time, I think. Had this one late last night and got side-tracked with the child.. it was lovely cool in the morning, too. If strawberries didn’t trigger K’s oral allergy syndrome, I’d cold brew this with a bit of honey. Nom nom nom.

(It’s funny, looking at my last reviews of this tea, that I used to consider it more tart than I do now.. I wonder if my tastes have changed? Or was I just exaggerating?)

Last night with chocolate cake & strawberry frosting! Yum.

When I was looking up this tea to log it, I saw that they also have a Strawberry Cream that’s a black tea! I should have got that instead. Oh well. This smells amazing and it’s a really beautiful vivid colour and it’s more tart than I expected, but still good! It would be amazing iced, I’m sure. I added a bit of sugar, didn’t really make a big difference.

Tea tea. I have a lot of this tea.

No ratings for this one yet? Too bad!

I love a good smoky tea. But there is a fine line between the good and the bad smoky teas, I think. This one is delightful! I may have let the water cool too much, as the black base didn’t seem very strong. The cup was a very light brown in color. But the smoke is there. It’s also very sweet and silky. My second steep was brewed for a few minutes just after boiling and it is certainly stronger now! But it still isn’t anything astringent. It’s very smoky! Either cup, the black tea itself is hidden behind the smoke, so yeah, definitely smoky. I kind of liked that the first steep was milder and the second steep had such a kick to it. Certainly the blend I wouldn’t mind representing lapsang souchong in my collection. It’s like a BBQ at a bonfire!

I already mentioned it in the forums, but Zentealife.com has a 30% off sale on their wonderful teas with coupon code Summer2013. They also have a nice rewards program.

SIPDOWN! (229) Happy to have made it under 30 before i leave for a week but it sucks that i really don’t have the effort/energy to put in to bringing tea with me and trying to find somewhere to make it. I don’t mind this one, but it’s not a re-order for me. I’m glad i had the chance to try it but that’s as far as i need to take it heh