They definitely scored big points on design. The bottle is absolutely stunning - sleek and modern. I should mention that the bottle only appears to be two colors in the photo because we had already done some sampling so there is some liqueur missing from the bottle.The color of the liqueur itself, as seen in the photo, was much darker than I'd anticipated. It was a spruce green...darker than an olive green. The scent was sweet, like limes.
I first tried the liqueur straight. It was thick and syrupy with a warming quality. The flavor was really nice, a bit like cherries. I thought it was an extremely pleasant cordial. It needed nothing else.
The marketers of this product, Truth Be Told, had seen fit to send along a few lists of recipes. I decided to try out a few over the next weeks. The Zen Margarita was first which included the liqueur, tequila, lime juice, and simple syrup. The green tea liqueur added a really wonderful twist. There was a bit of extra depth to the classic margarita and it was a perfect complement to the lime. M really liked this too. Great stuff. I can't wait to make this for friends.
The next I tried was the Zen Iced Tea - simply Zen combined with strong black tea. I brewed a very basic tea - Barry's which is a breakfast blend - and put this over ice with no additional sweetener. This drink was truly dangerous because it didn't taste like alcohol. It tasted like a beautifully sweetened iced tea. Wow. You could get yourself in trouble with this one. But boy was it good!
The final cocktail I tried (I really put my heart and soul into this research) was the Zen Latte. For this you combine Zen with steamed milk. I think this was my favorite of the three. The warm milk was frothy and it smoothed out the alcohol, leaving only the sweet flavor.
Zen definitely gets a recommendation from me. I'm anxious to try some of the other recipes in the future. They include Zen Master (Zen, vodka, and club soda), a martini, a mojito, and even a milkshake and a snow cone recipe. The only recipe I was completely turned off by was Zenergy - Zen and energy drink.
As I was preparing this review, the company offered to send me a new brochure they'd created. It was a fold out poster that included photos and recipes for 7 drinks along with suggested food pairings. It is a beautifully done sheet (although I'm not sure who the intended audience is.) The foods recommended sounded interesting, but they aren't typical fare around here so I don't know that I'll have the chance to try them. (Anmitsu - rice powder balls filled with red bean paste; broiled miso cured black cod; broiled eel in eel sauce; to name a few.) It is a nice marketing piece, however.
Thank you to Suntory and Truth Be Told for supplying me with this sample.
Taken from http://teapages.blogspot.com/
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