Zhena's Gypsy Tea

This…… is not what I expected. I hardly got any vanilla taste at all. The chai is a perfectly respectable chai, but I was expecting some more oomph. I will try a longer steeping time next time, and see if that changes things.

Opening this tea tin, I got a strong scent of ginger and just a whiff of peach. The tea comes in circular bags, and I used one for just over a cup of water. While it was steeping, the ginger scent was almost scary strong. But once it cooled to temperature, it was still gingery but very drinkable. I’m not getting a lot of peach flavor at all, but that isn’t bad once you get accustomed to the fact that this isn’t a peachy tea. I don’t love this, but I do think this would be a great tea for when you are feeling under the weather.

I am curious to see if the peach is a more prominent flavor once the tea is iced. I’ll be sure to update once I find out.

A fellow tea lover friend of mine bought this and didn’t enjoy it too much so he gifted it to me. It tastes unlike anything else amongst my vast collection. I did rather enjoy it, but not enough to buy it when I run out.

Update: 6/22/13 Okay, I lied. I bought the Twinings Rooibos one last time I was buying tea.

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

This is from Sunday and last night whilst “getting our Abbey on” at my sister’s house. We watched the season 3 premiere a week ago, the after watching the second/third episode this Sunday on PBS my sister begged my husband to download the rest of the season for us (seeing as it had already aired in the UK in the fall culminating at Christmas and she will be buying the dvds eventually).

We had had our own separate marathons of the next five episodes then got together last night, (my mum included who has watched the last three seasons in a week!) to watch the Christmas Special. Will not spoil, but very upset, poor British people having to deal with that on Christmas, hope they watched the Doctor to cheer themselves up. Brother in-law refuses to continue to watch.

Anywho, I picked this up at the grocery store along with Twinning’s Traditional Earl Grey, both of which can stay with her. It’s decent for a bagged tea, had to use two bags, nice balance of bergamot and raspberry, tea itself not the strong, but I don’t suppose that’s the point. It fit the bill and was yummy with scones!

Thanks to Kasumi no Chajin for sending me this one. Mmm smells minty. Tastes minty. But not overwhelmingly mint. Yum yum.

Thanks again Kasumi no Chajin!

So without thinking, I dropped 2 sachets into a pot of milk and water and let it simmer away for a few minutes.

I take a sip. SPICY. My initial reaction was just “ooh gurl no” until I realized this stuff must be potent enough not to need to be doubled for this preparation. Although I think maybe I’d use 2 for 12 oz of liquid. So I filled my mug with more milk and microwaved it for 20 seconds to get it warm again.

I’m kind of disappointed this doesn’t actually contain any coconut. So it doesn’t really taste like coconut…it doesn’t even smell like coconut.

However I can drink this chai! It has more of a well rounded group of spices compared to the only other chai I have right now…the very clove-y one. But this one is peppery too, and I can taste cardamom and cinnamon and nutmeg and everything. Just…no coconut.

I’m even using coconut milk in here but it’s one that never really imparts a flavor, so there’s no use relying on it. Booooo. I’ll definitely be on the lookout now for a coconut chai that contains some legitimate coconut flakes.

While this was pleasing to my palate and helped my stomach…I didn’t find that it tasted much like your stereo-typical lavender. It was a mellow rooibos and a strange powdery-type taste. It was sweet and soothing but ‘powdery’ and not really floral or lavender.

Like I said…certainly NOT bad tasting but it doesn’t fit the description either.

I won’t rate this one for now.

I believe it was you, Ashmanra who sent me this beaute! thank you for the generous sample!!
Just a quick note today. I am so sleepy…
This one is strong boy! whew. Not for the faint of heart. but it is good. Heavy on the coconut, and spices… it has tons of flavour. and caffeine to.
However… Because of the in-yo-face factor, I think I really need to be in the mood, which I was when I had my cuppas :)
Also, it’s very sweet on it’s own. No sugar added! I guess that is the coconut’s fault huh!
Thanks again Ashmanra
Rating: 83

I’m very much in the mood for creamy today even though it’s hot out. I think it has to do with the AC being on. You see, I’m very sensitive to temperature changes, and my husband is very sensitive to heat. He usually wins this battle by putting on the air. I end up putting on longer layers to stay warm… and drinking hot tea!

To soothe the need to put cream and sugar in my cup, I decided chai would fit the bill. I’m also feeling a bit nutty. Hazelnut Chai is checking off all my wants.

My cups of chai are always sweetened with a healthy dose of dairy. I like this particular blend because its not black pepper-spicy. It’s not my favorite ingredient in chai. The more it has in it, the more I feel I have to compensate it with sugar. So I tend to lean more toward chai has has pepper toward the bottom of the ingredient list, if its in there at all.

This is nutty and comforting – just what I’m feeling like! :)

This polishes off the 4 bag sample of this tea. I managed to not log 2 of them. I drank those iced, and it wasn’t bad. I am just not a coconut person. Even though this isn’t bad, I just can’t get past my personal dislike of the texture of coconut – even though there’s no texture in a tea! – to actively like it. It’s not logical or reasonable, but there it is.

I don’t like coconut in foodstuffs, generally. Something about the texture of shredded coconut on my teeth just hits me wrong. And generally the scent is overwhelming.

But I find that I actually like it in tea, strangely enough. Well, tea, and a coconut milk cooked rice that I’ve had here and there, but I digress.

Had this today iced with a packet of splenda, no milk. Got it too sweet but otherwise, pretty refreshing.

Last of the 4 from the sample pack. I needed another cuppa this morning, and I figured it would be good to finish up this sampler before I leave on vacation.

Smells good, is good iced. I’d definitely like to try another tea company’s rose tea, I find this one interesting. There’s something about this one that makes me not want this specific one again, but I’m not sure what. I definitely find it intriguing though.

Smells lovely, tastes like black tea, but the only herb-y note I’m tasting is a slight hint of what I usually call “wet washrag” – that’s what chamomile tastes like to me, and perhaps that’s what rose will taste like to me.

The liquor is much darker than the image shows, so I might try a shorter steep time.

We just finished our first tin of this (I buy 3 packs from amazon). Yum. I still taste “sweet and delicious” rather than “nutty” but that’s ok. It makes me feel like I just have loads of the caramel chai, which is not a bad thing at all. I served it with a little cinnamon spiced everyday cake with walnuts, and it paired so nicely.

Super delicious as all Zhena’s red chais are to me, but it tasted so similar to the Caramel chai! I actually went back to my cupboard to make sure I didn’t open a new tin of caramel by accident, instead of the new tin of hazelnut. When I searched and searched my taste buds, I came up with a slightly less sweet – I wouldn’t call it nutty, but… less sweet than a caramel type flavor. That’s the best I can do. :)

In any event, it’s super yummy (just not super hazelnut-y) to me. Maybe I was having an off night and the next pot will taste different. I got the 3 pack from Amazon so I have plenty of opportunity to find out!

This smells and tastes very familiar, though I’m pretty sure I’ve had nothing quite like it. I actually have never had a green spice tea. White, oolong, black, mate and rooibos sure, but not green. I think they probably work better in this coconut and ginger context, its light a zesty and spring like and I think some citrus would compliment this very well, perhaps I shall steep with some Wild Orange and maybe experiment with the packet of Fruta Bomba Green I got in a gift set (it has mango). I can’t see myself drinking many "chai"s until fall, the closest thing I drank last summer was Cha Yen Thai, so good iced.

But anywho, back to this tea, its quite perfumey and there’s something almost medicinal about it, but not in a bad way it’s quite light. Cardamon is with out a doubt the most predominant spice. I don’t necessary “taste” the coconut, but I feel the creaminess it lends. The ginger is nice and reminds me of the green bottles of organic Ginger Brew I used to love. As for the green tea base :shrug: doesn’t really come through, so can’t tell if it’s quality. I picked this up from the grocery store on a whim and because it had a nice tin. No regrets, its enjoyable, but I won’t rate as no one has before and that would skew things majorly, plus I’m not really in much of a ratings mood. But thanks to logging I have some fun plans for these bags, will post the Fruta Bomba blend when I make it.

Yikes. Finished an entire tin already. Thankfully I have two more!

A great balanced spice,and a wonderful caramel flavor. A squirt of honey and a splash of cream makes it dessert. One of my favorite night time treats. I still can’t get over how quickly I go through these red chai Zhena teas. I think they are the best ones she does!