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“Cold-brew! Another from momo’s sale. Tasty and refreshing, and sadly now my cup of it is pretty much gone. Sigh.” Read full tasting note
“Decided to give this another try as iced tea, making it less strong and steeping it less. And I can drink it! I get mostly blackberry, so I’m going to try adding just a little sugar. Probably...” Read full tasting note
“I was really hoping to get this in my grab bag, but it was a newer flavor so I didn’t really expect it. Imagine my excitement when I opened my package and found it in there! I decided to cold brew...” Read full tasting note
“This is REALLY good. The watermelon and blackberry are well balanced, lots of sweet, juicy fruit goodness in this, with just a hint of the nutty tones from the honeybush. Yummy!” Read full tasting note
Two of my favorite summer fruits and honeybush, what could be better? Not much, in my opinion. Caffeine-free and delicious.
Our Tea of the Week for the week of May 21, 2012
At 52teas.com, you will find unique, hand-blended artisan loose leaf teas: a new limited edition creation every week of the year. We pride ourselves on offering truly unique, one-of-a-kind tea blends that you won’t find anywhere else.
Decided to give this another try as iced tea, making it less strong and steeping it less. And I can drink it! I get mostly blackberry, so I’m going to try adding just a little sugar.
Probably should have thought of that while it was hot, but getting a good stirring exercise in doesn’t hurt. Now I can taste the watermelon too, definitely.
It’s mostly blackberry, but that’s okay, it’s so tasty! I’m glad I figured out how to enjoy this one.
“Good stirring exercise,” hah! Try adding a teeny bit of water to the sugar in another container and swirl it around to help it dissolve, then pour it in? That’s what I do, ‘cuz I’ll never get rock sugar to dissolve in cold water.
I have agave at home but I don’t feel like carrying it around to my boyfriend’s. I should probably just buy another bottle, it’s not like it costs more than $4 and then I don’t have to waste time with sugar. Or I should get a little bottle and just make a simple syrup, same idea as what you’re saying, but if you can shake it, it mixes soooo easily. I did it with a big jar before but there’s no way I can go through that much before it gets nasty.
I fill my old agave bottles with simple syrup if that helps! Well, it’ll help once you finish an agave bottle anyways ;)
Still way too big to get through, lol I need a bottle a quarter the size of an agave bottle.
hmm… Dollar store trip?
I was really hoping to get this in my grab bag, but it was a newer flavor so I didn’t really expect it. Imagine my excitement when I opened my package and found it in there! I decided to cold brew this, since I honestly can’t imagine watermelon tea hot. I mean… it’s watermelon, the official fruit of summer! It HAS to be cold.
And oh man, this is heaven in a cup. The watermelon and blackberry balance perfectly, and the honeybush is very unassuming. It adds some woodsy notes, but the fruit flavors are definitely front and center. This reminds me a bit of Cotton Candy for some reason, and I almost like it as much… which is really saying a lot! I think this is the first honeybush blend I’ve fallen in love with.
YAY! What a treat :D
Haha, what luck! I wish I’d snagged one of those grab bags!
Sounds wonderful!
It’s wonderful, I made another cup with the used “leaves” and it actually came out really nice! The downside to this being so great is that I only have that one bag for all of eternity unless it’s re-blended. 52teas blends are both a blessing and a curse!
Darn, now I really want this one!!
We actually have a couple of these left in stock. I readjusted the inventory after we got all of the grab bag orders out.
Frank – can you spoil my surprise and tell me if you sent me one?! I’m not going to know until Thursday or later :(
This is REALLY good. The watermelon and blackberry are well balanced, lots of sweet, juicy fruit goodness in this, with just a hint of the nutty tones from the honeybush. Yummy!
Made hot and poured over ice – I find the honeybush is a little too dominating, but I’m going to coldbrew and come back with the results! Every honeybush I have ever coldbrewed has won my heart, so I think this one will really thrive!
Until then, it’s a refreshing honeybush iced tea – very nutty and a hint smoky, with some of that great blackberry flavour (I love Frank’s blackberry flavouring, it really hits the spot) and a bit of watermelon in the aftertaste.
Can’t wait to coldbrew and hopefully coax a little more watermelon out :D
Edit: As my ice cubes water down the tea, it gets waaaay tastier and the honeybush is toned down! Now I see that I used way too much leaf, and to use a bit less next time for the perfect brew. (I used 2 heaping perfect tablespoons in my Steeper, which probably made it triple strength instead of just double haha)
Another sample from kittenna Maybe i can get through them all before the weekend so i don’t have to actually log them in to my steepster cupboard (they’re still part of my over all count). This one is a really tasty tea! I’m finding i enjoy a lot of the fruity honeybush teas frank makes unless they’re alcoholic flavours….in those instances i like black better :)
This is a tasty tea with both the watermelon AND blackberry coming through in the steeping. I’m thinking i’ll probably try and cold brew the second steep just to see how that fares since i think this would be fantastic with a little sweetner :) thanks kittenna!
I’ll write a review of this one hot and cold later, but for now I’m just logging. Still studying/writing papers for midterms. =(
This one was quite good. I enjoyed the watermelon/blackberry combo, and I even didn’t mind the honeybush! It was sweet, slightly tart, and refreshing. I’m going to try the last of it iced. Be back with more later.
Thanks, Alphakitty for swapping some of this yummy tea!
UPDATE: Here are the notes I was able to scratch down on this one during what I will refer to as “Midterm Hell Week”. This is pretty much a copy and paste.
Smells like- Blackberry and honeybush. Smells very sweet and slightly tart. Also picking up what smells like hubba bubba bubble gum (just as I did in the Cotton Candy Black). I wonder where that smell comes from?
Taste: Similar to the cotton candy (which I liked) in taste, except with definite blackberry aspects and subtle watermelon in the front of the sip. The honeybush is present, but doesn’t overpower the other flavors (I think I prefer honeybush to rooibos). Sweet, slightly tart, and very refreshing. I think this would be the bomb iced.
I have a bit more of this left, so I hope to expand on some of this later. I also want to try it iced, so we’ll see if that changes any of the flavors.
Rooibos and hoenybush are actually slightly different, I can’t stand roobios (the flavor, but I’m also allergic to it) while honeybush is a-ok in my book. Not medicinal like rooibos!
I meant honeybush…oops. That’s what happens when I’m rushing. I also find honeybush to be better than rooibos, but sometimes it still tastes funky to me. This one was good, though. Rooibos is almost never something I like…your totally right – it’s medicinal tasting. Too chemically.
Rooibos reminds me of cough syrup, really unpleasant. There are some blends where it’s used correctly but usually it’s just not for me!
Agreed. I think I’ve had three rooibos blends in all that I liked enough to want to drink.
Honeybush tends to have a sweetness to it that makes it easier for me to handle (also lacks the cloying chemical taste). At the same time, though, its usually not a favorite of mine. I can’t pinpoint why exactly (maybe it’s the wood-like taste mixed with the sweetness?). But when its used the right way, it usually adds to a blend and doesn’t bother me. This is one of those blends, thankfully. =)
I never knew the difference between Rooibos and Honeybush. They have to be pretty heavily flavored for me to be interested. I’ve had some gross ‘red tea’ blends. Emily, I agree. It can be wood-like or too earthy.
Got this as a sample in a swap but I can’t remember who sent it! :( (maybe I should cool down on the swaps for awhile, haha)
I made an iced tea out of this and took it out of the fridge this morning, poured it into my Contigo and off I went. I tried a couple sips on my way to work and was NOT impressed….
First I need to state that I have NO idea what honeybush tastes like. I’ve only ever had it mixed in with rooibos… I used to think they were two words for the same tea but apparently it’s its own thing. All I was getting from this tea was SOAP. I should also add that I steeped this longer on account of it being an iced tea. But I also used more water than I would a cup of regular tea. So, maybe i just oversteeped it and made it taste like soap. But that would be weird, right? Which tea turns into soap??
I thought maybe my travel cup had maintained some soapiness or something so when I got home after work I tried a bit more of the tea that had been left in the fridge… nope. It’s also soapy tasting to me.
I don’t HATE rooibos but I don’t love it either, there are a few blends that I adore though, but it’s the ones where the tea isn’t that obvious. I’m not sure what it is in this tea that tastes like soap, probably the flavoring. I assume I don’t HATE honeybush, as I’ve had it in blends with rooibos. But maybe the taste was just masked. I have no idea.
All I know is I poured this tea down the drain. Not for me! So glad to get to try it though :)
Edit So apparently the two teas do taste pretty much the same? According to the all knowing Google, anyway. Maybe the problem is that rooibos/honeybush is gross to me when it’s cold? I imagine that would bring out the flavor more and since I don’t LOVE it to start with… but I still haven’t read anything that says honeybush tastes like SOAP so I assume it’s the flavoring added to the tea that turned my stomach more so than the Honeybush. Ah well! On to the next!
I’ve had plenty of roobios and honeybush warm and cold, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a soapy flavor. I’ve had roobios taste and smell a bit like medicine before, but definitely not soap.
Yeah, me neither. Soapiness is not the reason I don’t love rooibos. I guess the flavoring just didn’t do it for me.
I’m not a fan of rooinos either. The aftertaste kills me. I was hoping honeybush would be a decent alternative, but that’s not sounding likely…
Haha, I don’t think this one was from me, actually. Unless I’ve finally reached the point where I don’t remember sending out tea that I didn’t know I had. :)
Haha sorry! I was really struggling to remember where that one came from!
:) it made me think I was crazy for a minute. Like hmmm, do I actually own this tea?! I’ve started writing swapster’s names on my teas so I can remember when I finally get to that tea. Too much tea!
Great idea, I will have to start doing that!
Mine are all in separate boxes, haha. And I’ve written down on a spreadsheet what I’ve received from each person (although I missed recording a couple swaps; I’m hoping to fix that once I unearth them!)
I REALLY wanted to like this. The other taster’s who tried it LOVE it. My husband LOVED it. However, to me I got a cough syrup like flavor at the end of the sip that I just could not get around. I am not rating this one because I am sure it is me! I am going to wait and give this tea another chance….
Backlog: This is a delicious combination, one I wouldn’t have thought to put together. Both the watermelon and blackberry are equally present.
Used 3 tsp. in 16 oz of boiling water and let it steep overnight. Iced and with a little sweetener its pretty awesome! Makes a great iced tea! I’m already planning on ordering more! :)
