Strawberry Cream

This is one very delicious strawberry tea. I do love a good strawberry tea. I have some favourites already, but I think this one will be added to them once I figure out the steeping parameters to take me to strawberry tea bliss.

I think I overstepped by a minute or so. The three minute steep brings out astringency in the black tea base that I think would disappear with a shorter steep at two minutes and/or two and a half minutes at a slightly lower temperature. I am going to try those and report back.

The strawberry flavour works for me. Not quite natural, but pleasant and lovely. No weird aftertaste. Sweet enough but not overly.

I am becoming a big fan of Zen Tea . Delicious. Canadian. Reasonable. And they haven’t steered me wrong yet.

Another one from yesterday. I remember being pretty impressed with this – I mean, it’s pretty much what it sounds like: black tea, strawberry and cream flavours, no big surprises there. But I think it’s well-executed. I like that the base is a blend of black teas including some Chinese black – I think that gives it a richer flavour than just the “generic ceylon black tea base” you know? And the strawberry and cream flavours are balanced and don’t taste weird or artificial. A nice dessert-y flavoured black.

Well, I have to say this tea is delightfully, surprisingly delicious.

The tea leaves are pretty with bits of strawberries. Dry, the smell is appealing and natural (not artificial seeming). It definitely holds up to the smell – the tea is surprisingly dark when brewed (did at 2 1/2 minutes, it was recommended as 2-3).

Strong tea but not overpowering at all. What surprises me is how non-artificial and realistic this strawberry tea is. A delightful flavor that stands out, but still somehow manages to stand behind the tea and highlights itself at the same time as just complementing.

Why this is so surprising is because I’m NOT a fruit tea fan. I only tried this sample because of an opportunity when doing another order – glad I did. I finally have a fruit tea I want to keep on the tea keeper shelf. It’s like drinking a nice black morning tea and eating a piece of toast with strawberry jam.

I’m curious about trying this with milk as a form of latte – usually don’t drink milk with tea but may in the future with this one just to test.

This is a nice start to my morning. This tea has quite a thick, creamy mouth feel, which is always nice in a cream tea. Very mild, pleasant astringency, and lots of creamy flavour. There’s berry sweetness that I don’t know if I would immediately identify as strawberry, but is quite nice. The black base is malty with a touch of bitterness.

Thank you TraceyC for sending me this!

I picked this one up with my last Zen Tea order and I’m not disappointed. I was actually a little afraid of this one. Too many times I’ve seen people interpret Strawberry cream as Strawberry Ice Cream.

This has a sweet strawberry on top of a creamy black tea. I love that it isn’t too sweet, and it isn’t too vanilly. The strawberry compliments the black tea well and the cream adds a nice milky mouthfeel without taking away from the flavor much. The strawberry note isn’t quite a recognizable stage note. It isn’t tarter like early strawberries, nor does it have that heavier ripe note you find with late stage strawberries. The strawberry is kind of generic, as in it doesn’t lean too far one way or the other, much like strawberry candies, but it also reminds me of great mid-season cold strawberries in the best ways.

Cold brewed this last night and added a splash of milk after straining. The strawberry isn’t as strong as I would like, but it’s stronger than when I brewed it hot. I took it with me and drank it in the movie theater today (we watched Deliver Us From Evil, not a bad movie).

Backlog 5/67

This one came from Mandy I’m almost sure.

I did as she instructed on the bag and tried it as a latte. I don’t know if I just had a bit too much milk in it or if it just didn’t have much flavor because I didn’t get much flavor from it. It was mostly just a mild strawberry flavor with a slightly creamy milk flavor.
Not bad, but nothing to write home about.

I’m not sure tho. Maybe I will try the rest of it brewed differently. My numbers on this note are guesses because I didn’t make full notes on how I brewed it. Just going off memory.

Thanks for another tea experience Mandy! I think this one may have a chance to redeem itself on the second try. :)

I got this in Zentea’s zomg awesome sale last week. I’m really enjoying it. I admit, I ordered it for my daughter because she really likes fruity teas, and the rating here was good. But I might have to keep this. That, and she is drinking a lot of my Earl Grey right now. It’s all good, there’s enough happy to go around.

Sipdown!! (174)

Thank you Amariel for sending this my way. I really enjoyed getting to taste it. I think I actually prefer this cup to my first as I am getting a lot of strawberry and a lot of malt. Together it is making for a tasty treat. I don’t think I will be stocking this but we are parting on a wonderful note, thus I would not turn down another cup in the future :)

The blend looks pleasant enough, with small strawberry pieces and chopped up leaves amongst it’s dark brown Ceylon (which has some sticks/twigs present). It has a dry strawberry scent, rather mild but also sweet and natural. Also getting wooden tones from the Ceylon.

My steeping parameters:
Leaf – 5g
Water Temperature – 100C
Vessel – personaliTEA teapot 600ml
1 Steeps – 3 minutes
Served with milk

Without milk the tea is mahogany in colour with a sweet but soft strawberry scent, more the fruit than the herb ie leaf. The picture shows one cup with milk and the other without.

The black tea base tastes thick with wood and malt notes and a hint of smoke. Behind that is a light sweetness from the strawberry which comes through in the after taste. The strawberry smelled natural but the flavour is mostly artificial, it’s a touch too sweet and is candy like. Similar to a strawberry gummy sweet. I can’t taste any cream or anything similar, the milk would have lightened some of the wood and malt tones from the Ceylon but even that hasn’t brought out the cream taste. My personal tip to add cream to this tea would be to use a little vanilla, if you have any vanilla sugar at home this tea would taste magical. Alas I have none so I will have to settle for plain strawberry.

Overall
Honestly it’s an average strawberry blend but it can be improved with the likes of sugar/sweetener, particularly vanilla sugar. The Ceylon base is too strong for the strawberry and it’s cream flavour was missing but despite all of that it still made a nice cup of tea. If I had more I would try adding sweetener and maybe a drop of vanilla extract.

For pictures and more information please view my blog –
http://www.kittylovestea.co.uk/2014/05/14/review-three-teas-from-zen-tea/