52teas

I received a package from Marzipan the same day as the Butiki TTB2. I have quite a bit of tea I want to try from that but this tea cut in front of the line. It did not dissapoint. I gave it a whif while it was steeping and it smelled of fresh raspberries. It tasted just like raspberries and a little of white tea. I might try steeping it a little longer next time to help the white tea shine through. I don’t get a lot of pastry flavor but I bet if I add sugar it would taste very much like a sugary treat.

I received this tea from Marzipan in her 52 teas sampler. It’s very different from any other Chai that I have tasted before.

This was a “Smokey” chai. I did taste a bit of smoke flavor. After adding a bit of almond milk and some honey it was perfect! So good that I drank two cups.

This is lovely. It’s the first green SBT I’ve tried and it certainly won’t be the last. Thank goodness for Kickstarter.

It really does taste creamy!. It’s not hard to make a decent peach tea but the cream notes seem hit or miss and it’s trickier with a green tea not to make it too heavy. It actually tastes a bit sweet drinking it straight up with out sugar.

I cold brewed it for about 7 hours I think. Normally with black teas I go up 10-12 but I thought with the green base it might be better with a shorter steep so I sipped it earlier and was very happy with the flavor and removed the tea bag.

I’m crazy itchy all over for some unknown reason and I’m just trying to distract myself from it so I don’t scratch my skin off. This tea is a refreshing diversion, perfect for a hot day.

I saved the tea bag because I’m stingy and want to try a second brew with it, probably traditional with hot water then dilute with ice. If anyone has tried this let me know how it worked and how much water you used. If I can get multiple steeps out of any tea I will!

I should have waited until summer was over to open the packet, but I’m at the point in which I’m anxious for autumn to arrive (I miss you 3/4 of the year, my favorite season). As I soon as I cut the seal: “Faaaaall!” It smells really great! Made me want an actual caramel apple even though I preferred the candied kind. I couldn’t taste any caramel in the liquor, just the apple. This apple flavor quite sour and overpowered the base, a medium-roasted oolong, so it seemed like I was drinking – albeit very thin – hot apple cider. I’ve been drinking so many “pure” teas this past half year that my liking of flavored teas has gone down, but I enjoy this one!

Thank you again, Marzipan for organizing the 52Teas grab bags! This is one Mandy and I both wanted to try that we tacked on to the order. Flavored genmaichas do seem a bit odd, but I love genmaicha so why not? I made sure to get a big peach piece into the infuser! Even with these lighter steep parameters, whoa was this a strong genmaicha! Tons of toasty genmaicha flavor along with plenty of fresh sweet peach. The dry leaves smell a bit like cream, but the flavor isn’t terribly like cream but I would imagine it added some sweetness. This one turned out exactly like I thought it would, but stronger flavor (though I could have used more creaminess)!
Steep #1 // 30 min after boiling // 1 1/2 – 2 min
Steep #2 // 25 min after boiling // 2 1/2 min

From Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

I like citrus flavored teas, and I love Darjeeling, so I have high hopes for this one.Honestly, I don’t know how I missed this one when Frank first offered it, but I’m happy to see it in the TTB.

Because it’s a Darjeeling I boiled the water and allowed it to cool to around 200 degrees. The first sip reminds me strongly of orange rid and does have a fair bit of astringency. I don’t consider some dryness a bad thing in a Darjeeling, so I’m good with this. As the tea cools some there is much more of the dreamsicle flavor which melds really well with the muscatel notes in the tea. Lots of bright orange flavor and a nice creaminess. This is definitely the golden spot for this tea. It does make me wonder if this would be a good cold brew. I’ll have to try that before passing this one along.

This tea smells like a delicious strawberry milkshake! Unfortunately, the smell is where the enjoyment begins and ends. I really don’t know if I’m doing something wrong or if I just hate honeybush.

This tea tastes like steeped dirt to me, maybe there’s a hint of fruit thrown in. I can’t stand it. I’ve had honeybush before and, while it wasn’t my favorite flavor, it certainly never approached soil as far as taste went.

I’m splitting this one up into samples for some friends — here’s hoping they’ll like this one where I can’t.

Today’s iced tea for work. This one got the usual SBT treatment (3 minutes in a quarter pint of boiling water, topped up with cold and into the fridge overnight). I’ve tried the 52 Teas version of Butterbeer previously in one of the 12 Teas of Christmas boxes, and I’ve got an unopened pouch of a reblend in my cupboard. I liked it well enough, which is why I was eager to give the SBT version a try!

This is best fridge cold, when the buttery flavour seems to come out best. It seems odd to say that about Butterbeer, which should be hot and foaming, and wonderfully warming, but there it is! The flavour actually reminds me of a Werther’s Original, or some kind of butter toffee sweet. The main flavour is an almost caramelised, buttery sweetness, with the underlying flavour of chicory. There’s something a little root beery about it, although it’s definitely more caramel and butter than vanilla ice cream.

Fandom blends are a lovely thing, and this one is a thoughtful tribute to Butterbeer. I’d like to try the Adagio version one day, but I’m happy with this one for now. What I’m also looking forward to is being able to drink my reblend pouch brewed hot again in the winter, while pretending I’m not actually at work but in the Three Broomsticks. Yup, that’ll work.

This is like a big cup of raspberry jam cookies. Sweet and fruity and quite nice. Thank you Scheherazade for the chance to try this tea. I certainly enjoyed it while it lasted. 148.

Sad to see this one go, especially given this is not the best cup I have had due to all the tiny crushed bits making it more “green” than usual. Still, I enjoyed this very much while it lasted. S’mores Genmaicha, you shall be missed! 152.

I iced the rest of my sample from Scheherazade and though there is a touch more apple and a hint of caramel, the honeybush still takes over. I am left feeling really happy I didn’t buy the pouch of this because this sample was more than enough for me. So long caramel apple honeybush, our relationship has run its course. 153.

Backlog:

Those of you who have been with Steepster quite a while may remember that there was a time when I was quite repulsed by the idea of a peanut butter tea. I’m not sure exactly why I found the idea so off-putting. I actually quite like peanut butter (especially with marshmallow, not so much as a marshmallow treat, but I like peanut butter and marshmallow cream sandwiches. I hate peanut butter and jelly. Love peanut butter and banana. And really love peanut butter, banana and marshmallow cream sandwiches. Is that sort of like an Elvis?)

Anyway … I got over that strange repulsion of peanut butter flavored tea eventually. And I’m glad I got over it in time for this peanut butter marshmallow treat genmaicha because I liked it. I didn’t like it quite as much as I liked the strawberry marshmallow treat genmaicha (or the original!) I liked this tea, but it wasn’t my favorite from 52Teas (they can’t all be my faves.)

Sweet toasty rice flavor that melds nicely with the notes of marshmallow. Not an overly aggressive peanut butter taste. It comes through nicely. A nice balance has been achieved with this tea.

I considered buying a package of this tea but now that I have tried it, I am glad I did not. This tastes mainly of honeybush with just a touch of candy apple the pops up now and again. I still have more to play with thanks to Scheherazade’s generosity so hopefully a different preparation method might bring out the flavors a bit more.

Made this as per package directions. I did add some white sugar. I only intended to ad a tsp or two but I thought I could just sprinkle some in from the bag instead of trying to scoop it out. So Instead of a sprinkle, I got an avalanche. As a result it was quite a but more sweet than I would have liked. I am definitely getting key lime, but I don’t really get any cheesecake. I found this one to be quite astringent at the end of the sip. I think it would have been better to have been brewed for 2 minutes instead of 3.

I do like this a LOT cold brewed. I used it as a “non-tea” for the tea party at work today. Steeped 24 hours in the fridge (about 3 tablespoons to 1 1/2 quarts of water) then added slices of fresh strawberry. Yum! Upping the rating based on how much I like it cold.

No one really said much about it specifically, but everyone drank their cups down so it must have been okay. :)

http://s1165.photobucket.com/user/dagony/library/July%202014%20Tea%20at%20work?sort=3&page=1

Scheherazade kindly shared a sample of this with me and I have to say that it is quite nice. My first sip, I definitely noticed the raspberry and as I continue to drink, I detect the sugar glaze as well. Both flavors pair beautifully with the base. I am not sure I am really getting “pastry” notes per se but the base mixed with the other flavors can lend itself to the notion of a baked good if you put your mind to it.

It’s okay. Smells like Lucky Charms. I added just a little sugar and some milk, I don’t think I got the full flavor of it. Will have to try again tomorrow.

This is the tea that’s currently in the fridge. I cold-brewed it overnight. It’s a yummy tea – I find that I tend to favor the various lime teas that SBT offers, with my preference being for the Lime Cola or the Lime Jello. But this one is good too.

The flavor isn’t as strong as I’d like it to be with the cold-brew, but it is still tasty. The resteeping (tonight before I go to bed, I’ll resteep the pouch hot-brew method) will be even better.

Backlog:

Really tasty. I could smell the apple pie as soon as I opened the pouch, and my mouth starts watering whenever I open this one (I’ve had it a few times since my original tasting note/review of this tea, found here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/04/29/apple-pie-keemun-52teas/ )

I like the way the smokiness of the keemun works with the notes of the apple pie to give it that fresh baked taste. My gramma’s apple pie never tasted smoky … but this doesn’t taste really smoky either … it just tastes crisp and inviting and very … autumnal. A really well-conceived blend.

Backlog:

OK, I’ve been slacking off again and now I’m really, really behind. (I’m imagining Sil is smiling.)

This is really yummy. Very fruity, banana and passion fruit work very well together. The Shou Mei is delicate but it doesn’t allow itself to be overpowered by the fruit notes. Soft, a little earthy and a little bit creamy, and these notes meld together with the fruit notes in a very pleasing way.

It’s almost smoothie-like.

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

So far, I haven’t been terribly impressed with 52teas, but I figured I’d give this one a chance since I love both mango and vanilla. No fruit chunks or anything in here, just black tea and flavoring. It smells nice enough, vaguely fruity and vanilla-y. I steeped for 4 minutes.

Honestly, I’m fairly disappointed with this tea. The base itself is okay, although there’s a tiny bit of bitterness and some astringency, and I don’t feel like 4 minutes is oversteeping. I definitely get vanilla and cream out of it, but where’s the mango? There’s a vague fruity flavor in here, but it’s so mild compared to the other flavors and the base that I can barely taste it. Some sort of peaches and cream comparison maybe, but it’s way in the background.

I’m not sure if maybe the sample of this tea has lost some of its potency or what, because I saw that a lot of other reviewers mentioned juicy mango flavor. It is in a resealable bag, so I guess that could be the case. Either way, I’m not going to assign this a rating because I feel it would be unfair if I did get an older sample of it.

This reminded me so much of chai. It was yummy, but to me did not really embody the “cake” aspect of things. I imagine a little sweetener might solve that. I didn’t expect the green tea to play nearly as well with the flavors as it did, this is normally a flavor I would expect in a black tea, or maybe a nutty oolong.

Having this tea this morning, now that my traveling box has traveled on.

I am enjoying this tea, and would like to buy more of it…somewhere. I can really taste the blueberries and it tastes like a blueberry danish. It really does! I especially enjoy AFTER the sip, where I can still taste the blueberry danish, and it all comes together then…after the sip.