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teataku drank Cinnamon Roll Honeybush by 52teas

226 tasting notes

This tea just came in the mail yesterday, and I’m just getting to trying this one today. The loose tea smells bizarre—I take one sniff, and I get honeybush, and the next sniff I get cinnamon like WHOA, and the next sniff I get something else entirely, a rather eggnog-ish smell. The brew is dark and auburn-colored, smelling very much like hot eggnog. I steeped it for about 3-4 minutes, and now I have to wait for it to cool off a bit…

I tried it without sugar first. I’m not sure if the eggnog-y flavor is coming from the honeybush, but even without sugar, that’s the primary flavor, right at the front. The cinnamon will probably come forward once I add some sugar.

After one teaspoon of sugar, the cinnamon does start to play a part, and I get the “Cinnamon Roll” taste. I can taste now that the eggnog-ness COMBINED with the cinnamon is what creates that flavor. I think perhaps I ought to have let it steep a smidgen longer, but I am enjoying the overall effect. Half a teaspoon more of sugar rounds it out even more (I don’t know if it’s just my palate, but I find that for ~10 oz. of tea, two teaspoons of sugar is usually perfect, no matter what type of tea it is).

I’m impressed! It’s clearly an ‘herbal’, because there’s no astringency, but it’s a very nice thing to have on a crisp day. It’s almost a crisp day here, about as crisp as autumn gets in this area of the world… so still appropriate. :)

Preparation

205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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Ninavampi
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I can’t wait till my order arrives! I really want to love this tea… I am pretty sure I will!

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Ninavampi
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I can’t wait till my order arrives! I really want to love this tea… I am pretty sure I will!

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I very clearly remember my first experience with tea. It was in a Target near my house, and my best friend handed me a cup of chai from the Starbucks inside the store and said, “Try this.” I believe I was about 12 at the time, and from then on, I was completely hooked.

Anyway, as my increasingly weirded out family will tell you, my obsession with tea has (almost) steadily escalated since then. I discovered the world of tea slowly, first with just chai, and then with bagged teas I could get from supermarkets and specialty stores, and then with loose leaf teas. I mostly shop for tea at Teavana, but I also patronize other local shops that I’ve discovered within the last couple of years. I’ve ordered a smattering of teas from a few online places, but I’m always leery of buying tea online, since most of how I select teas in person is by smell… unless I’m at The English Tea Room.

My favorite types of tea are blacks and flavored blacks. And oolongs. Right underneath that are rooiboses and whites, and then greens and herbals, and then mates. I’m always looking for a new favorite, but I appreciate rediscovering old favorites. I like to blend teas, but I never store them that way, mostly because I like to leave myself options.

I prefer nutty/sweet/rich teas to fruity/light-flavored teas or bold/full-bodied teas, but I do try to drink some of everything to widen my palate. I’m always willing to try any tea at least once (except this one tea that Teavana mercifully discontinued… the loose leaf smelled like cheese, I swear). I do perhaps rate teas a little leniently… because I’m not very picky. I will try a tea at least three times before I pronounce that I hate it, and I will always focus on the good aspects of a tea rather than the bad. That’s just how I roll. :3

Location

Colorado, USA

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