52teas

So I just “Discovered” this tea in the wrong drawer. It was with my non-sample teas, so it was hidden at the bottom of the teas. In reality, this was a taster that I got…??? I don’t know when I got this, but I figured I’d give it a shot.

Unaltered, this tastes very strongly of root beer. Very bitey root beer at that. However, I wanted to latte this, so I did.

Taste Latte’ed is… well it’s creamy I’ll give it that. The root beer flavor comes in on the back burner, with a strong lingering flavor and heavy on the aftersip. It isn’t as in your face when you latte it. Not that it being in your face was a bad thing, I love a good SODA! flavored tea. However, this is supposed to taste like a rootbeer float, so maybe it isn’t meant to be latte-ed? Maybe it’s just supposed to taste like the float upfront. I’ll have to resteep it and try it a second time.

Ok, on resteep, the root beer flavor isn’t nearly as noticeable. It’s unfortunate. I believe I will need to revisit this at a later time. For now, just take my word that it’s definitely Root Beer and that’s all I can tell you right now.

After brewing, I refrigerated this tea for two hours before trying it. I wasn’t expecting anything exciting, but wow is this tasty. The mint is so bright, and there’s a bit of sweetness. The flavor lingers in your mouth for several minutes. I don’t notice a green tea or peach flavor really, but I’m more than fine with the flavor it has. It’s so refreshing. I can’t wait to have it again.

Another from the grab bag, I had hoped I would get this, as it was one I wanted to straight-up purchase but decided against as I guessed it might be among the two mystery packs I ordered! Glad to see I was right.

Anyway, this one has a lovely stonefruit sweetness to it, without any additives. I’m also tasting the floral of the jasmine and a touch of the green tea (but not much). The peach flavor more or less takes over in this cup, which is fine for me, I love a strong peach tea. That said, I’m not sure if the peach and jasmine are playing well together. There’s an… well there’s an odd note to it that I can’t place. It tastes a bit metallic? It feels like the two halves of the flavor profile don’t want to mesh properly. It doesn’t stop me from enjoying it though. It should be noted that I believe I overleafed and oversteeped this, so take that into account.

EDIT: It occurs to me that the flavor I am having a hard time processing may be orange zest. It’s a possibility, I’m not sure. It’s sharp and slightly bitey, so there’s a good chance it’s that, and not some weird aftereffect of the blend.

All in all, this is an ok tea which, while I enjoy, my palate isn’t nearly as discriminating as many others, so liking this is probably a “me” thing. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll enjoy what I have. I need more peachy greens in my life!

So I’m still working my way through my 52teas order, and already thinking of another. I don’t have the money for all this tea! To quote the song I’m jamming on, “paciencia y fe” :)

Anyway, I was hoping this was like drinking a bouquet of flowers (love me that floral) and I wasn’t wrong. There’s a strong lemon tartness in the forefront, which is nice. It’s not sour, just a touch tart. Also, there’s some sweetness present as well. But most of what you get once you move past the lemon is floral. I can taste the Jasmine and the green tea. The rose isn’t as noticeable as I would like, but it’s there too. Mmm, I’m loving this. Very good. I now wish I had grabbed some of this while it was lingering in the shop!

Overall, I can see how this wouldn’t be for everyone. It’s very floral, and while that works for me, I understand how it wouldn’t for others. The original name of Potpourri is very fitting for this, but I like the GoT name as well. Good stuff.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmNZ545oP8k

Another day, another… night.

Honestly, considering the hours I post on here, you would think I was either from Australia or Europe, but no, I’m from the Eastern Time Zone, I just keep horrible hours.

Anyway, woke up with Beetlejuice: The Musical running through my head, so that meant it was time for something dark, but fun. Luckily, I just got my latest 52teas order in, and one of the grab bag teas was this, which fit the bill nicely. I don’t think I’ve ever had a cotton candy tea before, even though I used to love cotton candy. Naturally, I haven’t had cotton candy since the diagnoses (dang ’betes) so my memory of the flavor might be a bit rusty. We shall see.

The smell of the brew is sweet, with a strong black tea aroma. I can really smell the tea! I’m going in assuming I will be adding Splenda to this, but to taste it first. Taste unsweetened is… welp, it tastes like tea? If there’s cotton candy flavor in this I’m missing it. Let’s try the Splenda.

Hmm… I don’t know how much of it is the Splenda, and how much is the actual flavor of the tea, but I’m really not getting cotton candy from this. Maybe as a bit of an aftertaste? Yeah, it floats lightly on the back of my throat after I swallow, but it isn’t an in-your-face sort of flavor. I’m a bit sad. I was hoping for an upfront, kick in the teeth kind of cotton candy. It’s not bad, so to speak. It has an ok flavor and is fully drinkable. It’s just rather bland. I wonder how much of this is because this was a reblend for June and it’s now February. The flavor could be fading on it. Either way, it’s ok, but nothing spectacular.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEct4Nod2iU

This one smells great! In the flavor, I get the coconut, blueberry, and the almost ideal black tea to complement those flavors. Really it’s quite a nice tea. Not my favorite sort of tea, so I probably wouldn’t drink it often, and it could be really perfect with just a tweak or two to the flavors – maybe adding vanilla or cream? But I’m decently pleased. And the resteep is pretty good too, with all the main flavors sticking around.

This one smells and tastes so peppery for some reason. As it cools, the other flavor that appears is NUTS – very unmissable, unmistakable nuts, but the pepper flavor is quite strange and out of place. I don’t know what’s causing it. The nuttiness is fun, but I wish there were other flavors in there complementing it other than pepper.

Such a simple combination of flavors, but so good! The orange and apple is complimented by the perfect ratio of cinnamon and nutmeg. Cozy and warming without being a holiday exclusive flavor profile.

Thank you Kittenna for this tea!

I seem to have a weakness/morbid curiosity when it comes to bacon teas; my favourite one being 52Tea’s Pineapple Bacon…

This one is really nice; I kind this nice maple-y pastry note that reminds me loosely of the Pancake Breakfast blend – maybe this blend shares some flavouring with that one? It’s complimented with a subtle hint of clove/nutmeg. It’s quite smooth and easy drinking. However, I actually want more savory bacon goodness! I’m getting some salinity from the little bacon bits in the blend and the LIGHTEST hint of smoke, but I think there’s enough sweetness in the blend that it could definitely take a stronger meaty/brothy note.

That said, it’s good! Very good!

Virtual Teatime with Todd during Sunday Doctor Who! We got the same teas from the Mystery Box sale (sans one banana tea; I appreciate it, Anne!) so we decided to do a sampler round during our weekly Sunday online viewings. I wanted to do this tea first, because I had a sealed older packet from the 2018 Christmas box, and I’m all about using up older tea first.

The dry tea leaf actually had an aroma that reminded me of coconut creme, for some reason. I brewed 5g for 3 minutes in 500ml water. Steeped up, though, it smells more like vanilla brandy, and I think I do pick out the marshmallow, though my nose is still reading the fragrance as toasted coconut (maybe it’s the toasty association in my brain of both ingredients?) The tea is smooth, with notes of malt and honey, and I’m definitely tasting vanilla and cream, with a touch of astringency left after the sip. It’s actually a rather robust black base, and I think if I were to make a second pot, I might add just a hint of sweetener, perhaps experiment with a touch of honey or making this as a latte with vanilla almond milk. Straight up, it is a nice breakfast option or afternoon pick-me-up tea due to the boldness of the assam.

I got this recently with a 52teas sale. I tried it with my friend Sara while enjoying this week’s Doctor Who. She got it in the same sale.

The brewed tea smells of black tea and vanilla.

The assam itself has a nice, rich flavor, with something like a citrus note. The vanilla is a nice complement for the flavor. I don’t taste any marshmallow, but I’m still happy with this tea. Oh! I have marshmallows, and I was kind of hoping for that flavor, so…

Floating a single marshmallow in the cup doesn’t change the flavor from what I can tell, but it is fun. Thanks, 52teas! I like.

Rooibos is tricky for me since it can be a little too dry and woodsy for my taste. Here, it’s not bad. It works with the hazelnut, which I pick up more on than the blackberry, which lends a berry sweetness to the mix. It smells more blackberry-ish than it tastes. Actually, after adding the half and half especially, the scent reminds me of raspberry truffles.

TMI, but I’m currently going through an annoying adjustment period switching birth control after the last one started messing with my cycle. But now, I’ve been ultra bloated (gained 8 lbs in a month!), sore, and the cycles have been whiny. I was hoping this would help me considering the name. Perfect time to try it.

I ike this more than I thought I would. I went through oolong burnout after drinking it nonstop a few years ago and thought I would never want to touch it again. This is a lovely floral oolong on its own, supported by mostly strawberry and a hint of pineapple. I don’t get any mango. Mostly strawberry for me.

Has it helped my symptoms? I’m not sure, but it’s a nice one.

I was really sad to finish my peppermint tea last month but luckily found a taster of this from last year. Another great tea to help me warm at work! I wasn’t sure how white tea and peppermint would work together but they worked marvellously together. I would have liked a little more candy cane flavour in here but it did have a pleasant kiss of peppermint bark that was about on par with the strength of the base.

I need to clean up my online cupboard and actually write about the teas I have been drinking and finishing up at work. I ripped through this pouch during our cold -35C spell a few weeks ago. It was so freezing being close to an automatic door all evening day in and day out that I could barely feel my toes. So I’d fill up my Contigo twice per shift in hopes it would help.

This was nice but not as creamy or marshmallowy as I would have liked. I think my problem is I prefer spices with milk, like a traditional chai. Green tea with spice, for me, normally means I won’t add milk, so then the spices can be a little bitter. This was heavy on the cinnamon, but to be fair, chai spices works a lot better with toasty genmaicha than, say, a sencha. The rice balances things out a little more to my liking.

A tasty dessert blend for a weird night. I’ve taken on another job at a university and and so I’m working some odd hours. I wanted something low caffeine but also comforting and rich. I’m trying to get through more of my caffinated teas because I have a record number of teas right now and I need to cut down by ~50 or more. I’ve had to store tea in my room because both of my drawers and the cabinet are full. Oops!

This has a lot of mint, but it certainly conveys candy cane because there is a nice dose of vanilla in there. I can taste the sugar/marshmallow flavour as well. The genmaicha is toasty but vegetal, which in my opinion clashes with the peppermint a bit. Rice + peppermint? hmm not my favourite combo. It was a good cup and I look forward to drinking it again however I probably would not buy it again. I like some of the other genmaichas better.

This is another reblend from the January box. It’s no longer a Shou Mei, but I thought it made sense to keep everything on the same listing. This is one I had been wanting to try for a very long time, and was ecstatic to see it make a reappearance. It’s exactly as I hoped, and by far the best grapefruit tea I’ve ever had. I love grapefruit, but there always tends to be an unpleasant acridness that is so synonymous with grapefruit. The brown sugar really balances out the natural bitterness of the grapefruit, and the overall mouthfeel is so smooth and velvety.