Buttered Cinnamon Raisin Toast Flavored Black Tea

I am back… kind of.

Okay, Steepsterites, I can explain! I know I’ve been away for a long time, and I know you missed me (hardehar). But you don’t understand…

Texas is hot. Like, really hot. And I’m not used to this. I’m used to being able to go outside and do things. I am not used to stepping outside, vomiting from heat exhaustion, and subsequently having to spend all summer all day inside.

So I really didn’t drink tea all summer. Once again, I know. I miss drinking tea. So as soon as we had a cool(ish) day, I grabbed at the opportunity. This was about a week ago. It was rainy and it almost felt like a normal New Jersey summer day in terms of heat. I got out my old teapot and favorite mug, cleaned off the dust, and reintroduced myself to my tea cupboard. Man, I have a lot of samples in there!

This tea was delicious as usual, no surprise there. See my other tasting notes if you want more detail. It reminded me of just how much I love tea and winter and things not Texan. I miss tea and I miss home.

So, Steepsterites, I guess I’ll see you the next time it’s semi-cold! Until winter!

This tea flippin terrifies me. I can’t stand the taste of anything burnt and snow bud tastes very buttery to me… but it seemed to be calling to me… taunting me really… "Come on, you know you just have to try me!

The aroma of the raw leaf is sweet, raisiny. But there’s also a cinnamon toast aspect to it. Yes, not just cinnamon red hots. This REALLY surprised me because cinnamon can be a very selfish, demanding, bratty flavor, but this definitely has a fresh baked bread aspect to it. No butter though.

The liquor is a slightly red brown color and the aroma is that of the raw leaf except for the addition of a fairly strong black tea base.

Ok, this does not taste like a cup of burnt melted butter… YAY! Black tea- check. Raisn- check. Cinnamon- check. Toast- more in the texture than the taste, but it is there. Now for the butter… I can’t fathom butter in a tea so I’m having a hard time identifying it… or even deciding if I can identify it… but I think I detect it in the texture along w/ the toast…

On the 9th day of Christmas, 52teas gave to me, Cinnamon Raisin Toast Flavored Black Tea.
I was so excited to see this in the sampler as I haven’t purchased it, but I’ve been eyeing everyone’s notes and drooling over this one for quite awhile. I just haven’t caved as it wasn’t a limited edition tea, so it wasn’t one I was worried about getting before it’s gone.

I drank this this morning on my way to work, and thought the cinnamon and toast flavors came out well. I could taste the sweetness of the raisins, which is amazing btw. I think I like this tea better than the toast itself. I can’t stand raisins, unless they are covered in yogurt or chocolate, then they are bearable, but I love the scent and flavor they added to this tea. I hope to order a pouch of this to keep around for the rest of the cooler months. Who am I kidding, the frigid cold months, left of winter.

This tea is so full of flavor and depending on steeping conditions and temperature of the tea when I drink it, the flavors seems to subtle-ly change. Always there is the pop of raisin /grape. But sometimes, I get a whiff of butter and other times a whiff (but barely of cinnamon). Lately, I have decided to quit adding sugar to tea (or at least not so much or frequently), but this is one flavored tea that does not need any sugar at all to bring out the flavors.

Anybody to read my tasting notes knows that flavored teas are a pretty touch-and-go thing for me. I’m very picky about the authenticity and strength of things; it doesn’t take much to turn me off of them. 52teas.com scared the bejeebers out of me when I first saw it, but I had pretty resounding success with quite a few blends from that site, and I suppose I’m getting more adventurous, because the recent Select deal saw me taking the opportunity to order EIGHT bags from Frank on the cheap — stuff I thought I might not otherwise get, just to try it. Plus, it’s always nice to support a small business owner!

I didn’t realize zoomdweebies was such a huge site, either, until I went poking around. Gonna have to explore that more later for sure!

Reading tasting notes about Frank’s tea always makes me curious about shelf dates. Hey Frank! If you’re ever in the mood (for whatever crazy reason) to give yourself even more work, some blended-on dates might be handy.

The reason I mention this is because I think the flavor profile of these flavored, blended teas probably shifts across a spectrum the longer they sit on the shelf. Some of the tasting notes for this, people mentioned smelling butter when they opened it, or cinnamon. I got neither — the dry leaf smelled pretty much exclusively like raisins, and raisin seems pretty likely to increase its presence over time. I worried it would be like the raisin oolong (which I have, and which is actually a decent tea — it sets out to accomplish ‘raisin tea’ and achieves it with flying colors, it’s just a flavor that I, personally, tend to want only intermittently).

The cup as it’s steeping smells more like what I was hoping for — still mostly raisin, but there’s a nice shot of some spicy cinnamon in there to flesh things out now, too. Mmm, yes. The longer it sits the more I like the way it smells!

I’ve noticed that Frank’s black teas have a mild astringency that I might not care for in a plain leaf tea, but which really works to the benefit of the flavored teas I’ve tried. It seems to tighten up the flavors a little bit, at least for me — make them seem a bit more crisp.

Now that things have cooled off, I can state with authority that you ought to let the cup cool a bit. The flavors have come into line, everything seems to have smoothed out and gotten more balanced. Really a big fan of the smell coming out of my cup.

So glad I ordered this one. :) It’ll probably disappear fast!

On to the next one!

Mmm, such a nice morning tea when I’m not rushing around. I don’t really eat breakfast as such most days, and well, today I woke up at 11, so I may as well wait an hour and just have lunch. This tea screams “breakfast” so much, though, that I really feel as if I HAVE had some.

It’s a little more buttery today than the first time I tried it, which was freaking me out a bit at first, but I’ve gotten used it now. The raisin is stronger as well, I think. The only problem I have with this tea is that it does leave me feeling a bit thirsty – kind of like I need to rinse out the butter taste from my mouth, but I guess that’s just going to happen with a tea this substantial.

LiberTEAs spoiled me!!!

When I saw this I KNEW I was crazy enough to try it.

When I was scrolling thru the reviews again I said to myself ‘okay…everyone seems to like it…what’s the deal-E-O?" Then it happened. 2 low, low, low reviews. It doesn’t scare me! Bring it on!!!

One thing that made me laugh while reading the 52 teas description about the butter flavoring was…OH MY GOSH…I’m going to drink butter? Then I just chuckled it off…

YUP! It smells like Cinnamon Raisin Toast, indeed. I am unable to smell the butter tho. BUT…I don’t slap on much butter – if any – while eating toast – so…maybe it’s the same case scenario!?

YUP! I can taste the black tea, the toast, the cinnamon (thankfully it’s not over the top), and the raisin. It’s hard to taste the butter but just as it starts to travel down my esophagus I can taste a hint of it, I guess.

As for the toast part…the more I drink this – the more I can taste the toast as an after taste.

This is a neat little creation and I appreciate the fact that it’s different. It’s surprisingly good and am glad you can still taste the black tea. To me…it makes a true flavored black tea that way.

Very Fun!

I don’t know what to say about this one. I was a bit hesitant to try it, but why not? The scent of the leaves were faint, so I couldn’t discern much except maybe a little muscat-ish. Upon steeping, the scent was … strange … I can’t really describe it. Possibly buttery smelling. The taste was interesting but not in a bad way. I added sugar, and it helped bring out the flavors. It really is buttered cinnamon raisin toast! I can taste the toast, and I love how the cinnamon isn’t overpowering. Buttery and smooth. All the flavors began to pop out. I’m pulling out a lot of raisin. Delicious!

Now I’m off to fix myself some almond butter and strawberry jam sandwich. >_<

Backlogging this one whilst sipping today’s tea (which is amazing, you’re going to be so excited)!

I love this blend. This is a tea that screams breakfast. So very, very good.

So, Frank, does this mean that this one is permanent now? And that the one that I’m sipping now is as well?!

OMG this smells amazing. More raisiny and buttery than I expected. There’s a very rich smell to the dry leaves. The butter actually reminds me of hot buttered rum (which I’ve never had) — its just smells heady and intoxicating like there’s alcohol in it.

The cinnamon is more apparent once it’s brewed. The scent sort of alternates between cinnamon, raisin, and butter. Maybe a hint of “toastiness” too?

As for the taste, well, the cinnamon seems predominant and it’s more like red-hot cinnamon than cinnamon toast cinnamon to me (but I’m not a big cinnamon fan so maybe my taste buds are biased). I don’t hate it, but it doesn’t taste raisiny, toasty, or buttery to me. I guess I was expecting it to taste just like liquid buttered cinnamon raisin toast. But this cup seems to be lacking in balance. I will play with it more. Maybe it’s just my frame of mind, or my tastebuds may be off since I am a bit congested this am.

_~\/_____^___^——^_____/ / / /______|-|___________|\/~~~~~\______|~~\__x
This new tea is my reward to myself for attempting to mountain bike today. Can’t say I excelled at it or even enjoyed it much, but I survived. From now on it’s smooth, flat paths for me. And for today, since I’ve been athletic and extroverted enough (neither are my norm!), it’s back to my regularly scheduled tea, books, and maybe a hot bath later.

(ps – that gobbledy gook above started as a divider to separate my tasting note from the personal part, but then I decided to create a typographic replica of the how the MTB trail felt… lots of bumps and hills and roots… apparently that’s what makes it “fun” :-\ )

I started my day with this tea – and I only have enough for one more pot of it! It is one that will definitely be missed, I loved the buttery flavor of this tea, as well as how the other flavors came together… sweet cinnamon (not spicy), slightly toasty black tea, raisin, and butter, I can taste them all. YUM!

But, I suppose all good things must come to an end (something I am learning this week as I watched the final episodes of both Lost and 24 – two of my favorite shows) :(

What the hell, this tastes EXACTLY like buttered cinnamon raisin toast! So much so that its actually blowing my mind (and its taking all my restraint not to type this tasting note entirely in caps). Did 52teas make cinnamon raisin bread, toast it, butter it then cut it into tiny tea-leaf-shaped bits?!? Either that or magic are they only reasonable explanations for the bang-on flavour of this tea.
The aroma of buttered cinnamon raisin toast was present in the dry leaves, with the resulting brewed tea being a bit more buttered-raisin on the nose and first sip, the cinnamon-toast comes through on the aftertaste. Its even more perfect if you add a splash of milk!

This was my first tea from this company (they were awesome enough to give shipping to New Zealand a go) and it will definitely not be my last. Gah, I still can’t get over how amazing this tea is!

Big thankyou to Jenn for sending me this sample!! You rock my tea world!!! :)
Wow, this was certainly an interesting, and entertaining experience. I accidentally oversteeped this one at 8 minutes (look, she did it again!).
I definitely taste raisin! and toast! and butter!! Go 52 Teas for hitting the target!!! It was tasty.
But… well, there is a medicinal aspect there that I’m not sure about. The second steep is better, not as overwhelming.
I suspect the “raisin” part, and the way it blends with everything else is what throws me off. shrugs
Lesson learned! I have enough left for one more cup. Maybe some milk will tamp down the medicinal impression I get? and less leaf! I never know how much to use with this ceramic mug/filter… even with my scoop. but it’s so convenient! and purty!! le sigh

I read one review of this tea that described it as “too raisniny”. What the what?! Who eats cinnamon raisin toast and wishes there were fewer fat, juicy, delicious raisins? That is just crazy talk!

I’m really enjoying this tea. The aroma of this tea dry is intoxicating! At first sip I taste sweet toasted raisins. That flavor moves to a warm cinnamon, and then an almost bready smooth black tea body. There’s an ever so slight sweet cinnamon finish. This is the perfect breakfast tea!

Thank you to Wifey_Woman (Little Mew Brew) and 52teas for bringing this tea back. I’m so glad that I had an opportunity to try it :)

I chose as my dessert tea tonight because I haven’t had it in awhile. I’ve amassed so many teas to sample since I first got this that it has fallen to the wayside. Poor neglected tea!

This is still yummy, but the overall flavor seems thinner and less robust than I remember. The cinnamon seems to have eaten up the raisin-y plummy taste! But that’s okay—I love cinnamon.

I may need to double up on the leaf next time to get more of the “raisin toast” flavor.

Okay so I’ve now had this tea three times. I waited awhile to review it as I thought maybe this is the kinda tea blend that will grow on me. Sadly no it’s not growing on me I do enjoy the smell of the dry leaf but once steeped I don’t get raisin I get fig or plum? On my last sip I do get a little crisp toasty flavor so while I don’t get the butter flavor which maybe a good thing. I don’t totally hate this tea I can see while people do enjoy this tea and I think that the flavors are there I just prefer a stronger range of flavors in my tea. Unless I’m having a green or white tea of course. I’ll rate this one high up there for being spot on flavor wise but it is not something I personally would reorder.

My hubby and son say this tea smells just like Honduran tamales. Which would make since since one of the ingredients in a Honduran tamale is raisins. I know your thinking raisins in a tamale(?) LOL all I can say is it’s a tropical thing! You’d have to taste to understand.