52teas

I’ve been slacking on trying new teas some lately, mostly just enjoying the bounty of my earlier TeaSpring order. But I decided to get back into it with one of the last remaining samples I have from Ninavampi.

Uhm, I may have picked the wrong tea to try to kickstart my sampling. For once, though, it isn’t the honeybush that’s killing this for me. Actually, the honeybush is adding a nice bakey back note to this that really does make it taste like freshly baked gooey sweet rolls. Nope, I get lost with the cinnamon on this one. It’s just too Red Hots cinnamon. It’s a lot like drinking Hot Damn cinnamon schnapps but without the punch of alcohol. I supposed I’m used to a milder cinnamon flavor than what this is.

Oh well, good to try! And also good to know that sometimes honeybush does work for me (even if the rest of the tea didn’t).

Today my shipments from 52teas, Tropical Tea Co., AND Amanda came in. I wasn’t expecting them all at the same time! I was a bit overwhelmed. However, the smell of this one really drew me in. It’s very sweet in the bag, almost too sweet. I tried this first at about 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Very bitter! So I tried again with 2 minutes this time. It’s a bit too weak, though the flavor comes out a bit more as it cools. Somewhere between these two times will be the perfect steeping time. I will find it! This tea smells so delicious, I want to find that in the flavor as well.

I had my doubts about this one, and between that and my fear of it, I left this one as my last 52teas tea to try from my order. I had no idea what to expect, and so it was with trepidation I sipped tonight.

My first sips were of a roasted flavour with a slight sweetness. Curious I added a dash of sugar, and there, in the aftertaste notes, was most definitely pancake. Pancakes cooked much more well done that I have the preference for, but definitely an identifiable pancake taste.

Not sure yet if I actually like the tea or not, but it does fulfill its name. I think I’ll need another pot or two to decide if I actually like it or not, though.

Backlog from this morning.

This was okay. It wasn’t remarkable but it was pretty good. My only disappointment was that I detected very little Trail Mix-ness. Instead, it both smelled and tasted like cherries, with a little bit of nuttiness. It was pretty good but it was a little disappointing that it didn’t taste like actual trail mix. I’ll have to try again sometime and see what I can do with it!

I was in the mood for a good caffeine free dessert tea, and I am particularly fond of this one.

What I Love: The taste. Oh my goodness this is good. I definitely am going to buy a full sized version of this.
What I Don’t Love: The little floaty’s that escaped from my infuser basket and are now all over my tea :( oh well, I’ll just have to live!

All my notes from last time still stand!

One of the teas I received in a swap with Tegan Fyretyde!

The dry leaf of this smells amazing. I can smell the coconut but I can also smell the cheesecake. IN THE DRY LEAF! CHEESECAKE! Mind=blown! I didn’t even know that cheesecake had a smell, but it does and I can smell it in the leaf and now I can die a happy man.

I’m not actually that familiar with honeybush, but I rationalized that I could brew it the same as I would a rooibos, so that’s what I did. I used about 1 1/2 teaspoons of leaf for my 12 oz Noble Mug and used 195 degree water for 5 minutes.

The result is a very typical red-ish color. Unfortunately (and I don’t know if this is because of my mug or the leaves) the brew smells kind of icky…. Like…. BO. Ew. Luckily, it doesn’t taste like that. It’s very sweet. Really sweet. I mean I guess that’s understandable because it came from My*Sweet*Honeybush. But I mean it’s REALLY sweet. I can tell it’s coconut. It’s still pretty hot but there is a slightly creaminess in the background and that typically tang of a cheesecake. As it cools, the cheesecake aspect comes out more and more. It’s really nice actually, because the flavoring is REALLY accurate! It really does taste like coconut cheesecake, and I’m in love!

This is an excellent dessert tea. I really love it and I will definitely be repurchasing this (thank goodness it’s in MySweetHoneybush’s permanent collection-THANK YOU FRANK!). This is phenomenal, thanks again to Tegan Fyretyde for sending some along!

I steeped this for way too long. It’s not fair for me to rate it in its current state. It tastes burnt (not in the way actual tea gets burnt but like it tastes like an ashtray smells…. ew) and just blech. I will try again when I have more time but for now I’ll have to dump this out.

I’ll rate this after I try it tomorrow with milk and sugar, but so far it is malty and delightful! I don’t taste the chocolate so much, but my sense of taste is poor.

Having a glass of this iced. I think this could be another VERY popular blend. It is really delicious. The orange, pineapple and banana are in perfect harmony. Just pure YUM.

This is another one of the teas that got spilled inside the 12 days of x-mas sampler box and I think it mixed with a few other because it smells a bit like the Rainbow Sherbet right now. So I’m not sure if I should rate this tea at all.

Taste-wise I didn’t find it anything special, as it mostly just tasted like plain tea with a hint of chocolate and sweetness, though it did go nicely with some of the ginger cookies I made yesterday. I’ve got enough left to play around with the parameters so I’ll see if I can’t find a way to coax more flavour out of it.

I just got my tea order from 52teas/mysweethoneybush today (Only a few days after placing! Awesome!). I opted to give this one a try first. The dry leaves had a coconut odor, that was pleasant and not to overpowering. I put a tablespoon into a tea bag and covered it with boiling water. The smell as it was brewing was pretty tasty. I think I could get a hint of the cheesecake in the brew. I left the room it was brewing in to go find the travel lid to my cup. When I returned, WOW, could I smell the coconut. I’m not a huge fan of coconut by itself, but I love it in other things.
I took my first sip without any additions. The tea had a pleasant taste with a coconut-y aftertaste. I like my tea sweet so I added some honey….to much honey. I had to add more boiling water and steep the tea a little longer.
Once that was done, it was a pretty tasty cup.
I think I am just all tea-ed out today, because I am on my 5th cup…..for that reason I am going to with-hold judgement until my next cup.

Sometimes, I forget that white tea generally has MORE caffeine than other varieties. shake twitch, twitch

Time to switch to WATER for the evening. :-)