52teas

I wanted to try this one as it reminded me a few of my fave no-caff blends from 52Teas in the past.  And really, the inclusion of the marshmallow root made it a sure thing buy.  It’s great!  Exactly what I expected it to taste like.  Citrusy!  With a pillowy marshmallow sweetness, if that makes sense.  Then a hint of lavender.  Not as good as my beloved ‘Peachy Keen’ but that is a high high bar that I will never shut up about.  Also, now that I think of it, not really trying to be the same thing… Also, I got super sleepy, super quick, so I think this works as a sleeper tea.
Steep #1 // 1 1/4 teaspoons for a full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep

Cold Brew!

Fairly mellow with a gentle and floral-leaning raspberry note reminiscent of early season raspberries picked off the bush, but without any tartness/astringency. The watermelon is fresh and thirst quenching, albeit light. It mostly comes in on the backend of the sip after the more grassy and straw or bamboo-like notes of the green tea and the delicate berry, with a clean sweetness to close the sip.

This reminds me of other peach black teas, but this is a super high quality version. In some cups, I can maybe taste the extra something desserty that makes it not just an apricot black tea. I like it best at room temperature with milk and sugar. The resteep tastes just as good as the first.

2025 Steepster TTB Tea

This has a high quality base, and it fairly malty and smooth. I get grainy notes. No sweetness at all from the tea. There are some cinnamon and vague pumpkin spice notes, but no pumpkin or buttery/cakey ones, which is what I was looking for. Even some vanilla would have been nice. Now, I did use just under a tsp of leaf for my cup (300 mL) since it is a small cup and I want to leave enough tea for the next person who receives the box. Maybe with more leaf it would have been a bit more well rounded. I tried brewing for quite a while (6 or 7 minutes) to compensate. I’m drinking this was a dash of unsweetened soy milk and wishing I had some agave or maple syrup to sweeten it with.

From my order a few months ago!   I was intrigued by this mix of flavors.  Sadly, I can’t tell there is much strawberry here.  But otherwise, it’s slightly spicy with plenty of bergamot.  Spicy as in cloves. The 2016 base was Nilgiri, Yunnan Dian Hong and a bit of Ceylon (not sure if the reblend is the same) and just as long as the Ceylon stays to a minimal for me, the base here is quite delicious.  Overall, it’s a mouthful of flavors.  Possibly the strawberry just can’t compete and gets lost.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 minute steep

This is so great. The green tea is lovely. The pear flavor is fresh and pleasant. The spices are well-rounded and super tasty. I’m drinking this cold, and it’s juicy and wonderful.

Sipdown

A nicely flavored oolong with cinnamon foremost but not sharp or too strong, sweetness, and a tingle on the tongue. Good with food or on its own.

Sipdown

Another gift tea from the daughter who lives with us!

I had this a while back as a hot tea. I agree that it is very chai-like. I had expected just black tea with lemon from the name initially but there is a lot more going on.

Today I am having it as a sweet iced tea, steeped hot and allowed to chill in the refrigerator. Made this way, I am finding the ginger much more prevalent and the lemon less noticeable. It is smooth and lightly peppery – I have had three glasses just with lunch so it must be pretty good!

I do have a 12 ounce serving that I am cold steeping to drink unsweetened but it hasn’t been in long enough yet. Will report back on that one!

Edited to add: just drank the cold steep. Tastes much the same, but I feel like I get a vanilla note that I didn’t notice before and I don’t see vanilla listed as an ingredient. Maybe it is just a sweetness of the tea base itself. I added no sugar to the cold steep.

This is an interesting take on a lemon tea! It really does taste different from others I’ve had. The lemon is fresh, but not sour. The base is high quality, as always. It’s a nice combination, though a more standard flavor profile than I usually gravitate toward. I never realized it had black pepper and other spices!

This was delightful. I drank the whole bag much too quickly. It has a familiar 52teas spice blend, but one that I always enjoy. The base supports the flavor profile perfectly. It tastes desserty, like I could really see it being an oat crumble of some kind. I never tasted any cranberry. This was best cold sweetened with milk.

I crafted this inspired by a discussion with my youngest (who has discovered her passion for baking) a couple of months ago about what fruits go best with white chocolate, because to be honest, white chocolate isn’t my favorite flavor. I like it OK, I suppose, I mean, I wouldn’t turn it down if someone offered me some, but if given the choice between white chocolate or either milk or dark chocolate, I’m going for either of those rather than the white.

I think it’s just that white chocolate is a bit too sweet for my palate. So, I tend to prefer it when paired with profiles that have a bit of tartness or some other profile that will offer a nice contrast to the sweet white chocolate. Raspberry is one such example. The berry is sweet, yes, but it is also a bit tart & that tartness offers a really lovely contrast to the sweet white chocolate.

I enjoy the way this tea comes together – the raspberry is bright & slightly acidic but the presence of the white chocolate ensures that it doesn’t end up being too tart. The smoothness of the Chinese Sencha is pleasantly mild. This is so nice – a really pleasant afternoon tea.

I cold-brewed this one overnight – so refreshing! Sweet strawberry, tart lime & just a hint of rum. I’ve never actually had a strawberry mojito (unless you count the mojito drinks at ShareTea? I think I’ve had a Strawberry Mojito from them, although the lime is definitely my favorite.)

Anyway, I’ve never had the cocktail & I’m sure that those who have had the cocktail probably would note differences, but this is the way I’d like my Strawberry Mojito to taste. Light with a lovely contrast of flavors, smooth & refreshing! Even though this one is quite nice served hot, this one is definitely best as a cold-brew.

Another recently crafted tea. I was inspired to craft this one was a web search for something that would combine tangerine with figs & the recipe that caught my attention was one for a Tangerine Fig Jam with Vanilla. So, I decided to create a tea like that. (Even though I didn’t add the “vanilla” in the name, this one still has vanilla. I just figured I’d condense the name of the tea a bit so it fit better on the label.)

Anyway, this tea! I drank it hot this time, but this one would be really good as a cold-brew too, so I’ll have to try that soon. The tangerine & fig are really nice together: bright tangerine, sweet fig, bold black tea & the smooth, creamy note of vanilla ties it all together so well. Sweet but not cloying, just a very pleasant hot tea experience with this one!

This is one of my newer tisanes & I am just loving it. I am usually not as keen on caffeine-free choices as I am caffeinated ones. What can I say? Caffeine is my drug of choice & I consume my fair share of it (probably more than my fair share).

So, yeah, I drink quite a few caffeinated teas but not so much on the caffeine free ones. But this – I could drink this every day. I cold-brewed this overnight & it is absolutely stunning. So good. The elderberry is nice, not too tart. The cherry is not syrupy or medicinal. Just a really nice balance of these two fruits.

Coconut is the strongest flavor, but the kukicha gives it a hearty backdrop. This was best sweetened with milk. I taste coconut and marshmallow and that’s nice, but a little simple. The next two times I had this, I found it too plain for my tastes. The flavors didn’t shine anymore for whatever reason.

Once I let this cool and added milk, it tasted super nice and sophisticated. The anise is the strongest flavor, but it combined beautifully with the base, and a bright, yet desserty hit of orange comes next. This flavor profile really surprised me – I didn’t expect to be such a fan, but I really enjoyed my bag.

Sipdown!

Again still have a packet left. This one’s not anything particularly special, just a solid version of a blueberry black tea. Nice authentic flavour, robust base. A go-to when I want something straightforward but not quite a straight tea.

TTB 2025 – When I added the leaves to my strainer, I saw a beautiful dried orange piece and could smell the spices. The fruit and spice flavors were present in the brewed tea without being overpowering. Overall, I enjoyed the taste, but my only complaint is that it left me with a dry mouth feel.

TTB 2025 – This tea tastes sweet and lemon-limey. I drank it plain and did not get any notes resembling cheesecake, but I still found this tea to be enjoyable. It kind of reminded me of drinking a lemon lime soda.

I’m drinking this cold with sugar and milk, and I’m enjoying the quality of the blueberry here! It’s so fresh and authentic. This one is straightforward, but high quality.

TTB 2025 – To me, this blend does not taste like a cookie, but more like the spices that would go into a Christmas cookie. It’s somewhere in the realm of gingerbread cookie spices, but not really ginger forward. I think it’s a tasty blend, and the little snowflake sprinkles are adorable.

Sipdown! I oversteeped this by at least ten minutes today, but actually it was fine. Just made it a little more citrus-tart than usual, but not unpleasantly so. I’ve never gotten a significant creamy note from this particular blend. Mostly I get lemon, lime, and sweet. Surprisingly, I like it better hot than cold. Not one I feel the urge to restock but I enjoyed it while I had it!

Sipdown

This tea was so sunny and happy last time I drank it. How could I resist trying it as an iced sweet tea on a hot day, during a break from garden work?

It is really refreshing cold, and I am undecided as to whether I prefer it cold or hot. It really works both ways. It has a lightness that suited itself to gulping it down sweet from a chilled mason jar, but it was also lovely as a plain hot tea.