Pomegranate Mojito Green Tea from Zest Tea

Pom_MojitoTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Zest Tea

Tea Description:

At Zest, we start every morning with a Mojito. This aromatic blend of young hyson green tea, peppermint, lime, and pomegranate will bring back memories of lounging on a beach, or maybe whatever memories you have left of college. Either way, our Pomegranate Mojito Green Tea is an amazingly refreshing blend, great for any time of day.

Learn more about this tea here.

Learn more about Zest High-Octane Tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I took the opportunity to taste this tea several times before I sat down and write a review about it, and I’m glad that I did.  This is one blend that took a little “tweaking” on my part to find the right brewing temperature and time to get the most out of the tea.

Normally, I’ll brew a green tea from 175° – 180°F.  I found that this tea works better with the lower temperature.  I usually steep a green tea for 1 – 2 minutes, but I found that this tea required about 2 1/2 minutes to get the most out of the pomegranate, lime and peppermint flavors.  I tried a 3 minute steep time too, and I wasn’t very happy with that result, so my recommendation for this tea is a temperature somewhere between 170° – 175°F and a steep time of 2 1/2 minutes.

And while it does seem like this is a lot of effort to put forth to find the “sweet spot” brewing parameters for a tea, it’s well worth the effort!  This is a tasty green tea!

The peppermint is the prominent flavor of this cup, with notes of lime weaving their way in and out throughout the sip.  The green tea notes are sweet and buttery.  The pomegranate is a little more difficult for me to discern, but after a few sips, I started to notice hints of pomegranate arriving at the tail of the sip.  The aftertaste is mostly pomegranate and lime with a crisp, clean minty note.

Of the three teas that I’ve reviewed thus far from Zest Tea, I think this one is my least favorite.  I really enjoyed the Blue Lady and the Apple Cinnamon black teas, and I’m enjoying this one as well, but, there is something about this tea that is less appealing than the other two.  A slight “chemical-y” off taste to it that I didn’t notice with the other two teas.  It is a very slight taste though, and I still find the lime and mint notes to be quite delightful as well as the notes of pomegranate in the finish and aftertaste.  It’s a tasty tea, it’s just not my favorite.

I also really like the energizing BOOST that I get from these Zest Teas!

Apple Cinnamon Black Tea from Zest Tea

Apple_CinTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Zest Tea

Tea Description:

We looked to American icons when creating this blend and what’s more American than Apple Pie? Unfortunately, football and the Grand Canyon didn’t make for great teas. This blend of premium Orange Pekoe black tea smothered in real bits of apple and cinnamon is a nod to your grandmother’s 4th of July specialty. Even modern teas can have a traditional twist.

Learn more about this tea here.

Learn more about Zest High-Octane Tea here.

Taster’s Review:

From the moment I cut into the pouch of this Apple Cinnamon Black Tea from Zest Tea, I could smell the apple!  It took me a little by surprise because I figured I’d probably smell the cinnamon – and I do! – because cinnamon is a very fragrant spice but apple can sometimes be a subtle aroma in flavored teas like this.  But the apple here is abundant and very aromatic, right along with the cinnamon.  It’s lovely!

And the flavor is lovely too.  It is sweet with apple and cinnamon notes, but, I like that I’m also tasting black tea.  There is a really pleasing presentation of all three components.  The black tea is a smooth, rich backdrop of flavor, while the apple and cinnamon play in the foreground.

The apple and cinnamon flavors are blended in a really nice way.  I like the amount of flavor I taste.  There is just enough of each ingredient to please the palate without it being too much of either one.  More specifically, there isn’t too much cinnamon which can sometimes be an aggressive spice.  I don’t taste an overpowering cinnamon-y flavor with hints of apple.  I taste apple and I taste cinnamon and these don’t compete with each other; they bring out the very best in each other.

Zest Tea offers “extra caffeine” in each of their blends, and I have to tell you that the more I’m trying the “extra caffeine” teas like this, the more I’m liking them.  They get me alert faster in the morning but without the jolt that I’d get from coffee – that same jolt is what gives me the sickly feeling about three hours after I consume coffee.  I don’t get that with these Zest Teas!  I just get a steady stream of strong caffeine to get my day started!

And I like that I don’t “taste” the caffeine.  I don’t taste an extra “weird” taste in my tea. It tastes like a smooth, rich, deliciously flavored black tea.  This one is a sweet tea, but not too sweet.  This tea makes it OK to have a little bit of “apple pie” at breakfast time!

If you’re looking for that extra charge in the morning, these teas from Zest Tea may be just what you’re looking for!

Blue Lady Black Tea from Zest Tea

Blue_LadyTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Zest Tea

Tea Description:

Our Blue Lady Black blends a sultry South Indian black tea base with an aromatic mix of orange, lemon, passion fruit, and hibiscus. A peppering of vivid blue cornflower petals and bits of orange peel make for a visual spectacle. Blue lady will excite all of your senses. No wonder this is a favorite among hot and chilled tea drinkers.

Learn more about this tea here.

Learn more about Zest High-Octane Tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I thought that this Blue Lady Black Tea from Zest Tea was the ideal tea to review on tax day.  We got to get those taxes done and in the mail, right?  Actually, I finished my taxes in the first week of February, but, I know that there are those who don’t get them done and April 15th always seems to be crunch day, right?  So, this one’s for you!

Zest Teas are “High-Octane” teas, that is to say that there is more caffeine in this cup of tea than in the average cup of flavored black tea.  The goal, according to the makers of Zest Tea, was to create a high quality cup of tea that had the caffeine of a cup of coffee.

My one concern was this:  I can’t drink coffee.  Coffee makes me sick.  I used to drink coffee every morning until I realized that the reason I was feeling sick around 11 am was that the coffee I was drinking every morning was making me feel that way.  Was this “High-Octane” Zest Tea going to have the same effect on me?  I kept my fingers crossed that it wouldn’t.

This tea is VERY aromatic.  When I opened the pouch, I was greeted with a very fruity “punch” of fragrance:  I could smell citrus notes of orange and lemon and I could smell the passion fruit.  And despite the images that the “High-Octane” evoked in my head, it doesn’t smell of gasoline.  Not one bit.  It smells like a fruit flavored black tea.  I like that smell.

It tastes great!  The fruit notes of citrus and passion fruit are strong, but I also taste the Nilgiri black tea base.  It has a pleasing flavor:  rich and smooth, no bitterness, and it has lovely notes of malt.

I like the way the notes of malt play with the notes of lemon and orange.  I also appreciate the balance that has been achieved in this blend:  I taste the strong fruit notes but there is a full-flavored black tea base to fill in the background.  There is also an agreeable balance of tart and sweet here.  It is neither too sweet nor too tart.  

The hibiscus in this blend adds a little bit of body to the cup and a hint of tart flavor that complements the citrus notes.  Not a lot of hibiscus flavor, just enough tart and tangy taste to contrast with the sweeter notes of the fruit.

There are no weird/funky flavors associated with the extra dose of caffeine in the tea.  Not that I thought there would be, but for those of you who might have thought:  “What will that “High-Octane” thing do to the flavor?”  I’m here to tell you that I don’t notice anything off with the flavor at all.  This tastes like tea.  It doesn’t taste different or off or funky in any way.  It just tastes like a tasty tea with lovely notes of citrus and passion fruit.

So far, I really like what I’ve tasted from this tea.  I’ll come back in a couple of hours to let you know if I felt any ill after-effects from the caffeine.

OK … so a few hours have lapsed since I finished the cup of tea, and here’s what I noticed:

  • More energy:  Yep.  I could feel the extra burst of caffeine.  But it didn’t feel like the jolt you’d get from a cup of coffee.  It was stronger than the usual energy flow that I’d get from the usual cup of tea, though.  A bit more like the unbridled jolt from coffee, but, I didn’t feel jittery or … well, I didn’t feel like I had just consumed a cup of coffee.  But there is definitely an elevated level of invigorated energy from this tea.
  • No ill effects:  I didn’t feel that icky feeling that I would feel after I drank a cup of coffee in the morning.  Big bonus points for that.
  • No “crash”:  After drinking coffee and experiencing that jolt, a few hours later, I usually feel the crash.  I feel a lack of energy, like I need another cup of coffee to get me going again.  Now, the lack of crash could be from the fact that I drink tea throughout the day, but, my tea drinking today has been limited to this one cup of tea from Zest Tea and then a couple of glasses of cold-brewed black iced tea.  I don’t know the level of caffeine from the iced tea, but, I will say that I don’t usually feel “energized” after I drink iced tea.  I feel refreshed and I feel my thirst has been quenched, but I don’t feel the burst of caffeinated energy from iced tea.

OK, so there you have it.  I like this stuff … it’s a great way to get your act together in the morning on those days that you really need to get it together.  And it tastes great too.  This tea has it going on.

Genmaicha Extra Green with Matcha Tea from Culinary Teas

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Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to buy:  Culinary Teas

Tea Description:

An exceptional blend of the Genmaicha toasted flavor and aroma, with a Matcha natural sweetness. An exotic and harmonious flavor for green tea. Also known as ‘popcorn tea’. 

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

This Genmaicha Extra Green with Matcha Tea from Culinary Teas is a very pleasing Genmaicha blend.  I love the warm, roasty-toasty flavor, as well as the fresh note that comes with the “extra” green from the Matcha.  It’s a very invigorating tea … one that would be a great alternative to the typical black breakfast tea!

Normally, I consider a Genmaicha tea to be on the “light” side as far as that caffeine kick goes… but the Matcha addition not only gives it extra green, but some EXTRA energy too!  The Matcha adds a slight creamy tone to the cup, and while I did notice the green powder on the dry leaf (and some powder to spare!) the cup does not appear overly cloudy or thick from the Matcha.  It does have a thicker texture than I would normally experience with a typical Genmaicha … but it isn’t as heavy as I expected it to be given the heavy powdering the dry leaf appeared to receive from the Matcha.  (The dry leaf was very powdery and green!)

The Matcha also gives this Genmaicha a distinctive flavor.  It is sweeter and I like the way the vegetal note coats the tongue.  This has a slightly stronger vegetal tone than a typical Genmaicha without the extra Matcha.  The Genmaicha offers the flavor that I’d expect from a Genmaicha:  I taste that sweet, nutty/toasty rice flavor.  Overall, this combination of Matcha and Genmaicha is sweet, nutty, vegetal … it’s delicious!

I prefer my Genmaicha served straight – no additions – and that’s the way I took this cup.  It’s really delightful, and I like the energy boost it gives me!  Great for those times when I need a “jolt” but don’t want black tea!

Burnside Extra Long Wirey Oolong from Red Leaf Tea

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Oolong

Where to Buy:  Red Leaf Tea

Tea Description:

In the Nilgiri District of Central India, the Blue Mountains are the home of the Burnside Estate Tea Farm. Every January, after the first frost of the year coats the young buds, this estate harvests the pekoe leaves and creates several varieties of tea from them, including this outstanding extra long wirey oolong. By combining mountain elevations, which encourages the trees to draw nutrients from the soil, an early harvest, which encourages lightness and clarity in the brew, and then by twisting the oolong tea leaves into stretched out “wires,” Burnside has created a loose leaf tea that can boast incredible body and intensity, while keeping astringency to a minimum. Sweeter than any other oolong, this Burnside Estate leaf will provide you with some of the strongest expressions of pure tea flavor that you will ever find!

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I’ve been reviewing so many flavored Matcha from Red Leaf Tea in the last few months that you might have forgotten that they also sell tea other than Matcha, too!

This Oolong is different from other Oolong teas that I’ve tried.  The dry leaves are just as the name implies:  long and wiry.  They are dark in color, indicating to me that this is a darker Oolong, and generally with darker Oolong teas I tend to expect more of a fruitier taste than a flowery one, and that is true here.  This does have a fruity character, but, where it’s different is the way the fruit notes present themselves.

Ordinarily, when I say fruit, I refer to a sweet tasting flavor that tastes similar to some sort of fruit.  (I know, duh!  right?)  But, here, I taste sort of a sweet-and-sour taste that reminds me a bit of a slightly under-ripe plum, with hints of a peachy-apricot-y flavor in the background.  There is a vivid contrast between the sweet and sour.

I taste faint notes of floral tones to this as well, and while these floral notes seem to intensify as I continue to sip, they never seem to become a strong flavor of this tea.  There are woodsy notes to this as well as a faint earthiness.  These flavors also seem to come out a little more in subsequent infusions, but never really become a strong flavor of this tea.

I like the complexity of this.  In one sip, I’ll notice a hint of honey-like flavor, in the next, my palate seems to linger over the sour notes.  It’s really quite beautiful:  light, crisp and tasty!