How comfortable is a £150 mattress? I put this budget-friendly Zinus mattress to the test

Our Zinus Green Tea Memory Foam mattress review puts this super affordable memory foam mattress through its paces to see how it compares to the best mattresses Ideal Home has tested so far.

Quick review

Whilst this mattress is low-budget, it’s not low on comfort, although at 20.3cm deep, I did find it on the thinner side, and I don't think it will be deep or supportive enough for anyone heavier than me.

The plush memory foam layers created a comfortable sleeping experience which helped to alleviate pressure on painful joints, allowing me to sleep better, especially when I slept on my side. The mattress' motion isolation is another draw for anyone who will be sharing this mattress with someone else, as is the fact that it doesn’t make any noise thanks to the lack of springs.

That said, I found the mattress pretty soft, so it won't be suitable for anyone who prefers a firmer mattress or needs more support.

A unique selling point about this mattress is the fact it’s infused with Green Tea, but whilst it did smell fresh even after a month of use, any other benefits this infusion may have provided weren’t obvious to me during testing.

All in all, the main draw is this mattress' price. As of writing, it's under £150 for the double. But, you get what you pay for, and if you're any heavier than 9 stone I would definitely recommend paying more for the 25cm depth if you don't want to feel the bed base through your mattress.

Zinus Green Tea Memory Foam mattress review

Specifications

Type: Memory foam
Materials: Foam – base foam, comfort foam and memory foam
Sizes: Single, Double, King, Super King
Comfort level: Medium-Firm
Height: 20.3cm
Rotate or flip: rotate
Side handles: No
Manufacturer sleep trial: No

1. Comfort

The brand describes the Zinus Memory Foam Green Tea as a medium-firm mattress, and says that it utilises ‘conforming 7-zone memory foam’ for a ‘supportive feel.’ This is meant to support seven areas of the body including; the head, shoulders, back, hips, knees, legs, and ankles.

I tested the entry-level Zinus Memory Foam Green Tea mattress which has a depth of around 20cm, although there is a deeper 25cm option available.

As someone who typically prefers a firmer mattress, I must admit that when I first sat on the Zinus Double Memory Foam Green Tea Mattress I was surprised at how soft and spongey it felt.

The softness of the foam was an instant hit with my two children who loved laying on it, but when I, as a 9-stone adult, sat on the edge of the 20cm deep mattress my bottom could feel the bed base below. I also had a shock when I kneeled on the edge of the mattress to straighten a picture on the wall as my shin sunk so low it banged into the bedframe. I feared this wasn’t going to bode well for sleeping on the mattress.

However, when I did lay on it for the first time I was proved wrong. Despite being a pure foam mattress (that means it doesn't contain any springs like a hybrid, open coil, or pocket spring mattress) it still felt reasonably comfortable to me, despite its depth.

Zinus says this mattress is ideal for back sleepers and average-weight sleepers. Weighing approximately nine and a half stones I’m probably a mid-weight sleeper and as someone who sometimes sleeps on my back that makes me the prime candidate!

When I slept on my back the mattress did feel comfortable, but as someone who is used to more of a firm mattress this didn’t feel as firm as usual and I could feel my hips dipping down into the mattress a bit.

Similarly when I tried it on my front, whilst it felt comfortable I could feel my hips sinking down further than usual.

I fared better when laying on my side, as in this position the mattress' softness worked in my favour. When I lay on my side there was more than ample cushioning so that my hip and shoulder could sink into the mattress – keeping my spine straight and aligned. The first night I slept on it I didn’t wake up with the aching in my shoulder like I sometimes do, proof that it offered great cushioning. So in this respect, it did live up to the manufacturer’s claims, as my aches and pains weren’t as noticeable as they sometimes are when I wake up in the morning.

Overall, whilst it did ease the pressure on my joints, particularly my shoulders and hips when side-sleeping, for me I found the Zinus Memory Foam Green Tea mattress too soft to offer much support.

However, it's perhaps worth noting that both of my children loved its softness. Their lighter bodies sank less into the foam, so they both found this mattress more comfortable than the firmer hybrid mattresses I'd previously been testing.

If you're a side sleeper and under 9-stone, you may also find this mattress more comfortable than I did. But if you're a back or front sleeper or a heavier adult, I would suggest that you need a deeper and a more supportive design. There is a 25cm Zinus Memory Foam Green Tea mattress, but the deeper version of the mattress is around £100 more expensive (nearly double the price of the thinner 20cm version).

I checked the mattress's online reviews and found owners who relayed a similar experience, saying 'it is very soft so if you prefer a firm mattress this probably isn’t for you but it is really good value for the money'. Whilst another review matched my initial experience when sitting on the mattress, saying 'when you sit on it, your bum touches the bed frame it is so squishy'.

2. Motion isolation

Zinus describes the Memory Foam Green Tea mattress as offering ‘low motion transfer’, and I would 100% agree that the motion transfer on this mattress was very low. This is largely thanks to the all-foam construction which offers excellent motion isolation. The lack of springs means that there's no chance of the movement of one partner in the bed traveling through the spring system and disturbing a second sleeper.

The lack of motion isolation was something that my husband and I noted when sleeping on it together, but also something I appreciated when sharing the bed with either of my sons, who are prone to moving around a lot at night. When we shared this mattress together I wasn’t as disturbed by their movements as I usually am on mattresses that contain a hybrid or entirely spring construction.

So if, like me, you’re a light sleeper who is easily disturbed by someone else’s movements, this mattress is ideal.

Similarly, when two people lay in the middle we didn’t roll towards each other.

3. Responsiveness

The downside of such good motion isolation is that this mattress isn’t very responsive.

Because of that soft memory foam construction, for me, it felt harder than usual to roll over on the Zinus Double Green Tea Memory Foam mattress and especially to get up off the bed.

I recently injured my back and know that extra effort to escape from the cocooning foam would have made sleeping a lot more uncomfortable. So this could be a consideration for anyone who has mobility issues.

If you're an active sleeper rather than someone who sleeps in one position all night, this extra effort to turn over could also become a little tedious and you stand more chance of waking up in the night.

4. Temperature regulation

Foam and memory foam mattresses are notorious for sleeping warm. That's because the synthetic materials and lack of springs mean that often foam mattresses aren't that breathable.

That lack of breathability means that the body is less well able to regulate its temperature during the night, so hot sleepers in particular can find themselves prone to overheating.

I don't consider myself to be a hot sleeper, but I did find being enveloped by the foam meant I felt warmer than usual on this mattress, and some reviews I found online seemed to suggest others had struggled more with its temperature regulation, saying 'There is no breathability and we sweat all night'. So, if you're warm-blooded, this may not be the mattress for you.

5. Edge support

The mattress description doesn’t make any claims regarding edge support, and the purely foam construction meant that the lack of edge support was something that I really noticed when I first sat on it.

Sitting on the edge of it the mattress collapses a lot, and I’m sure I could feel the base of the bed when I did this. If I rolled too close to the edge of the mattress whilst I was lying in it then I could feel it sinking. This made the mattress feel a bit smaller, because I was conscious of not going too close to the edge.

The lack of edge support also made it harder to get up from the mattress. This wasn’t a problem for me at the moment but having previously suffered a back injury it would have been difficult, so it’s a definite consideration for anyone with mobility issues.

6. Ease of care

The Zinus Double Green Tea Memory Foam is one-sided, meaning it doesn't need flipping. But it should be rotated regularly to ensure even wear and tear. Unfortunately, the mattress doesn’t have side handles so it was a bit awkward to move it on my own, but it's lightweight enough that it was manageable.

A one-sided mattress may lack longevity compared to a high-quality two-sided mattress, and I have to admit my first impressions of this mattress were that its quality matched its price point, so I'll have to see how it holds up over time.

The mattress doesn't come with a removable cover, so I'd recommend investing in a mattress protector to keep it clean and fresh. After all, it's far easier to wash a mattress protector than it is to clean a mattress!

That said, Zinus do say that they have ‘infused premium green tea into each and every layer’ of the mattress. The brand states this will help to deliver ‘freshness in your mattress night and day.’ ‘ActivCharcoal microparticles’ are also added to ‘block moisture and odour'.

As someone who drinks green tea, I can confirm the mattress certainly didn’t smell of green tea! But, after a month of testing the mattress did still look and smell as fresh as new. Whether this was helped by the infusions is a hard one to judge.

7. Sleep trial

Sadly Zinus doesn't offer sleep trials on its mattresses, which is a shame as a sleep trial can be a useful way of testing out whether a mattress is the right fit for you before you commit, and as far as I'm aware, you can't test a Zinus mattress in store anwhere.

Experts say that it can take up to 30 days to adjust to the feel of a mattress, so opting for an affordable mattress that does have a sleep trial could be a better option. Emma, eveSleep, and Origin all offer affordable alternatives that do come with sleep trials.

8. Delivery

Delivery of the Zinus mattress was a smooth process. I was out when the delivery team phoned to say they were at my house and so I asked them to leave it in my garage, which they did.

I checked with the manufacturer and they said that typically for items above 30kg of weight, they use a delivery partner that offers delivery to your room of choice. However, its worth bearing in mind that there's no white glove delivery option (meaning that the mattress isn't unpacked and installed onto your bedframe with packaging removed), and Zinus doesn’t offer removal of your old mattress like some companies do.

Our double mattress arrived vacuum-packed and rolled into a cardboard box. But whilst it was compact when it was packaged, at 22.51kg it was too heavy for me to lift on my own.

Luckily my husband managed to carry it up the stairs. Our home has a twisting flight of stairs and the boxed delivery made this obstacle far easier to navigate than with the mattresses we've had delivered flat. However, Zinus advsies unboxing the mattress within 72 hours of delivery, which I did.

Once out of the box it’s like dealing with a supersized vacuum packed swiss roll! As directed I used scissors to cut through the plastic layer that was keeping the mattress in the roll position. The instructions advise not to use a penknife, and I can see why. Even using scissors to cut through I was worried about accidentally nicking the fabric of the mattress.

The manufacturer’s instructions advise leaving the mattress for 72 hours to fully inflate, however, I left it overnight and by morning it seemed to be fully inflated to me and up to its full 20.3cm height.

There was an odour when the mattress was first opened. This is called ‘off-gassing’ and isn’t surprising, because off-gassing is more common with mattresses made from layers of memory foam and polyfoam. The smell wasn’t at all overpowering though, and I could only really smell it when I bent down and sniffed it. My two children who seem to have super-sensitive noses didn’t comment on it, so it can’t have been that noticeable! And any faint odour had gone within about a week.

9. Environmental impact

I couldn't see any mention that the synthetic foams used in the construction of the Green Tea mattress came from recycled sources which is a shame, although the brand's website does state that as a business they're working towards a ‘Zero Waste policy’ which means all scrap foam from production is repurposed.

10. Value for money

If you're looking for an affordable mattress then you won't find one much cheaper than the Zinus Green Tea Memory Foam mattress. As of writing, it's under £150 for the double.

However, you get what you pay for, and after sleeping on this budget mattress I do think a more expensive mattress is worth the investment. This mattress feels thin, lacks support, lacks breathability and edge support, and although you don't spend a lot of time looking at a mattress once it's on the bed, its cover looks a little cheap and the lack of side handles is annoying when you come to move it. Delivery options are also a little limited and it doesn't come with a sleep trial, so there's no opportunity to test if it's the right fit for you before you commit to keeping it.

However, my biggest bugbear was the fact it was so squishy (and thin) that I could feel the bed base when I sat on the edge. Unless you're a lot lighter than me, I would suggest opting for the 25cm depth instead.

That said, the 25cm depth pushes up the price to just under £300 for a double (unless it's on sale). And if you're spending that much money then I'd suggest waiting for some mattress deals to land and opting for the more supportive and slightly more breathable Origin Hybrid Mattress or REM-Fit Hybrid Pocket 1000 mattress instead. Both of these mattresses are often discounted to around the £300 mark, or there's the option of the all-foam Emma Original mattress if you're a side sleeper who prefers a super cushioned feel.