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thank you Butiki for the samples! They are always a treat. This must be the lightest black tea I’ve EVER tried. The leaves are longer with an interesting mixture of colors: dark and golden yellow, which is maybe where the name of the tea comes from. The steeped leaves smell like a field of dry grass growing for months after a dry summer, waiting to be chopped down before the winter. It makes me a bit sad that it’s November and that won’t be happening for a while! The steep color is a light yellowish brown… I guess you could call that golden too. I steeped for three minutes and the water was way cooler than the suggested 195. I was surprised by its light fruity flavor! I thought of a cantaloupe, but I’d also agree with the pear description. It’s a cantaloupe and pear blend! Delicious! There is something slightly creamy about it too. A bit of a sweetness like honey. A bit of that grassy field. There is something there that maybe my palate isn’t advanced enough to distinguish… I thought “tippy” teas were also supposed to have a smokey flavor, but I have only tried one (Harney & Sons) and maybe that was stored around a smokey tea or my infuser had the remnants of another smokey tea. I thought this would be like the Phoenix/ Black Dragon pearls I love (maybe because of the coloring of the leaves), but both are complete opposites. Like I said, it’s hard to believe this is a black tea! This is a complex, light, fruity tea. A nice change from the stronger black teas I usually have!

Second steep: The water was much hotter and I steeped for 4-5 minutes which resulted in a MUCH different cup of tea. Now it is actually more like a malty deep black tea, without the fruity, honey or grassy flavors. Is this the same tea? Very weird! I actually preferred the first steep because it was so different. It just shows how sensitive steep times and temps can be. I’ll need to keep this in mind in the future!!

thanks again momo for sending this one! A nice surprise and I LOVE it. It actually tastes like I thought it would. It has a nice sweet milky flavor with a bit of cookie flavor as well. I wish there was more of a cookie flavor, but the milk flavor is spot on. I have no idea how that happens! I thought the milk flavor would be underrepresented, but it is balanced with the cookie. The black tea is perfect for this blend. There is a bit of tanginess to it, but maybe the “milk” is going a bit sour. haha.

I usually LOVE me some Lapsang Souchong. But this one is just pure gross. I won’t mention what it reminds me of… I don’t want to ruin anyone’s tea appetite. I think I might not even finish this cup and that never happens. It just doesn’t seem like it was genuinely pine smoked. It might be some kind of artificial smoke flavoring that reminds me of BBQ sauce (but I like BBQ sauce). I never have any luck with Twinings… I think they might be my least favorite company. I’ve tried so many Twinings and they never seem to work for me.

TO ANYONE WHO HASN’T LIKED LAPSANG SOUCHONG: If this is the one you’ve tried, do NOT give up on them. There are much better blends out there.

Tried this one yesterday. It has such a rainbow of ingredients in the bag! It has a fresh crisp apple flavor, rather than a bakey flavor, which is odd because it has things like cinnamon and vanilla in it. The vanilla was subtle. I like this one because even though there was hibiscus in it, there was just enough that it helped the flavor instead of overpowering it. I think I was tasting the blackberry leaves though, which I do not like. Not bad!

thank you momo for sending a bit of this to try! I was a little wary of this blend, send it sounded like an odd mess of stuff. But I thought since it was Verdant, it couldn’t be that bad, right? Well, it kind of tastes how I thought it would. To be fair, I didn’t use two teaspoons since my infuser only holds one. But there was an ick trio: chamomile, mints, and a bit of cinnamon. That just sounds terrible. I didn’t find ANY chocolate here. And an oolong and black tea blend sounds intriguing, but not here. The steep color was a deep yellow, so it really didn’t seem like there was much black tea here. I couldn’t taste the oolong either… just the ick trio. I really need to get a brew basket. I don’t think I gave this the chance it deserved. But maybe it just isn’t my cup of tea.

Additional notes: Sipdown! I think that might be the first time I get to say that. There was a bit left in a not-very-sealed package. Somehow this was completely different from the last cup. It was much more like a black tea instead of anything like asparagus. I actually forgot I thought it tasted like that, but the flavor is much more how I wanted it to be! Nice! It’s more sweet malty with a bit of cocoa this time. I have no idea why the flavor changed so much. Maybe because I had similar teas for the first time since I first tried this one? I’m going to miss this one! I’m uping the rating!

I’ve had crummy luck with the couple of bagged Earl Greys I’ve tried. They were terribly bitter. This one is surprisingly good! I prefer my Earl Greys with creme, but this one could live without it. It’s a decent black tea with a decent bergamot flavor! MUCH better than the other bagged Greys, but not as good as the loose leaf teas. I wonder why they are so different?

Butiki sent me a sample to try — thank you! Oh wow… this one is luxurious! There are definite flavors of maple and pecan here. It’s just like maple syrup with pecans! I’d say the pecan and maple flavors are equally present. There are huge chunks of pecan in this blend! The oolong leaves are black, wiry, twisty — I haven’t seen an oolong like this yet. I think it’s a nice base for the flavors. It doesn’t have a typical floral taste of an oolong that might otherwise taste terrible with maple or pecan. This type of oolong lets the flavors shine. There is also a slight flavor of dates or something similar.. and also something bakey! I wish I could have tried this type of oolong unflavored, to see how it is contributing to the flavors. Perfect with Thanksgiving in a couple days… it has me looking forward to all that pecan pie I’ll be having!

I just had to try this one. Some of my favorite teas are creamy! This is exactly as described. It’s a delicious black tea base with a definite sweet strawberry flavor. There is some creme, but I could have used more. I was a bit worried about the strawberry leaves, as I had one tea with blackberry leaves that tasted like medicinal pepto bismal, but I think here it was just another hint that you are drinking a strawberry tea. There was at least one chunk of strawberry that fell in my infuser. It tastes like a decadent dessert… or maybe just simple strawberry shortcake! I think I might have even enjoyed the second steep more, because I think the black tea base was more noticeable and delicious! I haven’t yet tried one I didn’t love from zentealife.com!

I may have thought “this is my favorite tea” while I was sipping this one… I’m not sure! I was captivated by how delicious this is! It is DEFINITELY my favorite unflavored black tea. (Though I must admit, I don’t think I’ve tried many unflavored black teas yet.) The dried leaves are little bundles, black with hints of gold in color. The leaves smell like a perfect black tea and this tastes perfect. I may have used a bit more than a teaspoon. I steeped for four minutes. The flavor is amazing. The first to note is the unbelievable sweetness. How does a black tea taste like this? It’s almost like sugar was added. No, the description says it is naturally sweet. I made sure to taste the tea before biting into my breakfast of coconut custard pie.. and then I just wanted to enjoy the tea without the pie. The flavor is amazing: deep, earthy, smooth and full. NO bitterness. Even as it cools, the flavor might be getting sweeter. It’s not brisk or the strongest black tea, but I’d say it has more flavor than the two Teavivre black teas I’ve tried. (I love those as well. I’m just using them as a comparison for unflavored black teas. And I guess it reminds me of the Teavive, just with a stronger flavor.) I wish I could convey the flavor profile better! The second steep is just as good (5 min). I’m going to try getting a third cup later. I could drink this every day! Add this to the list of Zen Teas I must order. They know what they are doing giving out free samples! zentealife.com