Some coupons and deals for November 2nd.

Amazon has a coupon for 20% off of Stash Teas (including loose-leaf), 25% off of Davidson's Bulk tea and various other tea retailers such as Tea's Etc.  I got the Stash Jasmine Blossom 3.5 oz loose leaf (pack of 3) for less than $10 with a gift card and the Davidson's Bulk African Green Rooibos (a whole pound) for $12 (both free shipping).  So yeah, I have enough cheap tea to last me a month now.

Also, Red Leaf Tea was giving away samples of their Caramel Matcha but the sample is gone.  However, you can purchase a sample of their Caramel Machacchino (I'm guessing it's like a Frappuccino except with matcha) for $1.00 and some special custom blend Caramel Machaccino (it apparently uses a lower grade of matcha) which is 10 servings for $2.10.  Shipping isn't too bad ($6 for 2-4 day) so it might not be a bad idea to try some of their teas. 

Happy Drinking!

Zen Tea Tender White Tea 3-tin Gift Set

Not many people know about Zen Tea, but they are a Canadian Tea retail company that seems to specilise in tea drunk in the international style.  The variety they have is small, but mostly consists of mid to high quality teas with high quality flavor.  They also are having a 50% off sale until December 24th on tea and tea gift sets (including this set) so I figured that now was a good time to try.  Plus I needed tea tins, which apparently have to cost $10 if you don't want them plain (I'm thinking about just making them myself).  So in conclusion, this white tea gift set ended up costing me $15 and included 3 tins of tea.  Does the tea suck?  We'll find out.

I received this in the mail about 4 days after I ordered it, which isn't too bad considering that it was from Canada (you have to get Canadian Priority or USPS Priority, which isn't cheap at $5 but isn't exorbitant either).  The tea set came in a sliver box with a cute little bow in it, so perfect for the lazy and extremely cute.  Each tin is metal with patterned paper on it and apparently holds about 3 oz of tea, although if you want to get rid of the label then you are going to have a bad time ripping the paper.  Now, I was a bit surprised when I saw just how much tea was in there because the website said something like 3.5 oz of tea, so I was expecting about 1 oz each.  This was an extremely pleasant surprise and an astonishing buy for $15.

the big Silver Needle leaves

The teas included in the Tender White Tea set are BaihaoYinzhen (White Hair Silver Needle), Tear of Peony and Toffee Dream.  I feel a little bit at a disadvantage because I've never had these kinds of tea before so I can't really comment that much on how it compares to others.  I will say that the tea leaves in these are huge and it's better to invest in a gaiwan because they don't really fit in a normal ball infuser.  All three teas are unique from each other and there seems to be something for everyone from the purists to the floral fans to the desert fans to the fruity fans.

Now onto the teas:

BaihaoYinzen:  Very pure and delicate.  It's not the most flavor heavy and is more of a sipping tea, but it's very nice for relaxing and reminds me of a forest on a spring day.

Teardrop of Peony:  I'm actually drinking this right now and think this is the most heavily flavored of the teas, but still has that light quality that white tea has.  I like that although this is pretty heavily floral scented, it actually tastes very sweet and fruity.  I also like how the white tea flavor here is less subtle.

Toffee Dream:  Probably my favorite nutty tea and one of the nicest desert teas to drink without sugar or milk.  It's definitely a lovely drink to have when you want a bit of caramel but not the calories.  It's also one of  the most colorful with these random blue flowers in it.

Overall;  This set is what I would want someone to get me because I love tea and all three of these are delicious.  For $15 or even $34, this is a great buy and a great way to treat the tea lover you love.

My Rating:  Buy it!

Adagio Holiday Stocking Stuffers Review

The cute little tins

These are pretty similar to the other tiny tins I have, although the Adagio ones are slightly bigger

  

To give you some background, I got this giftset during Black Friday weekend when they were offering free shipping.  I honestly felt a bit ambivalent about the holiday blends since they were all black tea and the only two that seemed unique were the Chestnut and the Pumpkin Spice, but I figured it was a good way for me to see what Adagio had to offer.  Plus, I'm a sucker for cute little tines.

This is a sampler set so don't expect a lot of tea in each tin.  It's $14 for 6 ounces, which is a bit overpriced but you are getting reusable tins.  There's also a teabag option but it's 30 teabags for $14 so that's pretty exorbitant.  You can probably get 8 cups per tin so it's a pretty good sized sample but not something that would last too long (unless you're like me and have way too many different varieties of tea to drink).

As a general note, I don't care for this black tea base.  It's not the worst black tea, I just find that it lacks flavor and gets bitter really fast.  These teas can only steep 3 or 4 minutes tops or else they'll become practically undrinkable.  The bigger issue i have is that the black tea just doesn't have as robust of a flavor as I'd like and expect for the price Adagio asks for their tea.  Maybe the black tea they have in stock isn't very fresh but there has been a consistent lack of....OOMPH to their product.  

Anyway, TO THE FLAVORS!

I did individual reviews on these but some of these ratings might be different since certain teas tend to grow on me.  For people who are new, Buy it is the top rating and means that I imagine the vast majority of people enjoying this and it's a good value, Try it means that it's good but you shouldn't really go out of your way to get it (I'll have Try/Buy as well which basically means Buy it if you need a tea like that, Try it if you don't), Pass is for a variety of different reasons but mostly because a tea is average in taste or you can find better value and taste elsewhere and Stay Away which means it's terrible.

Pumpkin Spice:  A nice blend of tea and spices, although I'm not 100% sure what is in pumpkin spice and Adagio doesn't really make it clear.  Although the flavor is mild, it's enjoyable in the fall and has a nice desert quality to it.  Try it!

Candy Apple:  I'm just going to add a picture below this of the ingredients because I have no idea what "Candy Apple Flavor" is supposed to mean, but it doesn't matter because this tea did not impress me.  Where was the apple flavor?  Pass.

Candy Cane:  I actually like this one as a mint black tea.  It has a nice, balanced peppermint flavor and is probably the best mint black tea I've had past putting homegrown mint in black tea.  Try it!

Chestnut:  Easily the standout favorite for me.  The nutty flavor might be strong for some people, but it has an almost buttery aroma and a wonderful warm flavor.  Buy it!

Cranberry:  While Chestnut was the favorite, this one was a big epic fail.  The Raspberry leaves added completely offset the flavor balance and make this tea taste more bitter than the other ones.  Plus, it doesn't even taste like cranberries, just a BAD raspberry tea.  Stay Away!

Gingerbread:  The negative sounding but not necessarily negative way to describe this is a weak non-spicy chai.  It's a nice spiced black tea but not incredibly unique.  Pass.

Overall, I feel a bit meh about this set.  The tins are nice and I'll certainly be using them after I finish (or in some cases, throw away) the tea but you can buy tins for less money.  I'd recommend getting samples of the teas you want the buy (especially Chestnut) but you or whoever you're getting this for probably doesn't need this set.

My Rating (for the whole set):  Pass.

Adagio is an online tea vendor with a wide variety of products.  They have a lot of $5 coupons floating around and if you feel like getting one, my twitter is @teaandpolish.  

SALE: Zen Tea has a year-end clearance sale for 50% teas with code Holiday

This sale is from December 7th to the 24th.

Zen Tea is a small online tea retailer that's just getting started in the tea world.  I haven't tried their teas yet but they seem like they provide a high-quality product moreso than vendors like Adagio.  They also have a few killer deals going on like these 3 tin gift sets.  I got the white tea one for $15 and it comes with 1 oz each of Silver Needles (which is $3.50 per ounce at the cheapest), Toffee Dream and Teardrop of Peony.  I also got 50g of House Sencha and 50g of the Earl Grey cream, all together costing me $25.  Honestly, I would definitely get the tins because cute tins apparently have to cost a lot of money and this is a good way to try some fancy tea.

  

Also, their teaware seems relatively cheap.  You can get a $5 Gaiwan, which is the appropriate vessel for drinking green and white tea.  Unfortunately, I did not see this when I ordered but would have bought one if I did.

Did I mention that these make great gift ideas for tea drinkers?

Happy Drinking!