Review: Zhi Tea’s White Pomegranate Tea

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The Subject: White Pomegranate Tea from Zhi Tea.


Rating:

Water temperature: near boiling, per label

Steeping time: 3 minutes

Tea type: White
Scents, flavorings, etc.: Rose hips, pomegranate oil
Aroma, dry: Strong pomegranate that overwhelms the tea aroma
Aroma in the cup, plain: Strong pomegranate, some rose hips
Taste, plain: Rose hips, pomegranate, planty
Aroma in the cup, enhanced: N/A
Taste, enhanced: N/A

2nd Infusion: Same color, slightly buttery

Chilled: Different, refreshing, pomegranate and rose hips add delightful taste elements

Comments:
Hubby detected the rose hips in this tea right away. His mother used to make rose hip jelly for him and his siblings when they were young. For him, the aroma and flavor were a trip down memory lane.

Despite this being an organic tea and the company’s focus on this and other fads, hubby and I found the tea quite enjoyable. Considering that I’m not a big fan of pomegranate, that’s saying something.

The tea liquid is a rosy yellow. While the pomegranate aroma dominated our noses, the flavor on our tastebuds was a balance between that fruit and the rose hips and white tea. Achieving such a balance is the sign of a good flavored tea.

Since this is a full leaf tea, multiple infusions were possible, so we did two. (You could probably do at least a couple more with little degradation in flavor and aroma).

The tea leaves after two infusions and a big piece of rose hip shown at right:

The second infusion had the same color in the cup as the first but took on a slight buttery quality and was more planty. Still very tasty.

The tea principles of the Little Yellow Teapot dictate that we follow vendor’s instructions. But for the chilled version we made an exception and prepared the chilled version our way, that is, we steeped the tea at normal strength and then chilled it overnight in the refrigerator. The results were worth the wait. The tea maintained its balance between the rose hips, pomegranate, and white tea. It’s a very different taste for a chilled tea, and totally free of bitterness. You could drink it straight or with a touch of sweetener. Hubby declared after tasting it: “Now that’s a refreshing chilled tea!”

Another pomegranate tea my hubby would drink on a regular basis is The Republic of Tea’s Green Pomegranate. There is absolutely no comparison between the two. Zhi Tea’s is big leaf pieces with real rose hips and oil of pomegranate. The other is dust in a bag.

We couldn’t go higher than 4 teapots in the rating, however, since this is a tea we would consider an occasional tea, one to drink every so often with some light tasting foods. That and it being organic.

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.