Zen Tea

This is the last 5 g of my 10 g sample. I brewed the first 5 g using short steeps, as I would a green Tie Guan Yin, but decided to go with my usual longer infusions in this session. I used a 120 ml clay teapot and 195F water, and steeped the tea for 30, 30, 40, 40, 30, 30, 40, 40, 50, 50, 120, and 240 seconds.

The flavours are similar to those in the last session, only much more intense. In the first steep, I get caramel, wood, pecans, walnut and walnut shells, but not much smoke at all. The second steep adds the pleasant tangy sourness I associate with roasted TGY.

Going to 40 seconds in the third steep is a mistake, yielding the taste of bad convenience-store coffee. There’s smoke, dark wood, aggressive roast, bitter caramel, and underlying grassiness. Anxi Dark, I’m sorry for mistreating you so badly. Unfortunately, I did my steeps two at a time, so I had to drink one more awful infusion before lowering the time to 30 seconds again.

Back at 30 seconds, this is drinkable again, retaining its previous flavour for the next six steeps or so. Some nice mineral notes emerge near the end of the session.

Other than my premature 40-second steeps near the beginning of the session, this was very enjoyable.

This is yet another of my Zen Tea samples. As an experiment, I decided to steep it as I would a green Tie Guan Yin: 5 g in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The first steep tastes like roasted nuts, caramel, and graham crackers, while the second adds flavours of heavy roast, grain, wood, and walnuts. These notes intensify throughout the next few infusions. I get a hint of spice from the fifth steep, but the flavour profile stays pretty consistent across the session. Sadly, I don’t detect any fruit or florals.

This is a straightforward roasted oolong that’s pleasant to drink but nothing special. I’ll have to try my remaining 5 g with longer steeps to see if I can get a more complex flavour.

Better than most earl greys I’ve had, because of its creamy touch

I was a bit heavy handed with this one, accidentally filling my 120 ml pot almost full with slightly more than 6 g of leaf. I steeped it at 195F for 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

Prior to steeping, this tea smells like a generic woody/roasted Wuyi oolong. The first steep gives notes of honey, roast, and walnut shells. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the astringent mess I was expecting based on the leaf quantity. In the second steep, hay, wood, and light florals emerge. The third steep has even stronger hay and honey notes, and I’d swear there was stevia in there if I didn’t know better. Later rounds get less sweet and bring out minerals and roasted nuts.

This is a nice, very sweet dark oolong, and while I don’t think I’ll buy more, I’m glad I got a sample.

I recently discovered a cache of Zen Tea samples from 2015, and I’ll be reviewing them in the next few weeks. I seem to have bucked the trend by brewing this one gongfu style. I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The small, loosely rolled, often downy snails are really pretty! The first steep has notes of caramel, earth, cocoa, malt, and wood. For such a powerful tea, there’s not much astringency, though a bit does appear in the aftertaste. The astringency gets more intense in the second steep, while all the other flavours stay the same. (Maybe I used more tea than I realized and I need to decrease my steep time.)

The third steep incorporates honey, grain, and a hint of smoke into the existing flavour, and has calmed down in terms of astringency. Surprisingly, though the cocoa is definitely there, it’s never too prominent, although it does get stronger in steep four. This tea goes for a few more rounds before petering out around steep nine.

Though this isn’t the most complex tea in the world, it’s rich and satisfying, and changes interestingly as the pearls unfold. Like most of Zen Tea’s offerings, it’s also well priced. It would have been even better if the cocoa had been a bit stronger.

I bought this tea in early 2016, so it’s a bit long in the tooth. I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

In the pot, the dry leaf smells like liquorice and grape candy. The first steep has notes of scuppernong grapes, liquorice, menthol, and malt, with a big kick of tannins in the aftertaste. The second steep is similar—fruity and sweet until the astringency punches you in the throat at the end of the sip.

I brought the third steep down to 190F, which made the liquorice/sassafras note sweeter and cut down on the astringency. I get faint notes of honey, raisins, and earth. The profile stays consistent through the next few steeps, then starts to fade in the ninth.

If brewed at a slightly lower temperature than I normally make my black teas, this is a nice daily drinker. I also remember it being very reasonably priced, so that helps. Let’s hope that Zen Tea keeps it in its lineup when it starts selling teas again.

I didn’t realize this was on my wishlist when I bought it, because I haven’t used the wishlist function in forever. _ happy coincedence

warm, hazelnut, toffee, sweet, brown sugar notes. I actually brewed up a big thermos of this on Thursday, so now on Saturday it’s kinda foggy. Will revisit.

I’ve spent the last couple of days lying on the couch watching season 6 and 7 of Game of Thrones – OMG what just happened !!??!! I had almost given up on it after season 5 but was convinced by friends that I really needed to stick with it. Yeah ok season 7 was awesome. Can’t wait for season 8. But now on to season 2 of Colony.

I’ve been spending the weekend on the couch because I’m trying to fight off the cold/flu thing I’ve got happening. I didn’t get any worse today so I’m calling that a win. Still a little stuffy and have a bit of chest congestion, but not nearly as sick as everyone else at work. Crossing fingers that I can contain it to this….

Strawberry cream? ok sure, I’ll go with that. Fruit black tea anyway. Nothing really exciting, but also nothing offensive. It’s fine to be sipping while watching TV. Thanks Evol for sharing.

I’ve had a request to start writing tasting notes again. This confuses me, I stopped writing notes because I felt I didn’t have anything interesting to say. There are lots of people here who are more articulate and have a better palate than I do. But as requested, here goes…

Tonight I’m just hanging out at home, watching the hockey game, petting the cat, eating banana bread, drinking this tea.

I normally choose and prefer China black teas, but it’s always nice to break it up with something different. This one is light with the high notes I would expect from a Taiwan black. It’s really fruity – normally I would think grape/wine fruity in this style but these are stone fruit notes. There is also some tannin (?) and a little suck the moisture out of your mouth thing. There is also a little smokiness as it cools. I don’t feel this style will every be my favorite but this was fun to try and I think it’s different enough from a typical Taiwan black to make it interesting.
Thanks Evol for sharing.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcLnt-4hJGB/?taken-by=dex3657

This tea is a bitter black tea mixed with hazelnuts. It has a well-rounded sweetness and buttery flavor. This was not my favorite, but I cannot find a real fault with it.

This is my favorite tea. It has a subtle but full flavor profile. There is enough sweet and bitter to work in concert. It has a refreshing effect and leaves in a contemplative mood for when I need to reflect. I love this tea.

This is a standard white tea with slightly sweet notes and aromas. It has a kind of smooth, silky taste. It is still worth your time.

Sipdown. This is a beautiful dark roasted Anxi oolong with notable buttery and nutty notes, hints of wood and cinnamon. The roasted flavours are well balanced between sweet roasted grain and molasses. Slight sweetness in the first few steeps.

Iron goddess tends to be an oolong I dislike most of the time, but I needed another sipdown today so I brewed this when I got up early this morning. 1 tsp leaf in 500 mL hot water (not boiling) for 4-5 minutes wasn’t strong enough, I suggest a little more leaf.

-very heavily roasted, notes of toasted barley and burnt sugar
-milky scent, but more like old musty milk
-potent orchid/floral flavour
-vegetal undertones (reminds me a bit of the smell of viney plants like ivy when you prune them)
-Gets more floral over time (leave the teabag in and drink over 10 minutes or so)
-With sufficient leaf, would probably make excellent gong fu tea and would likely change in flavour significantly over multiple steeps. I can’t remember if I’ve tried gongfu with this tea, but with other iron goddess teas it has been a pleasant journey.

I’m starting to run out of my favorite Zen Tea blends. My pouches are almost a year old, so it is about time I got around to finishing them up, however I like to keep the around because I know I can’t replace them right now.

~8 pearls (1 tsp) in 500 mL hot water (~80 deg. C, not boiling) for 4 minutes

The loose leaf is very fresh and fragrant, and I’m happy to report the steeped brew is always equally fresh. Lots of jasmine, a natural sweetness from the tea. It steeps an amber brown colour, which is quite unlike my other jasmine greens and whites. There is a fruity note (pineapple, apple, apricot) and the jasmine is not bitter at all. This is a really nice jasmine tea that produces a smooth and flavourful cup.

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Seven- Tea #6
I usually love Zen’s teas but this must be their worst. I’ve never had a tea that tasted like liquid cardboard before… and this isn’t even a Ceylon (to me Ceylon would probably usually be described like cardboard but not even those come close to this though to be fair this does say it is 1/3 Ceylon.) And if this is a BREAKFAST tea then it has to be much stronger than this. I poured most of this mug in a plant. And I NEVER waste tea.

This fell into my hand this morning and it was the perfect choice for gallivanting around town in the bright warm sun and sharing BBQ pork from Chinatown on a park bench with a friend.

Adore this one— with the malt and the mild smoke.

From the Here’s Hoping TTB. I should almost write two different reviews for this tea. My first cup was OK; not terribly strong, but with pleasant spice flavors. Nice but not special.
For the re-steep, I tried to approximate the directions on the package, and mixed the steeped tea with hot milk. It was really good! I don’t think I’ve ever actually tried chai with milk before. It reminded me of a weak latte but with spice rather than coffee flavor. BTW: I couldn’t taste the coconut at all.

Yet another sip down from this morning.

I really like this Darjeeling for its palatable and simple flavours. This is a smooth, malty black tea with floral and caramel notes. I’ve had this straight several times and enjoyed it very much, this morning’s sip down was with soy milk as I was in the mood for a simple black with milk.

This is a really lovely Darjeeling with a sweet and smooth flavour. The most notable characteristic is that it is very plain. It tastes like a plain, high quality black tea. I find it has hints of bitterness, but also sweet notes. I add half a tsp (a pinch) of brown sugar to round it out. It would also take milk, although it stands on its own and is quite drinkable straight. It doesn’t have a lot of unique characteristics, but it would make a solid daily drinker or English afternoon tea (served with scones or sweets, of course).

Backlog

I had drank this about a week ago now, but as I look through my tea notebook with all of the unwritten notes, I realize that I need to catch up. I want to start producing more notes on here; rather than getting too far behind….Which I am already. :P So, here is my attempt at doing that.

Notes: Thick, creamy mouthfeel. Reminds me of almond milk or vitamin D capsule. The longer the session, the less “creamy” it becomes and it “smooths” out a bit.