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“I’m honestly at a bit of a loss as to why this blend seems like such a hard sell, as I think that it’s quite enjoyable. Kiwi isn’t a flavour I’ve had the opportunity to try in a tea very often. ...” Read full tasting note
“Tasty! I’ve tried a few of Frank’s cucumber tea selections over the past couple of years, and have enjoyed them all, so I knew that I’d probably like this one too. The flavor is sweet, but, there...” Read full tasting note
“No surprise, this tisane tastes best to me as a cold tea rather than hot. The cucumber comes through as a cool, fresh smoothness over top of the kiwi. For some reason I keep getting hints of...” Read full tasting note
“Sipdown! Oh, Cucumber Kiwi Honeybush, I will miss your tart, yet refreshing deliciousness. I hope that you will someday be reblended so that I may enjoy you once again.” Read full tasting note
As cool as a cucumber and as crazy as a kiwi: I’d say that about sums up 52teas. With a twist of lime on the side. Here’s our caffeine-free African honeybush blended with freeze-dried kiwi and natural and organic flavors. A cool, caffeine-free treat. Well, cool if you make iced tea of it, I suppose.
Our Tea of the Week for the week of July 16, 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.
After trying my first sampling from 52teas today (their wonderful Neapolitan Honeybush blend, which I love dearly already!) I just couldn’t wait to try another. The Cucumber Kiwi Honeybush was the very first thing that caught my eye when I was deciding what to purchase in my first order from them, so I’m really excited to give it a try. :D
Much like with the Neapolitan blend, I could see the bits of dried kiwi among all the honeybush before I even opened the bag. I love that their teas are appealing to the senses before they’re even opened. I couldn’t smell a whole lot before I opened the bag, but wow, as soon as the seal was broken the scent of kiwi was like a smack upside the head to my senses. It’s not just kiwi either; it’s like kiwi distilled and boiled down and then maybe left in the sun for a while. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it smells really strong! My mom even remarked that she could smell it from across the room. There’s also a bit of an overpowering, nearly cloying sweetness to the scent that I wouldn’t usually associate with kiwi. I don’t want to call it artificial, but it’s not exactly a fresh, fruity sweetness either. Maybe it’s just something that goes along with super-strong-kiwi scent though, which is a scent I’m hardly accustomed to, after all. I should also mention that while the kiwi component was most definitely there, I didn’t get a whole lot of cucumber, but we’ll see what happens after it’s steeped.
The color of the liquid after steeping is a bit surprising to me. It’s pretty dark for a honeybush blend; more like what you’d expect from a black tea, I think. The scent has mellowed quite a bit though, and cucumber is certainly coming through nicely now. I want to say I’m enjoying it more, but it’s actually coming across with a bit of a medicinal undertone, which is slightly dampening my initial enthusiasm about this tea.
…And now that I’ve tasted it, I think I’m officially disappointed. My first sip started off nicely, with a refreshing blast of cucumber, but it was downhill from there. That medicinal undertone has turned into a medicinal aftertaste that is decidedly unpleasant. All of my subsequent tastes are a blend of that cloying “is this kiwi or not?” sweetness, the medicinal taste, and… cucumber, though the more I drink, the less fresh and natural it seems. I’m kind of starting to wonder if this is what that overpowering cucumber-scented body splash that was so popular when I was in high school must taste like. (Just in case you were wondering, that’s not a good thing.)
While I’m definitely not going to give up on 52teas after this – they have so many whimsical, fun blends that I’m still dying to try, and the Neapolitan Honeybush alone would make me buy from them again – saying that their Cucumber Kiwi Honeybush will not be a keeper for me is a bit of an understatement. I’m not even sure if I want to finish this cup, honestly. :-( I will give it another try, maybe with sugar and a shorting steeping time, or perhaps iced, but as of right now I’m not holding my breath.
I must be missing something, ‘cause I have no idea where to find brewing instructions for 52teas stuff. So far I’ve just been looking at other Steepsters’ logs to get an idea of how long to brew things. Hrmm.
Dry I love the smell of cucumber (I’m a fiend). Brewing it smells a bit like…chlorine. Or floor cleaner. But then tasting it, oh, it’s yummy. You can definitely taste the kiwi bits, not just the cucumber. I am always surprised when a tea tastes better than it smells, because so often it’s the other way around. Obviously I prefer the former, so I’m happy with this. I’m crossing my fingers this is one that will also taste great iced.
