The leaves for this tea are contrasting light and dark green braided leaves. The dry aroma has overtones from its wok firing and vegetal notes you can pick out.

This tea brews a vivid amber liquor and provides a steeped aroma reminiscent of grilled squash and charred leeks.

The flavors are less subtle. Strong astringency with fired notes similar to a camp firey Lapsang Souchong and notes of charred leeks match with nutty textures in the finish and a long tail.

I happen to enjoy these strong teas from time to time and am excited to find another Yunnan tea I can pick from.

I would recommend this tea for fans of Gunpowder green teas, Lapsang Souchong black teas and less malty Assam teas.

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Wednesday is Green Tea, White Tea, Rooibos, Oolong and Tisane (Herbal) Review Day!

When tea drinkers think of oolongs, we think of Taiwan or Fujian province across the water from it in China. This Japanese styled oolong is certainly a change of pace and well worth a try.

While this tea from ZenTara Tea is developed using a method first invented in Japan, it’s actually produced in Thailand.

GABA styled oolongs are subjected to nitrogen during the drying process instead of oxygen, like every other tea. This increases a type of amino acid which assists with concentration.

The dry leaves appear as rolled up brown and gold balls which plump up nicely when brewed, and produces a liquor of a deep maple gold with the slightest twinge of red.

The aroma is roasty and slightly mossy when dry. Those same mossy notes come out more pronounced and accompanies by hints of clove when brewed.

This tea is a bit sour, but roasted and mossy. It’s light for an oolong and lacks an oolongs typical tail on the finish.

I recommend this tea to anyone who enjoys new teas, oolongs with travelling flavor profiles and a beautiful liquor.

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Friday is Black Tea, Floral Tea, Fruit Tea, Chai and Pu’erh Review Day!

It is on occasion you find a small company who sells their products and gives a percentage of their profits away to support a worthy cause. Such is the case with Zen Tara and their exclusive series of “365 Everyday” teas.

This Citrus Black tea blend contains large chunks of orange peel, passion fruit and orange rooibos on top of some very pretty Chinese black tea leaves. It brews to a deep rustic orange with a tinge of red.

On first smell I gather orange, and although no lemon seems present, I get lemon and spice in the aroma as well.

Top notes of lemon atop orange mixed fruit flavors and spice round out the flavor profile of this tasty blend.

Although this tea has a light tail which fades quickly there’s a little something at the end of each sip which drives me to drink more.

I would say Zen Tara has done very well with this exclusive tea. It’s support of Diabetes research adds extra incentive to pick this up for a good cuppa. I recommend this blend to anyone not strictly a purist with their teas and is open to new ideas.