Strawberry Zabaglione

YUMMM!!!! Delish! Tho I’m tasting more of a black tea than the strawberries and other goodness that I should be. Need to re-adjust my Trinitea on this one I think. But yummers!!! Perfect for that first morning cup at the office!

this is a very nice black strawberry tea; I do think that adding milk (or in my case, Coconut Dream) helps to bring out the custardy flavor. Has a great smell and a lovely smooth finish. I’m not totally sure I would buy this one again (read my tealog to find out which Strawberry tea I fell in love with. :))

I got a generous sample of this tea from Jillian just before the Canada Post strike. Thank you, tea gods! (And Jillian, of course!) I am sorry that I don’t know exactly what zabaglione tastes like, but I get a little creamy, vanilla, rumishness along with the strawberry in this tea. Very good!

This tea is absolutely loaded with strawberry bits, which made me a happy tea-drinker. I’ve never eaten strawberry zabaglione before (it’s an Italian thing, right?) so I can’t really say how accurate it is in that regard, but I can say that it is one delicious cuppa.

The strawberry shines through the flavour of the black tea – it’s deliciously fruity and lightly sweet with hints of creamy vanilla. I brewed this cup up fairly light because I was drinking it plain so the whole thing is a little on the mild side, but I bet it would be awesome stronger with some milk.

The resteep at 5 minutes is lighter but I can still distinctly taste the strawberries in there.

Try #1

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 heaping tsp
Water: 12 oz 160° hot spigot water
Tool: kati loose tea system (my Review here.)
Steep Time: 4-5 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweat cream, strawberry, a little acidic
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea, sweet
Flavor: creamy strawberry black tea
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: bitter, astringent
Liquor: translucent dark red-brown

Too bitter! It distracted from the deliciousness.

Post-Steep Additives: 1 packet white sugar

Try #2

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 heaping tsp
Water: 500ml 212° filtered water
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweat cream, strawberry, a little acidic
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea, sweet
Flavor: creamy strawberry black tea
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: astringent, bitter
Liquor: translucent light red-brown

This was a bit weaker, in fact too weak, and bitter. This was better than the first try though.

Post-Steep Additives: rock sugar

Try #3

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 heaping tsp
Water: 500ml 185°F filtered water
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 2:30 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweat cream, strawberry, a little acidic
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea, sweet
Flavor: creamy strawberry black tea
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: slightly astringent
Liquor: translucent light red-brown

This was the best so far. It was creamy and delicious with slight astringent and bitter hints. I think 190-200°F would have been better, but 212°F was too hot.

If it was decaffeinated this would be a wonderful dessert tea, as it is the tea is a wonderful afternoon treat.

Post-Steep Additives: rock sugar

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/08/52teas-loose-leaf-black-tea-strawberry.html

I feel sad that I’ve had this in my cupboard for such a long time and I have never logged it :/ but now it’s gone and will be greatly missed. So rich and creamy with lovely strawberry flavor.

I gave this tea another shot this morning and it turned out better than previous times I made this tea. Before, I found the tea not very creamy or fruity, thus unexciting.

200f, 3 minutes + a couple lumps of plain rock sugar + 1/4 of the vanilla bean pod (I had scraped out the yummy insides for a huge batch of pancakes and kept the empty pod for steeping teas – FYI buy vanilla bean pods off amazon for ultra cheap prices!)

The result: very creamy and strawberry! I think before I was using too hot of a temperature and too long of a steep. And probably adding the vanilla pod cheated some more.

I don’t know what a zaga-bologna is, but I want one.
Is it just strawberries and cream?

I want a peach zabbagooga IRL.

This tea is sweet and creamy! Strawberry isn’t overpowering. I’m so terrible, sitting on my couch in the AC drinking hot tea and browsing on my laptop. Spoiled rotten? Totally, but blame it on ASHLEY! She’s the one who gave me the sample!

From the bestsellers sampler! This is only one of a few that were new-to-me in the sampler, even though I usually have had mostly samples… somehow I have managed to try most of these without actually buying them from 52Teas… one-two teaspoon samples here and there. I steeped for 3-4 minutes after cooling the water for 7-10 minutes. I didn’t want the tea to steep that long, but whatyagonnado. The flavor is nice.. but I’m just kind of tired of this black tea base. I love the assam base better so much… I can’t even tell what this one is… the flavor is different from any tea I’ve tried, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. The strawberry flavor is sweet, definitely present. Less creamy than Zen’s Strawberry Cream but I’m not sure what Zabaglione is supposed to taste like. Not bad but not special. I’m appreciating being able to taste these at their freshest since they were fresh blended, though I’m not trying them fast enough!

Sipping this sweetie while I impatiently wait for Della Terra to release their 5 new teas around 1pm!! I’ve only had this tea once before, and I’m going to let it cool before I really sip. The smell is a sweet tarty delicious candy land with cream on top!

What I truly love about this tea is that it isn’t all flavor, I’m beginning to appreciate that more and more as I drink tea as my main beverage. I can taste the quality of the black tea and that’s what really makes this such an enjoyable cup. I love dessert teas, but most of all I love teas.

On a kind of separate note; my dad came to visit Rick and I last weekend and took us out to dinner. I’m working on conditioning for 3 half marathons this year and I’ve sober since July with the help of tea. I was so angry when the butter soaked bread came out and I took a bite of Rick’s. Then he suggested I ask for a cup of hot tea to keep me occupied and BAM, my mind was off the bread and I wasn’t craving wine. It was a simple Pukka Three Ginger tea but it held me over and kept me strong. Tea helps keep me strong, how awesome is that? I love that.