Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish Black Tea

So… I woke up and made a pot of this. But as I was waiting for it to cool I fell asleep and woke up an hour later… So it got turned into an iced tea today. It’s still good. Nice blueberry flavor and I’m getting more of a pastry type flavor. Fingers crossed I won’t be turning all of my hot teas into iced ones today…..

Alright, I LOVE cream cheese danishes and I adore blueberries so this tea is right up my alley. The aroma is overwhelmingly of fresh, juicy blueberries and it smells so awesome! Taken with milk and a tad of sugar, the tea is very smooth and creamy. The cream cheese is right around the edges, but it really works. The blueberry aspect of the tea is great and not at all artificial. It is almost like a trick tea – you think it is a delicious blueberry tea but then the cream cheese pops out to surprise you.

I don’t think I would even want more of the cream cheese aspect because this tea is bold and I imagine would be perfect for breakfast. The addition of more cream cheese would make this more of a dessert tea – but I bought it for the bold, Assam rich, breakfast tea aspect. Another hit from 52teas! Seriously, I’m beginning to wonder if they have ever blended a tea that wasn’t awesome.

I have been dying to try a tea from 52teas and Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish sounded particularly appealing. I haven’t gotten around to ordering from them yet…but I will. I was thrilled to receive a surprise sample from Sil.

Dry the tea smelled lovely. Blueberry with a bit of something extra. The only way I can describe it without sounding like a lunatic is like when you walk into an old school bakery the first thing that hits you is that smell of pastry. That’s what I got here. And it was lovely. I could not stop smelling the tea. My family thought I was insane.

Brewed all that lovely pastry smell disappears. Some slight spice remains but it is nothing near the “Holy crap!” of the dry tea. The blueberry taste was pleasant but it’s not my favorite blueberry tea ever. I did get a nice bit of tang that did remind me of cream cheese. I also wish there had been a bit more flavor from the black tea.

Update Okay so when this tea cools off, the flavor profile completely changes. The pastry taste comes out, the blueberry tames itself, the cream cheese tang does its thing and the black tea tastes like black tea. Sugar helps too. Now I’m getting it.

Thanks to Sil for the surprising and joy inducing sample.

This is yet another cream cheese/cheesecake blend that I couldn’t resist buying (knock it off Frank! I’m trying to afford college!).

The smell of both the dry leaves and the steeped tea is very much like blueberry, as is the taste. There’s an extra element of creaminess to this; I suppose that’s the cheesecake. The blueberry taste hits the back of your throat as you’re swallowing. It’s not quite as tart as I was expecting, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This will definitely be a good morning tea for me to bring to class.

Another tea from *VariaTEA*’s package (thank you!). This is one that I’ve wanted to try for a while. I love 52 Tea’s Blueberry Zabaglione, so I thought this one would be great too. It does have a nice fresh blueberry flavor that has just the right amount of sweetness so that it isn’t artificial tasting. The flavor is initially all blueberry with a little maltiness. Adding milk and sweetener brings out a tiny bit of the cream cheese, but I’m still not getting any bready pastry flavor. I like this one, but I think I prefer the creaminess of the Blueberry Zabaglione more. Still glad that I finally got a chance to try this one!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves with large dried blueberries.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of sweet blueberries. Tea liquor aroma is of fresh blueberries and black tea.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium yellow brown color.
-Fresh berry flavor with a light malty finish. Soft blueberry aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener. Milk optional.
-Good tea. Fresh blueberry flavor. Milk and sugar needed to bring out a hint of light cream cheese.

I’ve made this a few times now. And I really want to love this like so many of you do. And it’s good for sure, but I guess I can’t seem to get it quite right. I’ll keep experimenting but blueberry crumble still wins the blueberry battle easily in my book.

I’ve tried this tea a few times now, and I have to admit that I wasn’t that impressed the first time I tried it. The black tea tasted very bitter to me, and the blueberry flavor wasn’t strong enough to compensate for the bitterness. I felt particularly bad about not loving this tea because the lovely Rachel of iheartteas not only rescued this tea from retirement, but she also graciously sold me a package from her private stash. sigh

I’m happy to report that I like this tea better today. I adjusted my Breville to a medium strength brew, and this helped a lot with the bitterness. I also let my tea cool off to room temperature which brought out more of the blueberry flavor. I’m considering cold steeping Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish as iced tea, like Rachel did the other day, to see if I can get the cream cheese flavor to come through.

As per many suggestions, I steeped this at a lower temperature for only 2.5 minutes. It does wonders for the flavors. This tea smells and tastes delectably of blueberries! Yum!! However, I am not picking up on cream cheese flavors (although a bit it is creamy in texture). I am not complaining though because it is still a deliciously flavorful drink.

I would say it is similar to DAVIDs Blueberry Jam except less artificial tasting and with a stronger sweet blueberry flavor. In fact, I would say this flavor is probably what DAVIDs was aiming for as this has a more sweet blueberry jam (or perhaps even more like blueberry pie filling) taste while Blueberry Jam tastes more like juice.

Ok so today is turning out to be a VERY good tea day. Wowsa!!
I chose this, reaching into the sample bag hoping for a black and this was what I pulled out… which left me a tad disappointed given that I generally dislike blueberry sweets. Thus, when I brewed this up I expected a decent tea, yet yearned for something that would hit that dessert black tea craving, but had little hope that it would be just what I wanted. Well, surprise!! It’s exceeded my expectations by a lightyear!!!
It really tastes like blueberries, and cheese! without any of the nasty texture I dislike (duh). I added some milk n sugar, which brings it way over the top to a place I can only describe as paradise. That means I’ve been to tea paradise and heaven in one day >sighs<
Big BIG BIG love to Jenn for sending me this sample. I can’t wait for my second steep! and then it’s off to meet a fellow steepsterite. Again, what an amazing tea day… I credit it partly to all the positive tea vibes I got from y’all yesterday so muchos gracias for those as well!

Hmmm. I think adding milk to this one ruined it, somehow, though one would think the milk would aid in the cream cheese danish aspect and enhance it. I got very little flavour at all from this tea this morning. I got pretty much a light black tea with a little sweetness, and maybe just a touch of blueberry. I have not had luck with any of the 52teas blends I have tried. This one was a sample from sil and the batch doesn’t say how old it is, though I have had teas over a year old and they still taste fine, so I don’t know if this is an age thing or a me and 52teas thing. I have some Butterbeer next to me, so I should see how that is once it is cool enough. There area few more 52teas in this sample box so we shall see…