Zen Tea

Second time trying this tea, but this time my husband made it since he wanted to give it a shot. It was very strong and very sweet, but I was expecting that since he usually adds enough sugar to fruity teas to rot someone’s teeth. It was a little much for me, but I still love the overall flavor and aroma of this tea. Definitely one of my favorites that I’ve tried from Zen Tea so far! The last time I went to Zen Tea, I made sure to pick up a bag. Definitely recommend it for any fruity tea lovers!

Although I always prefer my fruity teas sweetened, this one was delightful even without sugar or honey. The strawberry was the strongest flavor, but it didn’t overpower the other flavors. The aroma was so pleasant and refreshing that I wish I could smell it all day, every day. I tried it in house at Zen tea House

This is some of the best matcha I’ve ever had (excluding my obsession with iced green tea lattes from Starbucks). It was sweeter than others I’ve tried, which was perfect for my tastes, and not nearly as astringent as some of the first matcha teas I ever tried.

Great tasting tea, very natural and has a good aroma. I tried this at a tea house and it was great!

This was a strong black tea. It did taste a little butter like. Dark in color. Did not prefer this type of tea but it was not the worst black tea I have tasted. Would try maybe a different type of hazelnut tea from this brand.

I really like black teas. This tea has a subtle fruity taste without artificial flavors. I tend to like stronger flavors and I was happy with this one. I also had some other people try it and everyone liked it.

I like the smell of this tea; I keep taking sniffs of the tea leaves. It had a delicate flavor that went down smoothly. I don’t know if my brew was ideal but I thought it tasted good. It was relaxing. I think I like white tea.

This was my first time drinking pu-erh tea. The pack I bought had been fermented since 1992 and does not contain artificial smells or flavors. When I first smelled it, I thought I would not like it because it was so strong; however, I liked the taste. It definitely was not delicate, but I liked the gritty bitterness of it. The smell grew on me as I was drinking it. Unfortunately, my taste and smell are not very refined, so I can’t give much more detail about it.

I don’t think I steeped it for as long as I should have. My first cup was kind of weak, but my next cup was much better. I’m happy I drank it though. I’ll try for a better brew next time.

It had been a few years since I had a bowl of matcha, so it was quite invigorating to drink~. I missed its bitter taste and gave me good boost of energy in the morning. I particularly loved and missed the sound of whisking the drink, and that alone brought me a nice sense of focus and calm. After taking some swigs of the mix alone, I had a little sweet with the rest, and it was quite enjoyable. I am pretty sure that there are better powders that I have to look for, but at least for now, this has been a good comeback~.

I bought 50 g of this tea a couple years ago and am just finishing it now. Since the leaves were pretty broken up, I reduced the steep times to avoid excessive astringency. I steeped my remaining 6-7 g in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 20, 20, 25, 25, 30, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The first steep offers notes of lilac, violet, and other flowers, combined with grass, butter, lavender, and vanilla. The florals become headier in steep two, and the vague butteriness turns into custard and cream. This tea also has the tangy profile associated with four seasons oolong.

In the next few steeps, the grassy and lavender flavours come to the forefront, and the tea starts losing some of its complexity. It never really gets astringent, but the vanilla and florals fade quickly, leaving a pleasant but unremarkable tea by the sixth steep.

At under $10 for two ounces, this was a nice daily drinker. I’d happily buy more of it if Zen Tea decides to carry it again.

June Wedding! Another something borrowed from the last Here’s Hoping Teabox (thanks tea-sipper for organizing and all that contributed!) and this is a fruit herbal that honestly I was just sniff-checking because I figured the coconut in it would be off. I was shocked that it didn’t have that acrid smell, because I’ve had coconut teas only around six months old go off, and this tea company doesn’t even sell tea anymore, only teaware, so I take that as a sign this has got to be a pretty old blend. Ah well, if it smells okay I’m willing to try it! I saved enough to do an iced tea, so that is how I prepared it. I was excited it included dry pumpkin, though we’ll see if any of that comes through in the tea itself.

The tea is quite naturally sweet, and very tasty. It has a very pina colada sort of taste, with the coconut flavor coming through very strongly, followed by pineapple, but more of a sweet, candied sort of pineapple, rather than a tangy, fruity pineapple. It almost feels a bit creamy, reminding me of the White Coconut Cream tea I tried not long ago, but I wonder if the high sweetness of the tea is just giving it a somewhat desserty appeal. As I expected, the carrot and pumpkin in the blend aren’t really lending anything in terms of flavor (and I was really hoping to get some pumpkin notes, as I am a pumpkinholic!) But this tea has a very strong and natural tasting sweet pina colada taste, cold brews great, and is very refreshing, and since I love pina colada but dislike when pinapple flavors taste too overbearing or artificial, I’d say this is probably the best pina colada flavored tea I’ve tried. It’s just a shame this is the only time I’ll ever get to try it. If ZenTea was still selling teas, I’d totally grab more of this!

Tart and orange and red.

More on this later.

And nope, on day 10 of no caffeine after three, I kept drinking caffeinated until about seven. Ooops. And then this.

Finally got to this sample size after all of this time. That says a lot since Zen nixed their tea offerings quite a while ago now. I drank it a couple days ago but from what I recall, this was mostly starchy, mildly astringent, and very mildly malty. A touch woodsy? Good stuff.

I’m finally getting to the end of my Zen Tea samples. I steeped 5 g of tea in a 120 ml teapot at 200F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

This is a toasty, nutty Da Hong Pao. I get toasted grain, honey, caramel, charcoal, walnuts and other nuts, and tobacco in the first to third steeps. It’s drying without being bitter, with a persistent nutty and charcoal aftertaste. The tea acquires a mineral taste by steep four, but otherwise remains consistent.

By steep seven, I find, like other reviewers, that this Da Hong Pao starts to peter out, with the nuts and grain becoming attenuated. This tea thins out into a charcoal and mineral finish around steep ten.

This Da Hong Pao had a promising beginning, but faded quickly. What there was of it was good, though. Still, I’ve had other DHP’s with more staying power and complexity.

I’m experiencing a green Tie Guan Yin shortage, and while I know I should wait until the spring 2018 harvest comes out in June, going several months without one of my favourite oolongs seems dire. This is the second-last reasonably sized package of green TGY in my cupboard, and it’s pretty good. I steeped 5 g of tea in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 120, and 240 seconds.

The first steep seems slightly more oxidized than a typical green Tie Guan Yin, with notes of orchids, butter, grass, honey, and miscellaneous florals, which become violets in the second steep. Nectarines and vanilla appear in steep three, making the tea much more interesting, but also more perfumey. The fruit leans more towards apricot in the fourth steep. The next few steeps maintain this balance of flavours before petering out into grassiness.

This is a nice Tie Guan Yin that hits the spot. It has few surprises and fades faster than I’d like, but it’s pleasant while it lasts. I hope Zen Tea continues to carry it in the future.

Another entry for Love You Oolong Time! I had this one last night gongfu-style in my 150 ml beginner gaiwan. I am very much a beginner to Asian-style brewing… even with the beginner-style gaiwan I am still having trouble with the heat of the gaiwan against my fingers while pouring! Once I’m better at it, I’ll move up to purchasing the real deal, hahaha! This is only the third time I’ve done a gongfu session. I’m still very new to the process, but am really enjoying gaiwan brewing when I have the time to sit down and enjoy my tea at a more leisurely pace.

This is a tea sample from the Here’s Hoping Teabox (thanks tea-sipper and participants!) for an oolong I’ve never tried before, the Mi Lan Xiang Phoenix Dancong from Zen Tea Life (and from what I can tell, that site now only sells teaware, not tea). I used 200 degree F water, and my first infusion after rinsing the leaf was 30 seconds, and each subsequent infusion was increased by 15 seconds.

The first infusion was the most unpleasant for me. It had a malty sort of flavor with some lovely honey notes, but there was this smokiness to it that I found very off-putting; I am not a fan of smoky teas or flavors. But that was, thankfully, the only infusion where I got that particular flavor note, as the second infusion brought out some floral notes, and a slight bit of stonefruit, with a pleasant lychee aftertaste. By the third infusion the tea had become very sweet, and I was really getting the honey and orchid notes, with the fourth infusion very similar, with the sweetness tasting a bit like brown sugar or molasses. Sadly by the fifth infusion this tea was already losing steam, and my remaining infusions were a sweet, waning honey flavor with some subtle floral notes.

I had just a bit of leaf leftover, so I decided to just make this a sipdown and used it up with a western-style brew, sipping on the cuppa while watching the new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I used 200 degree F water and a two minute steep. The cuppa had a very smooth base with a malty, honeyed flavor. There was a brown sugar-like sweetness to the liquor, and just the faintest hint of lychee right in the finish, but I couldn’t pick out any floral notes when brewing the tea this way.

I really enjoyed the flavor of this tea, particularly when brewed Asian-style and getting to the sweeter infusions with heavier floral notes, but I was pretty unimpressed with how little stamina the tea had, and how quickly the flavor gave out, making for a fairly short gongfu session. Perhaps that could be to blame on me being such a beginner and needing to adjust and shorten my infusions (I’m still working at it!), or maybe it’s just not the best tea of this sort… who knows? What I do know is I definitely want to explore other Mi Lan Xiang Dancong oolongs in the future, since I really enjoyed the taste of this type of oolong and am very happy I got a chance to sample one!

This entry is for the second flush version of this tea, while my sample is from the autumn harvest. I got it a couple years ago, so it’s probably too old to be optimal. I steeped around 4 g of Darjeeling in 476 ml of 195F water for five minutes.

My initial impressions are of rye bread, malt, molasses, muscatel, caramel, and mild florals. There’s a kick of astringency at the back of the sip, and lots of tannins and grassiness in the aftertaste.

This is a burly tea for Margaret’s Hope. I haven’t had enough autumnal Darjeelings to know if it’s typical of the type, or maybe its age has blunted the more delicate flavours. Either way, it makes a good breakfast tea.

This is the last 5 g of my 10 g sample. I brewed the first 5 g using short steeps, as I would a green Tie Guan Yin, but decided to go with my usual longer infusions in this session. I used a 120 ml clay teapot and 195F water, and steeped the tea for 30, 30, 40, 40, 30, 30, 40, 40, 50, 50, 120, and 240 seconds.

The flavours are similar to those in the last session, only much more intense. In the first steep, I get caramel, wood, pecans, walnut and walnut shells, but not much smoke at all. The second steep adds the pleasant tangy sourness I associate with roasted TGY.

Going to 40 seconds in the third steep is a mistake, yielding the taste of bad convenience-store coffee. There’s smoke, dark wood, aggressive roast, bitter caramel, and underlying grassiness. Anxi Dark, I’m sorry for mistreating you so badly. Unfortunately, I did my steeps two at a time, so I had to drink one more awful infusion before lowering the time to 30 seconds again.

Back at 30 seconds, this is drinkable again, retaining its previous flavour for the next six steeps or so. Some nice mineral notes emerge near the end of the session.

Other than my premature 40-second steeps near the beginning of the session, this was very enjoyable.

This is yet another of my Zen Tea samples. As an experiment, I decided to steep it as I would a green Tie Guan Yin: 5 g in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The first steep tastes like roasted nuts, caramel, and graham crackers, while the second adds flavours of heavy roast, grain, wood, and walnuts. These notes intensify throughout the next few infusions. I get a hint of spice from the fifth steep, but the flavour profile stays pretty consistent across the session. Sadly, I don’t detect any fruit or florals.

This is a straightforward roasted oolong that’s pleasant to drink but nothing special. I’ll have to try my remaining 5 g with longer steeps to see if I can get a more complex flavour.

Better than most earl greys I’ve had, because of its creamy touch

I was a bit heavy handed with this one, accidentally filling my 120 ml pot almost full with slightly more than 6 g of leaf. I steeped it at 195F for 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

Prior to steeping, this tea smells like a generic woody/roasted Wuyi oolong. The first steep gives notes of honey, roast, and walnut shells. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the astringent mess I was expecting based on the leaf quantity. In the second steep, hay, wood, and light florals emerge. The third steep has even stronger hay and honey notes, and I’d swear there was stevia in there if I didn’t know better. Later rounds get less sweet and bring out minerals and roasted nuts.

This is a nice, very sweet dark oolong, and while I don’t think I’ll buy more, I’m glad I got a sample.

I recently discovered a cache of Zen Tea samples from 2015, and I’ll be reviewing them in the next few weeks. I seem to have bucked the trend by brewing this one gongfu style. I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The small, loosely rolled, often downy snails are really pretty! The first steep has notes of caramel, earth, cocoa, malt, and wood. For such a powerful tea, there’s not much astringency, though a bit does appear in the aftertaste. The astringency gets more intense in the second steep, while all the other flavours stay the same. (Maybe I used more tea than I realized and I need to decrease my steep time.)

The third steep incorporates honey, grain, and a hint of smoke into the existing flavour, and has calmed down in terms of astringency. Surprisingly, though the cocoa is definitely there, it’s never too prominent, although it does get stronger in steep four. This tea goes for a few more rounds before petering out around steep nine.

Though this isn’t the most complex tea in the world, it’s rich and satisfying, and changes interestingly as the pearls unfold. Like most of Zen Tea’s offerings, it’s also well priced. It would have been even better if the cocoa had been a bit stronger.

I bought this tea in early 2016, so it’s a bit long in the tooth. I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

In the pot, the dry leaf smells like liquorice and grape candy. The first steep has notes of scuppernong grapes, liquorice, menthol, and malt, with a big kick of tannins in the aftertaste. The second steep is similar—fruity and sweet until the astringency punches you in the throat at the end of the sip.

I brought the third steep down to 190F, which made the liquorice/sassafras note sweeter and cut down on the astringency. I get faint notes of honey, raisins, and earth. The profile stays consistent through the next few steeps, then starts to fade in the ninth.

If brewed at a slightly lower temperature than I normally make my black teas, this is a nice daily drinker. I also remember it being very reasonably priced, so that helps. Let’s hope that Zen Tea keeps it in its lineup when it starts selling teas again.

I didn’t realize this was on my wishlist when I bought it, because I haven’t used the wishlist function in forever. _ happy coincedence

warm, hazelnut, toffee, sweet, brown sugar notes. I actually brewed up a big thermos of this on Thursday, so now on Saturday it’s kinda foggy. Will revisit.