Zhena's Gypsy Tea

Cold-brewed!

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

So I thought this would go PERFECTLY after dinner. The warm pumpkin spice flavors fit in with my salad and stuffed mushrooms. I used 3 tea bags instead of 2 for a pot. The pumpkin comes out a little bit more and it tastes like pumpkin pie. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm perfect :]

Full review – tomorrow – April 1st on http://sororiteasisters.com/ but here are snippits:

A big THANK YOU to Marcel Duchamp for this sample!

I really have to be in the mood for a chai. Coconut Chai Tea from Zhena’s Gypsy Tea was really calling to me today. Sent to me from a Steepster.com friend, and I am happy for it, I am sipping a yummy chai with a nice hint at coconut, and a slight taste of vanilla. No vanilla is listed in the ingredients but I taste it nonetheless. Must be how the coconut gives the tea a light milky and nutty flavor combined with the typical spices in chai. Regardless, I am really enjoying this chai from Zhena’s.

I will say if you are expecting a really coconutty tea, this isn’t it. Honestly I would not mind a bit more coconut flavor myself, but I am satisfied with it being lightly flavored.

I’ve had this tea in my cupboard for about a year. Based on the other reviews, I wonder whether the tea gets better with age. I like the rooibos as a base. It really accentuates the lavender. I do definitely smell the lavender – noticeable without being overwhelming. The smell is very soothing. Between that and the fact that this tea is caffeine free, I find it a good option for a bedtime tea. It’s also great as an iced tea – refreshing and faintly sweet.

I use 1 teabag in 8 ounces of hot water, not quite boiling. I just leave the teabag in the mug. For the iced tea, I use the same proportions and let the tea cool (first on the counter and then in the fridge).

No notes yet.

It’s not that peachy in flavour, but still pretty good. There are some hints of fruit, but I just like the base tea.

thanks so much Kasumi no Chajin. for sending a couple of these to try. I really like the idea of a black tea with hazelnut and chai. After a four minute steep, this one isn’t terrible. I’m not sure if it is the spices I am tasting or if there is splenda in this. I hope I haven’t started assuming that all bagged teas have splenda in them. But the flavors in here somehow taste like splenda, which isn’t very appealing if it’s here or not. Obviously it shouldn’t be a problem if you like splenda anyway. Otherwise, I like the toasty hazelnut and spices flavor.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

Hmm, I wish I’d have known this was a red rooibos before I selected it to bring to work with me today… Both the bag and the brew smell quite strongly of rooibos, pretty medicinal. However, from the brewed tea at least, I am getting quite hefty smells of caramel, like jarred caramel sauce after it’s been warmed. Not so much apple, though, and the chamomile isn’t earning it any points, either. (I’m only a fan of chamomile in certain applications, anyway, because it tends to taste like bland lemonade to me, without any of the citrus-y bite that lemonade should have… if that makes any sense.)

Whoa. In the first few sips, I’m getting nothing BUT apple and chamomile. The caramel didn’t show up until the fifth or sixth sip, and the rooibos has mercifully taken a backseat. The overall effect is not as unpleasant as it might have been, but still not something I’d ever think of and go “yeah, I’m in the mood for THAT.” I’ll probably finish this cup, but I definitely won’t be buying this. Thanks to IrishBreakfastLass for this one, though (I think… I may be remembering incorrectly who sent this to me, and if I got the wrong person, I’m sorry!). Glad I got to try it.

No notes yet.

I really wanted to like this tea… My sister bought me some. I’m a huge earl grey fan, but for my taste the raspberries were overpowering and it reminded me of the smell of a Bath & Body Works lotion. It could have been worse, for sure, but I wouldn’t buy another tin.

Tea #17 from the ‘Here’s Hoping’ teabox.

My daughter wanted to try this as her morning tea. I didn’t think she would like it, so I just brewed up the one cup thinking I would finish it. Turns out she loved it. Loved it! I was able to get her to let me try a couple of sips, but this is more her tea review than mine.

Lots of pineapple and coconut flavor mixed with the sweet grassiness of the green tea. The rum (which my daughter referred to as ‘the odd flavor’) lingers on the front of the tongue throughout the sip. No sugar required. The tea is plenty sweet on its own.

She also hinted that this would be great with coconut cake. Looks like I have another tea to add to my shopping list and some baking to do.

Drank at the boy’s place yesterday, but regret throwing out the bags after one infusion. Sigh. Also, definitely should have used Brita water.

Tea #2 from the ’Here’s Hoping’ teabox.

Wow! This is spicy. Just as the spice hits the back of the throat there is a wonderful sweetness from the coconut on the tongue. I really, really like this. I added some sugar and milk to my cup. The milk smooths the spice just a bit, and the sugar highlights the coconut so that the toasted flavor comes out more.

Yum!

Drinkdown…but it could take a while.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

I finally gave in and picked this up a few days ago because it was on sale at Kroger. (This had been on my Shopping List for at least 2 years.) I also want to note that my tin is black, unlike the one in the picture here.

By now I’ve had it both hot and iced, which is what I’m sipping on now. As far as chais go from my experience, this is a sort of mild one. The spices aren’t particularly strong, but that’s not to say it isn’t flavorful. It is, it just doesn’t burn my mouth like the chai at Java Monkey here in Decatur. (I love the burn…) Since the spices are so mild, I tend to drink this one without milk. When I brewed it for the first time, I put a few teaspoon’s worth in, which was also nice, but I was looking for a bolder experience.

The nutmeg and cinnamon are what I taste first, followed by delicious ginger and cardamom. I can’t say the coconut stands out very much, but it’s there. It adds a sweet sort of vanilla-like note, which I am loving right now. Sadly, though, this tea makes me miss Adagio’s Thai Chai. While I’ll be happy to finish this tin, I think I’m going to keep searching for my perfect chai…