Zhena's Gypsy Tea

Thanks, Incendiare for the tea bag sample! I’ve wanted to try this one since joining Steepster.

I’m on the mainland for some birthdays this weekend, and it’s raining moderately here. Definitely fall weather, aka- chai weather.

I was feeling pretty lazy after basic yoga and crummy Chinese food for lunch, so I just threw the bag in a pot, filled it up to a quarter with boiling water for three minutes, then topped the pot up with warm milk for an additional three minutes. It’s not particularly elegant but this method gets the job done.

I didn’t expect the coconut to be so dominant; it makes the cup exceptionally smooth and creamy. The sweet burn of ginger and rounding out of cloves are the next apparent things. It’s not a fiery cup, in fact, it’s rather light, but it’s near perfect for the sleepy chill weather outside.

I’ll think about getting more of this for an decent, quick, and easy chai.

Not too sound tooooo much like a snob here, but I was not expecting this much flavour from a bagged tea!

It’s robust and spicy without being in your face about it, and the coconut is fantastic even with the faint sunscreen association I have with coconut.

Thanks Incendiare for the sample!

ssssipdown! (125)

I had this one with some brown sugar and milk.

Thanks for the bag, Incendiare!

Maybe I’m not brewing this tea correctly, but I found it awfully bland on its own. I prefer to use it with Stash’s Chai Spice and some creamer.

For a Papaya Mango tea it’s not very much of either. I can definitely taste hints of the Papaya but the Mango seems to be a bit muted. Despite this, it’s still quite a good tea. The Hibiscus is the dominate flavor but not dominate enough to over power everything else. It’s good cold too.

I thought it might amuse to hear my hubby’s take on this tea when I gave him a sip yesterday: “It tastes kinda like Froot Loops.”

The instructions on the tin say to bring to just below a rolling boil, which seems too hot for a white and green blend to me. So I watched my kettle like a hawk til it got to about 186 and then snatched it off the base and poured.

Turned out pretty good sweetened with some Splenda and then iced down.

I am drinking it while I update my tea inventory here on Steepster since it seems to have gotten waaaaay off. Buy Nothing Summer is over, and it’s time to plan for some new tea purchases :) But I want to make sure I know what I have and try to drink some of the more ignored stuff first – like this tea!

The flavor given to this green tea is very subtle, so it doesn’t taste dramatically different when compared to an unflavored green tea. It’s good for a cup of tea that you want to passively enjoy without getting too carried away by the flavor. The fact that it’s organic is definitely a bonus.

I bought this because I was in the mood for something sweet and dessert like today. This sounded really good from the description but I should have been leery from the get go because I had another tea from Zhena’s that I didn’t really care for.

This smells amazing in the tin but unfortunately the flavor just doesn’t match up to the hype. One teabag in an 8 oz cup yielded a very weak and watery brew, I guess I will have to try for two next time but that means the price of the per cup is a lot more than what it should be.

I am getting hazelnut, cinnamon and vanilla but it’s just so weak and anemic, oh well. Definitely better once some vanilla soymilk was added but kind of a bummer overall. Makes me wonder if Zhena’s is owned by Republic of Tea since their tins are a similar size and the teabags look the same.

I like plums,but I don’t like this one.The dry leaf smell like real dried plum(/prune),not too bad ,but somehow it makes me think that it is salty.The tea is astringent and a bit of smoky,which makes my throat not so comfortable,plus the plum aspect taste salty and bitter and astringent and a little bit too much,not my beloved fresh fruitness or sweetness. I suppose I won’t buy it any more.

Backlog from Saturday: I had this tea after dinner at my Great Aunt Victoria’s house. This is the second bagged tea I’ve had by Zhena’s Gypsy tea and so far I’m really impressed! The coconut was really natural tasting and the spices were strong, but well-balanced. The base added a nice maltiness to the mix.

I haven’t been updating lately while I was on vacation in Maine. I was staying at my grandfather’s and he only has an ancient pc with dial-up connection that doesn’t always load pages. I couldn’t get any signal for my phone either. It was kind of nice to get away from a computer altogether actually for a few days. I am kind of sorry though I missed out on Butiki’s sale. Try as I might, I couldn’t get a signal that day.

Smooth. Light on spiciness. Does the main can say in the ingredients that it has hazelnuts in it? Because the four pack I got does not list hazelnut. But I’m assuming that’s what they meant by “natural flavoring”. I prefered it luke warm and slightly cold honestly. But it would also be good hot and with some steamed almond milk. Overall, pretty solid tea. But I still think the coconut chai is the best.

I don’t know how to feel about this tea… I’m not the biggest fan of fruity teas and I’ve never had Açai before and it’s interesting. It’s a wee bit too fruity and sweet for me.
One tea bag is only good for one steeping.

Smells like chocolate when dry and steeped. However, the cacao power is a bit too strong for me so the taste is not quite what I thought it would be. Not bad, just not that great. It seems that most chais that have rooibos are weaker than black chais.

I had a tin of this in teabag form a few years ago and remember loving it. The cup I’m enjoying now is from the Traveling Tea Box and it is in loose form, so I was curious as to whether it would taste the same as I remembered. The aroma of the dry leaves is much the same – soft, fresh coconut. The tea liquor has a hint of spiciness in its aroma. The flavor is light coconut with a note of pepperiness thrown in. There is a smooth and sweet clove finish that I think is why I like this tea so much. The cardamom and ginger come in mainly in the aftertaste with a warming spiciness, but not too overwhelming. No surprise that this tea is best with a little milk and sugar, it is a chai after all! This tea is a little more peppery than I remembered, but it may be because it is in loose-leaf form. I am enjoying this cup all the same, and have been reminded of how quickly I went through a tin of this tea before!

-Dry blend has a mixture of medium black tea leaves and twigs with large pieces of spices.
-Dry leaves smell softly of fresh coconut. Tea liquor aroma is of warm coconut with a hint of spiciness.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium orange color with an oily sheen on top.
-Light coconut flavor with a note of pepperiness. Smooth and sweet clove finish. Slightly warming and bold spicy aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A sweet and warming spicy chai with a touch of fresh coconut.

Its gone! Whee! Cue the parade and the floats!
When I first got this, I didnt mind it, though I found it disapointing, but after working my way through a full can of it, I can safely say never again!
SIPDOWN!

I might be able to finish this tomorrow! That will be a day of great rejoycing.

I am not sure if I am actually liking this less and less, or if I’m just getting fatigue because I keep sipping and it never seems to get lower. Grr. C’mon tea, work with me.

My morning cup of meh. This seems to never go down. Hmm. Must drink it up!
The more I drink, the more sure I am that this brand is simply not the brand for me.

After sipping down two beloved teas this morning, I have remembered my ol commitment to drinking at least one cup of meh tea every day. Thats fallen a bit to the wayside, as I’ve been busy. When I’m busy I seem to indulge in my nice tea, and ignore the meh.
But we’re back now.
I have a lot of this. More than I thought I did. I would have sworn I was farther along with this.
Oh well, time to get sipping. I want it gone before black friday!

In my resolution to drink at least one cup of something that I find meh every day, (in an effort to get it drunk and move on to bigger and better teas) I have poured myself a cup of this.
Memory serves that I found this really underwhelming, so I double bagged this cup in an attempt to enrich the chai and to lure out the promised vanilla. It has not worked.
Meh.