Shamrock Tea

I’m valiantly trying to get through my swap samples from everyone to get a bit of a handle on my tea stash! It’s crazy, really. My roommates were contemplating an intervention of sorts, where they were going to lay all my tea out on the dining room table and invite people over to take some away so I’m not so overwhelmed. I think it’s just a plot to steal my tea >.>

Anyways, I decided to go for a one-cup sample tonight, so I can “remove something from my cupboard”! Woo! Missy and Dylan were lovely and sent me just the one cup’s worth of this (and a couple other 52teas mint blends) I asked for, because I’m always willing to try one cup, but don’t want to waste someone’s tea if I don’t like it, and mint is one of my least favourite flavours (but I’m just so darn curious!) Also, it’s nice to “finish something off” – need to feel good about something, since I’m sitting here alone in my house (roommates out dancing… I was too tired earlier) being all depressed about being single after over 4.5 years of being with my boyfriend (we broke up nearly 4 weeks ago… I am far from over it). :(

Sob story over. Onto the tea.

The aroma is pretty pepperminty. Enough pepperminty to make me wrinkle my nose and go “egh”. I don’t have high hopes, but I’ll drink this one cup at least (barring it being absolutely disgusting!) Ok… first sip, definitely very peppermint. I can taste spearmint too, which I have less of a problem with, and luckily there’s a really nice creaminess in there as well to negate some of the icky peppermintness. I’m not tasting any green tea at all though, so this is really coming off as more of an herbal tea. I must say though, this is definitely not a tea for me. Drinkable, yes, and the creaminess redeems it a bit (I love creamy), but I reaaaaally don’t care for intense peppermint flavour, and there’s just too much of that. I would drink it if offered though, and would be surprised if any peppermint tea-lover didn’t enjoy this! Withholding a rating because my peppermint bias would lower it to somewhere in the 60s, perhaps, and I think this is more of an 80s tea.

ETA: Second infusion (82C/4? min) loses most of the redeeming creaminess. Don’t think I’ll finish this one.

Thank you Will Work for Tea for this Sample!

I haven’t tasted very many 52teas which some of you may have noticed.
Noone sends me samples of them for one thing, and another is that the three I ordered were not very tasty so I just gave up. I still have hope that one will brighten my day.

Here’s my chance to try one of the 52teas!

I used a finum for a 1 cup brewing.
The liquor smells like one of those gummy mint leaf candies with vanilla creme. A nice scent.
Even without any sweetening, the flavor is mildly minty with smooth vanilla blended in. The peppermint and spearmint is united so that neither is dominant. If anything,vanilla is the prominant flavor and mint is a cooling afterthought.

While I crave a hefty mint tea with assertive flavor, not everyone feels the way I do and would prefer a muted version such as this one.

This is not my cup of tea, but there is nothing wrong with the flavor and is pleasing as a soft vanilla mint tea.

I love this tea. I hope to see it again.

When I smelled the dried leaf, I was thinking whoa, that’s pretty strong mint. It’s a nice smelling mint though. Teavana’s Cacao Mint smells pretty strong too, but it leaves me feeling like I just had some mint flavored cough syrup. I was a bit anxious while brewing because I really wanted to avoid that. I was also worried I wouldn’t get my fair share of vanilla. Many times vanilla just doesn’t seem to be strong enough for me. I want to taste it with out having to search for it. I hear so many good things about 52teas. This being my first tea from them, it just had to live up to the reputation.

This is really wonderful! I love the fresh spearmint flavor. Mint is a funny thing. It can be invigorating or soothing. Definitely feeling more of a pick me up from the mint today. Vanilla seems to ride the end of the spearmint, like a tag along sibling. You totally notice that it’s there, but it doesn’t get to decide what the day’s activities will be. A refreshing, smooth blend. Excellent job!

This has been on my TO BUY list forever!!! Thanks to LiberTEAs I could sample it. I must say it is AWESOME!!!

It soooooo reminds me of GRASSHOPPERS – you know, the frozen drink!? But HOT…LOVELY.

Green tea, mint, vanilla, oh yeah…you can taste ’em! So refreshing and what a TREAT, indeed! YAY!!!!

Absolutely delightful. Although the vanilla is not noticeable, it takes away the bite from the peppermint. The spearmint further smooths out the minty flavor. In fact, with about 1 tsp of sugar, this tea tastes exactly like a spearmint sno-ball. This has become one of my favorite mint teas!

Thanks to Doulton for the sample….

Backlogged from yesterday.

Thank you Azzrian for a sample of this wonderfully flavored tea!

To start off I love mint teas, but this one is not nearly as strong, the vanilla helps mellow it out quite nicely. I really enjoy this tea, but I figured I would since I like Sencha, vanilla and mint and it’s all blended so perfectly together so as no one flavor overpowers the others! I steeped this until I’m sure there was no flavor left and I was more or less just imagining that I was tasting it!

Again thank you so much Azzrian!

First let me just say I am partial to mint teas! Mint anything really. This is perfect!
I am having one cup cold while the rest is cooling for iced tea.
I am going to add a touch of sweetner just because I feel it may bring out the vanilla a bit more but trust me this one is perfect all on its own! I just like to experiment some.
The balance of mint which is not in your face overwhelming but still enough mint so you get the kick it should have – balanced perfectly with a natural flavored vanilla – and I am picky about vanilla flavors!
Steeped at 180 for 4 minutes its wonderful.
The mouthfeel is creamier if you let it cool slightly and the vanilla comes out more then as well.
No aftertaste, no astringency.
Tastes like Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum.
My favorite mint tea to date.

This tea is quite an enigma! I stole a sip from a friend a week ago and was awash in fake vanilla flavouring. Because of this I was hesitant when I brewed this up for my morning cup, knowing I wouldn’t get a chance to finish whatever I chose.

Reader? I loved it. I must have done something right with it because it was minty with just an undercurrent of vanilla and the green tea flavour was still there. I was very happy with the half a cup I got to drink before dashing out for work.

Which of course meant I came home to a half cup of room temperature tea. Curious since mint teas are usually pretty good even if left sitting, I tried it. And wow, cold this was so gross. I don’t foresee myself making this into an iced tea anytime soon! But hot, it was delightful.

This is one of the teas I was unsure about when i ordered…green and I have issues sometimes. It makes me queasy occasionally (no clue why) and it always seems like too much work. Ironically, when I’m at work it’s one of the easiest, since the water is nowhere near boiling and I can just take it from the spout.

Anyway. I tried to give this a good shake because I could see lots of mint at the bottom and lots of tea at the top. I got a good mix in the end, and I see some sticks in there, but some pretty large leaves as well. I can smell the mint and vanilla mix more than anything in the dry and steeped tea. It makes a mouthwash sort of smell, but luckily not a mouthwash taste.

I find it brisk and refreshing, leaving my mouth cool but not too sharp. I don’t get any green tea taste, it must be hiding under the bold mint and the creamy vanilla. It’s definitely nice, since I love mint, but I don’t love this tea necessarily. Yet. Silly green tea. I’m having a weird week with teas. I’m sick so I think that is affecting all my perceptions, even though I can still taste properly, my general unwell feelings affect my judgment.

EDIT: (Over)Steep #2 brings out more hints of green tea flavour, but this is still predominantly mint. THe flavour has thinned out a bit, but is still a comforting cuppa minty goodness. I am getting a hint of the mouthwash flavour I associate with 52Teas Mintastic…I think it is the spearmint they use, maybe.

Things I like about this tea:

1. Green is always a plus.
2. So is mint.

Things I don’t like about this tea:

1. All mint and no green taste for me. It’s puzzling…
2. Not getting very much, if any, vanilla flavour. There is a mild vanilla note on the tip of the tongue, but not always.
3. I can’t stand the second steep! This is definitely a 1-steep wonder for me. Second steep smells and tastes like minty rubber.
4. A little on the bitter side.

I should state that this isn’t BAD in any way, it’s just not as great as I had hoped. Drinkable, but it crushes me that I can’t get through a second steep.

So there you have it. I’m sipping this one all the way down today. I grabbed it from a random pile of teas at 5 am in the dark, so the fact that I picked this on St. Patrick’s Day is quite convenient.

Thanks TeaEqualsBliss for this tea!

I enjoyed this tea however, I don’t think I used enough of it. Based on how it turned out it felt there wasn’t enough flavor and I don’t think I can judge based on my steeping. However, I did see the potential in this tea. If I made it correctly I feel it would have been amazing. I will try again later.

Thanks jessiwrites for this one!

I did find this one refreshing with all the mint. However, I also found it smelled of toothpaste while dry and actually ended up reminding me of the fluoride at the dentist while I was drinking it. Not necessarily a bad taste, but not one I need in my cupboard either haha.

This is one of the only green teas that I enjoy as a latte… and it is YUMMY!

The creamy vanilla flavoring in the tea is accented well by the addition of the steamed milk. I like that the mint is strong here but not so much that it overwhelms the grassy nature of the green tea.

This tea is verra verra minty, yet smooooth. You have to reach to taste that vanilla, but it’s there. It flirts with being almost too minty but it never gets there. My partner is reminded of the Moroccan Mint we had at Dobra Tea in Madison, WI. That was some yummy stuff, sweetened with honey. I would keep this Shamrock Tea in my cupboard all the time if it were possible!

This is my favorite minty tea! I like that it’s a green tea. Call me silly, but I really don’t need another black tea. (I definitely would never turn one down though!) This is a nice change of pace and thus far has earned a permanent place in my tea corner – or until it is no longer revived.

Confession time: I did cheat on this a little. I had read before that JacquelineM added a finely chopped up vanilla bean to ATR’s Vanilla Noir. Because it worked so well for that, I threw caution to the wind and did the same for Shamrock, balancing out the mint just a bit more.

Brewed really strong for iced tea and still got a few more steeps out of it – 3 if I remember correctly. When I cold brewed the last steep overnight, I was greeted with a punch of mint the next day. I was really surprised the mint lasted that long. It was, dare I say, a little too minty, but still drinkable with a healthy dose of sugar and ice.

It’s heaven with a splash of vanilla-mint simple syrup!

I am getting mostly spearmint and vanilla with a light green tea base. It is refreshing hot… I would like to try it iced! I think it would be very refreshing in the summer iced. I think I may make a batch of this iced to take to my grandparents over the holidays since it is always 110 degrees in their house :)

This was very delicious and fresh. I think I would have liked a bit more of the vanilla flavor, but I love how this tea was refreshingly minty without having much bite. Just a nice tingle, like I just brushed my teeth. Super yummy, I am glad I got a bag of this before it disappeared.

Waiting to rate because it’s been a couple days since I had it, and I’ll rate it the next time I drink it.

Overall this is a very surprising mint blend. Normally a sencha base would turn me away however it really pairs well with these flavors. I found that the peppermint and spearmint combined really nicely with spearmint being at the forefront of the mix. I really enjoyed this as most mint teas are peppermint based which made this one stand out from the rest of the pack. The little touch of vanilla flavoring is just there in the background to add a smooth finish which I believe cuts the bitterness of the sencha as well as the mint. As the tea cools the vanilla flavoring does become more pronounced which is tempting me to try this one iced once its warmer outside. :) All in all, if you enjoy mint teas this is a MUST have for your cupboard.

Backlogging this from yesterday… this is by far the best tea from my 52teas order. With that said, it wasn’t terribly impressive. I was just surprised that I liked it, considering that the other three teas were not really my kind of thing. I can’t say that there was all that much vanilla, but I could tell that something was tempering the peppermint and green tea flavours and I’d guess that vanilla was the reason. Overall, a smooth blend, but I’ll have to try again to get more of a feel for it.

For some reason, there were a ton of floaty bits left after I pulled the strainer out so there must be some smaller elements than usual in this blend. I had to spoon some of them out because they weren’t willing to settle on the bottom of my cup.

The dry aroma is sweet but minty, almost like a stick of mint chewing gum. It’s fresh and piquant. The sweetness I would guess comes only partly from the vanilla, and somewhat from the spearmint.

The brewed concoction presents a golden liquor where the aroma is mostly of spearmint though a hit of vegetal freshness also emerges.

Once on the palate the brew is excitingly fresh. Its mint mixture produces just the right amount of palate activity to draw a long tailing finish without overwhelming your tastebuds. The vanilla does seem to soften the brisk excitement caused by the mint as well.

There’s no drying of the palate or real astringency here. There is however a twinge of vegetal bite while the brew swirls in the mouth. However, it lasts just long enough to be replaced by the minty infusion.

I would recommend this to to fans of Senchas, flavored teas and mint teas. Fans of fresh Muscatel Darjeelings may also find this brew enjoyable.