52teas

Cold, this is pretty fresh tasting and refreshing. I normally don’t love lime flavoring, but it’s enough of a light hint here mixed with the blueberry that it works. The green tea is delicate and lovely as ever. It shares some qualities with the soda teas that 52teas makes. There’s no tartness from the fruits. The second time I had this, I noticed some herbaceous flavor that I think fits well too – it could be the lime or maybe some quality of the green tea. I like it here though. The third time I had this, it was a little less exciting, but perfectly pleasant cold. I enjoy when teas include lemongrass.

Woke up to snow falling like crazy. I’d blame the marmot, but traditionally my neck of the woods has always felt the brunt of winter toward the tail end of the season…

Brewed two pearls to 500ml water, steeped for three minutes. The pearls had only partially unraveled, so I’ll probably make another steep today at some point (which is highly unusual for me, I’m a one-and-done tea leaf user… sacriledge, I know).

The smell wafting off my cup strongly of cinnamon bark, a bit sweet-spice and a bit woody, with an undertone of maple syrup, butter, and brown sugar…. all wonderful things.

The tea is smooth, a bit malty/bready, with a touch of sweetness and a strong hit of cinnamon bark. There is almost a sort of fresh, pine wood sort of note that hits me during the sip, that is brisk and slightly citrusy… it’s a bit strange, but also quite enjoyable. The desserty flavors of cinnamon, maple, and butter linger on my tongue in the aftertaste, and I imagine they will start to pop more during the sip when I’ve finally had the patience to let my tea cool properly. I rarely have that kind of self-discipline and drink my cup at piping hot temperatures that normal people can’t tolerate.

The first time I had this, the roastiness overpowered the banana. When I did catch some banana, it leaned mostly toward fresh green banana flavor. The second time I had this, I tried it with soy milk, and that definitely helped to bring out the pudding aspects. It really reminded me of…well maybe not exactly banana pudding, but warm creamy banana at least. And I didn’t notice the roasted rice that time. I finished the bag with my third cup of this – it’s a tea that’s just easy to drink and especially shines cold. There are many better 52teas banana blends, but this was still quite fun.

Prepared as a coldbrew. The blackberry flavor is sweet and present, but not overpowering. The base tastes of a spring meadow covered in fresh green grass and wildflowers. Very refreshing! I always enjoy the blackberry flavor in a 52Teas blend.

Lately I’ve been a bit disenchanted with genmaicha. Something about the way it smells has become off-putting to me. Not enough to not drink it, but enough so that I find myself not reaaalllyyyy enjoying it when I do.

So I was a little apprehensive about this one. Plus, cherry-almond can go so wrong so quickly. Happily, though, the cherry and almond are both pretty subtle (yet distinct!) and they end up cutting some of the whateverness about genmaicha that’s been rubbing me the wrong way. And then the toasted rice prevents the cherry and almond from becoming cloying or overwhelming. So it’s a nice balance, all things considered!

I love the aroma coming off my cooling cup… a sweet and fudgy chocolate aroma, a hint of sweet vanilla, and I’m even getting a little graham on the nose, taking me into S’mores territory. And that’s what I get on the sip, too… sweet chocolate, a hint of cream, and a sort of graham/biscuit note from the base. Incredibly smooth! A delectable cup that would probably fare well as a latte but works fine as a plain hot cuppa.

I don’t know that I taste banana specifically, but the spices in this blend are so delicious. It’s like a not too sweet breakfast baked good. I feel like this uses a pretty typical 52teas spice blend, but I really enjoy that blend, so I truly don’t mind.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge 2023 – February 2 – Groundhog Day: drink the same tea (or type) twice!

Did I have two separate sessions of this with one resteep each today? Yes, I did. Now, I’m off to reconvene hibernation – which was the general consensus of Vancouver Island Marmots who weighed in today (literally, they were weighed to make sure they’re not loosing too much weight during hibernation; otherwise, the consensus in my province is not to wake up the sleepy marmots).

To catch up on other groundhog news 2023 check here (RIP Fred): https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/six-more-weeks-of-winter-here-are-the-predictions-of-groundhogs-across-north-america-1.6256937

This was always a fun tea to have because, due to not shaking my pouch ever, I kept getting a different distribution of ingredients in my filter. This means the tea never tasted the same. Sometimes, it reminded me of Butiki’s Pumpkin Milkshake blend, which was nice. I will miss it.

I’m really persnickety about coconut flavour. I was a bit sceptical upon reading the packet label, but one whiff raised my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised by the balanced aromas of coconut, bergamot, and black tea. And! The steep didn’t disappoint! The flavour is equally balanced and so, so good! Deserving of all the exclamation points! Very forgiving steep, good at any temperature. I have maybe three servings left. I’ll be very sad to see the packet empty, but to my credit I didn’t expect to last more than a day. Two! It’ll have lasted two days! Maybe 1.5.

creamer: none
sweetener: sugar

Wh… Wha… What sorcery is this‽ One, I didn’t know root beer and black tea would be such an amazing combination. Two, I didn’t know until I tasted this that I needed tea in my life that smells and tastes exactly like root beer. How‽ Just amazing, honestly.

If I’d had more, I would’ve tried it iced. And if I’d had more more, I would’ve tried it iced, carbonated, and sweetened with actual root beer. That would’ve been a fun experiment.

creamer: none
sweetener: sugar

P.S. I wanted to enter “heaven” in the “what flavours and scents do you notice?” field, but it wasn’t an option.

I love banana and wanted to like this a lot more than I did. Decent black-tea base, but the banana flavour didn’t taste real ‘n’ proper to me. And it got bitter really quickly. Full disclosure, though: I haven’t the slightest idea how long this packet has been sitting in my stash; it’s entirely possible that it’s past its best-by date.

creamer: none
sweetener: sugar
caution: Drink quickly, prone to bitterness.

Good but not great. Kind of cheesecakey in fragrance, but sort of generally dessert-like in flavour. [internal score: 65ish.]

creamer: none
sweetener: sugar

Do you like floral teas? I do. But I’m used to single-flower blends, like just jasmine or just rose. Here we have a mini bouquet, and it’s gorgeous. I could easily drink this by the litre. The flavours are so complementary and smooth and not perfumey. It’s also a forgiving steep, delicious at any temperature.

creamer: none
sweetener:
– first serving: none
– second serving: a bit of rooh afza (rose-flavoured syrup)
– third serving: I didn’t get that far—Mum stole the rest of the packet!

I like bold flavours, and the apple in this blend is barely perceptible (more noticeable in fragrance than flavour). But I also don’t love strong apple teas, because they taste like hot apple juice, so I’d probably complain about a stronger apple presence, too. Let’s all feel bad for this blend: poor thing, there’s just no winning with me. [internal score: 60ish.]

creamer: none
sweetener: none

I’ve learned that it’s safe to trust 52teas and now try all their teas in my stash, even if I don’t love some of their ingredients. Case in point, this grapefruit green tea. I don’t love grapefruit—but it occurs to me that I actually do like the flavour, I just don’t like the bit of bitterness it has more frequently than not. Here, we’ve got the lovely lightness and brightness of green tea, and the liveliness of grapefruit, without any of the bitterness. It’s fantastic.

creamer: none
sweetener: none
cautions: Drink hot. It got really bitter when it cooled.

52teas really knows how to do maple teas. They’re always excellent. Here, there’s a perfect combination of delicious authentic maple and also roasted rice. I enjoyed this with sugar and milk. The resteep was basically just the toasted rice, which is perfectly nice. I don’t taste much coconut, which I’m fine with. I accidentally got my teas mixed up and totally brewed this wrong one time, but it was thankfully super forgiving.

12th Tea of Christmas 2022

Woops! I never wrote notes for my last day of advents so let’s fix that (and now I must gather my fuzzy memory of a tea I drank over a month ago).

I recall enjoying this but also finding it a tad tricky. Sometimes the chemistry was spot on with the almond cookie bliss, while other times I steeped it a couple seconds too long – resulting in an astringent cuppa (confounded by cranberry antics). That was ok because then I happily added milk and had a decent brisk (for me) mug.

Anyways, I enjoyed my 12 Teas of Christmas a lot this year (as usual) even if not all the blends matched my preferences exactly (majority votes and I get out of my comfort zone lol). Looking forward to next Christmas 2023! :)

This is such a smart blend — the roasty toasty hojicha really complements the sweet maple-pumpkin flavors. It’s kind of like a sophisticated pumpkin pie! Such a smooth and comforting blend.

2023 sipdown count: 16/75

Sipdown 9

Lots and lots of chocolate and coconut. More chocolate in the smell than the flavor. Definitely getting chocolate coconut cake.

I’m frozen through to the bone after shoveling 6+ inches of snow off the walk… hopefully my tea hasn’t cooled off too badly in the amount of time it took me clear out the masses of white stuff.

I love the smell of this. It’s pineapple, but there is this sort of soft floral note I’m picking up with the fruit aroma that just really works for me. The base has a brassy malt aroma with just a little smokiness peeking through.

I’m always a bit weary when a blend includes Lapsang Souchang, as it’s one of the few teas I just can’t do (the strong smokiness triggers my migraines). But I do like it when it is lightly and subtly added to blends, but it is a delicate line for me. This tea is just right. Just enough smokiness to give a sort of “almost burnt” breadiness to the malty base. The pineapple is noticable, but I could do with it even stronger, as it feels like the strong black base is overpowering the fruitiness a bit.

I feel a bit of warmth returning to my cheeks and fingers now. It’s very comforting to have a nice, strong cup of tea to sip on a cold morning like this!

I made a cup of this warm a few nights ago and it just didn’t really work for me. I absolutely love lavender, often at strengths that most others find “soapy,” but I was getting this kind of acrid/sour floral note from it that kind of ruined the cup. I was also getting a strong citrusy note, very lemongrass forward, with that sort of green/herbaceous taste to it. I will happily report that I am not a fan of chamomile, but wasn’t tasting any actual chamomile flavor in the cup.

I probably could’ve salvaged it with a bit of honey to smooth the bitterness in the florals, but I was lazy that evening and just made do. But I did decide to steep the remainder of the package coldbrew after that, and sipping on it now, it’s very nice! Very lavender forward, and I would not recommend it to anyone particular about that floral note, but I’m a fan. It doesn’t have that sourness in the coldbrew, instead it has a subtly minty briskness to the floral note. The lemongrass is still coming through strongly, though I think I’m also getting a bit more lemon peel tangy pithiness in the coldbrew as well.

Rooibos is such a good choice for this flavor. It’s a warm, drinkable chocolate orange. So good!

When I first tried this, I thought I must have underleafed it because the flavor was quite weak. Once I added milk and extra sugar, the flavors really shined. I love the pineapple used by 52teas. It’s so fresh and authentic. I also taste the chocolate and almost a roastiness. This one is unique and fun. I think it tastes best at room temperature. The resteep was super delicious as well.