Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish Black Tea

This tea is officially my favorite tea. I have put my order in for a pound! Frank has kindly said yes to my request and if all goes well with the mail, I will be receiving a beautiful pound of tea in two weeks!

It is just as delicious every time I sip it. I am almost out of my 2oz pouch that I received, not that long ago. The tea smells so rich and delicious. I love that the smell of the brewing tea invades my entire house. It could easily be confused for someone baking a blueberry pie. Delicious. 

It tastes sooo good. I finish my cup and actually have to practice self restraint in order to not make and finish one cup after another in quick consecutiveness.   
The sweet blueberry and the taste of fresh backed goods makes me smile every single time.

I can’t wait for my pound to arrive… I feel like it will be the first pound of many that I will have to order. It really is THAT good! 

On a side note— 100th tasting note!!!! Yay!!!

I feel that part of maturing your “tea pallate” is trying a whole lot of different teas. Trying to do this has lead me to a bunch of new teas and tea sellers. But, regardless of how many teas I try, there will always be a softspot and a nice little warm and welcoming place in my heart (and tongue…) for favorites that no matter how many times I drink them, will be favorites!

As I said yesterday, I have been through a rough time. So old favorites it is. This black tea with creamy blueberry goodness is the epitome of delicious relaxation in a cup. The leaves scent has actually grown stronger and more blueberryish during this period of sitting my cabinet. I have gone through my pound rather quickly… I fear that I might have to order another pound in the near future! 

This particular cup had a rather large blueberry in with the tea leaves. So large, in fact, that my tea basket is stained purple! This is a happy thing for me! Large blueberries that bleed the right color and taste delicious can stain as many pieces of tea ware as they want! They make my tastebuds dance and party! I added a tiny bit of sweetener today just for it to taste even more like dessert and sweet guilty pleasures. 

This is my favorite tea ever. I finished my cup of blueberry creamy goodness way too quickly… The creamy sensation and blueberry aftertaste is all that I have to remind me I did in fact enjoy my entire cup of tea and it didn’t just disappear.          

Hmmm… Maybe this tingly feeling is actually relaxation? Could it be!? … I am not going to let myself give in to feeling calm until the weekend comes and all the craziness of organizing the race has finally passed… Can’t wait for the weekend! 

On an unusually cold morning in Quito, Ecuador I am reminded of how much I love this tea. Tasty, sweet smooth and delicious. My favorite! Happy weekend everyone!

Mini sipdown. I have officially finished up the last of my first package of this one. I have an unopened package still sitting in my cupboard but i’m fairly certain that will just be tossed into my swap box for someone who really loves this tea. Because i don’t. Not even really kind of sort of. Frank’s blueberry zabaglione is better and even that one was not the blueberry pastry/dessert tea i was hoping for. It makes me sad…i had such high hopes for this one..

(on the plus side? I’m down to 210!! I could totally make it to 200 by next weekend…which would be a week early! go me!)

Yeah…i dunno what to say guys. this is pretty meh. I’ll try it with some sweetner maybe but overall, i’m just not feeling it.

backlogging from yesterday

Still not a fan of this one. Guess that means the “extra” package i have will have to be traded off at some point. No matter how i seem to change the brewing parameters it always tastes astringent and not very creamcheesy, baked good like or really blueberry like.

Blueberry zabaglione vs blueberry creamcheese danish who will win!

Second contender – BCCDB! A re-blend of a favourite among steepsterites – the new blend seems to not stack up against old memories.

blueberry taste? check
Creamy taste? mostly
restock in my cupboard? Nope
astringent? nope
better with a bit of sugar? check.

ho hum…the hunt continues.

Incendiare told me the second steep is creamier, and she’s right. The mother liked the second steep too and drank a whole big mug of it. I’ve grown fonder of this tea since figuring out how I like it best. More often than not lately, it’s been my first cup of the day (and my second). I’m still not 100% on the base and don’t always get the full pastry experience, but I’d still pick this blend up again if it was convenient.

Just reviewed this one cold brewed and I have just one word…. “Perrier”

For a full review…

http://rachelsteacupboard.teatra.de/2011/07/25/blueberry-cream-cheese-danish-cold-brewed-52teas/

I have such awesome coworkers. I mean, I really could see myself staying at this job indefinitely because of them.

Case in point: last night, one of them came up to me and said “so I tried this tea – Earl Grey. Did you know it’s citrusy?” It’s like when little kids come home from school and tell you things they’ve learned that are completely obvious to us (e.g. shapes, counting etc) but they don’t realize we already know about it. Almost like an innocence? Anyway, it made me smile.

Guess I’ll be bringing her some EGC to blow her mind on Friday. Loose, no less, so she can really be amazed.

I had this one a few days ago and it’s really the only tea I’ve had in a while. I have the next few days off though so I’ll probably change that. I’m almost through one pouch of this and I’m glad I have another to gall back on…I really do reach for it quite a lot, especially considering the variety I have on hand to choose from.

I keep looking out for it when its reblended but I’ll probably just need to buy in bulk for myself. It’s so consistently yummy!

So I’m super nerd when it comes to DNA and nature/nurture all of that stuff. And then I found 23andme.com (bear with me, I promise I’m not advertising for them!) which is basically an outlet to learn things about my genetics, health risks, drug sensitivities and ancestry and all of that. Fun fact: I’m approximately 2.8% Neanderthal. :)

Today I finally got the email notification that the health part was ready, and one of the things they test you for is caffeine metabolism/tolerance. Apparently I’m the fast metabolizer, meaning that I can drink a lot and it doesn’t do much to me. I had a feeling as much, at least as far as tea is concerned, given that I drank this at 2:30 AM yesterday and was immediately tired afterwards. Coffee affects me a little stronger, but then, that’s why I don’t like to drink it. :)

I just really, really like this. I like that I can get two steeps out of it, which is rare for a 52Teas blend for me. The seconds steep is mostly just the fruit part, but blueberry tea is still just as wonderful. I am killing my first pouch – it’s a little less than half full. Luckily I have one more left but after its gone I’m going to need to really think about getting a pound made. Maybe by then we’ll get a strawberry version too so I can has ALL THE DANISHES. Seriously, I am dying to know what a strawberry or cherry or peach version of this would taste like (anything but raspberry, which of course is the ONLY other varietal there was).

Welp, I’m going to go rustle up another cup of tea and stick my nose back into my chromosomes for the night…

It’s really looking like spring now. Like, the temperatures are staying nice rather than having trouble making up their minds. And it’s almost Taurus! I’m a Taurus rising and I have a slew of April/May birthdays in my family so this time of year feels like coming home. I always like any year better once May rolls around.

I had this the other night before going into work and it helped relax me, like it always does. I have it with milk and sugar but I tried a bit plain and can see how it might be a bit bitter or strong for those who typically don’t like to add anything to their teas. It really works best as a dessert tea, which are my favorite kind of teas anyway!

This is definitely one of my go to blends that I’m going to have to keep on hand. There’s a pound in my near future I’m sure…

Yesterday after my first two cups I was craving more – always the sign of a good tea. :)

I discovered that taking this to work in a thermos makes the craziness seem somehow more manageable. Plus, having this hot at 11:30 PM while charting is almost awesome enough to make you forget you’re working altogether.

sigh. I have two pouches of this and we’ll see how quickly I go through them. A pound may be in order.

Also – Frank, have you considered maybe making this in strawberry or cherry danish iterations? I’m pretty sure I could give up food altogether and just live on tea if that happened….

Gah – I’m powering through this stuff way too fast!

It was super juicy tasting this morning. Creamy juicy blueberry pastry, in that order. It’s coming with me to work tonight again since it worked so well the first time. Blueberry works so well with a black tea. It’s almost as natural a combination as peaches and tea. Makes me wonder what a blueberry peach tea would taste like? Yeah, I’m going to have to find a way to make that happen.

Also, totally off the subject of this tea, but last night I finally finished constructing my tea cupboard and I love it so much it’s kind of ridiculous. Everything looks so neat and organized – and all in one corner! I have to get some pictures and post them to the thread on here.

My boyfriend really wants to put wheels on the bottom of the shelf, and I’m undecided, since Brevy is on there and I don’t like the idea of hot water on wheels. I’m clumsy and that is disastrous. But he pointed out that in the event of a fire I could just take that sucker and go, and I have to admit, it would be nice to have that option…I’ve spent a lot of time and money on this hobby of mine!

I have awaited this day with a quiet reverence. Part of me thought it would never come. But part of me knew to stay faithful. The first re-blended batch sold out in less than 12 hours. But luckily for me, Frank re-blended a second batch. :)

Opening the packet is like opening the first present on Christmas day. Excitement and joy bubble up within me until they overflow with the eager anticipation of this moment. The dry leaves smell amazing! Like blueberry and cream and sugar and heaven. Sweet and fruity and motherwateringly delicious! I set my kettle to boil and measured the leaves into the strainer. Ah, how I love this morning tea ritual.

About three minutes later, I lifted the brewing basket from the cup and inhaled deeply. AAAHH! Oh no!!!! This smells bad. :( It smells like a specific variety of Assam that I really don’t like. Noooooooo! Why did you do it, Frank? I tried a sample of this tea about 9 months ago (generously provided by the lovely Ninavampi), and it definitely didn’t have this base. Ugh, my heart is broken. My perfect Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish tea has been desecrated. :(

Once the cup cooled, I ventured a taste. That awful Assam hits me first. But then up creep the blueberry and the flaky Danish pastry and the creaminess. Maybe this will be okay? Most everyone could enjoy this tea straight, but the Assam is hitting me like a battering ram right between the eyes. So, I went ahead and added a splash of skim milk.

Unfortunately, all that did was tone down the blueberry and make the base even more pronounced. Then I added a tiny bit of Truvia, and now it’s just a cup of sweetened Assam tea. Blech. What total fail. Why do my taste buds have to hate this base? WHY?! I’m going to leave the rating unchanged because that sample was heaven. This cup would probably be rated something more along the lines of a 40. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go ball my eyes out.

Enjoying another cup of this on my work from home day. Thanks again to Ninavampi for such a large sample of this one! The cream cheesy goodness is especially apparent today. It is sooo delicious! Lip smacking good! :D

Got my first full bag of this is the mail yesterday! I noticed a lot more blueberries, which has to be good, right? I liked it so much when TastyBrew sent me a sample, that I had to get some. I think I messed up my cup this morning, though. Forgot to put down the little whistle on my kettle, so the water was probably way too hot. Still tasted good, but not as good as before. I just ordered a variable temperature kettle (YAY!), so that should prevent those types of mistakes in the future! I also got an iced tea steeper and finally ordered Nina’s grand amour tea! I feel a little spoiled right now! ;)

Dang! TastyBrew, your steeping parameters were right on!!! 185 degrees for 3 minutes is the BOMB! I am so happy to have my variable temperature kettle! With those steeping parameters, the pastry flavor becomes more pronounced and fully compliments the blueberry. Yay!

Steeped this first thing with cooler water and it was better. I think I am now impatiently waiting for my variable temperature kettle. So much experimenting I’ll be able to do!

Sipdown of surprise sample from TastyBrew, and now I’m sad. This was really good, especially as a strong wake-me-up tea. I hope Frank reblends this!!

Brewed this one up today for the sole purpose of comparing it to Blueberry Jam!

The aroma definitely has a similar blueberry scent, but there’s also a sharpness and additional sweetness, which I would attribute to cream cheese and the fact that this is supposed to be mimicking a danish!

The flavour is quite obviously a bit different, too. Whereas Blueberry Jam is pretty much hot, sweetened blueberries, this tea has a delicious creaminess that gives way to pastry flavours that linger in the mouth. It does taste a bit more artificially flavoured, but not in a bad way. Ooh, one difference I just noticed is the stevia in Blueberry Jam – if I take a sip of BCCD, swallow, and have a sip of Blueberry Jam, it’s rather noticeable that there’s sweetener in the latter. Interesting to note. I hadn’t particularly picked up on that initially.

Anyhow, side-by-side, I quite like both teas; although they are clearly different, I wouldn’t bother stocking both as the blueberry flavour is similar enough. The advantage goes to the DavidsTea version simply due to availability; I would be very happy drinking either of these to get a blueberry fix :)

ETA: Second infusion at 4 min was still pretty good. Retained more flavour than Blueberry Jam, I think, and the danishy components were still there too. I threw out the leaves afterwards though, as they had little aroma left.

Sipdown! Thanks again to Azzrian for this one. No blueberries floating in the infuser this time, but I’m loving the creamy blueberry flavour here. Just delicious.

Sad to see this go, but it’s high time I drank it, since it seems I’ve had the sample sitting around for about 8 months… hahaha.

I think that this tea tastes even better than when I first tasted it! The blueberry flavor is very much like the blueberry filling taste I would get if I had a blueberry Danish in front of me! Sweet and juicy and yummy!

And I can taste more of the cream cheese taste today too. A very nice cream cheese sweet and tangy taste comes through. Deeeee-lish!

Ughhh as if this past week of food and stuff (namely cookie cake) wasn’t enough, we are going to Capital Grille on Saturday for our fifth anniversary of dating! And apparently they go all out on you.

If I could just drink tea the rest of the week, that’d be great.

I just got A TON of new tea in today so I’m hoping to finish some things off soon, this being one of them. There’s maybe 2-3 cups left after this one so yay, even though I have really, really enjoyed this one.

This is my favorite blueberry tea, and I love love love the cream cheese tang. The pastry part is also somewhat present, though I think that it gets boosted by the assam. And for some reason today I’m getting a little smokiness, though now that it’s cooled it’s faded. Kind of made for an interesting taste!