Category: Review

Posted on

Zhena’s Gypsy Tea’s Coconut Chai

Coconut Chai by Zhena’s Gypsy Tea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$8.99 USD for 36g (for the entire sampler)

This is a review of a tea that I received for my birthday in 2015. I won’t be doing too much digging into the costs of the gifts that I’ve received.

20160110-zhenasgypsyteacoconutchai1

First Impressions

The dry leaf smells interesting. There’s the definite aroma of the spices that I know, love, and associate with Chai. And then there’s the subtle fragrance of coconut that mingles with the spices. I couldn’t really smell the black tea base, which is a bit of shame, as the spices overpower the base completely.

20160110-zhenasgypsyteacoconutchai2

Coconut Chai is made up of: Indian black tea, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom pods, whole cloves, orange peels, nutmeg, black pepper, natural coconut flavour, natural cinnamon flavour. I’m a little confused as to why natural cinnamon flavouring is used when cinnamon is already an ingredient in the tea. While cinnamon is a great spice, and I can definitely taste it in the mix of spices used for this Chai tea, it just doesn’t seem necessary to have the flavouring when the real deal is in the tea itself.

Preparation

As with the other Chai blends in the Zhena’s Gypsy Tea’s sampler, the directions call for boiling water with one tea sachet and to steep for 3 to 5 minutes. I steeped mine closer to 5 minutes in hopes of getting more coconut flavour i n the tea.

First Taste

There is coconut in the aroma of the steeped tea! It blends in well with the fragrance of the spices of the Coconut Chai, I think it smells lovely. The taste leaves a little to be desired though, as the coconut flavouring sadly does not come out well in the taste of the steeped tea. Coconut Chai does have that oomph of spice that I expect (and love!) in my Chai though, so it does hit all those spicy notes properly. The tea itself steeps to a lovely reddish orange colour and it smells really good. When steeped according to the directions, there’s a mild sweetness to the tea with no bitterness or astringency. It’s quite pleasant.

20160110-zhenasgypsyteacoconutchai3

A Second Cup?

Coconut Chai sadly does not steep well for a second cup, the spice level leaves something to be desired when being steeped again.

My Overall Impression

3cups-2

I liked Zhena’s Gypsy Tea’s Coconut Chai. I wish the coconut flavouring came out more in the actual taste of the tea rather than in just the aroma of the dry and steeped tea. Overall, it does hit all the right notes for a Chai for me, but I do think the lack of coconut makes it a tea that I wouldn’t reach for on a regular basis. The taste is great as a Chai, and it’s got a good amount of spice, but it does need more coconut in the actual tea blend itself in order to have the taste of coconut come through. As a Chai, it works great though, I think it’d taste well with the addition of a sweetener or a cream to give it some added richness.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Posted on

Zhena’s Gypsy Tea’s Caramel Chai

Caramel Chai by Zhena’s Gypsy Tea
Rooibos Tea / Flavoured
$8.99 USD for 36g (for the entire sampler)

This is a review of a tea that I received for my birthday in 2015. I won’t be doing too much digging into the costs of the gifts that I’ve received.

20160108-zhenasgypsyteacaramelchai1

First Impressions

Caramel Chai smells very spicy and sweet. It’s part of the sampler that Hazelnut Chai came in (my thoughts on the weight per bag vs. total weight of tea in the sampler is proof that math is actually handy in real life) and is the second tea from the bottom. I love the container still, it’s quite handy. The tea bags are the same as for the Hazelnut Chai – nice round bags that don’t come with a string (which I don’t mind too much). Caramel Chai smells heavily of spices and not so much on the ‘caramel’ side of things. It does smell distinctly sweeter than Hazelnut Chai, if that’s any consolation.

20160108-zhenasgypsyteacaramelchai2

Caramel Chai is made up of: organic, fair-trade certified rooibos, cinnamon, ginger root, licorice root, natural flavouring, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper, organic vanilla bean. All of the ingredients listed have little asterisk next to it (aside from the “natural flavoring”) to indicate that the ingredients are certified organic. Pretty neat! But that’s an awful lot of ingredients to make it taste like caramel. I’m not a big of fan of licorice candy, so I’m crossing my fingers that the licorice taste doesn’t come out too much (or, if it does, that it mingles well with the other ingredients!).

Preparation

Zhena’s Gypsy Teas recommends steeping the tea bag in water that’s been brought to a rolling boil and to steep for 3 to 5 minutes. I steeped for about 4 minutes.

First Taste

Caramel Chai is pleasant, very spicy – the Chai really overpowers most aspects of this rooibos tea. The sweetness of the caramel isn’t very bold or inviting. The tea itself is a lovely red colour, and it really benefits from having just a little bit of sweetener added to it. I used white sugar, and that helped to brighten up the flavour and it does help to coax out those caramel notes, which are still quite weak in comparison to the spices of the Chai itself. I quite like it though, it’s a very pleasant cup of tea.

20160108-zhenasgypsyteacaramelchai3

A Second Cup?

Resteeping Caramel Chai doesn’t do much in terms of coaxing out more flavour or doing well for a second cup of tea. I don’t think Caramel Chai does well with more than one steeping.

My Overall Impression

3cups-2

I liked Zhena’s Gypsy Tea’s Caramel Chai. It hits all the right spice notes as a Chai should, and while the caramel flavour was a little lost for me, a small amount of sweetener helps to coax out the flavour a bit and having a sweetener helps to brighten up the flavour a lot. I think this tea definitely benefits from having sugar (or a sweetener of your choice) added to it. It has a pleasant aroma and is easy on the palate. I think it’s a lovely Chai and the added bonus of being caffeine free (as it is a rooibos base) makes it nice for having any time of day.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake by DavidsTea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$7.90 for 50g

20160106-davidstearedvelvetcake1

First Impressions

Red Velvet Cake smells more like cake than tea, there’s no doubt about it. In a way, it reminds me of Birthday Cake, but there’s a chocolate fragrance to this tea that Birthday Cake lacks. The aroma of vanilla and chocolate wafts up from the bag when I open it, and it’s just delightful.

20160106-davidstearedvelvetcake2

Red Velvet Cake is a black tea blend that consists of: black tea, chocolate, white chocolate, sprinkles, beetroot powder, natural and artificial flavouring. It also contains milk and soy in the ingredients, so those that cannot have lactose beware! It smells and looks amazing. If it had more red and white to the tea, I could see this being marketed as a Canadian tea (since, after all, DavidsTea is Canadian).

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Red Velvet Cake in 96°C (204°F) water for 4-7 minutes. I steeped my cup of Red Velvet Cake for the full 7 minutes to give the sprinkles and chocolate the time to melt and dissolve.

First Taste

20160106-davidstearedvelvetcake3

Red Velvet Cake is not a clear tea, it’s a bit of a murky reddish brown colour and it has an oily film on top that I was expecting (this is from the oils in the chocolate and the sprinkles). It smells amazing though, just like the dry tea smelled. Chocolate and vanilla, what’s not to love? On first taste, I’m greeted with the oily mouth feel that the oils from the sprinkles and chocolate gives the tea. It’s not unpleasant and does coat my mouth a bit. The flavour of the tea itself isn’t to exciting. It is surprisingly not as sweet as I expected it to be (since there’s so many sugar-laden ingredients). I added some sugar to the tea and that helped brightened up the overall flavour of the vanilla although I still struggle to find the chocolate in the flavour. The black tea base is also hard to find in each sip. The tea itself is okay in terms of flavour, although I do wish the chocolate came out a bit more (along with the tea base). If you set aside the cup and walk away and come back, the tea does not redeem itself when it is cold.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped the leaves from my first cup – it will be a surprise to nobody that it didn’t turn out very well for a second cup. I would say that Red Velvet Cake is a one cup wonder.

My Overall Impression

2cups-2

I thought that DavidsTea’s Red Velvet Cake was just okay. This reminds me a lot of Birthday Cake, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. The chocolate was a struggle to find, and the tea itself was a bit of a let down in terms of matching up between the dry leaf and the steeped tea. It smells amazing though, and when it is hot the tea is quite palatable. It has a nice, rich vanilla flavour to the tea, but I think steeping it according to the directions was where I went wrong. I will try this again with more of the tea (perhaps in a pot?) and steep it for longer periods of time in hopes of coaxing out more of that sugar and chocolate from the sprinkles and chocolate chips. Given the ingredients, I would say this would likely taste really good steeped in milk as well or at least having some cream added to it to give it that bit of oomph that it needs to have a heightened richness in flavour, but it’s not doing much for me having steeped it in water.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.