Zhena's Gypsy Tea

I am feeling indulgent tonight, so I had a big mug of this while eating cherry cheesecake bread pudding. Take that, heat wave! This is from my swap with Will Work For Tea and the reason we swapped in the first place: she had a bunch to unload, and I love peppery chais so it was a match made in heaven!

I’ve had a few coconut chais before, but this one is quite different. First off, it doesn’t have any other “Asian” flavor components (lemongrass, galangal, etc) but a more classic Indian spice base. The spices are strong, as you can tell just by looking at the tea: whole cloves, big chunks of pepper and other spices. Yum! It brews up quite bold and peppery, with lots of different spice “layers.” There’s warmth from the cinnamon and ginger, heat from the pepper, a spicy quality from the nutmeg, and that distinctive tongue-tingling flavor that comes from cloves and cardamom. The coconut here is mostly flavoring (no actual coconut pieces) and it’s an odd result: it kind of tastes like it was steeped in coconut water! It’s not overpoweringly coconutty or tropical, more homey and comforting like coconut cream pie. A nice departure from my usual chais, but bold enough that this could be a regular in my cupboard!

I’m admittedly new at this, but I can’t really taste anything in this tea. It smells softly chai-like and sweet after brewing, but tastes very muffled, not like anything in particular. I certainly don’t taste chocolate or spice. Maybe it’s gone off (I have no idea how old this tin is) or maybe rooibos just isn’t to my taste.

Italian Chamomile / Tranquil Dreams (Teavana)

Excellent Blend for nighttime relaxation!!

I’ve been drinking this all morning while watching the small dog that showed up on my porch. The little guy/girl seems to be quite friendly and socialized pretty well. It’s an older dog but looks like it has been well taken care of previously. I believe it’s a she, and she likes kids. She got rather excited when my daughter joined me on the porch. I really wonder why is she meandering around the neighborhood looking lost. Did someone just drop her off and leave her here? Perhaps she is a beloved pet and got away on a walk about. Any who on to the tea.

Cinnamon, clove and cardamom are well represented with a spicy kick of pepper to top it off. It’s very well behaved. I didn’t find it to be bitter or particularly astringent. I found a sweet flavor that I’m going to blame on the ginger, orange peels or nutmeg. Maybe all three are responsible. This a well balanced chai and made for a comfortable cup.

I used 2 tea bags for my cup, since I use a rather large mug, and it’s a good thing I did – after adding a splash of milk, I think it wouldn’t have been spicy enough for my liking had I only used 1 tea bag. Letting it steep for what seems a ridiculously long time was helpful as well – the first few impatient sips weren’t very spicy, but as it’s sat for a bit, the flavors have come out nicely. Great pick-me-up without the caffeine!

This tea has a great smell and the peach flavor actually smells like a fresh peach and not like a factory produced flavor. Taste wise, it’s very smooth and the peach and ginger kind of take a backseat. I’ve had other ginger teas where the ginger takes over so I was glad that it wasn’t undrinkable but it also wasn’t very exciting. For a tea called Peach Ginger its more like a whisper of peach ginger. Still the smell is great and it is a nice dependable smooth black tea.

I haven’t drunk this one in a long time, because I was saving the last two bags for Christmas time.

It’s just like before – amazing. Really rich taste, this time I tried one cup with honey and one with milk. Still great, love this. See my previous note for more impressions, because this tea is as great as it was then :)

It’s a pity that Zhena’s Gypsy Teas don’t ship worldwide, because I would buy a looot of this one :(

Happy holidays, everyone!

This is the second tea that Will Work For Tea was so kind to send me as a sample!

As soon as I opened the bag I was blown away by the heavy smell – thick and dense, really heavy on the nuts. I expected some rough pepper-y smell, but it surprised me with a creamy sensation. So it was a great surprise, smells delightful and reminds me of Christmas somehow :)

I steeped it for 4 minutes to get more of that taste out in the cup. For the first cup I used bit of sugar and it was great. Really great taste, filling all corners of the mouth and leaving a nice tingling sensation in the end. But super-creamy and soft.

For the second cup I used milk, and it was even more great. I’m not a big fan of dairy products in my tea, but this one was outstanding. Usually I enjoy a cookie or some other sweets with my tea, but it was so good that it was a meal itself :)

Overall, this tea is really great, an unexpected mix of spicy and creamy. And my room and kitchen did smell of spicy nuts for at least 3 hours after steeping. Amazing tea, I will be looking forward to buying this.

Again, I have to thank Will Work For Tea for this great sample!

I like teas for their aroma-therapeutic properties and their health benefits and just the simplicity of sitting down for a nice cuppa with a friend. I’ve been looking for a good digestive tea and was quite thrilled to find that this tea is green with peppermint AND licorice. That’s exactly the blend I was hoping for. I like that it has that zen green feeling with the refreshing peppermint and the licorice flavor. Sometimes I find peppermint too strong on it’s own and green too boring. This is a great tea for upset stomachs. To me it is offers a healing, calming, and yet invigorating feeling.

I’m a big fan of Earl Grey anyway, but with the addition of raspberry, it’s even better. The raspberry balances out the bergamot rather nicely.

I admit to accidentally setting my cup down to brew and walking away for a bit, so I’ve got NO idea how long I actually let it brew, but this tea is a pleasant surprise. I was a little worried because of how strong the rose scent was when I opened the tin, but it’s actually pleasantly subtle now that the tea has brewed. The black tea base definitely comes through, but the hint of rose over the top is actually really nice – I was a bit worried it would taste like I went out and grazed on my mom’s rose garden, but it’s just enough to give the taste, but not be overpowering.

im used to a much more crisp mint tea but this smooth if not slightly muddled tea is nothing less then delightful in my opinion. certainly different from traditional mint teas, but still a welcomed addition to any mint tea enthusiasts collection.

I wanted to like this one — peach and raspberry! — but it’s not great. The hibiscus is too strong for the other flavors. They clash pretty terribly. Plus this one just tastes super artificial to me.

Wasn’t sure what to expect from this. I was a little surprised at the scent — I was expecting something citrusy with a hint of mint, but it smells like Moroccan mint.

Hot, that’s what it tastes like. The mint is very strong, and you can taste the green tea (barely) under it, but the rum and lime are not coming through very much at all. It’s pretty light, but still tasty. But I’m not sure it stacks up against other minty greens — it’s good, but not amazing or standout.

So I did the freezer trick — stuck the remainder in a cup in the freezer, to try it “iced” once it was cold. I can taste the rum now (and it’s not awesome), but not the mint or the lime. I’ll chalk some of that up to not having a high enough tea to water ratio for the iced version, but I’m still not impressed. And I’m not sure I want it stronger, to be honest.

Verdict: Hot, it’s a nice cup but nothing special. Cold, ick.

Surprisingly bland, given the rich scent in the can. I’ve tried different steep times, different temperatures, adding my own spice blends… nothing. I won’t be purchasing it again. Poor taste, no kick.

I was excited about this tea the moment I opened the tin – it smells AMAZING, and it tastes just as good! It’s just spicy enough, and the coconut is nice but not overpowering. After reading some other reviews I may have to try my next cup with a splash of milk (so fitting during Indy 500 qualifying!).

I got this as part of a little 4-tin set, each with 4 tea bags – when I took the plastic wrapping off the stack of tins, I was a little alarmed that it ALL smelled like peach. I thought it would be totally overpowering and too synthetically sweet and fruity, but thankfully it’s proving me wrong – it’s nicely peachy without being over the top, and the ginger lends a nice little bite to it.

Delicious. I really enjoy the flavor of this tea, it’s very subtle but has a very smooth taste.

Been drinking this as my work tea, and I am polishing off the jar today. The tea is good, I find it’s a nice office tea. The packaging it came in however is really annoying. It seems cute at first glance, kind of an apothecary jar vibe to it, but it comes with a tiny wooden scoop that they want you to spoon out 5 spoonfuls with for a cup of tea. I soon switched to a little plastic tea scoop I got in a Denver tea shop which I keep at work. Then it was a pain in the butt to get down to the last scoops in the jar unless you have a long handled scoop or teensy child-sized hands, which I do, but it was still a pain!

The tea itself is pretty mild, not a lot of bite from the ginger, just enough to flavor it a bit. The peach is the top flavor after the tea, which hasn’t been bitter in any of the cups I’ve tried. Nothing spectacular, but nice.

Bottom line:
Tea: Yes, if it’s on a good sale and you don’t really order teas online
Packaging: Kill it with fire