Southern Boy Iced Teas

Sipdown (548)!

Cold brewed a pitcher of this to share with the fam. The smell of the dry leaf is quite nice; very sweet and citrus heavy. It’s an old tea, so I was excited that it still smelled so fresh! Taste wise, this is smooth and delicious with a strong lime flavour. It’s enjoyable; but other than tasting like lime I don’t really get any cheesecake at all. Could just be a side effect of how old this one is.

Regardless, thanks Starfevre! We don’t have air conditioning and it’s REALLY fucking hot, so any iced or cold brewed tea is a life saver right now…

I expected no flavor at all from this… it is ancient. It is old old even for one of Frank’s blends. It’s the old black unresealable packaging! I didn’t ice this one, I steeped up a teaspoon hot. And the flavor is still DELICIOUS. I could taste the chocolate and definitely the sweet strawberry. Probably not the vanilla, but it probably wasn’t really there in the first place. I’m loving the chocolate and strawberry though. I’m so surprised and pleased at how much flavor this has!

There is a touch of citrus (lime leaf, lime zest), but not much else in the way of fruity flavours. It has lost flavour over the years, however it wasn’t a bad cup. Generically fruity, some citrus, and a green tea base. The base was tannic, astringent, but not undrinkable.

It was time to finish this off. The strawberry is fairly artificial, the base is a bit bitter, but can be balanced by adding milk. It makes an ok iced tea and it’s ok hot as a latte, but it is far from outstanding.

I am pretty disappointed with this one. First of all, I didn’t follow instructions because I wanted this hot (did not ice). Second of all, I only used ~1.5 tsp of leaf in 500 mL hot water. ~3 minutes steep (I didn’t count). The tea was so bitter I couldn’t drink it. I dumped out half and added cold water, but it remains very bitter and astringent. The strawberry flavouring is artificial, but I do not mind. The zabaglione flavor gives a custard note to the brew, but that doesn’t add enough creaminess.

I have no sweetener or milk, but I think next time I will opt for milk and sugar (or at least milk). Might try it iced, but I fear it will be bitter no matter how it is steeped.

How was it necessary to add this to the database?! Anyway, I’ve always been aware of this tea and I always wanted to try it. So thanks Starfevre for supplying! There were two of these iced tea bags in the package Starfevre sent over, though each had a different packaging so I assumed they were different “harvests” or Frank mixed the blends at different times. So I was interested to see if these two “harvests” were different at all. I tried hot steeping a teaspoon from each package on different days (and saving the rest for later). Sadly, they both taste the same but both just taste like black tea now. So some teas do age, even in nice packaging (no rating from me). This must be the most faded tea ever. This doesn’t taste fantastic, but it’s still caffeine. But I’m sure I would have loved this when it was fresh!

Today’s work SBT, prepared the usual way. It’s also the most disappointing SBT I’ve tried in a while, because I can’t really taste much in the way of peach, cobbler, or ice cream (the package says a la mode even though the listing doesn’t…) If I concentrate, I can taste tinned peaches, or rather, the syrup that they’re usually preserved in. The flavour really is that light and insubstantial. There’s no vanilla to suggest ice cream, no creaminess, and nothing buttery, biscuitty, or even pastry-like to make me think cobbler. The main flavour is sweet black tea, with only the very, very mildest hint of peach. This makes me sad, because I had high hopes for this one.

Today’s work SBT, prepared the usual way. I’ve pretty much always enjoyed 52Teas cola blends, and this one’s no exception. I can taste cola (off-brand, reminiscent of cola bottles), and I can taste cherry (sweet, fruity, not at all medicinal). It’s not effervescent (obviously), but there is something about it that’s coming across as “carbonation”, and it’s not just my imagination. Trust me. I don’t actually have that much of an imagination. The standard black tea base is there in the background, but it’s not too intrusive, and it doesn’t overpower the flavourings. It’s smooth, lightly malty, not at all bitter or astringent. I’ll go with LiberTeas and say it’s like someone poured flat cherry cola into a mug that already contained tea dregs, because that’s pretty much what it’s like. Doesn’t sound too appealing, but actually, it’s really pleasant on a sticky late-summer day.

I’m sad that there’s no more SBT in the world.

But there’s plenty still in my cupboard, so I’m still smiling for now.

Today’s work SBT, prepared the usual way. Blackberry and blueberry? I can’t actually remember what this is supposed to be, because I bought it so long ago and then hoarded it, but I can definitely taste the blueberry. The blackberry is more of a mystery to me, and it’s really no more than a background flavour if I’m honest. The blueberry is so strong, everything else (including the black base, amazingly) just seems to be getting lost. I’m not complaining about the strength of flavour, though, because that’s what I (used to?) love most about SBTs. It’s good to find one that exceeds expectations again, even if it’s a little one-note and not quite as billed. It’s refreshing, wonderfully blueberry, great on a hot day like today. Impressed.

With sugar, this tastes like sweet strawberries and cream, with a hint of flaky pastry hanging out in the background. Yum!

Oh. My. Goodness.

I only bought one? Heading over to SBT to buy more now!

Strawberry. Real strawberry. Like you cut up strawberries, added sugar, let them sit a while and then puréed them and poured them in a glass of sweet tea. Somebody please stop me from drinking the whole gallon at once…

ETA: Alas! Out of stock! Weeping sounds…

This wasn’t as good iced as it was hot. It’s very very tannic iced and it loses most of the other flavors, I might be able to taste a little bit of the pumpkin that I couldn’t taste before but it definitely isn’t nearly as good as it was hot.

I’ll admit, I cheated and had this hot instead of iced.

Fairly good, it definitely has some creamy notes and is fairly tannic but I can’t taste any pumpkin. Definitely par for the course for my tastes in flavored tea but I wish it had more of the pumpkin flavor in it to make it stick out more.

Highly underwhelming, overly tannic, with a chocolate finish and a whisp of any pumpkin or spice notes.

I was surprised to end up loving this – when it was breweing, it wasn’t particularly fragrant. But as I take a sip I am really impressed. It does taste very ricey, of course, and the marshmallow flavor is strong. I always add a tablespoon of honey to my pitchers of iced tea, just to give a hint of extra sweetness per cup. It works really well with this blend. I never would have thought I would love icing a flavor like this, but it is one I would reach for over many of my fruity blends.

Backlog:

OK, so I was kind of surprised to not find a listing for this one. Perhaps everyone has been reviewing it under the loose leaf interpretation of this tea?

Anyway … the dry sachet smells VERY MUCH like a marshmallow treat. I really like this iced tea version of the tea – perhaps better than the reblend of the original Marshmallow Treat. Having tried tea from the first batch which was made with the Matcha dusted Genmaicha, the reblend just couldn’t really compete with that experience. The reblend was good – just not as good.

But the ice tea rocks! Sweet, roasty-toasty rice flavors and delicious marshmallow flavor. A really good iced tea.

GCTTB
I always prefer iced tea cold steeped rather than hot and chilled but I wanted to follow the directions so I tried – but they were really vague. How much boiling water am I suppose to use before I add cold water and ice to make 2 quarts? Dunno… package doesn’t tell me.
I did 3 cups boiling water for 2.5 minutes (the instructions say no longer than 3?) then topped up with cold water to make 2 quarts….
I don’t like this – the black base is bitter and intrusive on the other flavorings. There is some strawberry and there is some custardy/cream cheesey something else but I can’t get past the black base. Maybe if I had used different water ratio? After a couple of days in the fridge – the nasty black does mellow a little bit – but I thought the other flavors had faded as well.
Sorry this one isn’t for me.

Backlog:

A tasty iced tea. I don’t know that I’m tasting the “a la mode” part of this, but I definitely taste the peach cobbler part. (The package says a la mode) I definitely taste the peach, buttery biscuit notes and a caramelized flavor along with the black tea notes. Yummy. But I don’t get a lot of creamy notes or vanilla notes that say to me “a la mode.”

Really good though.

I cold-brewed this tea overnight for tea today. This one cold-brews nicely.

Very flavorful, although a stronger flavor can be produced by hot-brewing. I think I actually prefer the cold-brew though. Still sweet, notes of cola and cherry, some ‘fizzy bubbly cola’ taste, and of course, black tea notes.

One of my favorites from the SBT line. Maybe not my top fave … but probably in the top 10.

Backlog:

52Teas does the cola flavors very well, at least, that’s been my experience in the past with the various cola flavored teas that Frank has created. So I figured I’d enjoy this one.

It’s tasty. I taste the cherry and I taste the cola. And I taste the black tea. In my full-length article about this tea: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/09/10/cherry-cola-flavored-iced-black-tea-from-southern-boy-teas/ I mentioned that it tastes like someone poured a flat cherry cola into my black tea.

That is to say that I didn’t get as much of the effervescent experience as I would if I were drinking soda … but I do get a slight ‘bubbly’ taste from this. Not as much as I remember experiencing from the 52Teas version of the cola. I’m not sure why that is.

This is still really good, very refreshing … a really good iced tea.