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I am having this iced again. It is even better than I remember it before. Much more chocolatey. And, the astringency that I noted before is barely there and really complements the taste. Tastes like milky, creamy chocolate cookies. I really like this one.

I cold brewed this for 15 hours or so. I go back and forth on whether I prefer these cold brewed or hot brewed then iced. Tastes like bubblegum and black tea. The black tea base is tart and fruity. The bubblegum flavor is less domineering than some of the others in the SBT line, so the black tea is more pronounced. Very interesting and good.

Steeped 5 minutes with near boiling water and drank it warm.

I picked this up on a whim thinking that I wouldn’t really like it, but something about it was just intriguing. Well, I really like it. Basil and mint are wonderful in tea. The main flavor is basil on an earthy, smooth base with a touch of sweet mint. The tea has no bitterness or astringency. The aftertaste is very short and is mostly minty. This does seem more highly caffeinated than an average cup of tea to me. Delicious.

I brew this for 3 minutes at 185°F and then put in the refrigerator to chill overnight. I drink it iced. I’ve been able to get two steeps like this without diminishing flavor.

To me this tastes like an orange caramel green tea. The green tea base is nice and smooth without any bitterness and a nice green tea aftertaste. The flavoring is light. There is a candy orange flavor with caramel side taste. There is no artificial aftertaste, which I like. It’s a good tea.

I steeped this with near boiling water for 30 seconds.

This has an odd taste to me, nothing like tea. Maybe it’s the stevia, but I don’t like it and am having trouble finishing even one cup. Definitely not my cup of tea.

Brewed this with nearly boiling water and left teabag in while drinking it hot. I am always looking to try herbal blends. Some of my favorite ‘teas’ are herbal blends. This one looked interesting. Lipton is really hit or miss for drinkability in my book. Their pyramid tea bags like this one tend to be better.

The aroma is pretty good. I smell mint and melon and it puts me in the mood to like the drink. The taste is really more like chamomile and mint equally balanced with a hint of melon. There is a bit of an off taste in the after taste though and I’m not a huge fan of chamomile. But, this is entirely drinkable and a still good option at work when not looking for caffeine.

After reading other tasting notes I decided to cold brew this tea. Really couldn’t be easier. I filled up my pitcher to the 2 quart mark, put in the teabag and left it in the refrigerator overnight. I removed the bag after about 12 hours. I will try a resteep.

With the first taste I thought it wasn’t quite as good as hot steeping then icing the whole leaf version from last year. But today (it’s been in the refrigerator an additional day after removing the teabag) it’s perfect. Just delicious. So limey and creamy. No bitterness or astringency. Good tea flavor underneath. This is fantastic. It will definitely go on my reorder list.

OK. So, this is the tea that convinced me that there was such a thing as a great flavored black tea that wasn’t the ever popular Earl Gray. It’s also the tea that convinced me that I did actually like black tea very much, but I first had to learn brewing parameters that I liked. You see this was the first tea I had ever purchased from 52Teas (a couple years ago now ?) and when I first brewed it (boiling water, maybe 10 min?), I thought it was bitter and couldn’t reconcile the awful taste to the great reviews I was reading about 52Teas. Before this I thought that to make tea you just pour boiling water over the tea and let it steep the entire time you’re drinking it, but I kept reading about people taking their tea bags out after so many minutes and not letting their water hit boiling. So, I started experimenting with water temperature and steep time. And, when I got it right, the flavor just popped and there was no bitterness. It was the first time I realized that temperature and time really did matter for black tea. And, Blueberry Zabaglione became my favorite black tea. Still is one of my favorites. The creamy blueberry flavor is just really good and absolutely terrific iced. And, the flavors do not have the artificial aftertaste present in so many flavored teas. I’m so glad to see it reblended if only temporarily. So, I’m finally finishing the last of my first bag, which I had been hording :) It ages quite well by the way. Tastes just as delicious as I remember.

OK. First let me say that I love the packaging. The foil pouches are the perfect size, have great labels, can be stuffed into any drawer for storage, and are air impervious. The tea bag inside is so very convenient. Love it.

I brewed this package the way I brew nearly all iced tea (yes, I just ignored the instructions). I poured 3 quarts (it’s the size of my saucepan) of near boiling water over the bag, steeped for 3 minutes, and put the pitcher in the refrigerator. I then read the instructions and saw it recommended 2 quarts. Oops. Have to say I don’t think the taste suffered too much for the extra dilution. It is yummy. Great lime flavor. Great iced tea. It’s not quite as good as one of my favorites, Lime Jello Salad Green, though. I would definitely buy again. I can’t wait to try the other iced tea series flavors.

I am drinking this iced. I steeped it for 3 minutes with water 195°-200°F and then put the pitcher in the refrigerator overnight. I used similar steeping parameters that I’ve come to like for other 52Teas products, but given the new base, I may experiment with that for future steepings.

This tea tastes really good. The base is really bright and smooth with a touch of astringency. I definitely taste some fruity Darjeeling in there. I thought the dry leaf smell was a little off-putting (unusual for 52Teas), but once brewed it was entirely enticing. The main flavor is a sweet, bright black tea with an amazing caramelized sugar aftertaste.

As for rating this tea, I swing from thinking it’s good to amazingly great depending on my mood.