Milk & Cookies

First, allow me to apologise for the power-spam! Because we were travelling to England for Christmas, I did not drink these teas on the actually appointed days, but some days in advance. I could have posted some of them before leaving, but for the sake keeping things easy (for me), I opted not to split them up in the middle like that. Also, that would have involved a certain risk of me having accidentally posted the wrong tea way too early and spoiled everybody unintentionally.

What a very Christmas-y flavour! (In Denmark, Santa’s favourite food is rice porridge with cinnamon-sugar and a lump of butter on top. Is milk and cookies his steady diet in America, or is that just a delivery rounds snack? Do inform, please.) It’s now nearly ten days since I actually had this, and am just now typing up my notes in preparation for posting, so you’ll have to excuse me if it’s a bit list-ish and dull to read.

The dry leaf struck me as mostly cocoa-y, but vaguely cookie-y, but there was a funny side note of something weirdly wood-y. After steeping, I got more cookie from it, but I couldn’t find the milk. I wondered if this would actually have benefitted from having been served with a little milk in, but it was too late then, as I had already got rid of the last milk in the fridge in preparation for travelling.

This next bit is a bit dodgy. I took my notes in some sort of weird impromptu wannabe shorthand, and erm… if I want to use shorthand, I should try to develop it a bit more systematically. I am however deciphering to the best of my abilities. (Utilising some of my more acceptable handwriting would help a lot too!)

Anyway, if I’m understeanding myself correctly here, I found the flavour to be quite cookie-like and faintly chocolate-y as well as somewhat nutty, which ties in nicely with it being a cookie. However, if I tried to get too deep into the flavour and really pick it apart, everything I found seemed like something one might naturally encounter in a good quality black, especially a Chinese one. This makes it seem rather more like an enhanced black rather than an actually flavoured one.

This impression wanes somewhat as the cup cools a bit more, because this is where the milk is finally coming out to play. It feels a bit like drinking a milk oolong, only instead of oolong it’s a black. Quite weird, really.

I liked this tea and found it rather enjoyable, although I didn’t really feel like it was getting the whole milk and cookies flavouring all the way across. The idea was certainly there, but I didn’t find it to be obvious, really.

I’m not putting a numerical rating on this one, because I didn’t jot down a scale area when I actually had it, and I’m not sure trying to deduce one based only on partly illegible notes and a vague memory is really a very good idea.

I’m finishing up this sample from the 12 Teas of Christmas 2011 box.

I took my first small sip of this and paused to let the flavors melt on my tongue. Yum, this has a very different black tea base than the Cherry Joy Black Tea from Ovation I just had. And then POW!!! The aftertaste was like someone shoved a warm doughy chocolate chip cookie hot from the oven directly into my mouth!! WOW!! This is insane!!

Oh man, this is to die for amazing. I don’t know why I didn’t have this experience the first go around in December. Maybe it’s because I had tried it first without additions. This time I added milk and a pinch of Truvia right away. But this is exquisite now. Truly, it tastes exactly like chocolate chip cookies!!! AHHH!! And now there’s no more!! *Begins wailing in despair.

At least I get to experience this one last time. Make some more chocolate chip cookie tea, Frank!! Or how about chocolate chip pancake tea? Or chocolate chip scone tea? Or chocolate chip anything tea!! Oh, how will I survive without this?! Upping the rating from 80 to 97. This tea is perfection. Minus three points for being extinct. :P

So I’ve FINALLY gotten around to trying this again with milk. Actually I am thinking milk is the reason my stomach hates me so much, so it’s some unsweetened coconut milk for me.

The coolest part of this coconut milk is that since it’s meant as a milk substitute, it isn’t strongly coconut flavored, and so a bit in this tea doesn’t affect the flavor. It also does its job, effectively cutting that bitter flavor this tea has, making it far more enjoyable.

I added barely any sugar…like I would hesitate to say I even added 1/8 a teaspoon. Honestly, it tastes fine with just a splash of milk. I don’t think you need to sweeten it unless you want it to really pop. But it still tastes like a cookie that might be slightly good for you instead.

First, and most importantly, Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope that celebrations were joyful and full of love!

Second, I have been a bit absent due to all of the craziness of the holidays, but things are returning to more normal and manageable pace. I haven{t been able to drink each of the Twelve Days of Christmas on the correct days, but I have been opening them on the right days. : )

This was the last of the series. I was really excited to find out what it was going to be! I opened the little packet right before we started opening Christmas gifts with my family. I was really happy when I smelled chocolate. I couldn’t place the scent as a whole, but the chocolate was jumping up and down and waving its hands at me. I was happy when I finally peeked and saw it was milk and cookies!

I steeped it and ended up with a pleasant brown liquor that smelled just like Chocolate Chip Cookies (the scent reminded me of the smell that hits you when you open a package of Chips Ahoy!). Unsweetened it tasted pretty generic. Just black tea that was vaguely chocolaty. I added brown sugar and the result was much more like what I was expecting. Sweet chocolate showing up first and cake/cookie hanging out as an aftertaste.

This is the first time that I felt that the tea base in 52teas got in the way of the flavoring. It was a bit astringent for cookie. It didn’t stop me from enjoying two cups of it (the second even more sweetened and even more cookie like! : ) )

I really liked this tea. Didn’t quite make it in to the “league of my favorite teas” but it was just what I wanted for Christmas present opening and family sharing and celebrating.

Once again, Merry Christmas to all! Thanks for sharing your thoughts through tea with all of us! It is a gift I cherish every day! : )

This is the 12th day of Christmas Tea … I hope that Frank will update the tea information here on Steepster… in the meantime, here is my review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2011/12/25/on-the-twelfth-day-of-christmas-52teas-sent-to-me/

I am just now getting to try this last (the surprise) tea in 52teas Christmas sampler.

Part of that was because I was a little worried from the smell. I’m the pickiest person ever about cookies (texture is a big thing for me – they have to be chewy and soft) and the smell of this dry was exactly like storebought Chips Ahoy! cookies. Which immediately reminded me of their dry crumbly nature and why I don’t like them. So it sat in the little red box, the last lonely package, until today.

I steeped 2 heaping tsp. (more or less the whole sample) at the below parameters in my Breville, in 500 ml. water. Milk and brown sugar were added after an initial tasting of the plain tea.

The steeped smell of the leaves still has a Chips Ahoy note, but the smell of the black tea has smoothed it out a bit, so it’s not reminding me of the hard dry cookie. The smells very chocolatey, like the chocolate in the Cashew turtle blend, which I really liked.

The first sip of the plain tea was strongly reminiscent of that chocolate Cashew turtle flavor – only then this STRONG note of bitterness overtook everything else and dominated the swallow. I’m glad I went with other reviewers and steeped it for a minute less than I usually would! I didn’t get any cookie or milk notes before additives were used.

Once milk and brown sugar were added a buttery, bakey note becomes more evident in with the chocolate. Ah, fresh cookies! No more storebought stuff! I’m not really getting any milk essence (besides that which I added, anyway) but strangely there seem to be hints of caramel (which, again, I’m probably imagining because of that Cashew turtle similarity).

Even though I’m very late to the party, I get the Christmasy feel of it – leaving milk and cookies for Santa was something I loved doing on Christmas eve as a kid. This wasn’t my favorite 52teas blend, but it is very fun for the nostalgia factor!

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.

Yesterday afternoon, I thought a cup of black tea might perk me up so I steeped up some Milk & Cookies, knowing I thoroughly enjoy this one every time I have it. I ended up dozing off in the evening so didn’t get to resteep it. I must still be catching up on my sleep.

Backlogging from Christmas: What a lovely and apropos finale to an amazing 12 teas of Christmas!!! This black tea is interesting to say the least. It’s sweet, and creamy but also has an almost floral-y element to it. I used a shorter steep time (thanks for the tip, Uniquity!) and I think I finally got a hang of it. It was a lovely christmas treat!!!

Moral of the story: 12 teas of christmas made the holiday season festive and bright!

Since I had the David’s Teas 24 Days of Tea, I decided to drink my 52Teas 12 teas of Christmas during the traditional 12 days of Christmas. And I started a day late. Oops. Yesterday was rough, with having to be at work at 7 a.m. And then after I got home, I didn’t want to have a caffeinated tea to get in the way of sleep later. So I decided to hold off until today.

Ninavampi said it best, without additions, Milk and Cookies tastes like a vaguely chocolately generic black tea, slightly harsh. I want to like it, I want it to be out of this world and cookie-like, but I dislike sweetened tea. In any form. With any amount of sugar. So I just can’t go there. My mental block is too strong. But to get the best out of many of their teas, you have to have milk and/or sugar. So after my brief crush on them, here I am. It smells delicious though. At least I have that.

This is a tea that doesn’t stand well alone. With sugar, there’s a perfect cookie smell and a pretty accurate (although very much simplified) taste, but without it, it’s just a too-bitter chocolate tea. I could see this being a nice little Christmas surprise, but if you missed it, I’m sure you can find something better.

So, I started this week off with a pitcher of Milk & Cookies iced and unsweetened. I prefer iced tea over hot tea in general because I hate waiting for hot tea to cool enough to drink. And, in particular, the teas from 52 Teas are almost always better iced in my opinion. The flavors are just better and the black tea astringency becomes an asset rather than a distraction. I don’t normally like or drink plain black tea because of the bitterness and astringency. In fact, the ones from 52 Teas are nearly the only ones that I’ve really liked.

Like every tea I’ve had from 52 Teas, I’m amazed at the flavor of this one. It tastes like creamy chocolate chip cookies. There is chocolate and and a baked taste. The slight astringency helps lend a baking soda aspect. There is even a creamy milk component. Most flavors are more prevalent in the forefront, the creamy note is more prevalent in the aftertaste. The smell of the tea leaves is also really delicious and mouth watering. I’m really enjoying this iced.