52teas

The TTB has arrived! So big, so many teas… no chance to try them all!
Tea #19

I will start with food pairing — a eggnog flavored yogurt.

Well, this was okay mostly. Coconut flavoured black tea. Rich and creamy coconut. Some spices there too. However again, not much of eggnog in my opinion. My yogurt was more flavourful in this way.

I wonder if it is because not being that fresh as others had it, or I had some teaspoons without all necessary ingredients, or what went “not that good”?

September Sipdown Prompt – your most exciting tea

This had a lot of hype and I believed it was likely as good as I have read. I was not disappointed.

We had this as our breakfast tea today. Ashman, who likes only a few black teas without milk and sugar, said that it reminded him of having a cup of hot chocolate…and there was no milk or sugar in it. That is pretty high praise for him.

As for my impressions of it, it is so rich and the more it cools the more chocolate you taste. It says there is vanilla added and I expected to taste a lot of vanilla but I really tasted none, so I think the vanilla must just be there to really bring out and accentuate the rich cocoa notes of this tea.

This is a hearty tea with dignity and refinement. Excellent with food, and excellent without. This is one of those teas that stop you in your tracks if you have been chatting and absentmindedly pick up your cup to sip. You will pay attention to it!

We were making it western style and so far have made three steeps. I still have the leaves in the basket and I think this may be good for one more.

While this is a very exciting tea and I was very excited to try it, I will be totally honest and say that it is my second most exciting tea, but the most exciting one has to wait until exactly the right time to be steeped. It is a very limited edition Da Hong Pao, purchased in London at Postcard Teas by Superanna. They no longer sell tea at their brick and mortar location but had one tin of the three they were able to acquire on site there for photographing and when she asked pretty please they agreed to sell it to her. I am waiting to have that one at an as yet to be determined family gathering.

The TTB has arrived! So big, so many teas… no chance to try them all!
Tea #6

Mood for citrusy green tea today morning? Well, let’s search for some. With this TTB I can fullfil any wishes of my family members as well as mine.

It was my craving actually, and this sounded good. I have opened the small sachet and it was indeed an interesting mix of blood orange and genmai, but I put 5 grams to fillable tea bag; reading later I should use 3 grams for 12 oz. But maybe that did quite the trick, as it was lovely genmaicha with creamy aftertaste. The blood orange? Wasn’t sadly much present, but it was noticeable as a slightly sweet note. Also, for me it was a rather “orange” orange, not the blood kind.

This is one of my all-time favorites from Frank’s era, so I was happy to reblend it for our anniversary month (June) – like an anniversary gift to me.

I cold brewed this overnight, and it did not disappoint. Sweet, juicy peach flavor & smooth banana flavor. I love it!

Currently sipping this one – yes, it’s extremely late (or early, depending on how you look at it) for me, it’s actually about mid-day because my sleep schedule is off. And this tea makes a wonderful afternoon tea!

Lots of blueberry flavor, a bright note of lemon & a fluffy, marshmallow-y softness in the background. So nice.

Hey everyone! First of all – the website is back up (finally!) It took 11 days to get the new website up and running, and there’s still some work to do, but the essential stuff is complete! Yay!

I cold-brewed this tea overnight – and it was so refreshing!

A nice blueberry burst! Deliciously fruity, the banana offers a smooth background flavor, the hint of lime accents the blueberry nicely.

This is a delightful, fruity tea. I had never had honeybush tea before, so I can’t add it as a flavor to the description. But it’s lightly sweet even when unsweetened, and while the pineapple flavor is predominant, it’s not heavy or overbearing. When first opening the packet, the aroma was sweetly pleasing, and since I love pineapple, it invited me to partake. The coconut flavor was understated, and since this was NOT “Pina Colada” tea, that made me glad. It’s tropical in feel, but not in an ordinary way. This is one which definitely belongs in the “12 Teas of Christmas” pack—I want this one again! And soon!

The scent and taste both strongly remind me of a 52teas blend from maybe 2018? It’s so familiar, and quite tasty as well. I’d say it does lean more ground ginger than gingersnap specifically, but the base it’s on is pretty nice. It turns out a little straightforward, but I’m enjoying it. The resteep tastes super good as well.

This was tasty with milk and sugar, and I thought being room temperature helped bring out its desserty flavors the most. I don’t know that I’d call this rum specifically, but it had a hint of something that was interesting. I think I would have preferred a little more going on, but it was a lovely way to finally finish my advent calendar!

Thanks to amandastory516 for sharing this one! It was from before I became a subscriber, so it was fun to get to try it. There’s a bit of a cooked/roasted flavor. Mostly I taste the sweet pineapple flavor. And the base tea is delicious too. This is well-balanced and nice! I was worried there would be too much smoke, but there wasn’t! It’s still not my preferred sort of addition, but I understand it here. The second time I had this, I got a lot less pineapple, mostly just sort of smoky black tea. It’s enjoyable cold with milk, but I hope my last cup has more pineapple like the first!

This tastes distinctly like candy cane – sharp and fresh in just the right way. I also taste the background of high quality chocolate. With sugar and milk, this has been quite the pleasant cup of tea, especially once it cools down to room temperature. The mint lingers long after the sip is over.

I confess I was disappointed by this one. I let it cool, having learned from other 52Teas’ blends that when advised to “allow to cool”, it meant more flavors would be coming out. But while more richness of lime flavor developed, alas, so did some bitterness. Perhaps if it had just been dehydrated ime zest instead of dehydrated thin lime quarter-slices, the pith of the segments wouldn’t have lent so much bitterness into the blend. I think vanilla was used to help counteract that. But instead of melding together, it seemed more an odd juxtaposition of bitterness-with-sweetness, which didn’t work for me.
I even tried chilling it, adding some sugar, but this tea just wasn’t for me. A rare ‘miss’ rather than a ‘hit’.

This was balanced in a pretty perfect way. I don’t love lime in teas, but 52teas can usually make me like it! This green rooibos base is just great. Refreshing and delicious first and second steeps. So fruity, yet light and tasty. Not one of my top favorites, only because 52teas has so many even better ones!

Had half the little 15 g sample bag left from last year. The packet says “3-1/2 g to 12 oz near boiling water (205 F) steep 2-12 minutes, strain, cool 10 minutes.” When Anne of 52Teas tells you “allow to cool”—follow that instruction, it really makes a difference. Don’t drink this when hot—wait until it cools to room temp. More flavor notes come out after cooling.
This could be considered autumn in a cup. The black tea and ginger notes are predominant, but the pumpkin is very much in the background. There’s a light sweetness to it when hot, but once cool, there are deep leather and even tobacco or autumn leaves flavor notes that weren’t there before. An enjoyable cup, especially as the season approaches the autumnal equinox.
It’ll be interesting to compare it (soon, I hope) to 52 Teas’ Another Pumpkin Spice Latte Black Tea.

This was our tea of the week for June 5. This one came out exactly the way I hoped it would – soft, smooth & creamy with just the right touch of sweet mango. I was inspired by our Mango Ice Cream Black Tea – but I wanted to use a green tea base this time around.

The vanilla is very creamy & plays well with the Chinese Sencha base which has a natural buttery note to it. The mango is sweet with just a hint of tartness to brighten up the cup. Really nice. This is especially good iced.

Creamy, silky, mango deliciousness laced with strong vanilla notes. Pleasant and comforting to drink hot, and I bet it’s good cold, too.

Just loving the quality of the bright raspberries and strawberries on the smooth but full Young Hyson base. I’ve enjoyed it so much I haven’t even gotten around to trying it as a cold brew yet.

EDIT- I coldsteeped my last serving and, wow, it was delicious. Always a delight to have a tea that tastes good regardless of drinking temperature.

A subtle but decadent twist on a 52teas staple; paradoxically light and rich! I really enjoyed this one, and it was popular with the rest of my family too.

Thanks to amandastory516 for this one! This was from before I became a subscriber, so I’m happy to get the chance to try it! I steeped this for a shorter time than recommended, but even so, it ended up a bit bitter. I feel like my first few sips were fruity and mildly spiced, but then the bitterness built, and the other flavors unfortunately took a back seat. I had this twice, and though I enjoyed the flavor direction, I’d prefer it with a different green base.

Currently sipping this one iced! (Cold-brewed)

This was a tea of the week from last month (July) – and I’m doing my best to get caught up with my work after being unable to do much of anything while I had the flu for about 10 days. I slept a lot (which is good) but I couldn’t really do anything – and I guess it’s better that I didn’t do anything while sick.

I used 2 different Fujian black teas for this blend – together, they created a very smooth tasting tea that made an ideal base for the sweet flavors of plum & peach. So, I loaded the tea with freeze dried peaches & plums, and wow! This is good. So refreshing – a perfect summertime tea.

Since we’ve been experiencing a heat wave over the past few days (well, over the past few weeks, really, but it’s gotten over 100 degrees over the last couple of days and I DON’T like it!) So with the heat, it’s nice to have a refreshing iced tea like this! One good thing about summer: iced tea!

Another from StarFevre I haven’t written a note for yet, thanks very much! I’m sure this was much better in its prime. (This is a Frank era pouch.) Hints of blueberry left on a pleasant green base. I’m still in love with the black tea version I have of this (also Frank’s era.)

Sweetened with milk, this is desserty and pretty special. The flavor is decently chestnut-like. I’m really enjoying this as a dessert tea! It even tastes sort of toasty – I’m impressed with this one! I wish I were organized enough to try my advent teas earlier in the year so I could have ordered more!