52teas

Didn’t really love this one, but I’m not sure if I even like bread pudding. Nothing more to say since it’s taken five days to be able to post this thanks to 404 errors. Fml.

From StarFevre! An entire pouch – thank you! (From Frank’s 52Teas days.) I’ve had this a few times and this will be a quick note, because though it is older than the hills this tea that should taste like cucumber and mango (and even has mango cubes!) now somehow tastes like LIME?!?! I’m not sure how that happened, as it is obviously stored properly in the original pouch. Mango and cucumber is leagues away on the flavor spectrum than lime. hmm. For a lime tea, it’s fine but certainly not as delicious as a 52teas blend that is intentionally lime. Nothing to blame but age here. But the description says this was inspired by salsa, so maybe the lime is the only flavor remaining.

I had this again (trying to finish up some teas to make room for whatever I keep from the TTB) but found no pastry/baked bread notes. Nor any caramel. Lots of cinnamon and some vanilla…it is certainly a wonderful blend, but I’m missing the pastry/bread and caramel in this cup. It makes a great latte though!

I’ve had this a number of times, largely during the great disaster that recently was on the site. Sipdown today, but since the site is behaving i’ve had a chance to add it to steepster. I rather enjoyed this one but not brewed cold. Hot brewing was it for me since it made the berry side of the tea come out more!

June 2020 Tea

My staple oat bran breakfast porridge usually consists of cinnamon and bananas. This tea tastes a little like that as well as a fun take on a rice pudding. Not bad at all!

Five Year Anniversary Tea || June 2020 VIT (at least, I think it was June)

Sipdown!

I may have been a little apprehensive about this one. Cinnamon has really dropped to the bottom of my preferred ingredients as of late.

I had a cup today without milk and another with milk after I accidentally let it steep for +10 minutes ( it didn’t get bitter and stayed super smooth, like the good Yunnan Black tea that it is). Both cups were great, although the latte was extra rich!

I enjoyed this chai blend. The anise is quite strong, but IMO that makes it better. I brewed this strong and then added a touch of soy milk to smooth it out. The black base came through nicely (it was a fairly bold and strong base that complements a spicy chai well) but the spices really tied everything together.

July 2020 Blend

This did not last long enough.

52Teas does delicious “Danish” flavoured teas, as well as lovely lemon flavours. Combined, the flavouring is sublime (best of both worlds)! The cream cheese is pretty vivid here too and it’s just wonderful. Yeah… this is hands down one of my favourite flavoured honeybush teas; it hits all of my sweet spots.

Sipdown (284)

A couple of teaple on Instagram are hosting a September Sipdown challenge. It started yesterday and I joined in via the Sororitea Sisters’ Instagram page. For those following along, I shared my tea stash yesterday and you might have caught that I separate the teas that are older than a year from the fresher teas (I put them in my “focus area” – Check out the photos here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEjvtghgx_s/?igshid=1s5c8ov2zhy4i). It’s not an exact science because when I receive teas in swaps, I date them when I receive them even though I’m sure they’re older than that. So, the bijillion teas Roswell Strange shared with me in December, including this one, are marked December 2019 and they’ll stay with the fresh teas until this December. However, time has flown by and December is so much closer than it should be. I don’t think I have room in the focus area for all the teas that would need to be added come December so I’m working on sipping down the teas from December 2019 or earlier (aka most of my stash). To that end, I reached for this tonight, not expecting to finish it but I did.

It’s interesting because I mentioned a tea I had earlier came of sudsy to Roswell Strange but it’s actually this tea that’s sudsy to me. I blame the Shou mei which almost always tastes like soap to me. Once I get past the soap though, I am enjoying the grape flavor a lot. Actually, the grape almost sort of works with the soap. For some reason I’m reminded of the fruity L’Oréal kids shampoos that we’re meant to be tear free so stupid curious kids like me would open their eyes when rinsing it and then be mad when it hurts. They smelled like fake fruits but still tasty. Somehow that’s what this has me thinking of and it’s nostalgic but weird but still good?

Thank you Roswell Strange! It was fun to try and I think I enjoyed the flavouring. Just wish it was on a different base. Perhaps it was also slightly overleafed.

This is alright. I mostly get raisin and some breadiness. The tea cooled a fair bit so perhaps I need to try it when it is hotter. As of now, I’ll finish what I have but this won’t be a repurchase.

Everyone loves this one and while it is good, something about it is less than I expected. I think with Butiki gone, the NecessiTeas take on this flavor profile is my favorite replacement. This one is good but perhaps it was the hype that had me expecting more.

I got chocolate. That is present in boatloads. Chocolate and black tea. Nothing really says cannoli to me. More than the cannoli being absent though, what is really missing for me is the orange. It is present, but sort of an afterthought compared to other chocolate orange teas I have tried in the past. Perhaps it was just the combination of the ingredients that made it into my infuser so I will need to revisit it another time.

Another note I had saved from the Freeze. Thanks very much, AJRimmer!  A great concept here that doesn’t fail to remind me of my beloved ‘Berried Treasure’. Both blends are fairly similar — simply replace bergamot with sarsparilla.  but this one isn’t distinctly berry or rootbeer to me, and hardly even has noticeable marshmallow root (though Berried Treasure has a ton more marshmallow root, which I love).  My tastebuds are simply demanding MORE berry and rootbeer.  This blend isn’t very old yet, so it’s a bit disappointing… next time it will be a sipdown.  I always appreciate trying things though!
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 18 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // just boiled //  4 minute steep
2020 Sipdowns: 67 (oldest sample of Tiesta – I Gotta Colada)

The Great Un-Steepstering of 2020 Review #8 (08/16/20)

I just buckled and made a large 52Teas order, so I really need to get through some of my oldest packages! But we are in another heat wave and I have this one and Ginger Cola from 2017, and I prefer soda pop-themed teas iced. Prepared 7.5g steeped in 2 cups 205F water for 3 minutes, which was added to 2 cups cold water, then left in the fridge to get nice and chilled.

The dry leaf, warmed steeped tea, and used leaf all smelled so delectably of root beer. The aroma on my cold water bottle is lovely, I can pick up the licoricey-aromas of the anise and licorice root, and sarsaparilla, and something a bit sweet/creamy as well… though I did sweeten this tea (I don’t normally, but to heighten the pop factor, I added a bit of liquid sweetener to the iced tea).

The flavor is quite nice… the black tea base is actually not entirely overpowered with flavors, as I’m getting a sort of malty/raisin bready flavor in the background. I’m really digging the anise and licorice root notes, which are leaning more in the direction of sharp spice (perhaps because of the clove, though I’m not picking up a distinct clove flavor) rather than sticky sweetness. The sarsaparilla creates this nice root beer-flavored base with that sweet, somewhat licorice/minty flavor, and while I often can’t taste vanilla added to teas, I am tasting it here; perhaps the sweetener I added is bringing that note to the forefront.

It is a nice iced tea, but one I pretty much knew going in I was going to enjoy. I really love root beer teas, and the flavors of sarsaparilla and the “licorice herbs.” I have enough leaf to do one more quart after I finish off this batch, and will probably prepare it the same, including the sweetener. Super tasty and refreshing, tastes just like uncarbonated root beer!

Thank you for getting Steepster up and running again, new team!  I knew that with patience, Steepster would be okay again eventually.  So I will get back to posting some tasting notes that I had written before The Freeze.
Thank you, AJRimmer!  I really wanted to try this – I love fruity, spicy black teas.  This seems a bit muted in the spice and fruit departments, even while using a teaspoon and a half.  There were at least two huge pieces of fruit in the infuser.  Spice, mango and pineapple should be such a great combination for me. Maybe mango never really steeps full of flavor in any tea, especially if it’s only natural mango that 52Teas uses — the mango is too weak here. For Daenerys, I expect a punch of fierce flavor (what do I know – I only read the first book…)  This isn’t what I was expecting, but this also isn’t a brand new tea. 
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 28 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // just boiled //  4 minute steep

Sipdown (257)

Thank you for sharing this one, Sil!

There is something a touch bitter here. I think it’s the base tea. Beyond that I get blueberry and coconut but both flavours are a bit muted. Overall, I don’t particularly care for this one but that’s probably for the best since there are so many other 52 Teas blends that I enjoy. Can’t love them all.

Quick review. Busy day hehe.
Yum. Cinnamon, banana, toasted rice. Nice balance too.

Steepster was down for a week for me, now it loads but it’s sloooow for some reason. As long as it doesn’t hang, I’m good. Glad it’s back.

Just polished off this taster from my mystery grab bag. I had another zabaglione tea from 52Teas that I remember being pretty amazing (I think it was raspberry?), but this one was just so-so. I got notes of plum and nutmeg, but none of that creamy custard flavor I was expecting.

Samurai Travelling Tea Box – Tea #45

Thanks Shae for including this tea for me! It was the name of it that really hooked me; the idea of tangerine and marshmallow just sounds amazing (like a Creamsicle, maybe?) but what was really fascinating was a “tangerine cupcake” because you normally see those weirder flavours as the frosting but the name of this makes it explicitly clear that it’s the cupcake itself that is tangerine. That’s such a cool concept!

I’m grateful to Shae for including this so I could try it at all, but I really wish there had been more than one serving of it because I definitely got the impression that this is one of those blends that’s good when you brew it casually but that, with refined and more precise steeping, could potentially be amazing! I will say that all the namesake flavours were present, and for as much of a mouthful as this tea’s name is that’s actually a very impressive feat!

The strongest flavour was unsurprisingly the citrus – it’s a little more generic orange than tangerine, I think to truly be tangerine it needs to have this same sweetness but a “higher” kind of acidic top note instead of the heavier, more rounded orange flavour that carries throughout the entire sip. I did like how weighty it felt on my palate though, especially with this full bodied black tea base and the gentle creaminess and vanilla notes that so smoothly came through!

I would definitely be all over a reblend of this one!

Is this supposed to be winter mint gum? Because this is 100% winter mint gum while the piece is still fresh and flavourful and sweet. I’m thinking Winterfresh and I’m into it!

Sipdown (276)

I am fan of this one. Thanks for sharing, Sil!

The pineapple flavor here is the perfect balance of sweet and tart. Plus, it pairs nicely with the touch of cheesecake tang.

I tried the pineapple upside down cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and wasn’t a huge fan…but this pineapple cheesecake I like very much!

As I continue to enjoy this, my only complaint would maybe be the green tea base but that is obviously a personal preference and not a reflection on this lovely tea