Buttered Cinnamon Raisin Toast Flavored Black Tea

I actually got distracted drinking this because someone was interested in buying my Keurig brewer from me. I listed it last night around 9 and had it gone at 7 tonight. Only got $90 with all the cups I had but whatever, COUNTER SPACE!!!!

Even now when it’s cold, it smells like cinnamon raisin bagels in the cup. I don’t want to dump it just because of that.

This is really cinnamony, that’s what I taste overall. There’s a hint of sweetness that I suppose is raisin, not strongly, and it keeps the cinnamon from being too spicy.

Actually I’m still drinking it even though it’s cold. I can taste the toast, cold toast might be weird but it’s working for me! And it’s pretty buttery too.

Next time I won’t get distracted. I think I’m done selling stuff for the time being.

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.

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!

Whoa! This has a strong grape/raisin flavor. As it cools, and if I close my eyes, I can sort of taste raisin toast. Honestly, no raisin toast tastes as raisin-y as this tea. Does this mean I don’t like it? No. I had 2 cups last nite and 2 cups this AM. So, would rank this as a winner…..

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. >_<

I’m not sure I’m getting “toast” out of this one…but I’m definitely getting the cinnamon and the butter, along with a hint of the raisin. The taste fairly screams ‘breakfast’, and I’m enjoying it this morning as I slowly convince myself that I need to get ready for work (especially since I need to be there in an hour).

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” :-\ )

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 haven’t had this tea in a while so I thought I’d have some for breakfast this morning. I really enjoy this tea and I also wanted to find out how my taste buds were doing. I figured with some of the more delicate flavors in this tea – I might be able to see if my taste buds were getting somewhere back to normal (what is normal?) so that I might be able to start trying some of the newer teas that I’ve recently received.

Unfortunately, my taste buds are not completely in check, but, they’re getting there. The smoky quality of the tea stands out in the first couple of sips, but it is not too smoky. I can taste the smooth buttery characteristic as well, and that makes me smile, as it is one of the aspects of this tea that I have always found so delightfully unusual. The raisin is quite delicate, as is the cinnamon. However, I do note a sweet cinnamon note in the finish that sort of rests upon the palate.

So, my palate isn’t quite up to par just yet, but it’s MUCH better than it was say two weeks ago. I won’t rate this tea numerically just yet, perhaps with the next cup (which, by the looks of it, just may be my last cup of this outstanding tea!)

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.

First off someone just asked where I got the Cinnamon Raisin Toast from….this is a good sign! I can smell the toastiness, and the cinnamon and it smells GOOD. The taste is pretty awesome too. I’m getting the butter flavor pretty heavy in this cup. But there are lighter notes of the cinnamon and raisins as well as the toastiness. All in all you bet I am glad I brought this one out of retirement. Again only rating as this is my first time trying it.

Dec.22
This tea smells like buttered cinnamon and to me tastes like it also. I’m not sure where the raisins went but I just couldn’t find them. I really liked the black tea base for this one and I really liked the taste overall. Flavored teas are just not my thing but this tea was very enjoyable.

The smell of this one is exactly like Buttered Cinnamon Raisin Toast! I was so impressed. I steeped this, threw in a bit of sugar, and sat down to work on some Sociology work. The smell is mostly cinnamon. The taste, however, is wonderful! It tastes like cinnamon and raisins, with a little smoothness that suggests butter. Wow! I really, really like this one. 52teas is 5 for 5!

I don’t know I am really not tasting this. It tastes funny. I will try again and hope I can bump this up. I had such high hopes.:-(

I saved this to try last from my 52teas order, although I guess I shouldn’t really count the coconut cream pie as “trying it” since it not going so well was my own fault. I’m not sure why I saved it for last, contrariness probably since my first impulse was to tear it open first and I firmly believe that occasionally not letting my curiosity get what it wants is good for me.

Like most other people, I was pretty weirded out by the idea of this tea, but everyone’s expressions of horror when I told them about it only egged me on into getting it. (contrariness again!) Any tea that requires me to stop and think a moment to make sure I have the word order right cracks me up and therefore deserves a chance.

Opening it up, it mostly smelled like maple syrup, which was weird, because that is possibly the only non-breakfast related word that is NOT in the tea’s title. I’m gonna go ahead and chalk it up to the combination of the cinnamon and butter. I tried it and my first impression was just YUM. This is REALLY good! I like a tea that I can just immediately say that I like or not without actually analyzing the flavor. Of course, after the initial period of yum, I DID get down to analyzing. The maple syrup, as expected, resolved into a combination of cinnamon and buttery flavor, and there was a hint of smokiness that I am going to assume is the toast. I am somewhat at a loss as to the raisin bit, although…there’s something in the aftertaste that suggests a certain idiosyncratic fruitiness that I would, if pressed, associate with raisins. I am not that into raisins so I’m not particularly disappointed.

Second steeping: ok, those are DEFINITELY raisins. The impression is so strong that I keep trying to chew the tea. The cinnamon is still around, but the butter has receded a bit, as has the smoky toastness, although I think I agree with Cofftea that the texture of the tea itself is toasty on it’s own.

Man, I am just drinking this up. I REALLY like it. And it’s quite satisfying on its own, i.e. I am not left feeling the need to visit IHOP or something :D It also makes me really want to try the maple bacon from Man Teas.

52teas has done a remarkably consistent job of producing new flavor blends that are characterized by strong, true, vivid, lively flavor. They are a real antidote to the many insipid teas out there.

The smell of the dry leaves blew me away. There’s no way that a person could distinguish this odor from a good Cinnamon Raisin bread toasted, with butter. And the taste carried through. Truly delicious, I could almost feel the toast crumbs at the side of my mouth.

I must commend 52teas for having a plethora of ingenuity when it comes to envisioning teas. They like big, bold, true tastes and I’ve yet to encounter one of their teas that had a hint of “false” or “synthetic” flavor. Their teas are consistently satisfying, rich, hearty blends that sometimes break my heart with their purity! (In a good way). Their base blacks are very high quality; strong, friendly, and adaptable.

I think you owe it to yourself to visit their web page and see what they have that grabs your attention. I have become so addicted to the weekly delivery of what promises to be an amazing tea experience, that I signed up for the 6 month subscription.
No affiliation….

I have tried this tea black and with sugar and milk. It is great both ways. The sugar and milk were nice, but it’s sweet enough on its own. The flavors are strong and true and were not overwhelmed in the least by the milk or the sugar. Excellent concoction.