Zack's Coffees, Teas & Gifts

Earlier today I had a cup of this HOT and I was going to review it and just say AVERAGE…nothing more to say but average…not memorable. After my lunch I had the iced equivalent…and I must say…that is the way to go! It’s make a nice refreshing ICED Tea. Based on that is my rating.

Decided to make this my Rooibos of the day today! I can totally smell Amaretto Like Highlights today! Now I want to go out for an Amaretto Sour tonight…thanks Zack’s Coffee & Tea! LOL

I can totally sniff how there would be a comparison to Amaretto here…
Anyhow…
Nice coloring and scent to it. Great alt to a Amaretto Sour – if you are unable to drink or are at work! LOL I think it would be nice iced but it’s not bad hot either. You know how there is that usual Rooibos flavor going on…this has enough other things happening that it seems to take away from the stereotypical Rooibos taste altho you still know it’s a Rooibos. Very colorful dry blend and an enjoyable sip!

This is the second of the two ‘mystery teas’ my mother gave me and I’m becoming even more sure that these teas were never mine since I usually hate rooibos (I make some exceptions, but not many).

I opened the bag and to my surprise the rooibos is mixed with a ton, and I mean a TON, of sliced almonds and some sort of yellow flower petal (calendula maybe?). I took a whiff and got a vaguely sweet smell that might be vanilla – or it might not. But mostly I’m just getting the distinct scent of rooibos.

Taking a sip I’m underwhelmed. I’m not tasting much of anything except the characteristic rooibos tart-earthiness mixed with a hint of something undefinable that’s faintly sweet. Like I said with the Strawberry Sencha I have no friggin’ clue how old these two teas are, but given how whimpy the flavours of both are I’m guessing that they’re past their prime.

Frankly I wouldn’t be able to tell that this is a vanilla tea without the label. Meh.

I decided to give this another shot before I gave a final verdict on it. When I added the water the leaves foamed a little bit – ZOMG, my tea is RABID! XD

Anyways I had to steep it for awhile before I got any significant flavour and when I did it was quite bitter and basically tasted like an oversteeped green. It’s the compost bin for you, Strawberry Sencha!

I should add that the poor rating has relatively little to do with the store itself – this tea was sitting for God knows how long in my mother’s cupboard. Time to get rid of this and get some fresh tea from Zack’s. Hopefully my plants will like this better than I do!

My mother gave me this and another tea after she found them in an epic cupboard-cleaning at her house. She didn’t recognize them (she doesn’t drink loose-leaf) and thought I might have bought them – however I’m SURE I’ve never seen these teas before in my life, so who knows how they got in the cupbord in the first place! The only labeling on both was just the name of tea, however I recognized the label-style as coming from the local coffee shop, so it’s a start. Still it’s kind of weird and random. cue ominous music

I also have not the faintest idea how old they are or even if they’re still any good. Green tea in particular have a pretty short shelf-life I’ve heard (?). They weren’t in a sealed container, just in a wax-lined paper sachet. When I opened this bag the flavour didn’t seem too bad, not dusty or stale, just rather strawberry-ish. There were real pieces of dried strawberries mixed in which I like, I’ve ranted often enough about how much I hate teas that just have the mysterious ‘natural/artifical flavouring’.

The taste is…not terribly strong. It’s slightly sweet and strawberry-flavoured, and slightly nutty-tasting. Most however it mostly tastes like what I’ve always thought of a ‘normal’ green tea tasting. It’s not strong, which is probably its age showing, but it isn’t harsh or unpleasent either.

A nice, sweet treat before I head off to bed. I need to make another batch of iced tea out of this – maybe tomorrow.

Drinking this iced again, with pizza. Supper wasn’t orginally supposed to BE pizza, but we won’t talk about that. ⌐_⌐

I made a pot of this iced yesterday and it’s even better that way than it is hot.

Sweetening it really brings out the flavour wonderfully, although I think I may have added a touch too much honey this time. Ah well, still not getting anywhere NEAR the amounts of sugar that you’d find in Lipton or Snapple iced teas.

I’m not a huge rooibos fan but I LOVE this particular tea. It has sort of a creamy, vanilla/amaretto flavour to it and it makes my tastebuds squee in delight.

It’s filled with beautiful blue, red, and yellow flower petals, though I have no idea if they actually lend anything to the taste. It does make for a colourful, cheer-inducing tea to look at.

Drank this at Zack’s Coffee Shop. Nicely balanced spices and not too sweet.

I steeped this for 5 minutes in boiling water that had been allowed to cool for a few minutes. Lengthening the steeping time just seems to emphasize the slightly over-baked quality this tea has. I think I’ll try for less next time.

Steeped for 4 min in boiling water. Not minding the baked flavour as much but this still isn’t my favorite formosa oolong.

Steeped for 2.5 min in boiling water. I’m not tasting any of it’s supposedly ‘sweet, fruity character’. It’s got the roasted ‘bakey’ taste (which has a slightly bitter, almost burnt quality to it) but it’s very much a one note tea and the flavour isn’t very developed.

I like the Formosa Oolong from Lavender Basics better than this one.