Tea Blog

Roses are red, Tea cups are blue, Zhi Tea loves organic tea, and we want you to, too!

With over 100 ultra premium artisan teas to choose from, we’re sure as Cupid’s arrow that there is a tea out there for you and everyone you know.

Looking for a life long love affair? Zhi’s pure, unadulterated artisans are designed for every day enjoyment. Looking to flirt with new flavors? Zhi’s hand blended original signatures are made in small batches and range from fruity to floral.

Don’t know what tea to give? Draw inspiration from Valentine’s trifecta: strawberries, roses, and chocolate.

Zhi’s Vanilla Rose has a sweet malty base that is complimented by creamy vanilla and floral roses. This black tea is great on it’s own as it’s inherently silky and sweet, but go ahead and indulge: a splash of almond milk makes it truly decadent. The same can be said of our sexy Cacao Chai. Spicy, complex, with notes of chocolate and espresso, this blend gives one all the bliss and antioxidants of chocolate, but without any calories or sugar!  Rose teas, of course, are truly romantic. If you’re looking for caffeine free teas for your crush, Zhi’s Saigon Rose is caffeine free and our White Rose only has trace amounts.

This Valentine’s Day, fall in love with the leaf.  Truly. Madly. Steeply.

How do you take your tea, my dear?

Black? Green? With sugar or honey?

This January, in the height of winter, we’ll take ours hot, with a sigh, a gluten free macaroon, and a steaming tea cup of decadence.

January is National Hot Tea Month. Last year, Dr. Oolong suggested many great ways to Pause, Reflect, Connect over this tea holiday. This year, the girls at Zhi Tea have their own ideas! Lady GABA and the Ginger Peach want to celebrate “Haute Tea Month.”

All January, we’ll be drinking hot tea, reading fashion magazines and gushing over the gourgeousness found on Tea and Fashion’s tumblr account.

In this elevated state of luxury, one wonders why we ever started to ice this drink at all.  Pinkies up!

Let them have some of the fun!

Shopping online at ZhiTea.com is a visual delight. With over one hundred organic teas to choose from, it may be hard to choose what type of tea to give.

This year, let them enjoy the beautiful tea photography. They’ll love reading our detailed tea descriptions and learning about the health benefits of tea, the legends and all the useful steeping instructions. Plus, they’ll get to read user submitted reviews of all the teas as they’re helped by other tea lovers when making their selection.

Plus, giving this gift could not be easier.

Simply visit our gift card web store here. Starting at $50, you can choose other financial sizes of your organic tea gift. Then, they’ll be sent a instant notification of your gesture. You’ll also be able to choose to send it via email or through the mail. Then, once received, they’ll be able to shop online at their leisure.

Give them the world: give Zhi Tea!

Tea is the perfect gift. For yourself for precious moments of solitude, and for them as you show your care from afar. Having guests? Tea is the perfect gesture of hospitality and kids young and old can enjoy a special teatime.

Whether your loved one is a tea lover, new to tea, or (gasp!) isn’t a tea drinker yet, Zhi Tea has over 100 organic teas for you to give. There truly is a tea for everyone and this holiday, you could be the one who introduces them to their new favorite.

For your tea personalities, consider the following suggestions:

What Zhi Tea do you love to give?

Have you ever heard of yaupon? You’re not alone.

This surprises many as this native plant is North America’s only indigenous source of caffeine and we all know how popular caffeine is!

Thanks to a neighboring harvester in Cat Springs, Texas, Zhi is able to bring you your new favorite tea, grown right here in Texas.

Pronounced “yo pawn,” this tea is well known to native North American Indians and had adapted perfectly to the dry environment in which it grows. This rare caffeinated herbal tea loves time and temperature: give it very hot water and steep it a little longer than average, about 5 minutes. It’s cup is a beautiful amber glow and the taste is superb! Notes of honey and almonds.

Like most tea, flavor is not your only reward. Yaupon has been studied and found to have tons of antioxidants, flavonoids and theobromine, the anxiety free caffeine also found in pure cacao.  This best kept secret is going to be your new favorite tea to share with your friends and family. Try some today!

Wanting to build upon your tea experience?

Baked oolongs are a fantastic way to experience the wonder and flavor of oolong tea.  The baking process produces a rich, deep flavor.  Not only does it enhance the floral and fruit notes of a fine oolong, but it also creates a nutty, toasty taste that is unmistakable.

The baking process takes place at varying temperatures and varying times to produce a tea that is particular to the tea master’s style. The process can take several hours up to several days. One interesting and little known fact is that during this process, large amounts of caffeine is baked right out of the leaves! Dr. Oolong has seen first hand the stalagmites hanging from the ceilings in baking rooms. Pure caffeine!

Some great baked oolongs you may be familiar with include Royal Courtesan (gui fei), Ti Quan Yin, and Tung Ting. All are known for their depth of flavor and ability to hold up well to multiple steepings.  The time and attention that goes into making oolong teas is nothing short of impressive. Here at Zhi, we are truly grateful to the Taiwan tradition of care and creativity in giving the world some of the most remarkable teas on the planet!

The vast majority of the tea baking is only done in Taiwan under the supervision of, or by, the tea master himself. Only recently have a few handful of ambitious oolong fanatics have undertaken the challenge to bake oolongs in the United States. Solid training is necessary to do this, along with much trial and error. The advantage of this is the ability to create custom batches of tea. (Can you tell where this is going?

Yes, Dr. Oolong has thrown his tea leaves in the proverbial fire and has started baking oolongs in Austin. Stay tuned for small artisan custom batches of baked oolongs from Zhi Tea, coming soon.