Zhi Tea
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This seems to be Zhi’s most popular blend. I’ve read a lot of great reviews of it elsewhere. It’s way sweeter than I expected, which is a good thing. I expected this to be very thick and full of chocolaty tannins, which was not what I was in the mood for. Instead, this is much lighter, with the coconut and cinnamon shining through, and the stevia sweetening things up. I can’t taste the rooibos at all! This makes me glad.
Can’t believe I’m the first to rate this! This is Zhi’s version of a traditional Kashmiri chai, which uses a green tea base and, typically, all of the other spices in a black chai. Unfortunately for me and my almond love, this version does not include the also-traditional almonds.. but I’ll live.
Zhi’s version strays a bit from the traditional, anyway, with the inclusion of vanilla. The vanilla is barely perceptible, but I definitely think it grounds the tea with a sweetness not typically found in chai. It’s not that this tastes weak – it really doesn’t – it’s just an adjustment when you’re used to more powerful chais like I am. No one flavor really stands out; cinnamon is the most easily identifiable, with that sweet vanilla coming in at the end.
This is a lot different than I thought it would be. I wish it were just a bit stronger, but I like it.
I love green based chai’s! I’ll definitely have to check it out, thanks for bringing it to my attention.
This sounds cool. I haven’t ever had Kashmiri chai before. I still haven’t found a loose leaf chai I like either…I think those Tazo tea bags are probably the closest to the same spice mix my mom uses when she makes it. Sigh.
Shanti, if you like spicy things and chocolate you must! try 52teas’ Mayan Chcolate Chai. Adagio’s are all good considering the quality. I actually really like their green chai. Their thai chai is awesome if you like coconut- unfortunately I don’t.
See previous tasting notes for full review. I found this after doing some digging in my cabinet; my black tea stash is finally reaching pitiful status, so I sucked it up and made a SpecialTeas order last night:
Chocolate Cream with Cocoa Pieces 1/2OZ
Ceylon Nuwara Eliya OP 1/2OZ
Caramel with Caramel Pieces 1/2OZ
Peach with Peach Pieces 1/2OZ
Strawberry-Cream with Pieces 1/2OZ
Apricot with Apricot Pieces and Flowers 1/2OZ
Mango w/Pieces & Flowers 1/2OZ
Coconut with Coconut Pieces 1/2OZ
Sencha Fine 1/2OZ
China Fine Ti Kuan Yin Oolong 1/2OZ
China Keemun Imperial 1/2OZ
Nilgiri Tiger Hill OP (CL) 1/2OZ
Ceylon Pettiagalla FOP 1/2OZ
Kenya Tinderet TGFOP1 1/2OZ
Whew. I’ll have a lot to try. I’ve really liked the few blacks that I’ve tried from there, especially the flavored ones, so I’m excited!
Again, this is very good – nice and sweet, but not overpowering, and you definitely taste the coconut – but it’s very mild for a chai.
A mild chai, you say? Did you add milk or drink it straight up?
Straight up. I made it once with milk before, and it was even milder.
Awesome. I’ve been on the look out for a mild chai… because with most of the chai’s I’ve had, it seems like they just throw a bunch of cloves at you and call it “spiced”… uh, no. I’ll have to look into this one. Thanks for posting the note.
Yes, it’s definitely good, just a bit mild for me. Zhi’s Kashmiri Chai is very similar, but with a green base and no coconut. I’d recommend them both.
Tavalon has a mild chai as well (I think it’s the vanilla that smooths it out) – the Kama Chai Sutra. I like a strong chai, so I didn’t rate it very high, but for a mild chai with the traditional spice blend it may be what you’re looking for. If you wait until Tavalon is featured in the Steepster Select, you can use the 20% off coupon, too!
Hm. I’m kind of conflicted on this. On one hand, this is a very good, very delicate chai. The coconut flavor isn’t overwhelming, but it’s definitely there, and the blend of spices is very similar to what was in Zhi’s Kashmiri Chai that I tried yesterday. On the other hand, this is rather weak for a black chai. I guess that’s good for me, since it’s how I prefer them, but I really would prefer more flavor, just not more spice.
Prepared this in the takgoti chai style (recipe in my Chai thread on the discussion board), and it turned out.. okay. I really need to buy a tea strainer. I tried straining this in my Bodum Assam teapot, but there wasn’t enough tea for it to strain correctly. So it has more bits of coconut in it than I would like.
Either way, the chai is good – not too sweet, not bitter at all, and not too spicy. I’m curious to see how this tastes prepared with just water.
It is SO RARE that I have a black tea after noon. I wonder what will happen now that I’ve crossed to this dark side – by the by, the only reason this is the case is because I accidentally had my afternoon oolong this morning thinking it was a black tea. Smart cookie, I am.
A weak, but pleasant tea. This says to steep for only 3 minutes, which has kept the bitterness that I often experience with Assams away. The vanilla is creamy but not too sweet; unfortunately I can’t taste much in the way of roses, but I do get a slight floral smell from my cup. I’d try steeping longer but I’d be scared it would get bitter.
I gave the small dry tea nuggets a quick hot water rinse, then sniffed at the pot — floral bliss! Dr Oolong, co-owner of Zhi Tea, describes aroma of wildflowers, but that fails to capture the richness of my olfactory experience. For me, the light gold oolong broth wafted forth orchid and lilac, with light honey notes. The sweet scent clung so strongly to the empty cup that I couldn’t take my nose out of it. That’s how I want to die — with my nose in a honeyed cup! (any innuendo found in that exclamation, ahem, surely originates in the mind of the reader) Yes, I’m an old bird whose sensuality often, these days, finds itself swimming in a cup of tea. My family, I think, considers my tea obsession a blessing, a diversion which keeps me too busy to venture far onto the wild side. My old bones second that emotion. “Teadrunk nights are quite enough,” they agree. So my hat’s off to those tiny bugs which chewed these leaves and made this tea so special! I got four good infusions, too.
Preparation
Howdy, are you still sniffing at the pot or have you moved on to Hukka or Kukicha brewing? Punning, happy holidays from this Methuen, MA residing resident-er.
Aaah, lots of good sniffing going on, but I do love kukicha, as well. This San Antonio TX resident wishes you a fine new year!
I thought I had tried this one before! I received a sample today and it was packaged differently than I remember. I went back and read my previous review and scored it quite low! (59) – As I am drinking this THIS time around it’s soooooo different! Not sure if I was logging the wrong tea before or had a bad or old batch…hum…
Anyhow…on to this review…
The dry blend scent is somewhere between a chocolate chai smell I have in recent memory AND a Chocolate Coconut Cinnamon Cookie of sorts. It has a sort of a plastic smell but that could very well be from the packaging.
The color is a deep red-brown. The aroma of the liquid is Cinnamon, Coconut, and almost a little bit of a cream scent.
The taste is sweet but also spicy…a natural cinnamon spice…not Fire Ball type cinnamon. I have a HONKIN’ HUGE Anise Star In there so I was a little afraid of the results but as I sip I am pleasantly surprised. This is pretty good. The sip starts as a contradicting sweet and spice but they are working ok with each other and morphs into a flatter taste towards the end of the sip – just before the swallow.
This isn’t bad at all and I am certainly changing my rating!
When this cools…it’s all about the coconut and it gets sweeter and sweeter VERY SWEET…so I am thinking from my previous review…my water wasn’t hot enough with my first attempt…but this attempt was nice!
Sounds like a unique tasting tea. No need for adding sugar, I suppose?
I don’t ever add sugar but I think if you are used to adding sufar you still wouldn’t need to, no. :)
Yay for it tasting good this time around.:)
This is so sweet it’s distracting. I may have oversteeped so this rating will change, I am sure. I like the idea of this…but I could have very well be at fault
You say, “I may have oversteeped it” a lot. Is it that you start with a certain amount of time and it’s frequently too long? Or is it that you set up the tea and then get distracted? (“Pretty, shiny thing over there…”) Or is it that you follow the company’s directions but they give a steeping time that’s too long. (That happens to me a lot.)
I ask because I’m deeply curious whether other people start with short steep times or long ones. My tendency is usually to go too long rather than too short.
Well, I do like a stronger tea most of the time so sometimes I oversteep on purpose. Other times I get distracted – if I am at work or forget about it in my IngenuTEA, etc… Sometimes I put too much of the loose leaf in to begin with LOL – it’s all over the place really…you never know with me! LOL
Yes, I usually go with the longer times as well!
This Arjuna fellow may be a warrior, but beneath his armor he is an epicurean sensualist. The sweet scent and long, twisted leaves of the dry tea are striking and alluring. The spear-like leaves went 5 rounds, heroically keeping their twist through the first three. The smooth liquor evolved through luscious shades of caramel, from toasty to mild, with soft floral notes. As tea-drunkeness enveloped me, I stroked the hero’s back and squeezed his lovely brown buns! Arjuna now ranks in my top few oolongs. Thank you, Zhi Tea, for an unforgettable drinking experience.
Preparation
This has bai mudan white tea,blueberries,and malva flowers. You can clearly see the ingredients. This tea smells like blueberries. I steeped the two for two minutes or something like that. This taste like a nice white tea and blueberries that are not too tart yet weak either. This is pretty good.
