Strawberry Zabaglione

Good heavens, it looks like I haven’t logged this in almost a year! Well, the flavor of the tea has not suffered one bit! Also, it looks like I only logged it once, and I know I have had it more than that!

On one occasion, this got a little astringent on me, so today we steeped at 203F for 3 1/2 minutes. This was the second tea served at tea party, and since all three tied for how good they were, this one wins “most interesting” for today.

I made a couple of cheesecakes and some home made Magic Shell chocolate topping, and put strawberries on the cheesecake, then drizzled everything with the chocolate. That was served with Zhen Qu Super China Black from A Southern Season. This came next!

The reason this gets called most interesting today is because it managed to cut through all of that flavor, all that sweet richness, and assert its own flavors without being harsh. I tasted the strawberry, of course, but somehow the white wine flavor really shone through and took the stage. This was a great tea to finish the dessert plates and start the cookie plates!

Delicious!

Thanks LiberTEAS – you ROCK!!!!

This is very VERY nice!!! Very creamy and Strawberry without being tart or fake tasting! VERY nice! I agree with the other reviewers and their comments! A bit of fruit, a bit of wine, and lots of cream! Ahhhhhh!

Sorry guys… I’m so spammy late at night when I drink tea!

Anyways, two to go… this one’s a sipdown of a sample Azzrian sent me in our first of many swaps! I steeped the tea for a bit of a shorter time this attempt (although I meant to only give it 3 minutes, not 3.5). I think it definitely cut down on the astringency to some extent, but I really wish I has paid more attention and nicked off that additional 30 seconds, and there definitely is still a bit. Much like Blueberry Zabaglione, I don’t know what flavours aside from strawberry I’m supposed to be picking out, although I can get a bit of creaminess/custardy flavour.

If I had to choose, I think I’d go with Blueberry Zabaglione over this tea; I do like both strawberries and blueberries, but the base tea is nicer in BZ (less astringent), and the blueberry flavour is more potent and tasty, whereas the strawberry is a bit more drowned out by the base tea here. I also think that the blueberry flavour is much more authentic than the strawberry (though I like the fake flavours of both these fruits :D)

ETA: Second infusion (3.5 min) pretty light in flavour. Not a tea I will miss.

This was the tea i was possibly the most anxious to try from the sampler pack, except maybe the strawberry pie honey bush, which I’m hoping to have later tonight. I of course googled what the heck zabaglione was before having this tea (no Italian in me haha) and oh my goodness, it sounds so good! Definitely going to try making it lol.

So now onto the tea. I like to go into trying a tea without expecting it to be crazy good, and this seems to work well with 52 teas – I am always very pleasantly stunned at actually how good they are! This one though, ooh… Man that dry smell. Pure strawberry milkshake with thick cream. I want to eat the tea. Yummy smell indeed! I steeped for 2 mind with about 200 degree water. The steeped smell has lost their creaminess, but a rich true strawberry smell is present, along with the characteristic 52 teas base, which I’m growing to enjoy :). The flavor is mostly strawberry and black tea, but then… This aftertaste… It’s creamy and soft. There’s the zabaglione. It’s not a rich, cloying, too creamy cream flavor, quite light. Actually, this is remarkably similar to Zen Tea Life’s Strawberry cream, but I think the base in this one is better. Not as strong. Maybe the cream is also stronger in this. Whatever it is, I like it, and it seems to be getting a soft mouth feel as it cools. Eh, but there is a bit of astringency, it is growing as the tea cools. A tricky beast. Tasty all the time, but man does the cup change! My favorite was somewhere in the middle lol. I’m very happy I am able to try all these excellent blends from 52 teas, 2 for 2 so far! Rating: 83, and subject to change.

I made this the same as the last 2 tries that turned out successfully, but something was off today. Perhaps I overleafed? I wanted to get the rest of the bag I had into my mouth today and I added more than I usually do. Unfortunately, instead of making a flavour blast, it just brought out the bitter of the black tea. It’s still good, but it’s not GREAT like I wanted. It’s also getting old so that may play a part.

At any rate, this is my second sipdown today. Go Me!

Tea from last night.

So today’s the first day of class and I am sitting in bed, I don’t know if I actually feel sick, or if it is just the effect of all the damn rain. But there’s a flood watch and I have no waterproof shoes other than way too warm boots so, I’m sitting here as I’m not in the mood to have wet feet if I feel gross.

Also I don’t want the flu so I really don’t want to be around people again already.

So last night I watched The End of Time and cried a bunch and drank this tea. I have somehow acquired a lot of it through swaps. So I figured a pot of it would be good. I hadn’t had it for awhile either.

I have to say I am not that big of a fan of it. I added coconut milk creamer and agave, hoping to boost the custard but to no avail. The strawberry is good though, so maybe just the sabayon flavor doesn’t age well? I’ll try one of the newer bunches of this tea next.

Sebastian says hi https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/72284_4326538490660_922155857_n.jpg

I’ve been drinking this tea and the Cinnamon Raisin Toast more than I would care to admit. I’ve been having lots more caffeine lately, but once again I’ve realized that when you first start a new job there is no such thing as enough caffeine.

Brewed hot, this was meh. I was wondering what all the fuss was about. When I let it cool – it was delicious, but unfortunately I only had one sample so I couldn’t really do a proper cold brewing.

So today, when I got my 52teas grabbag order in and this came, I just HAD to try it cold brewed and ……. WOW. This is amazing tea. I can taste the strawberries and the cream wonderfully. No sugar necessary. This would be a GREAT conversion tea to try and show people how great tea can be without any sweetener. I bet it would be even more amazing WITH sweetener, but for now I am just enjoying the pure taste of it. I can’t wait to share it with the boyfriend, who usually loves this type of stuff and says, “Are you SURE there’s no sweetener in there?”. I’ll keep you posted on what he thinks.

Is this possibly better than Marco Polo? The strawberry flavor seems to be stonger than the classic Mariage Freres blend. The berry flavor is not tart but delightful w/some creaminess in the background.

The connectivity issues I was having with Steepster last night are persisting today. All I want is to drink good tea and blog about it! Is that too much to ask for?

I’ve been drinking this tea a lot lately and not because I like it, but because I’m trying to figure it out. I’ve tried different leaf amounts, different steep times, different additions or sans additions. I just can’t decide if I like it or not.

Without additions, it’s a bit tannic. But with additions, it’s just weird. Maybe the problem is that I don’t like zabaglione? I don’t know. I keep going back and forth. Honestly, I think sugar ruins it. Since I’m a cream and sugar kind of girl, I find that odd. Perhaps the custard flavoring is too strong for my tastes. I LOVE strawberries and fresh whipped cream! But strawberries and custard? Hmmm…I can’t make up my mind.

I think I am learning to like this, but I’m not at love. It’s best with just a splash of skim milk, no sugar, and steeped for 2.5 minutes in roughly 8 oz. of water with 2 tsp of leaves. You really have to be careful with this one not to oversteep it because it turns very bitter. Since I’m finding it more drinkable now and am finally able to enjoy it, I’m raising the rating from 67 to 75.