Zhena's Gypsy Tea

I was lucky to find this on sale at Giant Eagle for 3.50. Bargain! I don’t get much coconut, and the spices were kind of milk. I liked to drink it with some milk and sugar, making it a dessert tea except I drink it in the AM to help me wake up at work on days I know I will be skipping dessert. It’s a nice tea, I do really like it. But I will probably try some of the other flavors.

Story tiiiiiiiime: in ye olden’ days (coughfiveyearsagocough), having grown up in the South and knowing ‘tea’ only as the mysterious brown powder my grandmother spooned into a pitcher filled with water, ice cubes, and too-tart lemon, I never had much of an opinion of the stuff — that is until someone left a box of Twinnings mint tea on the counter while I happened to be stricken w/a particularly nasty cold. I tried it out and it was love at first sip. It soothed my aching throat and perked me up like nothing had before. I eventually got over my cold obvious enough, but even then I always made sure to have a box (or, more commonly, five) handy. Brewing a cup each night before bed, it sort of became my own little ritual – almost like a friend, an ally, a confidante.

Though eventually, no longer the naive 15 year old I was when we met, Twinnings and I grew apart and (with more than a few tears shed between us & heavy hearts) decided to see other people, when I saw this tea in it’s adorable little packaging I couldn’t resist picking it up and revisiting my old love, y’know, for old time’s sake.

Overall, it’s a decent brew if you’re just beginning to wean yourself off the mass market brands (looking at you, Twinnings) and dip your toes into the loose leaf world, otherwise, meh, they’re are probably better things out there.

This is lighter in color than I expected, but the flavor is there. I wouldn’t say I taste the coconut all that much but the spices, yes.

I think this was the tea that made me like chai, since I used to hate it. This one convinced me because I love coconut! I used to be all about this tea in college, but I might have overdid it because I haven’t craved this tea in a while. But I do remember being super obsessed with it for a while.

Definitely agree with everyone saying this tea is very strong on the raspberry flavor. Not that that’s a bad thing. A bit overpowering in regards to the earl though.

However, I still love this tea when I’m in the mood for a tea with some strong, fruity flavor.

This is the best rose tea I’ve ever had. Great for afternoons. In my experience rose tea can be done either really well or really terribly. Since I’ve found this one, I probably won’t be buying other rose blends… out of fear. :)

I initially got this tea in the sample tin of 4 and this one was my favorite. I was happy to see that you can purchase just a tin of rose online, since I haven’t seen it in stores.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the fruity raspberry, bergamot, and bold black tea together.The black base was flavourful, lots of tannins but not quite bitter yet. The raspberry was a tiny bit sweet and gave a nice fruity after-taste. The bergamot was not overpowering. I actually would not have minded a bit more bergamot.

I believe I may have found my favourite chai. I love how wonderfully sweet, flavourful, and spicy it is. I could not taste rooibos, but I still enjoyed the blend a lot.

Backlog

I had this on Thursday in the afternoon. I didn’t have much time to write about it, but I did record a message on the phone, reviewing the tea. There wasn’t much that I said about the tea, expect that it tasted like “old fruit that was sitting out too long; however, there’s an odd sweetness to this tea.” The “old fruit” flavor remained as an aftertaste that was almost unsettling. I usually like Zhena’s Gypsy teas, but this wasn’t one of them that I had enjoyed.

This is quite possibly the best bagged Chai I’ve ever had! Rich and flavorful with lots of cardamom (just the way I like it!) and a nice hint of creamy coconut. It’s smooth enough to drink straight but also takes milk well. I foresee this one becoming a staple in my cupboard!

Pretty average for a flavored green tea. It’s rather tart; there’s a lot of lemon/lemongrass flavor that really hits you with a blast of citrus right at the outset. Then followed by a fairly standard grassy green tea finish. Not a hint of apricot that I could discern. It’s fine, and drinkable, but probably not something I’d seek out again.

I’m usually skeptical about bagged teas. Zhena’s teas are usually fairly decent, though. So I can make an exception to try them. My wife purchased these for $4 at a second hand retail store, and thought I’d might like something different. She knows that I’m usually pretty content with Zhena’s brand, so she needn’t worry about me denying her purchase. Ha-ha.

Anyway, the tea is pretty minty. I just got a cold, so it was soothing on the back of the throat, and it gave me a chance to breathe a little. My students are all getting over or starting to get colds, so there’s plenty of germs floating about, and are now making me sick. I suppose I should look into drinking more Green and White teas. And I figured I’d start with this one today.

Normally I’m not a fan of mint teas, but the rose makes this one good. The beauty of this one is its simplicity. Just a soothing, nicely balanced, low maintenance herbal cuppa for a cold winter afternoon.

I LOVE the packaging! The little glass jar with the little wooden scooper is adorable. And very convenient.

The tea itself is fairly unimpressive. Just a sweet, simple mint tea with a hint of rose. It’s blended and balanced well, sure enough. But I think the packaging is way cooler than the actual tea in this case. I’m just relieved that they didn’t put stevia in it.

Sipdown 36/371!

Unfortunately I don’t remember who I got this from, but thank you to whoever it was! (EDIT: after consulting my spreadsheet it appears that this was a sample from MissB – thanks!) I also passed my second steepsterversary without realising ): it’s been a while since I’ve used steepster and it totally passed me by.

This tea was very enjoyable. The instructions written on the packet said to brew for 3-5 minutes at boiling, and I went with 5 because I prefer a strong brew. I’m glad I did, because I think it would have been weak if I’d given it less time, but that could possibly be due to the age of the tea; I’ve had it for quite a while now, and it wasn’t new when I received it. I was given enough teabags to make several cups of this tea, and don’t remember it tasting of earl grey at all any time I’ve tried it. The raspberry flavour is definitely present, and pleasantly natural-tasting rather than artificial, but I don’t taste any bergamot flavouring. Not even if I really concentrate. It is, though, a very nice raspberry tea, and one that I’d probably rate higher if it was labelled as such. The black base is pleasant too, especially for a tea. It is malty and strong without being astringent, though I did add a drop of skimmed milk which may be tempering the astringency. Overall I would drink this again if offered it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to repurchase it. I’m happy to have it out of my cupboard and to move on to other things.

I’m about 3/4 through my canister of this, and I won’t be replacing it when it’s finished. I like Zhena’s teas, generally. Can’t say the same for this one. I like rooibos, I like spices, but something about this mix doesn’t work for me. The spices don’t taste balanced with the sweetness of the rooibos. Also, when I opened the canister, spice dust fell all over the place. I guess the spices are too fine to stay in the teabags.

Good, especially for a bagged tea. I’d say this is on the better end of the spectrum of bagged mint green teas.