Smaug Tea

How does this tea have no notes yet?! It’s sold out so certainly it’s popular! I don’t think I’ve ever had the first note for a 52teas blend before, how exciting. The magic of tea of the month club! Which, funny story, my mom accidentally ordered 2 of (in a 3 month increment) and instead of cancelling the second one decided to just give me 6 months. My family is pretty awesome in supporting my tea habits! Though part of the deal is that they get to try them all, which of course is no problem for me. I love sharing tea!

I am very picky about cinnamon tea. I love it when it’s done right, and man oh man… is this done right. My dad is a connoisseur of cinnamon teas and says that this is his favorite blend with cinnamon, and I agree. Let’s start with the base: it’s a dragonwell, giving it a nice lightness along with a buttery smooth quality. The cinnamon is hot, not mild and bake-y like cinnamon bark, but it also doesn’t have that fake Big Red quality you sometimes find in cinnamon. It’s pure and delicious!

It’s backed up by a punch of heat from the pepper, which gives it a bite that of course any dragon tea should have. The smoke is very subtle: in fact my only criticism is that I could have used perhaps a bit more, but I think going light was a good decision because lapsang tends to be really divisive.

Best of all, this tea stands up to a ridiculous number of steeps for a flavored blend. I did 4 hot steeps and a cold brew and the flavor lasted all the way through! As you’d expect the cinnamon fades a bit and the pepper was almost nonexistent by the end, but the dragonwell shines through a lot more and has a really crisp quality in steeps 3-4. And the cinnamon doesn’t seem watered down, just less strong. I think I’m going to shed some tears when I eventually run out of this blend, it’s perfect!

OMG THIS TEA!!! I am so glad I was able to snag a pouch of this when it was re-blended. This tea is one of the best 52 Teas I have had to date. I don’t have a lot of time to do a good review but for an over view this is what I will say:

The base tea is wonderful. Light, sweet, and crisp with just a touch a smokey character. The spices don’t over power the base at all. They add just a nice high note taste and tingling warm heat on the tongue and mouth. Not overwhelming which is good; aka spice weenies no need to fear.

Over all A+++ and would reconmend it to anyone who likes green tea in general.

I bought this tea mostly for my father and husband. They both like spicy cinnamon and they are both a fan of Butiki’s Winter Fire tea, so I thought this one would be for them too. I can’t handle the Winter Fire tea at all. It tastes alright, but I feel like I am suffocating for just a moment after each swallow. My mother and sister felt the same way. I attribute it to the hot peppers. This, having cayenne pepper and all, I figured would not be a good match for me. And it supposedly has Lapsang Souchong in it too! Oh, no thank you to that! Adagio’s custom Smaug blend was all the Lapsang Souchong encounters that I ever needed.

So why am I sitting here with a cup of this tea anyway? I don’t really know. I seem to be having an OCD issue causing me to try out teas just because I have to simply say that I tried them. Here and there, if I am in the right mood, I can override the OCD, but not tonight. Of course, I only brewed a tiny tea cup of this.

The Lapsang Souchong is completely lost on me in this tea. I know it is in there sparingly, but that’s some powerful stuff to hide even in small quantities. I’m getting just a small touch of the same sensation that choked me upon swallowing Winter Fire, but not enough to actually make me cough. That all being said, this is really just a strong cinnamon flavored tea. It’s not fooling around when it comes to flavor.

I like cinnamon plenty, but I don’t usually crave it in a tea unless it’s blended with other ingredients too. This is a tea that I will likely drink more of simply because my husband likes it too, but I won’t be reaching for it when I’m making tea for myself alone.

So I won’t be rating this because it will artificially bring down the overall rating because I really shouldn’t be drinking this in the first place. But I did because I’m a bit OCD like that and I’ve got a 52teas montly subscription for a year and I’m going to drink at least one cup of all of them dammit. But I really shouldn’t be rating this because I KNEW I wouldn’t like it. I don’t like a single ingredient in it.

It’s actually not as horrible as I thought it would be. The cinnamon is an unpleasant tingle and the cayenne I hate so much. But I actually think I don’t mind the green tea so much, it doesn’t have the weirdness of flavour that puts me off all of the ones I’ve tried so far. Maybe I’ve just been drinking low quality ones? Mostly in restaurants.

So hey Alphakitty, you want this?

Second to last sample I have from Alphakitty, and I am really sad to be drinking the last of this awesome blend. For those that actually know me my favorite author in the world is JRR Tolkien so as soon as I saw Smaug Tea I knew immediately I had to try it.

Dry this tea has a strong cinnamon smell to it, which is great I thoroughly enjoy a cinnamon-y tea. AT first I was slightly concerned the cinnamon might be overpowering based on the dry smell, but I was completely wrong. Once brewed it still retained the cinnamon aroma however it was quite subdued and mellow now, and also accompanied by a slight smoky aroma I am guessing from the Lapsang.

The final brew is a clear aroma with a slight coloring in it, my cup at work is not friendly with colors seeing as it is bright orange inside of it! But who cares, when the tea tastes this good you are not looking at it. The easiest way for me to describe this taste is like cinnamon hearts except not cheap candy cinnamon, which really makes the difference.

Long story short if you get the chance to try this tea, then do it. If 52 teas reads this then please make this blend again so I can attempt to secure some for myself! I don’t think I have a cinnamon heavy tea that I enjoy more then this blend now.

This has quickly become my new favorite tea from 52Teas. A perfect balance of cinnamon and heat with a delicate green tea base makes for an excellent indulgent cup anytime.