Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zhi Tea
Tea Description:
Our unique Coconut Chai begins with organic coconut pieces and our top-quality organic Assam Black whole leaf tea.
Accompanying this superb pairing is a medley cinnamon, ginger, and whole cardamom. Bursting with the essence of the tropics, this handcrafted blend will soothe, nourish, and uplift your spirits. Share a steaming mug with a good friend.
Learn more about this chai here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of the dry leaf is tempting with notes of sweet coconut and spicy cinnamon and ginger. I waited anxiously for this Coconut Chai Black Tea Blend from Zhi Tea to finish steeping … three minutes seems like forever when you can’t wait to taste the tea! (And then there’s the cooling time! Argh! The anticipation!!!)
But this chai is well worth the wait! YUM! It’s a delicious way to warm you up. The spices are sweet yet spicy, and mingle in a very enjoyable way with the sweet, creamy coconut notes. I like that the coconut adds just the right creaminess to the cup; no dairy is needed to enjoy a latte-like experience. However, if you want to enhance those creamy tones, a splash of milk will do that for you.
The black tea base is an Assam tea, and I can taste the richness it provides. It has a smooth texture and a malty flavor that melds well with the sweetness of the coconut. The tea is full-flavored and has a sweet, caramel-esque undertone, and it is moderately astringent. It is bold enough to stand up to the strength of the spices, and I like that I can enjoy the flavor of this Assam as well as the other ingredients of the blend.
This is not an overtly spicy chai. The cinnamon tastes sweet, the ginger adds a pepper-ish kick to the cup while the cardamom adds a touch of warmth to the cup. It isn’t what I’d call a hot or spicy chai, rather, I would call it warm and inviting. This is the kind of chai that I think most people could enjoy – even the ones who tend to shy away from chai because they’re a bit too much for them. I think that the coconut mellows out the spices just enough to make this a warm chai but not a spicy one.
Violet Femme From Zhi Tea
Tea Type:
Black Tea
Where To Buy:
Zhi Tea
Product Description:
Cousin to the famous Earl, we welcome the illustrious Violet Femme. Resplendent. Elegant. Complex. Mysterious.Not so simple and definitely refined, Violet Femme takes her cues from the well-balanced Earl Grey and goes a step further with a splash of creamy vanilla and luxurious lavender. The resulting cup is evocative, aromatic, and smooth.
Violet Femme is great cool, too, so try her over ice for a refreshing summer treat.
Tasters Review:
Violet Femme from Zhi Tea…oh how you’ve surprised me! You, see, I’m not much of a Girlie-Girl and I haven’t been overly fond of Lavendar in my teas as a general rule of thumb. But THIS, however, was a very nice and lovely surprise. It’s nicely done. It’s pretty but sassy! It has the right amount of Assam but a good pairing amount of floral flavors along side with it! The vanilla makes it creamy and evens out the floral notes so that it isn’t bitter. The Bergamot gives it that bit of citrus and likeness to Earl Grey and I like that. This is a real winner. Very nicely done!
Royal Gold Yunnan Needle from Zhi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zhi Tea
Tea Description:
Exquisite, rare, high-altitude Royal Gold Yunnan tea. This needle tea, along with our Silver needle, is considered to be one of the finest teas in the world. Ours is completely comprised of copper-y, soft, curly buds. The dry leaf is quite aromatic; deep woodiness, tobacco, and floral hints. Once steeped, the leaf denotes hints of honeysuckle, with an autumnal richness. In the cup we find a deep caramel color and complex aromatics; bing cherry, baked bread, dark chocolate, roasted nuts,and spring blossoms. A long aftertaste leaves an incredible tobacco-y cacao finish.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I just love it when I take that first sip of a tea and I exclaim: “Awesome!” … or something like that. Sometimes it’s “oh, that’s good.” Or, just simply “mmm…”
That was my response when I first tried this tea. It was first “mmm…” and then “Awesome!”
This tea has such a deliciously rich character – smooth and complex and full-flavored. The first thing I noticed is just how well-rounded it is. It has a richness – almost creaminess, but that’s not quite the right way to describe it. This isn’t creamy the same way an Oolong, for example, is creamy. But, it has a thickness to it … a satisfying quality that seems to warmly blanket my taste buds in a swathe of flavor that ranges from flower to cacao, from caramel to fruit. This tea seems to have it all.
There are distinct cocoa-y notes – a deep, dark chocolate-y note that seems to set the tone for the entire cup. The cup is sweet, but not so much from the cocoa as it is from the burnt-sugar caramel notes. After the first couple of blissful sips, I begin to notice the fruity tones emerging, reminiscent of fresh plum that has been ripened on the tree in the summer sun. More sweetness and just a hint of tart from the fruit. Just a hint – just a touch of tartness – and it helps to keep the cup interesting.
By mid-cup, the floral notes begin to reveal themselves. The description above suggests honeysuckle, and yes, I suppose I get that. But it isn’t quite the honeysuckle one might find in other teas that possess honeysuckle-like tones, these floral notes have the subtle qualities of chamomile, but with the flavor of honeysuckle. That is to say that they are soft, not sharp or overpowering – just a gentle hint of honeysuckle, as if a warm breeze filtered through a honeysuckle vine and the essence of the air and the flower met in the teacup.
By the time I reach the bottom of the cup, I can reflect over the different flavors that I’ve tasted and might also mention a slight spiced tone that peppers the cup – not heavily, just a touch of warmth here and there that tastes of freshly ground pepper that has been finely ground and used to season modestly the overall cup.
A truly wonderful experience, this Royal Gold Yunnan Needle from Zhi Tea. It’s one of those teas that will serve you well as a breakfast tea and takes the additions of milk and honey well. I prefer it straight though, as I find that it allows me to explore the many facets of flavor it offers.
Fredericksburg Peach from Zhi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zhi Tea
Tea Description:
Great hot or cold, this Assam FOP based tea is thirst quenching and satisfying. Rich Single Estate, Fair Trade, organic tea leaves from India along with organic domestic peach pieces (dried in slices then cut by hand by us) and USDA organic peach flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
For my next pitcher of iced tea, I decided I’d try this tea, and while I was making it for the iced tea pitcher, I decided to pour myself a cup of it so that I could try it hot.
This is really quite tasty. The peach flavor starts out soft but after a couple of sips it begins to really pop. It is sweet and luscious! And I love the combination of Assam tea and peach. I’m used to peach flavored black teas with a Ceylon base, and I really like that Zhi chose an Assam base for this tea – because the malty tones of the Assam seem to pair perfectly with the sweet, juicy taste of the stone fruit.
It’s a delicious cup of hot tea, but it’s amazing iced. The Assam becomes very smooth, and supports the peach tones in a very pleasing way. Sweet and fruity, but, what I like is that the tea is bold enough to taste like a TEA and not a fruity soft drink. Very nice!
Pink Grapefruit Sencha from Zhi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Zhi Tea
Tea Description:
We took our tip-top grade organic sencha we get from Japan (which would not normally be a blending base, the second grade is used for that), added organic grapefruit extract and organic pink grapefruit peel.
The result: a delightful top note that sits delicately over the rich grassiness of the sencha. Perfect, subtle, intoxicating aromatics. Very addicting.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a wonderful grapefruit flavored green tea. As I may have mentioned here before, I have been on a sort of ‘quest’ to find a spectacular grapefruit flavored green tea, and this one comes as close as any other that I’ve tried up until now.
A couple of years ago, I had tried a grapefruit green tea in Arizona, and I absolutely loved it. And while I have actually found the source of that actual grapefruit tea, somehow, that tea just doesn’t taste the same as I remember. I don’t know what it is. It could be the water tastes different here than in Arizona, or the water temperature used to brew it was different … or maybe it was just the magical quality of Tohono Chul Park that made the tea taste so indescribably good. So, even though I have actually found the source of the tea that I tried in Arizona, and it is NOT this tea, this tea actually reminds me more of the tea I tried in Arizona than the actual tea that is sold in Arizona!
It has a lovely pink grapefruit flavor – tangy but not overtly tart, with a pleasant sweetness that counters the tangy note and keeps it in balance. Sort of like that sprinkling of sweetener on top of a half a grapefruit, this tea manages that flavor without the addition of sugar.
And I think that is because of the tea base. The Japanese Sencha is sweet and just barely vegetal. Not a grassy taste, really, but more like a hint of freshly steamed vegetables in the background. I think that these two components – green tea and grapefruit flavor – have been masterfully paired by Zhi Tea.
It is delicious and refreshing as a hot tea. It needs no sweetener, but, a little sugar wouldn’t hurt it if you want a sweeter grapefruit flavor. And as wonderful as it is hot, I think I shall save the remainder of my sample of this tea to brew for iced tea, because I suspect that this tea is even more incredible iced.