Zest Tea

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drank Superberry Samba by Zest Tea
15545 tasting notes

Geek Steep S3E10 – Fantastic Four (2005)

So this is what I drank during our recording. I didn’t break my head over this one; we were recording an episode about a super hero movie and this had super in the name. Easy peasy. It was just bonus that I was EXHAUSTED the morning we recorded this episode and this is a caffeine boosted tea.

Lovely mixed berry flavour though, leaning a little on the strawberry side.

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70
drank Earl Grey by Zest Tea
4164 tasting notes

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – February 2024 Tea #6- A tea that energizes you

I thought of this one for this prompt.  It’s supposed to have natural caffeine added making it “3x the caffeine of a regular tea”, whatever that means, so in theory, it should energize me…  not sure if it does.   Before steeping, I do notice on the leaf in the pyramid tea bag, that there is like a matte coating to some of the leaves… that must be the added caffeine.  The flavor is decent enough, yet unique for an earl, most reminds me of grapefruit with a hint of cream.  Next time is a sipdown, not quite yet!

I was also thinking of this tea because I was looking for Angry Tea Room’s Caramel Popcorn Movie Night blend and it looked like Tea Guys used to have it.  Tea Guys have since closed and apparently had legal issues?  And Zest Tea was previously involved with Tea Guys which brought them to court?   And I thought “hey, I have some of Zest tea around here.”  A shame Tea Guys didn’t make it. But it’s also a shame I won’t be able to find Caramel Popcorn Movie Night again…

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70
drank Earl Grey by Zest Tea
4164 tasting notes

From Tiffany!  Thanks so much!  Another odd Earl to try!   This one is a teabag that should have more energy to it.  The wrapper says along with the Orange Pekoe and the bergamot, they add “tea extract”.  Odd. Maybe that is why the leaves look oily? The brew color doesn’t look overly energizingly dark…  the flavor is just okay.  A bergamot I can tolerate but not love.  And Orange Pekoe and I will probably never be friends. I didn’t notice much more energy than usual from this tea… though I possibly am no longer noticing caffeine AT ALL anymore?
Steep #1 // 22  minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 min

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Shoved a couple of these in my luggage because I thought I might end up appreciating having easy/travel friendly tea bags that packed a caffeine punch. I only ended up drinking this one, during Sunday morning breakfast with a handful of tea blogger/content creator friends from instagram – it was actually so great! The tea ended up being the punch of caffeine I needed for the morning, and the flavour itself wasn’t too bad. Definitely tasted much more like passionfruit than any type of citrus. I think the strangest thing is that it’s a sweet tropical note but it doesn’t have any of the acidity that I would normally associate with passionfruit. In that way, it reminded me a bit of DT’s Green Passionfruit blend – though I think I maybe liked this better because of the black base versus the green base.

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73

Liked this more than I expected to!

It’s very flavourful for a sachet, and the green tea is pretty unoffensive and smooth for as fine cut as it is. Though, I bet this tea definitely oversteeps quickly so gotta be mindful of that! The pomegranate is just sweet enough, though comes off a bit more like a generic red berry note versus distinctly pomegranate. Could maaayyybeee use a little bit of tartness or acidity, but that’s if I’m being super nit-picky. The mint is great though! Tastes very crisp and clean; not muddy at all. Leaves a pleasant cooling sensation on the bed of the mouth after each sip.

And, of course, bonus points for being heavily caffeinated.

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drank Cinnamon Apple by Zest Tea
15545 tasting notes

Definitely a bit of a generic hot cinnamon and sweet red apple profile. Not in a bad way, but just in a matter of fact one. I liked the body the black tea base gave though – it’s different from the rooibos base I see more commonly. Mostly, though, I ended up making this because boy oh boy did I need to jump of caffeine! And it made a huge difference in the flow of my day today, let me tell you…

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drank Cinnamon Apple by Zest Tea
15545 tasting notes

A word to the wise…

Drinking a full mug of this super caffeine boosted tea right after having some Nyquil is not a good idea. Like, really not a good idea. Tea itself was lovely; full bodied with sweet red apple notes and a pleasant cinnamon finish. However, it felt like my body was being pulled in two directions as the caffeine tried to fight off the drowsiness of the cough medicine. I ended up just lying on my bed, feeling like I was floating, for like an hour as I felt simultaneously soooo out of it but also so alert.

Kelmishka

Oof — sounds like a strange sensation!

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62

Another tea bag as thank you for forwarding postcards to Russia. And for some reason, when I have opened this one I thought it is some kind Earl Grey.

It isn’t, but as I really needed caffeine boost today morning, I decided to give it a try even passion fruit flavour was something completely different than I was looking for.

I prepared it with 4 minutes steeping time as suggested and I got fruity (not sure if passion fruit at all), tea with chalky aftertaste. I would rather say somehow tropical and a bit tart (hibiscus is in). Sadly, looking at the ingredients I see it should be a bit citrusy… but nothing from that in my cup.

The caffeine boosted me a lot though and I am very glad for that, that counts. Flavour is dismal on the other hand and honestly I would not like to drink it daily.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec 10 OZ / 300 ML
TeaEarleGreyHot

Wow, it didn’t taste like its ingredients, and the flavor is described as “dismal“. And yet you give it 62 points! You are far more generous than I, Martin! Perhaps I need to re-calibrate my ratings to be less numerically severe!

Martin Bednář

TeaEarleGreyHot: well, to be honest, it is indeed high rating. But I tend to rate tea bags higher as they are usually worse quality and in comparation (that’s something I am trying to) with others it wasn’t that bad. And it was actual flavour and not artificial “something” which I really hate. And somehow I did not considered not flavour profile based on ingredients I read after drinking. Maybe if I saw before it is supposed to be more citrusy, I would rate it lower as well. If I got one more session with this and results would be similar, I would rate it lower.

TeaEarleGreyHot

Well you make some good points there and generosity is a virtue after all! A problem for some folks with teabags or sachets is that one is stuck with the amount of tea therein, whereas some might prefer a stronger cup or a more delicate cup. Thanks for all your tasting notes!

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1

Absolutely hated it. To be fair, this is the first tea that I have tasted so maybe it is an acquired taste. Personally, this is nauseating from the first sip. Adding a ton of sugar helped for a bit but not that much or for long. All in all, I would only recommend this to my friends as a gag gift (literally gag) so it’s got that.

Preparation
150 °F / 65 °C 8 min or more 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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drank Earl Grey by Zest Tea
201 tasting notes

drags broken body out of the abyss

So. How about that 2021?

Anyway, to give the most vague of updates, ish happened, ish is still happening, and I am trying to deal with ish. So, naturally, I have been pounding espresso rather than tea to try and deal. But tonight, my silly butt thought consuming half a pack of cookies was smart and now I need tea to counteract the diabetic shakes.

So, here we are. This came from one of the tea boxes that I received AGES ago. Shae sent it so very long ago and I never really got a chance to review any of it. But, in my quest for a super strong black tea, I found this one at the bottom of the box. Lets see how it turns out.

Steeped boiling water 5 minutes.

Taste is… wow for something advertised as “High octane” that’s surprisingly un-bitter. Not completely un-bitter of course, plus the bitterness really lingers in the after sip. But it has a pretty decent flavor to it. I can taste the bergamot and the tea, although the flavors are rather muted. Probably due to how long it’s sat in the box in my drawer. But I can definitely say it’s pleasent to drink. A nice balance to it and a lovely earl grey flavor that has me constantly reaching back for another sip.

Also, as it’s cooling, I’m noticing more citrusy notes. Yep, for sure. That citrus is really coming through now. That’s pretty cool. I should probably mention I’m drinking this straight as, in my experience, the whole “anti-sugar shock” effect of black tea only works when you don’t add anything to it. You can’t even add splenda or any sugar substitute. You just make the tea and down it straight. Thankfully I have a huge selection of black tea for the frequent nights that I muk up my blood sugar (because, despite being a diabetic, I have the worlds biggest sweet tooth.)

Anyway, I can’t tell how potent the caffeine this is yet, other than knowing I don’t feel as groggy and awful as I did twenty minutes ago. How much of that is the black tea effect and how much is the caffeine, I have no idea. But just know that this tea is pretty dang good and now I’m going to have to try and find more.

Flavors: Bergamot, Citrus, Earl Grey

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec
Roswell Strange

Hello from the abyss!

ashmanra

Welcome back! Climb on out and stay a while!

Martin Bednář

It seems this year was hard for everyone. I am much less active here too, so don’t worry about a few days without writing anything. Honestly, only full month of notes is so far only December… because Advent teas :D

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79

I used the least amount of leaf and the most amount of water, steeped for the shortest amount of time so that the caffeine does not overwhelm my senses. Surprisingly, I like it! I’ve been putting this one off not only because of the added caffeine but also because of the hibiscus. I’m not opposed to the flavor so much as to the fact that I can’t add milk to my black teas when it’s present. But I have to say that this tastes good without the dairy, so I’m pleased with the cup. I also really enjoyed Zest’s Earl Grey, but I had to space it out over the course of the day because it was just too much. This one has CBD, so maybe that will help balance the jitters a bit? James loves, loves, loves the Superberry Samba green tea from Zest (the CBD version) so much that he rarely drinks any other tea these days.

Second Steep
8 ounces water + 212 degrees + 20 minutes

The second cup still has flavor, but I’m not sure it’s enough to warrant an additional steep. Especially since I’m already fully caffeinated from the first cup and I’m getting into the afternoon now.

Flavors: Citrus Zest

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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70
drank Superberry Samba by Zest Tea
251 tasting notes

I’m not a coffee drinker but sometimes need caffeine; I’ve enjoyed other Zest flavors for that pick-me-up. This one showed up in a Sipsby box.

It’s a pleasant green tea, lightly fruity, but unremarkable hot. As a hot cup I wouldn’t necessarily choose it except for that caffeine boost. Reading another tasting note, I think I would be interested in trying it again iced.

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Sipdown 68-2021
This tea was an unfortunate victim of sitting in my sipdown box for too long. Because of that, it really picked up some strange flavors and just didn’t taste quite right when I tried to drink it.

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55
drank Cinnamon Apple by Zest Tea
2170 tasting notes

Sipping this slowly so the caffeine doesn’t overwhelm. The flavor isn’t great – it’s bitter and it has that Big Red cinnamon flavor I dislike so much. I was most excited about this one from our recent order with Zest Tea, simply because I love cinnamon apple teas, but I don’t taste the apple here and I don’t like this type of cinnamon. It’s a bust for me, but my husband enjoys it so he is welcome to the rest. I’ll keep searching for that special apple cinnamon black tea I’ve been missing.

Flavors: Bitter, Cinnamon

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 8 OZ / 236 ML

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drank Superberry Samba by Zest Tea
2170 tasting notes

Abandoned after just a few sips. Not that the tea was bad, but the caffeine was a bit much for me. I thought it might be, but my husband made me a cup and I wanted to give it a try. He gladly finished the rest of it. He loves this one. :)

I’ll probably try this one again, maybe steeped a little differently. There isn’t any temperature suggestion on the bag and it recommends steeping for 5-6 minutes, so even though he let the water cool a bit before pouring over it was still bitter.

I should note also that we bought the CBD version.

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60

This was from the TTB earlier this year and I saved it until I was traveling and could enjoy an caffeine boost to get me through the day. I’m not really sure why one would need more tea extract in tea, but its and interesting concept. I actually switched from coffee to tea because even half calf coffee was too much caffeine for me.
I was careful to not over steep this as I thought it might be bitter, and I wasn’t tasting much of the orange pekoe base of the tea. This starts out hibiscus (maybe a good thing to hide bitterness?) and ends with a weird soapy aftertaste. Most teas benefit from a steep in a go cup, I have an oolong that I only like to do in the go cup as it turns a bit nutty that doesn’t happen in a regular steeper, but this one just had more aftertaste the longer I drank.
Not for me, glad I got to try it.

Flavors: Hibiscus, Soap

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drank Earl Grey by Zest Tea
2170 tasting notes

I’m doing a few months of Sips by boxes to see if I like it, and this came in my second box. I love Earl Grey but have to be mindful of the caffeine so this may be a total disaster. I do want to give it a shot though, and since today I have a ton of house cleaning to do I thought the extra energy boost might help.

I first have to say that I love the flavor of this EG. It’s bright and citrusy and uncomplicated. There is just a touch of bitterness that feels well-placed. I’ve been a little bored with the Earl lately – either it’s dull or it’s been doctored up with a bunch of lavender. Sometimes I guess I just want a simple yet flavorful EG and this delivers.

Still too soon to say about the caffeine, but I’ll check back in.

Update – I ended up sipping on this all day. The flavor is good and it did give me a boost of energy, but the caffeine spinnies weren’t worth it.

Flavors: Bitter, Citrusy

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 5 min, 0 sec 8 OZ / 236 ML

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69
drank Earl Grey by Zest Tea
6444 tasting notes

Sipdown but apparently this was not added to my steepster cupboard so no decrease in cupboard number. However, this is two years old so I am still happy to be sipping it down.

I picked this one specifically because of the caffeine boasted by Zest Tea. Exams started today and I was extremely worried about the one I had this morning (despite only needing to pass) so I tossed and turned all night. That includes giving up on the attempting to actually sleep at around 3 am when I started to feel like I couldn’t breathe. That’s when I turned on the movie Ocean’s 8 and watched that before finally falling asleep around 5 am and waking up again at 7 am. Then I wrote a 3-hr exam from 9-12. While I debated napping, I have another exam tomorrow that I need to do some prep for so instead I turned to caffeine for my midday slump.

I brewed this up and meant to add a splash of milk but the bag folded while I was pouring and a bit more milk came out than intended. Frankly I was okay with that because it drowned out the bergamot that much more. This was ok as far as earl greys go. It wasn’t too bitter or sharp, thanks to the milk but also due to this being a touch weak overall. It wasn’t anything special but it did its job of perking me up a bit.

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58
drank Pomegranate Mojito by Zest Tea
87 tasting notes

A nice tea, but it’s a bit too much for me. I can never finish a cup, or if I do, I get odd stomach feelings for the rest of the day. I do love the aroma though. Dry, it’s very minty with green tea and pomegranate notes. There’s also this lemonade and vodka aroma – I swear, I’m not imagining it. After some bad experiences, I rarely touch alcohol.

Flavour is just mint, really really strong mint. It doesn’t taste like peppermint to me, it’s more like spearmint with extra menthol added. Any pomegranate flavour is lost on me.

Personally, I don’t like it iced. The Superberry Samba is far better iced. Full tasting notes, method, pics etc.: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/zest-tea-pomegranate-mojito-review/

Flavors: Menthol, Mint, Vodka

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 g 8 OZ / 250 ML

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61

A nice tea to power me through a dreary week. It has a juicy aroma and flavour that’s quite pleasant, probably from the passion fruit in this blend.

I’ve found it’s the least bitter of all the Zest Teas – I’ve no idea why, but I’m glad. The hibiscus is nice but I wish the citrus flavours would come out more. There’s this sort of generic citrus flavour which isn’t detectable as lemon or orange, but some kind of hybrid. I think adding some bergamot would really lift this tea.

Nonetheless, it’s enjoyable and I finished the cup easily.

The only downside to the high caffeine level of this tea is that it becomes my one tea of the day. Having another tea later on is just too much, even if it’s a normal caffeine level for a tea. I’m too sensitive to caffeine.

Full review and a few pictures, like usual: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/zest-blue-lady-tea-review/

Flavors: Citrus, Floral, Hibiscus, Tropical

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 min, 45 sec 2 g 8 OZ / 250 ML

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71
drank Earl Grey by Zest Tea
87 tasting notes

When there’s a ton of work to get through, you need a ton of caffeine. That’s the main reason I picked Zest’s earl grey to review today. Mondays always need a pick-me-up.

I got carried away while the kettle was brewing so the water was approx. 90C or a bit less by the time the tea sachet hit the cup – a happy accident. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before it seems so obvious. Brewing this tea at a slightly lower temperature stops some of the bitterness from the tea extract they add to get the caffeine in there. Brew it like a green tea and it’s actually a lot better tasting… although still more bitter than any other earl grey I’ve ever drank. I might try rinsing it next time to see if that has a similar effect.

I noticed fresh orange zest aroma with the classic bergamot flavour notes. Not too overpowering. The tea base is flowery orange pekoe, which has a nice body. I’m tired of trying new earl grey blends that use darjeeling. It’s too light for my tastes and the bergamot just overpowers it and ruins the tea flavour. Zest got the body right in this blend though, it’s almost like drinking an English Breakfast tea with bergamot oils added.

As always, full review with pics is up on my blog, if you want to read a bit more about my experience with this tea https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/zest-tea-earl-grey-review/

Flavors: Bergamot, Bitter, Orange Zest

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 g 8 OZ / 250 ML
Martin Bednář

Yup, I started brewing black tea in tea bags for shorter time as well than they usually suggest. I can not imagine brewing some tea in small cup (ca. 200 ml) for 5 or more minutes as they sometimes suggest.

Izzy

Exactly :) Even with a 500ml+ mug I almost never brew black tea for more than 3 minutes or it’s too strong and undrinkable. I don’t understand why tea companies make the brew time suggestions so crazily long

Mastress Alita

Right? I have never understood that either. Three minutes is usually my sweet spot too, and I tend to drop it even further if it is a CTC tea and not whole leaf.

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82

Drinking this in hopes that the placebo effect will help me. Although I’m edging up on Anxiety level 4 going to 5 so this is probably not going to help that. Maybe. Hard to say. Caffeine is so weird. I missed yesterday because as I predicted, 3 days a week is too much but I had to shift some hours onto today since I have no vacation left which means I don’t get to leave work until 6pm (usually leave time 1pm) so I’m not please and very unhappy, and anxious.

But that has nothing to do with this tea, which is tasty.

Starfevre

Less tasty than usual though. I either oversteeped or overleafed. Not sure which.

Shae

I’m drinking this one today so reading your note two years too late. I hope you’re feeling much better these days. Anxiety is such a b*tch.

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82

I could have sworn I’ve reviewed this before, which makes no sense that it’s not even in the database. Has there been a purge or something with entries disappearing?

This is tasty, though I oversteeped it. The tea extract that makes it extra caffeine-y makes it taste weird when oversteeped. Otherwise, despite the hibiscus, I liked this enough from my sipsby box from forever ago that I bought some.

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79
drank Superberry Samba by Zest Tea
87 tasting notes

Having this tea cold brewed as it’s getting quite warm today. Aroma is even better than when hot, lots of juicy passion fruit notes going on. The taste is a little bitter but has a smooth texture. Just green tea, the fruits are just an aroma. I only left it to brew for 3 hours in the fridge so I guess that’s why. I’m too impatient to wait for it to brew longer.

The bitterness and extra caffeine/l-theanine is making my stomach feel a little funny. I should have rinsed the tea bag to shake off some of the tea extract that’s added.

Weird tip for this tea. Inhaling through the nose while you sip somehow adds the fruit aroma to the flavour and diminishes the slight bitterness.

I’ve been taking some time to “sipdown” many of the teas in my cupboard, hence so few reviews being posted the last week or so. No point repeating myself unless there’s something new to add.

Flavors: Green, Passion Fruit, Smooth

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 2 g 8 OZ / 250 ML
ashmanra

Oh, good hint! I have some Zest that I don’t drink after lunch. Didn’t know it was that easy to lower the caffeine level a bit.

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