Maple Bacon

I’m nervous about this one. I’ve had it on the shelf for a month and am just getting the nerve to try it. I’ve since seen 52teas come out with a couple of other bacon teas that I’d rather try than this one but this is the one I have so taste I shall.

I opted to brew it per directions and not look at anyone else’s comments. I’m currently sitting in my chilly house with the sun sparkling off the snow outside and the warmth of the cup filled with hot tea is calming and encouraging me to take a whiff and dive right into the tea. I mean, I love tea. I love bacon. Why NOT combine the two?

Alrighty then. The aroma is bacony and reminds me of that yummy summer salad with the bacon, peas and maybe mayo? I really like that salad and admit to trying to get as much bacon on the serving spoon as possible when I scoop it onto my plate.

When I measured out the tea I could see the bacon that was promised to be inside. That is always a good sign. I think that the steeped tea smells better than the loose tea. The steeped leaves are less strong than the loose tea as well and I find that encouraging since I think the loose tea is a might bit strong.

Enough typing. Time to take a sip.

It tastes like bacon. After a couple of sips I don’t taste a lot of maple, which is ok with me as I was hoping for only a hint. My mind is flying at the ways that I could cook with this tea as opposed to drinking it. I think it would be great as the water for a wildrice dish. I’m so going to try that next week! Yummy!

For a midday cuppa I’m not so sure I’ll do it again unless someone else is here and wants to try it. I just don’t know that milk or sugar would be good with it either. It’s not a bad tea, mind you, just not my first choice. It’s so different, maybe it takes some getting used to?

Now to read what others wrote and see how they are drinking this one. I think I’ll much prefer cooking with it though than drinking it as a cuppa.

UPDATE: didn’t think I’d written this much to begin with so I’ll be brief. After reading other’s comments I added a bit of sugar and it’s amazing how it brings out the maple flavor. It doesn’t make the tea sweet really, just more full-flavored.

with milk and sugar it is just delightful and I can see how delicious it would be with breakfast food. Well, now I’m hungry, so I’m off to fix some lunch!

UPDATE: I brewed up a bit of this and cooked my wild rice in it for a dish and it didn’t seem to add much flavor. Maybe I need to make the tea stronger. I’m not one to cook often with tea. Anyone have suggestions?

Maple Bacon is potentially a novelty tea, but 52teas does transcend the “novelty” by producing an authentic, full-bodied tea. It smells delicious and it’s a good, strong, smoky black tea with a nice overtone of maple. I could see the bacon bits in the tea and I could smell the bacon in the loose tea, but I could not really taste the bacon…perhaps my palate is not subtle enough.

It’s delicious with a lump of brown sugar and if you have some maple sweetener, that would bring out the maple even more.

I have to say that 52teas comes up with varied and ingenious flavors. Each one that I’ve tried ranges from very good to superb so they are certainly not merely a “novelty”. They have a very good “nose” and “tongue” and lovely visuals too.

The dry leaf is sprinkled with red bits of imitation bacon and smells of maple smoked bacon with a hint of something almost alcoholic. It smells of burning leaves with a hint of bacon or perhaps more cured ham, a hint of something sweet, and alcohol (later on it kind of deveops into that type of vanilla note found in some whiskeys). The first flavour note was of a slightly cocoa flavoured tea base followed by charred , smoked food notes than a hint of sweetness. It does capture a taste of maple smoked bacon, it doesn’t really taste like maple syrup. The bacon flavour is not overpowering. It reminds me of early fall mornings at my cousins cottage, when the woodstove is burning and I am enjoying a warm beverage in solitude and absorbing my surroundings. Not something I would crave everyday, but it does evoke some fantastic memories and it was certainly an ntersting tea to try. Thanks Rachel for the chance to try this tea.

Upon waking, I ran out to the kitchen like a little kid on Christmas morning. I just received a bag of this tea in the mail yesterday and I was looking forward to having it with breakfast.

Based on the merchant’s description and other tasting notes here, I had expected the tea to be slightly smokey (not to lapsang level, but something discernible) and slightly sweet from the maple.

What I got is a bag of black tea with what looks like red plastic chips. (these are the fake-on bits) Opening the bag, there was nothing that set this aside from any non-flavored black tea. Upon brewing, again, nothing different; no smokiness, no mapley goodness.

From a flavor standpoint, this was simply a so-so black tea. For a guy, I have pretty well developed taste-buds and I couldn’t pick up even the most subtle enhancement to the tea.

One other note regarding appearance; prior to decanting into my cup, the product was fairly disgusting looking. The bacon bits had softened and returned to their mushy, pink flesh-like appearance and floated at the top.

I was disappointed. (Sort of like the kid with the favorite toy that broke after 20 minutes on Christmas morning.)

I had heard about this tea and knew that since I would not get to try it (from anyone else) I would have to buy it myself.

The scent of the leaves is strong, very strong bacon upfront with a lingering maple smell. Based on the scent of the leaves, I was skeptical that I would like it.

The tea brews nicely, combining the flavor of black tea, with a smoky quality that has to be from the bacon and a sweetness that is coming from the maple. The aroma of the brewed tea is predominantly bacon/smoky and I must say unappealing, but the flavor is not bad.

I think the flavor would be improved by sugar (to bring more of the sweetness out) and by some milk, to maybe help meld the flavors together a little better. I will have to try it and get back to you.

UPDATE:

So I tried it again with milk (1%) and rock sugar, it was better, the flavors did marry more and it was easier to drink. The maple-syrupy flavor is enhanced at the front of the tea, then the bacon/smoky flavor is more pronounced and at the end of the tea, the aroma is also toned down a little so it is no longer like inhaling bacon.

Also, I steeped it a second time (adding milk and sugar) and drank it with breakfast: ham, egg and cheese on a croissant. It was probably a little easier to drink with the food, but the tea still had the descriptive qualities mentioned above.

This improves my rating a little (previously 56). However, as I have said, I do not like to give teas that rely on having additions too high of a score.

Good Morning Tea World, and Happy Mothers Day to all that applies to!

This is Day #2 of my 52teas/mysweethoneybush/manteas week-end, and I have four more blends to drink and review today ..

I’ve actually had this pouch for some time now, but unlike the rest of my zoomdweeblies stash, this has gone untouched since the first pot it made way back when .. Why? Because no-one who was there to sample it (four of us if memory serves right) could stomach drinking more than a few sips :(

Anyhoo, I was determined to revisit it this morning, and with an open mind! So I gave the pouch a good mix up – without taking a sniff as I’m sure strong aroma was partly what put us off originally .. Brewed my pot, and was pleasantly surprised to find the first mouthful wasn’t bad .. Not bad at all ..

I tried it a number of ways: with & without milk, with milk & sugar, with maple syrup & a pinch of salt .. My favourite was with both milk & sugar, however I tried that with the second brew and it turned out pretty weak .. So this doesn’t seem to hold up to a second brewing imho, even with a long steeping time ..

The best way I can describe the flavour is lightly smokey .. I don’t taste any Bacon as such, and it’s not quite strong enough to sit with the Russian Caravans I have either .. But it’s definitely a smokey tea, with medium tannins that leave my mouth feeling a bit tut tut tut .. It can certainly hold it’s own paired with a cooked breakfast!

This really isn’t at all how I remembered it, and while it’s still not something I would purchase again, it’s not bad! Yes I keep saying that, sorry, it just sums up my feelings for it .. I think I’ll pull it out again and serve it without mentioning Bacon to see others also alter their opinion ..

http://i52.tinypic.com/351hag1.jpg

I like seeing people’s faces when I mention this blend, but it works. The bacon is hearty and the maple makes an appearance in the aftertaste.

For me, this is a good “go-to” blend when I’m feeling stressed out.

A very interesting blend. When I opened the package, I was intrigued by the complex smoky notes of the bacon and slight perfume of the maple flavoring. I hoped these flavors would carry over into a brew. (Generally, I don’t drink black tea straight — it’s way too bitter and I usually need sugar and milk to make it palatable.)

Unsweetened, this stuff is stronger than strong. It’s SKRONG.

Sweetened, the maple and bacon flavors are more pronounced, but overwhelmed by the muskiness of the black tea.

Sweetened (and with milk added), this tea sings. Each sip brings a full-bodied taste of maple and bacon with a slightly smoky aftertaste. It’s not my favorite 52teas blend, but certainly a conversation starter.

Amount: 3 teaspoons
Additives: none
Water: filtered, boiling, 1 teapot full
Steep Time: a little over 4 minutes
Served: Hot

Notes: Adding sugar brought out the maple sweetness more, we both liked it sweetened better. Next we tried adding creme, creme smoothed out the flavors and got rid of the bitter aftertaste. We both won’t buy it again, but we don’t mind having it, or getting it for free.

Smell: Maple, smoke with a subtle hint of bacon
Flavor: Smoked maple tea
Body: Full
Aftertaste: Bitter
Liquor: See through dark brownish orange

I’m not entirely sure how to feel about this tea. At first smell, I thought I’d opened up the wrong bag, because the dry tea smelled quite heavily of chocolate. After re-checking that it was, in fact, maple bacon, I set out to brew. This brewed up relatively dark, for tea, and smelled heavily of coffee at first – not bacon or maple at all, at least for me.

At first pure sip, this just tasted like a run-of-the-mill strong black tea, but the suggestions made to add sweetener and salt really helped. Not sure if I’m getting maple or just plain sweetness, but the salt helped the bacon out a lot – maybe a salt-rimmed glass would be even better? Though I do have a salty palate, so maybe that’s going overboard.

The texture of the brew is wonderful, though… Its got that slight thickness usually reserved for coconut teas, and is an easy drink.

Took me a while to try this, but decided to have it with breakfast (pancakes & maple syrup) this morning. What a perfect accompaniment! Not too bacon-y, but nice and smokey, with a slightly sweet flavour from the bacon. Had it with milk and sugar.

Because this is such an unusual blend, I give it a pretty high rating. It definitely smells like bacon, and the folks around the office got a kick out of it. The brewed tea has a striking (and very thin) layer of grease from the bacon bits. The taste is interesting — maybe not my favorite tea overall, but a lot of fun to drink just because, well, it’s bacon!

Damn, I can’t get over how they managed to capture the pork-y element in the dry leaf aroma—not just smoke and salt, which are pretty easy to do, but actual hammy flavor, to the point I can taste it in my mouth (and it’s making my mouth water!) just from smelling the leaves.

Brews up quite dark, and the smokiness intensifies. It’s almost a savory tea, but then sweetness comes back at the end and lingers in the mouth after the swallow. You do have to be on board with smoke, meat/umami, and salt elements. I’m not sure how regularly I’d be in the mood to drink this tea, but uniqueness aside it’s really well done and exactly the elements listed in the name. I especially appreciate that the maple aroma and flavor is actual, real maple syrup, not the sad stuff at the supermarket—smelling this tea transports me to being a kid and touring the big cabins in the snow where they’d make maple syrup, the overwhelming smoky maple steam. Pretty awesome.

This is a great way to start your day. When I first saw this I was not sure how it would taste but once I tried it i was hooked.

It may be a gimmick, but “man”…it’s an awesome gimmick.

Would’ve worked better with a Lapsang base instead of an Assam/Nilgiri one, though.

Full Review:

http://www.teaviews.com/2010/03/12/review-52-teas-maple-bacon-black-tea-2/

My Recipe for a Maple Bacon Tea Latte: http://www.lazyliteratus.com/974