52teas

For the second tea of Christmas, Frank gave to us Chai with Chocolate.

I smelled the chocolate even as I was cutting open the packet and started thinking now which chocolate teas does Frank have in stock. I put my nose to the packet and smelled ginger strongly. Then I looked and knew it was a chai.

So the question was: To stovetop or not to stovetop? If I stovetopped, I’d use more of the sample and be able to try it less times. But it’s stovetop. So I went with stovetop. There was little decision there.

Sipping it while it’s still likely a bit to hot to drink, I get ginger then chocolate. I like ginger. =D This is good. Not Pina Colada Honeybush awesome good. But quite good.

I finish my extra large mug quite quickly. As I drink, I get ginger, chai blend, and chocolate at times. The chocolate is not majorly in your face but you can taste it and you can definitely smell it. This tea feels decadent to drink first thing in the morning.

I gave this tea a rating of 70 for now, which is right in the middle of my nice/good range (60-80).

1 cup water. 1 tbsp sugar. bring to boil. 1 tbsp tea. steep 5 mins. 1 cup milk. bring to boil. turn heat off. steep 10 min.

Backlogging.

For the first tea of Christmas, Frank gave to us Pina Colada Honeybush.

So my thought was to cut open each sample pack and, being careful not to look, smell the tea and see what I thought it smelled like. Even with my nose a bit stuffed up and even if I had not known that 52 Teas has an award-winning Pina Colada Honeybush, I’d have thought this tea smelled exactly like a pina colada. I could actually smell the rum as well as coconut and pineapple. And everyone is right when they mention the huge chunks of pineapple and shavings of coconut.

I tried to convince myself to have a nice caffeinated black tea to wake me up and save this to drink later in the day. But I could not.

Steeped up, the tisane smells distinctly like rum and coconut. It’s a nice medium brown with a bit of amber. It tastes of coconut and rum. I do not get any pineapple specifically. But it’s exactly pina colada overall so it must just be blended in very well. And the coconut — it’s very creamy. I don’t know how Frank does it, but it is.

I should say that I’m not a big fan of pina coladas. If one of my sisters were to mix some up as a summer drink, I would drink them. But they are not high on my list of frosty drinks of choice. I’d be a margarita girl, I think. And no, I do not think margaritas in any way would make a good tea. But I’ve digressed. This is not a tisane I would have likely ordered. But I loved it. I did. So much so that I had barely finished the second paragraph of this tasting note when my mug was empty. Of course, I got up and put the kettle on to try a second steep right away.

And yes, I did eat the chunk of pineapple and the shavings of coconut. They tasted like Pina Colada Honeybush. grins This mug smelled only faintly of pina colada and the tea was an opaque amber brown. It tasted like the essence of Pina Colada Honeybush. But, this tisane is that good that it is worth steeping a second time even for that. It makes me want to try 52 Teas’ Coconut Cream Pie.

Frank, you rock my sox. I cannot wait to try the rest of my samples.

I gave this tisane an 88 rating, which is on the high end of my great range (80-90).

2nd steep: 12 min.

I bought this in an attempt to find a mate I like. The reports of its great chocolateyness convinced me. To be fair here, I haven’t liked any mate I’ve tried. But I do like chocolate, which I was hoping would override it.

It does smell very chocolatey in the bag, but once I brewed it I got worried. It just smelled like mate. So I courageously took a sip and, well, it didn’t taste like much of anything! There was a tiny hint of chocolate but not much going on. I think I used plenty, so I will have to try steeping longer. On the bright side, it didn’t taste like unpleasant mate to me. It gets points for that. I decided to heat and whisk some chocolate almond milk I have but since that itself doesn’t taste like much, it only improved it slightly.

I don’t know. It was okay but I ended up forgetting about it halfway through the mug and never finished.

I don’t know what I think of this tea. I definitely don’t think peaches. I definitely think green – I’m getting the grassiness that people so often speak of. I don’t know that I like it…Both in smell and in taste I haven’t got any peach hints. It smells sweet, but I get a serious vegetal taste, despite the sweetness. I think I might have to play with this one…

So far, all I can say is that it’s weird. Maybe I understeeped it? Maybe I should mix it with things. I’m a little sad. I’ll try again though!

Update – Bigger mouthfuls bring in something approximating peach, but then I’m left with the grassy after-taste. Which I don’t like. Maybe I should give up on green tea?

Accidentally made this quite delicious today. Nearly 2 teaspoons to my Perfect Tea Mug (12 ounces? 14?) and an accidental 4 minute steep. The white tea is lost under the flavours, but the chai aspect is really shining. I get cinnamon and something sharper on the back of the sip. Apple is generally lost, as is vanilla but if I think of this as a mild chai it is a success. About halfway through my pouch, which is nice. I need to finish a few teas already!!

I did something radical this morning. I steeped a tea – this tea – to package specifications. It’s been so long since I had this that my taste memory is mostly gone but I do perceive some differences. Firstly, I actually got some vanilla flavour. Still no apple, but what the hey. Secondly, it’s actually a delightfully mild but spicy chai.

I used 2 tsp. (I can see why – white tea being so fluffy and all that in terms of volume it looks about the same as 1 tsp. of other teas) and steeped for 2 minutes. My water might have been too hot as I am at work, but it still worked out. I still had that weird smell I get from 52Teas Bai Mu Dan (I don’t notice it with other companies, I don’t know what’s up with that!) but it isn’t translating into the taste. I do get a white tea taste in the middle of the sip, which is also new for me and this tea. Either that or I have finally learned what white tea tastes like. Either way, yay!

Second steep for yesterda.y I gave it 7 minutes to really flavour up, but this cup is a bit of a disappointment, honestly. I get some spice – not individual spices, tastes more like a bagged chai. Lost all the apple, vanilla and white tea, as well as the depth of flavour. I think the likely culprit is not enough leaf to my Perfect Tea Mug, since I’m used to dealing with a smaller one. No fault of the tea that I don’t pay attention! : )

Yummy yum. I haven’t had this in a while, but I have had a number of chais since, so I might better know my own thoughts. This is a very pale liquor, but a bold flavour. I have three (three!) green cardamom pods in my cup. I love cardamom in chai. Yay! I get an appley sort of sweetness in the sip, as opposed to the flavour of apple. I also get a hint of vanilla creaminess occasionally instead of vanilla taste. All that aside, I love chai, so I love this. A little more apple falvour would be lovely, but I am more than happy with what I have. At least right now : )

EDIT: I just coughed…not newsworthy, but SOMEHOW, I got a strong sense of the apple flavour (more like cinnamon apple, thanks to the chai) afterward. Maybe it’s all hidden in the afterwaste, but I’m sipping too quickly to notice!

Yum yum – Didn’t heat the water enough, so I’ve got a very mild cup here, but it’s super delicious. I also realized that the weird smell I get from the cantaloupe bai mu dan must just actualy be the smell of white tea because I got it from the apple vanilla white this morning. Yay for learnign!

Mmm, exciting news is that a second cup has come out nicely – I saved the leaves for a third, but I think that will be pushing it a bit too far. I mostly get spice this time around, I can feel it on the back of my tongue. Still a lovely cuppa, but not the beautiful sense of vanilla and apple as in the first.

My tea arrived! Of the 5 I ordered, I’ve decided to go for this one first, despite being at work and having no control over water temperature. It’s definitely not even close to boiling, so I figure I’m okay enough on temp. Dry, the tea smells really yummy – strong spice smell, definitely putting me in the mind of chai, but a hint of apple that makes me think of cider. A good start! My only qualm so far is how small the package is. I’m Canadian and oz isn’t a unit of measure I ever use so I kind of imagined it being more…I don’t know that I’ll get 20 to 25 cups of tea out of this as the package claims, but that’s irrelevant.

As it steeps, I realize that a T-Sac just isn’t going to provide enough room for the tea to expand. Again, for work and experimentation it is good enough, but the volume has already doubled and I wish I could see these leaves unfurl properly.

Finally, it’s time to sip! I keep smelling this, because there is some definite familiar smell, I think it reminds me of something my grandmother makes. Apple crumble, maybe? With vanilla ice cream on top…More spice smell than apple or vanilla, but the memories it conjure all seem to include apples and vanilla. Finally having tasted a sip, I think it evokes a nice hot cinnamony apple pie with vanilla ice cream melting on top. So good! I’ve been longing for a taste like this for too long. It’s really not hitting me in the face the way I expected it to by the smell, but it’s calming me, and a lovely absent-minded sort of deliciousness. I feel the need to have this on a regular basis. Absolutely. A wonderful start to my 52Teas experience, thank you Frank! I’m saving the T-Sac to give it another steep later on, we’ll see how well it holds up to that. The mildness of the flavour suggests it might not work, but I’ve been surprised before!

ps – Why did I only order 1 pouch when 2 would have been so cheap? Gah!

If something has lemon in it, I will give it a try. This stuff rocks. I drink it straight hot or cold. It has a nice balanced flavor that is naturally sweet. I tried adding honey once, but found it was unnecessary. It might work well mixed with another tea to add a bright accent.

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp
Water: boiling, 12oz
Tool: kati loose tea system (my Review here.)
Steep Time: a little over 2 minutes (http://steep.it/2 minutes)
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: nutty, chocolate, black tea, mixed spice
Steeped Tea Smell: spice
Flavor: watery peppery burn
Body: Light
Aftertaste: burning
Liquor: translucent brown

I added 2 minutes

A stronger tea, but still burning!

Post-Steep Additives: + honey
= sweeter, but still burning

Too much spice for me, but I could see people who like spice steeping this in hot coco (I never think there is enough chocolate flavor).

TeaEqualsBliss gift, thanks

Pictures: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2011/01/52teas-loose-leaf-black-tea-mayan.html

Ahhhh… This makes me happy. I like a bit of clove in my chai, but I was elated to see it missing from this blend after the Gingerbread disaster from Adagio. It’s not a chai, but it was all clove. Seriously. Like drinking perfume. Well… like not drinking perfume… because I couldn’t finish the cup. Do you know what it takes for me to not finish a cup of tea? Ok, I’m done now.

Made this a latte this morning. 2tsp/8oz water/8oz Smart Balance milk/8min. Lol just noticed the 8 theme there.

Spectacular… I can actually drink this! lol. I don’t like gingerbread, but I can definitely taste the gingerbread flavors and enjoy them. Not bad.

I’m onto you, list. You can’t hide those pods forever.

Backlogging from Sunday.
Since I’ve been drying for snickerdoodles since winter solstice this swap from Meghann really brightened the life sucking past couple of days. I just can’t stand inclemant weather like this for a week straight!
The dry smell is literally intoxicating. The alcohol from the vanilla beans explodes every time I open the pouch. It almost covers the cinnamon and I wondered if the brewed tea would mimic this. Not that I’d mind. I love this vanilla. It’s very fruity and floral and the first time I had vanilla that never lets one forget “I’m an orchid, not an herb!”
But despite the quality of the vanilla and cinnamon I think the igredients are wrong. There has to be star anise in there. I had two cups and both times the smell and taste of star anise is there, if faint. I wish it were as strong as the base; that’s the only flaw for me. The second time I reduced the time a bit and it tucked itself back under the vanilla’s sepals. But then I’m not fond of Indian black.

And I second Jaime’s proposition: red velvet honeybush! That would be amazing!

I received this sample from RachanaC from iHeartTeas. Thank you!

I think I may have left this sample too long in my cupboard as it isn’t as flavorful as I had hoped it would be. I steeped it longer and it tastes more like a malted chocolate shake! Delicious! I added sugar to it. I love chocolate and this was a great tea!

Delicious! I received this from Meghann Thank you so much!

It smells DELICIOUS! It smells nutty, chocolate-y, mildly earthy, and warm. The liquor is a light brown. I added sugar and tastes great! With milk, it is even better and creamier. Very good. It left a strange taste in the back of my throat, but I think it is because of what I had for lunch – sandwich with some strong onions in there!

Overall, very good flavored mate.

Paired this w/ a Healthy Choice Pineapple Chicken tv dinner. Went well, but there was a bit too much fruityness going on in the meal and I think a cucumber tea would have been a better choice. Surprisingly it has just as much juicyness hot as cold.

I normally wouldn’t pair a fruity tea w/ a meal, but I had some left over tzatziki sauce from the Greek chicken we had for supper the other night so I had it w/ some fish sticks and served a 16oz glass of this w/ it.

Cucumber in the tzatziki echos the pickle in tartar sauce- bingo.

The melon (of course) pairs beautifully w/ the cucumber and comes across just as wonderful as it did when it was paired w/ cucumber for Frank’s Cucumber Melon Green Tea. I normally don’t get “juicy” from a tea like a lot of others do, but this is juicy. I had this cold so I think that added to the ease of me finding that quality.

Hey, Frank… what about a tzatziki tea?

Lovely, well balanced, smooth. I can’t wait to try adding this to other teas and see what I come up with.

This tea is like a sweet buttery pastry !! I don’t normally add sugar to my tea. Milk, yes, but I usually like my teas unsweetened. This tea, however, really comes to life with milk and sugar.

Remember when I said that I thought this tisane would be GREAT for flavoring matcha? I was right. 1tsp of matcha whisked into 8oz of the tisane. The lemon is evident, but doesn’t over power the matcha. There’s no typical lemony “bite” so a bit of ginger would do this good. Without it, it’s more of a lemon hard candy flavor. I don’t drink tisanes by themselves… BUT I do love flavoring my matcha with tisanes (so I don’t add more caffeine). So I’m gonna take this one and buy another pouch for my friend… UGH… FRANK! =D