52teas

Hm. Much less amazing than the last time I made this. There’s a hint of sourness to it as well, which surprises me… although it fits the flavor profile. It’s just not as sweet, blue cotton candy-ish as before… only vaguely so. Methinks I didn’t give it enough time to steep, and wasn’t watching the clock to be sure.

When I opened the package, I was almost overwhelmed with the smell of rum. That’s pretty much all I got from the tea. (Edit: Apparently it’s bourbon and brandy flavours. Well. Booze then. It smells like booze.)

So I decided to mix it with a little marshmallow leaf. And it’s really good this way, although I don’t notice any cinnamon or nutmeg flavours at all. Just rum booze, sweet marshmallow leaf, honeybush.

I think this will need to marinate a bit longer to reach full potential. Either that, or I need to shake up my package better.

(1.5 tsp honeybush, 1/2 tsp marshmallow leaf)

I’ve also mixed up some of the honeybush and marshmallow leaf in a small tin, as an experiment. Same ratio. :)

had a cup of this tonight while trying to relax with dinner. My only real complaint with this one? want. moar. orange flavour!

Steeped up half the package again. This time in 1.5 cups hot water for 4 minutes, then diluted with ice and room temp water to 3.5 cups.

This is way better than the almond milk, although it’s a bit on the bitter side of things.

I think I’m just going to cold steep these going forward. It’s easier, although not as fast, and produces a more mellow base.

(Edit: I can always hot steep after to suck any remaining goodness out of the tea. :) )

I am enjoying this iced. It is pretty good. I definitely taste berries and the slightly toasty and savory genmaicha flavors. The aftertaste really reminds me of marshmallow treat.

Wow, this tea is getting super old. Time to drink it up me thinks!
Decent cuppa. Not much to say

Sadly this is kinda meh. It’s a sweet, very slightly nutty, somewhat weak, iced tea.

I did a hot steep with half the packet (diluted to 4 cups), then I tossed the leaves into a cold steep that I will let sit until I get home later.

So far, not impressed. I think that for the other half of the packet I will make it as 2 cups of tea.

(Also, it was 14g including the giant tea bag. What?)

Added: 1/2 tsp rock sugar to the 4 cups. Also tried: with almond milk, but it’s WAY too dilute to make a milky tea.

I had a few sips of this before bed, but now that it’s cooled overnight the cinnamon, which I initially barely tasted, is really strong. It’s definitely better this way for breakfast.

Tea #3 from Considering a new TTB

Normally I would have skipped this tea the moment I saw that it had spearmint in it, I’m absolutely not a fan, but I’m on a mission to try any tea that uses marshmallow root. I just so happen to love marshmallow root and it’s such an underutilized ingredient in tea, I’m always excited when I see it in an ingredient list. I’m really glad I decided to try this one out, it easily made the list of 52teas blends that I would reorder. If you’ve read any of my other notes about the 52teas blend I’ve sampled then you may realize just how short that list is. I haven’t really been a fan of most of Frank’s blends, even though I love the though he puts into creating such unique teas every week. So far, most of them just haven’t been for me, but I keep searching and every so often come across one that I love.

While I can’t really taste the base of this tea, I can taste the marshmallow root, spearmint and malt. It seems like such an odd combination, but they’re balance beautifully and play together very well. I think the reason I like this so much is that it reminds me of fluffy homemade peppermint marshmallows and I’m absolutely nuts for those. As much as I enjoyed this hot, I think it would make a fabulous iced tea, so I can’t wait for the weather to warm up some so I can try that out. Then again, it would probably also make a really tasty latte…hmmm… I may have to give that a shot as soon as I go buy more milk.

This tea will not be continuing on.

This was delicious. It tastes like whipped cream and slices of banana. It doesn’t have quite enough going on for me. I think prefer banana pudding, but both are great.

I’m so happy to have this in my cupboard once again! It is incomparably lovely. I wish I could have a cup of it every morning. I’ve found that 3 mins is my ideal steep time with this one for the most cheesecake flavour. Any longer and the base overwhelms it; any shorter and it tastes a little weak.

Also the perfect black tea to have with a rich dessert. Yum.

I was afraid to try this reblend! But it was time! Thankfully, it tastes lovely, but maybe not as lovely as it was before, which is odd, as my sample was a really old sample in a ziplock. The old blend had MORE flavor but I’m just happy that the same flavors are represented here. I can still taste the rum, banana, vanilla, & cinnamon, just muted. The cinnamon fragrance coming from the cup is the best part. I can’t tell if this is the black tea I don’t like. The flavor must be masked by the added flavors, or the ingredients just pair particularly well with this base. The flavor difference could be because I waited 10 minutes to steep. The cup was gone in no time. Love this one! I just checked the site and there is ONE pouch left! Go get it if you’ve been wavering!

ETA: The second steep is nice too! But I really should have steeped the first cup at boiling to compare the flavor amount that the reblend has.

(This has been a good occasional sipper, but I keep forgetting I have it. Surely this does not happen to you.) How does one revive a tea that’s well past its third birthday? Well, accidentally steeping it for 20 minutes definitely ensures its potency… but with a little milk, it’s still got a bit of jig to it—the mint is still smooth and mild, like wedding butter mints.

I was reasonably impressed with my first cup of this. The raspberry/blackberry flavours are clear and well defined…juicy, slightly tart, although decidedly candy like to taste. The genmaicha is toasty with a hint of grassiness, but nicely balanced overall. My concern is that the two flavours don’t go together particularly…they seem to remain separate and don’t really complement each other. I have a feeling I’ll need to try a couple more cups before I can really work out what I think of this one, but the overall impression I gained was positive for a first cup.

Sipdown (194/196)!

I didn’t really make an effort to partake in Sipdown Saturday today, but I will take comfort in the fact I squeaked in one sipdown before the clock passed midnight tonight (six minutes before midnight; go me!). And, it’s a sipdown that I’m pretty happy about; I don’t have any qualms with seeing this one go.

Overall, I just couldn’t buy into the cinnamon/strawberry pairing; it’s just too weird for me and it makes me uncomfortable. So I think in the long run this is a tea that’s going to be pretty forgettable to me. You know, in and out. I definitely appreciate the sample from VariaTEA though – when you have an oppertunity to try a 52Teas blend you take it; afterall who knows how long they’ll be around for.

The cup this is going out on? Surprisingly more strawberry than cinnamon but also fairly watery. Oh well.

Bwahahaha i stole Cavocorax’s pouchhoard!
i feel really touched that she sent this tea to me when she loves it so much!!

it’s true i’ve been wanting to try this tea for a long time.
but … i have a confession, …i’m not even a harry potter person! Eeeeee
pleeeeaze don’t revoke my fangirl membership card!!!!
i mean, the tea just sounds yum!
Butter… Beer… Duh! O_o

and it is! it is totally yum!
and i have cups worth to drink!
giant muggle cups of rootish beer and buttery tones.
sluuuuurp a slurp.
luckiest muggle ever.

This is a good cinnamon roll tea for the most part and its caffeine-free which is a plus but I find myself wanting just a bit more of warming cinnamon flavor. I think the fact that the tea cooled from steeping for so long might have something to do with that but oh well.

Gods, I adore genmaichas…there’s something about the melding of toasty rice and grassy greens that I find intensely comforting. With this blend you get the added layer of sweet and smooth marshmallow (both roots and flavouring, I think) woven in between the familiar notes…

My only real complaint is that it gets sorta bitter and astringent as it cools and that clashes with the sweetness of the marshmallow. It might be better as an iced tea and for that reason I’m going to have to knock the rating down a bit.

Not sure it’s my favourite tea ever, but I’ll probably drink it intermittently.

This is the first tea I decided to try out of the package MissB was holding for me (OMG! Thank you SO MUCH. I’m now at 258 from 219. :) ).

It… could be more. It’s actually pretty good, but it’s not quite what I was hoping for. There’s ginger, there’s rich black tea, but there’s hardly any smoke and there’s no molasses. I guess the “smoke” would be the slight campfire aftertaste. And by campfire aftertaste, I mean a flavour like when you’re slowly roasting marshmallows but then you accidentally set it on fire, so it’s delightful and melty and roasted, but there’s a bit of char as well, that usually tastes mildly yet distinctly of pine or cedar. THAT kind of campfire aftertaste.

So. I think I will be drying some ginger to add to the tea, I’ll also be mixing in some marshmallow root (IDK, I just feel it’s necessary), a few cracked peppercorns, and some Russian Caravan. I’ll probably end up having it with molasses as well, unless I decide to really go too far and dry some molasses and grind it up to add to the tea.

I’ll probably decide to go too far. :)

(1.5 tsp for ~11 oz)

Wow, haven’t had this one in a while. It seems to be among the last of the 52teas flavored blacks I have. Not counting chais, I think I have three left. This, the butter pecan and the Irish cream.

The aroma of the steeped tea today was…. Cracker Jacks! Definitely a caramelly nuttiness, like what I get from caramel corn in movie theatres. The flavor has some light cashew and some undefined sweetness to it. I appear to have got much more complexity from the flavor the last time I tried this. Perhaps part of my problem today is I’m rushing—need to leave the house in about two seconds to get my hair taken care of (grey grey go away)—or it may be general flavor decline as this one I’d opened a while ago. But I don’t think so. I think it’s more likely just a reflection of what showed up in today’s mix. Must remember to shake the packet next time.

Not ready to mark it down yet. I’ll see how it does next time.

Youngest daughter: “Mom, what tea is that in the refrigerator? Is it Earl Grey?”

Me: “Yes, it is. The one that had Captain Picard on the front.”

Youngest: “Then why do I like it? My friend and I both like it….a LOT. And we both dislike Earl Grey.”

Me: “Well, Frank adds magic to his.”

So, if you love candy corn, this is probably a tea you want to try. Me? This is my first experience with it, and I must admit it’s just too sweet for me. My son has picked out all of the (huge) chunks of candy corn in the brew and is currently sucking on one like a lollipop as I sip this and enjoy it as much as I can. It’s zero fault of Frank – this really is very accurate – it’s just too sweet for my tastes. It does have a thick, honey-like feel to the tea, which surprised me, with a touch of bitterness at the end as it cools. Higher rating because it’s definitely accurate and well-done, it’s just something I’ll pass on to others.

N, my six-year-old: “Mommy, what is your destiny?”
Me: “I’m not sure yet honey”.
N: “MY destiny is candy corn!”

Thanks to Frank at 52Teas for this freebie package with my last order!

Bought this one in QueenofTarts’s tea sale, and passed some along to VariaTEA who liked it enough to pick up a pouch of it – but this is the first time I’m personally trying it!

It’s the pineapple that drew me in; I’ll try any pineapple tea at least one, and a white pineapple sounded extra amazing. I also love angel food cake; my Grandma used to make it for my brother, cousin, and me when we stayed over for a few weeks in the summer and I’d always get in trouble for picking off the spongey brown layer on the outside of the cake, which is the best part of it. Dry, this smells just like that rich spongey brown layer if it had a light pineapple glaze or drizzle on top; yum!

I think I may have let my water cool down a bit too much though, because this is pretty weak in flavour but I definitely get the impression that the leaf had more to give and I just goofed in the preperation. Still, the flavour I do get is very nice; a sweet pineapple that softens into a light and airy sponge cake kind of taste. I think this does a good job of living up to its name. Also, as VariaTEA noted it is getting a bit better as it cools.

This will be fun to play around with! I can’t wait to see if I can push a little bit more out of the leaf!

So I like spicy, but holy crap is this tea ever spicy!! Like so spicy that I ended up giving it to my boyfriend (who really likes it, so maybe that justifies the mantea label). Now and then though, I crave this blend. You can taste both the chocolate and the spice equally. It is definitely a milk and sugar kind of tea though. Particularly the latter.