Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Bao Zhong Oolong
Where to Buy: Zen Tea Life
Tea Description:
Creamy, smooth coconut perfectly blended with a floral Bao Zhong oolong with subtle notes of lilac.
For the best infusions, we recommend you try brewing this tea in a Guywan.
We encourage you to experiment with the quantity of tealeaves and the length of the infusion time to find your desired brew strength. Varying the water temperature isn’t recommended, as water that is too hot will over-extract the bitter components of tea, while water that is too cool might not fully draw out the aromas and flavors of tea.Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love coconut oolongs, pouchongs, etc when they are made well, and this one sure is!
The coconut flavor is perfect and NOT artificial at all!
LOVELY oolong base tea!
Sweet and floral and vegetal and a wonderful after taste!
One of the first teas I ever tried was a coconut oolong, but it was hard to restock as I bought it from a tea shop out of state. Shortly after I found a coconut pouchong and it was wonderful but I was not too happy with other teas from the same company. A few here and there but not enough to warrant an online purchase. Now enter Zen Tea Life and their coconut oolong!
One thing I look for in a tea company is consistency. I want to be able to order without reservation any number of their teas and know that at least 90% or more will be very very good! Granted we all like different types of tea and different flavors so not ALL teas will always be to my personal liking but the idea is at least the company offers quality in their teas.
What I have found with Zen Tea Life is that so far, after testing a handful of their teas, they have all be spot on! Even when it comes to white tea, which for me can be hit and miss!
With that said … this Coconut Oolong is quite yummy! It holds its flavor through a few steepings which is a plus. Has a wonderful oolong base, perhaps not the most expensive you would find if you were going for a top of the line straight oolong but at the same time you can tell they didn’t scrape the bottom of some fannings jar just to toss some oolong into this blend! Its a nice quality that I would recommend for any flavored tea blender. The floral notes are slight and subtle but present. The coconut as mentioned above is perfect! Its not artificial and does not cover up the other wonderful flavors in this tea. Yet, at the same time it absolutely lets you know that it is coconut through and through! I especially enjoy the after taste as often in a coconut flavored tea I find this after flavor that is not pleasant whatsoever. Not in this coconut tea! I also love how it is only slightly sweet, so that I can add sweetener if I want to but it is not sweet as in a sugar sweet. It is the tea base I believe adding to the sweetness here which is really quite cool! The light vegetal flavor is so lovely with the floral notes. All in all a great tea.
I am looking forward to trying more teas from Zen Tea Life and the only thing I fault them for is giving me yet another way to dent my wallet!
Lilac from Element Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Element Tea
Product Description:
Smells just like the first blossoms of spring. Fresh, yet mild, real lilac petals bring this fragment flower right to your taste buds.
Taster’s Review:
Lilacs remind me of my gramma. She had a big, beautiful lilac bush in her backyard, and every spring as it came into bloom her yard became such a lovely, fragrant place to spend the afternoon. Since that time, lilacs have come to mean springtime to me, and the source of many happy memories.
This tea brings those memories to life right here in my teacup!
The dry leaf of this black tea is alive with color, thanks to a generous sprinkling of lilac petals. They add a beauty and a charm to this tea … not to mention a delightful fragrance!
The black tea base is a brisk, bright tasting black tea. It isn’t an overly aggressive black tea. There is a light, drying astringency to the tea. Overall, the tea is fairly mellow, and adds a smooth tranquility to the overall flavor of the cup, making this a pleasing afternoon tea.
The lilac flavor is rather unexpected! Of course, I knew that it was a “lilac” tea, but I don’t really recall ever having tasted lilac tea before, so, I didn’t know what to expect from it. It has an enchanting, sweet floral flavor to it. In trying to grasp for a way to describe the flavor … the word I come up with is serenity.
It is a very serene, relaxing tea, and I have enjoyed it immensely, as well as the memories it has evoked. Thank you, Element Tea, for this amazing trip down memory lane!
