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Another 52teas purchase. This one sounded yummy, and I like genmaicha, so I figured I’d try it.
When I first sipped it, all I tasted was the genmaicha, which was disappointing. However, once it cooled a bit, the marshmallow treat comes through. It tastes like a rice crispy treat! Very tasty. Would recommend.

Another W2T Haul tea! I’m drinking this one WAY later than I should be, it’s midnight and I’m drinking THIS. Oops. Well I did sleep most of the day. Anyway, this is my second time drinking this. The first time was very tasty. The second time is as well. Not just that, it is holding up through multiple steeps. I’m on steep 3 right now and no decrease in quality. I do get the “Hot Brandy” title because, while I’ve never had brandy before, it tastes almost like brandy smells. It has that alcoholic after taste to it. It’s really good. Very potent though. Talk about a caffeine buzz! All in all, this is a good tea and I recommend it. Just don’t be like ol’ Shanie and drink it at midnight on a Wednesday.

You know, I think this frequent ordering from 52teas is going to break the bank. However, the blends they make are just so darn tasty I don’t know what else to do.

Today’s contestant is Strawberry Bon Bon. Fun fact: she actually included a genuine strawberry candy in the package. Just like my grandma used to carry with her all the time. Pity I have to wait till my sugar tanks before I can eat it :( Anyway, smell in package is very strongly strawberry. But it’s like a candied strawberry, which I believe is what she was going for.
Brewed western style, 3.3 grams leaf to 16oz water, brewed 3 min at 212F.

Taste plain is… wow that’s remarkably strawberry. I am totally getting a sweet strawberry flavor, but unfortunately the black tea base is making a conflicting bitter flavor. Welp, time for the traditional “Single Splenda Treatment”… MMMMM Much better. I have really found that the 52 teas blends require at least a single splenda per cup to balance out the flavors. I don’t really mind that, as long as I have splenda on hand I’m golden.

The strawberry is very prominent here. I actually like the strawberry here better than the other strawberry tea I have, Adagio Strawberry. It is sweet, but also a teensy bit tart. Just enough to be refreshing. With the added sweetener, the bitterness from the black tea base isn’t noticible at all, and instead the two play well together. I really do enjoy this one. Highly recommend. If you like strawberry, go get some of this. It’s mighty yummy.

So. I got my W2T order. I grabbed a couple of these in it, and decided to give it a shot.
Quickie review today, this tea is very nice. I may have underleafed as I didn’t use the whole cake (8g for one cup seemed a bit much) but the resulting tea is not too strong so… Anyway, because of that no strong flavors are jumping out at me. It’s nice and even and predictable, but still welcomed – like a nice shoulder rub from a trusted friend. I would totally get this again, but next time I will use the whole cake.

Sipdown #9

Well, this is my third and last time drinking this. I admit, I wasn’t too thrilled with it plain. It tasted like a boring plain rooibos. However adding just one splenda, and boy do the flavors pop! I’m getting a strong pastry vibe from this, which I think is what she was aiming for . I can actually taste icing, and cake separately so that’s pretty cool. I’m going to be very sad to not have this anymore, as it has been my after dinner tea for a few nights now. Getting a bit of woodiness, but that’s to be expected. I am also getting some caramel, but it isn’t shining through as much as the pastry. I’ve never even heard of Caramel Monkey Bread prior to this so I don’t have much to go by, All in all, a tasty dessert tea and I am sad this is the end of it. Oh well. It is what it is.

Sipdown #8

Ok, one last time for this one. Right off the bat I’m going to confess, I upped the sweetener for the last couple rounds of this. With two splendas I finally get that pineapple pop I was looking for… Unfortunately only on the first steep. That’s not to say that a second steep isn’t pleasing, but the pineapple fades after steep #1. But for one brief shining cup I had my pineapple yummy goodness.

I will be sad to see this one go. I had such high hopes for it and once I added the sufficient amount of sweetener to kickstart the pineapple flavor, it was actually quite nice, However, in all honesty, it shouldn’t take that much sweetener just to make something palatable. So farewell, Grilled Pineapple. I’ll miss you, but not too much.

Welp, this is one I went straight for the “Single Splenda” treatment. I figured the Cinnamon Roll flavor would come out better with a bit of added sweetness. I will say even with the added sweetener, the cinnamon doesn’t come across as strongly as the honeybush. I can taste it, but the vanilla of the honeybush is stronger. I’m not getting any icing flavor here, but then I’m drinking it hot. I’m getting a strong woody flavor here as well, but that’s to be expected with the honeybush. It’s pretty tasty all things considered. Giving this one a strong Recommended rating. It’s a good rooibos blend. Not too artificial, just right with one splenda. Good stuff.

Ugh. I hate staying at my parents house. It interrupts my rouTEAne (Tea Routine). I ran out of my Citrus Green that I brought and all I have left is “Gypsy Cold Cure” which is medicinal. Anyway, to the parents cupboard I went and dug out a single bag of THIS.

It’s wrapped but I have no idea how old it is. Likely at least 5 years out of date. But I need something to drink so this gets the go.

Prepared with boiling stove water for 4 minutes. I have no idea how big the mug is though but I used one teabag.

Taste is… Ok, I don’t recall seeing BANANA as part of the name but boy is there a strong banana flavor. I’m getting a teeny tiny bit of pom here, but mostly just generic “tart” flavor without any real distinguishing characteristics. I’m also getting another fruit. Cherry maybe? It’s sweet, I’ll give it that. It’s actually not as bad as I was expecting. That doesn’t mean it’s good, just that it is drinkable. That banana flavor is distracting though and doesn’t fit the rest of the profile. This tea is trying to be too many flavors at once and none are really shining through very clearly. It’s like “Muddy Fruit: The Tea”. Oh well. If I don’t get fully sick soon, I can head home for next week and get actual decent tea on Monday. In the meantime, send me good tea vibes yinz, for I am sorely lacking them.

Welp, I’m putting this here because while I know what kind of tea it is, it is not available to purchase except by wholesale. It’s a US FOODS tea, under their “Rituals” brand. Specifically their Citrus Green. I got about six teabags of this from a hotel we stayed at when my Grandmother passed away.

The flavor of this tea is very tasty for a teabag. I can taste the green, but it isn’t too overly astringent or grassy. The citrus shines through nicely, without it having an overpowering citric acid taste. In all, I will be sad to see this one go. This is my last of the six teabags that I brought home with me. So yeah, sad day, not just because this is the last of this tea, but because drinking it reminds me of my Grandma’s passing. All in all, a good bagged tea. If I ever stay at a hotel that stocks it again, you can best bet I will be getting more.

Well, at the parent’s again. This time I’m reviewing their go-to tea. This is the tea that my parents drink every night for dinner. Now, their recipe for this tea is 10 teabags for 2 qt, cold brewed for 12 hours. It makes a very strong magenta liquid. Flavor is very bitter when drunk plain. I do get the fruity flavor in the taste, but it isn’t as pronounced as I would like. Usually when I make this I have to use at least one full splenda per glass in order to make it palatable. It’s really not good tea, green or otherwise. I’m not even getting a lot of green tea flavor to this, just straight up bitter. I drink it when I come here, but only because they really don’t have much else to drink. It’s either this or water. All in all can’t recommend. It’s really bad.