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I love anything raspberry flavored, so you could imagine my excitement at seeing this particular pouch. Upon opening, the smell of the Ceylon and the raspberry mingled to create a nice malty, juicy raspberry and cocoa smell that got me jonesin’
But of course, dummy me let it steep for over 10 minutes in hot water what I was doing god knows what. I hardly tasted any raspberry at all, just drinkable jet fuel. There were trace amounts of astringency, but nothing I couldn’t ignore. I hope the raspberry comes through nicely when steeped properly, it could be real good!

I couldn’t remember the name of this tea all day! I looked on the re-vamped Zen Tea website and found that this one was off their list. Ah, just as well. Not as big of a fan of this as I could be. But, I did only cold brew some for work today, which may be the reason. I will have to review this tea when I try it a different way. I think I originally purchased this with the thought of using it in the espresso machine at work, because of all the teeny tiny spindled leaves. I will have to update when I do!
This tea brewed up a light rust liquor with a mild spiced raisin note, along with the usual malt and citrus. I may have underleafed here, but it may as well have been the method of preparation. The brew was a little weak and lfatg for my taste. I know it must be better, because ZTL would not have added the “special” to the same for nothing. I have a few more servings to go, so I will have to find out if there is anything truly special about this tea. Because cold brew sucked the life out of it.

Enjoyed this Ceylon from Zen Tea. I swear I had a tasting note for this already! Well, I guess not.

I had this as a sampler size bag from this company a while back. I also finished it a while back. All I remember is that i had this around the same time an another Ceylon from Capital Tea LTD. This was a toned down version of that tea. It had a dustier quality, and the clover honey notes were much more subdued. It resteeped really well, I had it in my travel tumbler and was able to absent mindedly redrew the same leaves about 3-4times before getting bored. While I would not purchase again, (Capital Tea’s Ceylon I had was far better) it was a good comparison tea.

TBT Review!
I used to work at a hotel a couple years back and my favorite shifts were the ones that started at 4am. despite the horribly earliness of it all, I really loved how quiet and dark everything was. the bar had been closed for two hours, and the bartender had gone home an hour after that. the only noise from the basement was the sound of Mexican polka music and the laundry room washing machines humming (at times it sounded as if they were humming to the beat of the ranchero) The only other person i would see in the morning was the lone person at the front desk. I would groggily say Hi and grab keys on my way out.
I worked at the little coffeeshop attached to the hotel, across from the bar. Yeah, I had to kick out a hobo that would sleep in the entryway every once in a while, but nothing exciting happened at 4:30 in the morning.
I lived within walking distance, and it was kind of cool walking through a silent ghost town that was that part of downtown. I would maybe see three people, max. Just buzzing street lamps and steaming manhole covers. An errant runner with a dog, a stumbling drunk. In the summer, when the sun would rise earlier and earlier, i would see the tiniest whisp of glow on the horizon.
This was my usual tea i took with me on those mornings. Yeah, my coffeeshop had tea there, but none of it was a good kick in the pants as this was. And i hate coffee.
It was bland, slightly cinnamony black tea that made good use of a small dose of almond milk. It had a nice kick in it that helped me though the walk and through the morning shift.

Wowza. Nepal has yet to fail me with their teas. This is so sweet, malty, fruity and smooth. It’s hard to pick just onto aspect to love.
I knew at the rinse that I would love this. I smelled the promise of malt, the hint of honeydew, and a kiss of citrus. Like a mandarin or the sweetest grapefruit I have ever tasted. The maltiness is so nice in comparison with the fruitiness and the candy-like sweetness. The candied orange peel became more and more obvious in the later steeps.
I was almost nervous to steep this at oolong temperatures by looking at the leaf. The bright green leaves tinged with silvery green-grey fuzzies had me buggin’.
I believe I got this as a thank-you sample from Alistair in my last What-Cha order. The second he puts a sale up again and this tea is part of it, I may just have to get tons more. This is killer tea.

These are some big and green leaves! The smooth, tightly rolled balls of leaf smell buttery green. Like buttered green beans with slivered almonds.
The fist couple steeps provide a slight gassiness and something creamy and similar to fresh coconut meat. The grassiness melts away after a couple more steeps, and it gives way to a mineralized buttery floral. I loved spending time with this tea! For being a mellow winter oolong, it had whispers of brighter and greener springy harvests.
Gah! This is yet another tea that has me dying for the spring 2015 harvests to grace my doorstep!

Thank you so much, cookies! this is not what I would pick for myself as a lover of the lighter side of oolong, but I am happy to have received it!
This tea is so glossy and deep, dark purple. The miniscule rolled leaves are lovely to look at and sniff at. They look like little round eggplants. They kinda smell like roasted eggplant as well. Breaded and broiled in an oven.
The liquor is unmistakably from the purple varietal. It’s a grey-gold thin liquor. I detected some fishy aromas from the cup, but I couldn’t place it in my sip. Ah, but the usual dry, burning prairie grass is there once again.
Next two steeps I used hotter water. From 95C to 100C. I’m getting scalded milk and a deeper roasted flavor. Coffee note abound!! The fishiness intensifies ever so slightly. I am getting faint notes of dark chocolate and caramel. I’m talking 86% dark chocolate. And caramel that is almost burned on the stove. This tea is merciless. It dares me to like it, or to spit it out. I can’t say that I like it, and I am on my 6th steep, and I have finished each sip.
Still. I am glad to have tried it, even though it was definitely not for me.

Got this tea in one of the three free samples they were sending out in a promotion a while back. I love me some peach and iced tea season is right around the corner! In the summer, I can pack away 2 liters of cold-brew tea a day. So I thought that this would be a great idea for emergency iced tea.

That is, until I read the ingredients.

Yes, I know, flavorings run rampant at Twinings. That’s fine. I am okay with that. I am, however, a little perturbed at this particular list. Tea is still the first ingredient (no specifics though, just… tea) and there are the natural and artificial peach and tea flavorings, tea powder, and ….
Water.
Yup. The last ingredient in this teabag is water. Dehydrated water? The assumption that this is to be brewed in water? I cannot be sure.
So I brewed this according to directions, because now they had caught my interest. I put this bag in 8oz of cold water and waited for 5 minutes. The brewed tea sat heavily at the bottom of the cup, all the color and flavorings sitting there, waiting to be stirred.
Tasting this freakish cold-brew, it tasted just like peach flavoring and basic boring black tea. It is exactly something that I could buy in a can. Not bad, not good, nothing i’d really try again if I can help it.