Strawberry Zabaglione

Today my shipments from 52teas, Tropical Tea Co., AND Amanda came in. I wasn’t expecting them all at the same time! I was a bit overwhelmed. However, the smell of this one really drew me in. It’s very sweet in the bag, almost too sweet. I tried this first at about 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Very bitter! So I tried again with 2 minutes this time. It’s a bit too weak, though the flavor comes out a bit more as it cools. Somewhere between these two times will be the perfect steeping time. I will find it! This tea smells so delicious, I want to find that in the flavor as well.

Thanks to Azzrian for this sample.

When I first brewed this tea hot, I didn’t think it was anything special. Maybe because I brewed it a little too long and it got bitter? Anyway, it wasn’t doing anything for me hot.

However, I put it in the fridge to let it cool down and man-oh-man, this tea is DELICIOUS cold. I can taste the strawberries and cream so easily and they are so delicious. Black teas can be hit or miss for me, but this is so delicious. If I had more of a sample, I would have tried my hand at a cold brew, but alas my sample was small. I definitely plan to order this when I get a chance (and go through the rest of my tea stash).

I got a generous sample of this tea from Jillian just before the Canada Post strike. Thank you, tea gods! (And Jillian, of course!) I am sorry that I don’t know exactly what zabaglione tastes like, but I get a little creamy, vanilla, rumishness along with the strawberry in this tea. Very good!

YUMMM!!!! Delish! Tho I’m tasting more of a black tea than the strawberries and other goodness that I should be. Need to re-adjust my Trinitea on this one I think. But yummers!!! Perfect for that first morning cup at the office!

Try #1

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 heaping tsp
Water: 12 oz 160° hot spigot water
Tool: kati loose tea system (my Review here.)
Steep Time: 4-5 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweat cream, strawberry, a little acidic
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea, sweet
Flavor: creamy strawberry black tea
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: bitter, astringent
Liquor: translucent dark red-brown

Too bitter! It distracted from the deliciousness.

Post-Steep Additives: 1 packet white sugar

Try #2

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 heaping tsp
Water: 500ml 212° filtered water
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweat cream, strawberry, a little acidic
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea, sweet
Flavor: creamy strawberry black tea
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: astringent, bitter
Liquor: translucent light red-brown

This was a bit weaker, in fact too weak, and bitter. This was better than the first try though.

Post-Steep Additives: rock sugar

Try #3

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 heaping tsp
Water: 500ml 185°F filtered water
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 2:30 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweat cream, strawberry, a little acidic
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea, sweet
Flavor: creamy strawberry black tea
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: slightly astringent
Liquor: translucent light red-brown

This was the best so far. It was creamy and delicious with slight astringent and bitter hints. I think 190-200°F would have been better, but 212°F was too hot.

If it was decaffeinated this would be a wonderful dessert tea, as it is the tea is a wonderful afternoon treat.

Post-Steep Additives: rock sugar

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/08/52teas-loose-leaf-black-tea-strawberry.html

After getting the steep time right I truly enjoyed drinking this tea. The strawberry was actually juicy. I think I may try to make this either traditional iced tea or cold brew, not sure yet. It was slighty sweet and I would have liked it to be more. There was a definate creaminess to it. The best way to describe it this… It is like a high class strawberries and cream dessert you may find a four star hotel made with the freshest berries and homemade cream.

This is my first from 52teas’ permanent collection, and I can’t wait to try it! Although it looks like Cinnamon Roll Honeybush and Pancake Breakfast finally made it into the permanent collection! WOOT WOOT!!!!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!! GO 52TEAS!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!

Ahem. Excuse me. I’m just really excited about Pancake Breakfast being around indefinitely. But on to this tea…

The dry leaves smell strongly of strawberry. Like insanely strong strawberry! The brewed tea has the same aroma. Okay, I think it’s cool enough to try now. ((Takes a huge swig & splutters.)) Ugh! This is the bitterest black tea I’ve ever had! Blech!

I rushed off to the kitchen and added milk and sugar. Thank goodness, that took away the overwhelming tannic bitterness. Hmm, now it’s just a cup of really sweet, really strawberry tea. I think I need to use less leaf next time. This is quite strong, and I’m afraid not in a good way.

Overall, it’s definitely a strawberry tea. There’s no mistaking it for something else. If you’re in the mood for strawberry, this is the way to go. But I think I like the green tea version better (and by that I mean Strawberry Pancake Green Tea).

I’ll try this again later and let you know what happens then. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad. I just didn’t do a very good job of preparing this first cup, and now I’m a little scarred.

I don’t know what a zaga-bologna is, but I want one.
Is it just strawberries and cream?

I want a peach zabbagooga IRL.

This tea is sweet and creamy! Strawberry isn’t overpowering. I’m so terrible, sitting on my couch in the AC drinking hot tea and browsing on my laptop. Spoiled rotten? Totally, but blame it on ASHLEY! She’s the one who gave me the sample!

Thank you, Azzrian, for the super extra especially yummy sample.

First off, this smells wonderful. Steep it? Still smells divine. It maintains a lovely fruity (strawberry) taste combined with smooth creaminess.

It’s very light and refreshing.

Thank you for sharing!

Smells wonderful…. tastes even better! I am in LOVE!

OMG GUYS

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS TASTES LIKE?

LIKE THOSE ICE CREAM BARS.
(You know the strawberry shortcake ones? with the layers? and the like, delicious crackly bits on the outside?)

ANYWAY IT IS AMAZING.

Attention everyone, this is how you do a creamy strawberry black tea! When you open the bag, there are huge chunks of strawberry pieces throughout and its like dipping your nose in a strawberry smoothie – the smell is that incredible. On the first sip you get that creamy-custardy-strawberry (or Zabaglioney) taste, which rounds off nicely with more strawberry. More strawberry! Heaven. And the tea base just kinda sits back and lets the flavours do their thing, which is grand. Can this tea last forever? Please? Please!

I’ve thought about getting this tea for awhile now and I am going to have to do just that soon; thanks Bonnie for giving me some in a swap!

The strawberry flavor is so good. It’s almost like a spoonful of jam added to tea. The flavor is very berry, and doesn’t taste artificial.

I wasn’t getting much of a creamy, custardy flavor until the tea cooled a bit. It mixes well with the strawberry.

It does remind me a bit of Marco Polo but I think it’s a far different tea.

I’ve prepared a couple of pots of this, and have held off writing a tasting note, since I wasn’t getting what I thought I should be getting. The dry tea smell is heavenly. Cream, strawberries, tea, it is all there and it smells like it should taste wonderful. But my first couple of preparations didn’t. I didn’t really get any of the flavor notes, I’d get vague whiffs of strawberry and cream, but nothing like what the dry mix promised. And bitter. Clearly, my standard black tea preparation of boiling and a four minute steep wasn’t cutting it.

So this morning I set out, Brita pitcher in hand (okay, fridge), and looked over what Steepsteristas had to say about their preparation. According to most tasting notes, I was oversteeping. So step one was to cut the steep time to a mere 2.5 minutes. I admit, I was nervous. It seemed so little. Then I came across AmazonV’s tasting note. That recommended a scant 190-200 for temperature. At this point, I was game for anything. So I set up my Breville, filled my pitcher with filtered water (a first for my tea—normally it gets straight tap), and let the Breville do its thing.

This pot definitely has a much stronger scent than previous pots did. It is also significantly less bitter. It still isn’t there however. On the sip I get….tea. Yes, tea. Good tea, but tea. No fruit, no creaminess, just tea.

Is my palate broken? Is this thing on? This is not funny. Maybe I’m just not cut out for fancy flavored teas. This is very demoralizing. Maybe I should stock up on cheap bagged tea so that I’m not spending money on tea that I don’t really “get”.

Okay, hissy fit over. Onward and upward, right?

A very tasty strawberry black tea. I was disappointed by the weakness of the flavor compared to the scent (which is amazing), but that is somewhat normal for flavored teas. I get more of the flavor when exhaling after a sip than while actually drinking. I usually take my black tea plain, or with just milk, but this seems to taste best (i.e. the strawberry is strongest) with just a pinch of sugar. It is smooth enough to drink plain, though. I still need to try it iced sometime.

2nd steep (~6 minutes) is weaker, but drinkable.

2.5g, 8oz water

Seriously, I realize that I’m a big fan of Frank’s teas, but this one…wow. Just wow. I’d give it a 100+ if there was a button to do that.

This is a good tea…is it as great as I wish it was? Not quite. I think my expectations were simply too high. Had I never tried Strawberry pie honeybush I might love it. Don’t get me wrong, I do like it, but its just not love. I’ve tried brewing it a few different ways now, just under boiling, at boiling, for 4 minutes, then for 3 minutes. But it still keeps coming out just short of wondrous. It’s a little too astringent for my taste, and it is overshadowing the strawberries and cream. I am sorry Strawberry Z, I guess it just was not meant to be. We can still be friends. ;)

A package arrived for me today with a bunch of samples generously provided to me by Bonnie. Many thanks to her. All of the teas smell DELICIOUS and I can’t wait to try them. When I came home, I was in the mood for something sweet because this one just SCREAMED sweet when I smelled it. I tried it plain and it wasn’t quite up to satisfying my massive sweet tooth on its own, so I added a packet of sweetener and now it’s perfect. Smooth and very sweet, a little creamy, and I like that the tea base isn’t overpowered. It reminds me of this strawberries and cream oatmeal I have at my house. This is very good. Thanks again to Bonnie.

This tea is absolutely loaded with strawberry bits, which made me a happy tea-drinker. I’ve never eaten strawberry zabaglione before (it’s an Italian thing, right?) so I can’t really say how accurate it is in that regard, but I can say that it is one delicious cuppa.

The strawberry shines through the flavour of the black tea – it’s deliciously fruity and lightly sweet with hints of creamy vanilla. I brewed this cup up fairly light because I was drinking it plain so the whole thing is a little on the mild side, but I bet it would be awesome stronger with some milk.

The resteep at 5 minutes is lighter but I can still distinctly taste the strawberries in there.

Dec. 23
I could smell the strawberries as soon as I opened the package. The tea is very creamy, strawberry tasting with a very nice black tea base. I think this tea is my favorite so far and this is a tea I would purchase which is saying a lot for someone who drinks black non flavored tea as much as I do. I really really liked this one.