Southern Boy Teas

Made this one as per the package directions, added 1 TBSP of white sugar.

Today I am re-hydrating. I went to the local fair yesterday, all day. I didn’t think I got too dehydrated because I drank ALOT (1/2 litre of fair rootbeer, a “freshly squeezed” from syrup lemonade, a bottle of water, a lychee soda, a gingerale, and a large coconut water, I was only able to have one cup of tea yesterday – so that was probably the problem). So you know when you get dehyrdrated, but you don’t really feel it. After I had washed off all of the dirt, the calf cramps hit!!! I feel not too awesome today. So I have been trying to rehydrate all last night and today.

I had made this one yesterday with the intention of drinking it, but it got too late by the time I got home.

I quite liked the 52 teas version of this, it was a rooibos base. There was a small window where it actually tasted like mountain dew, but for the most part it tasted like jelly beans. Well this SBT it pretty jelly bean-y. It is not bad, I am just a but disappointed as I was hoping for more mountain dew. Again it is not as strong as I would have liked, would have been better with 1 liter vs 2.

First thing I notice is an alcohol smell and somewhere along the way I realize its rum, duh! I forgot all about the rum in Pina Coladas, I always associate the drink with the flavors pineapple and coconut. I really don’t remember the last time I had a Pina Colada for a number of reasons, a few being: I’m cheap, to many calories, my husband does not like coconut so I will never make it at home and I hardly drink anymore.
I do notice the pineapple and coconut, I can’t tell which one I notice more. The rum flavor stands out the most for me and makes me wish I had tried some of Frank’s other Rum teas already. Yum!

This is lovely. It’s the first green SBT I’ve tried and it certainly won’t be the last. Thank goodness for Kickstarter.

It really does taste creamy!. It’s not hard to make a decent peach tea but the cream notes seem hit or miss and it’s trickier with a green tea not to make it too heavy. It actually tastes a bit sweet drinking it straight up with out sugar.

I cold brewed it for about 7 hours I think. Normally with black teas I go up 10-12 but I thought with the green base it might be better with a shorter steep so I sipped it earlier and was very happy with the flavor and removed the tea bag.

I’m crazy itchy all over for some unknown reason and I’m just trying to distract myself from it so I don’t scratch my skin off. This tea is a refreshing diversion, perfect for a hot day.

I saved the tea bag because I’m stingy and want to try a second brew with it, probably traditional with hot water then dilute with ice. If anyone has tried this let me know how it worked and how much water you used. If I can get multiple steeps out of any tea I will!

Sipdown! 144/365!

10th iced tea of Christmas, from whatever year that was. Unfortunately, this was nothing like my recollection of the first time I had it, and tasted kind of plasticky and artificial. I actually couldn’t pick out any flavours I enjoyed. Luckily, the husband thought it was fine when sweetened, so he drank the vast majority of it. I don’t think it was age here, because Rainbow Sherbet, which was of a similar age, was fantastic (side note: no Rainbow Sherbet in the 12 packages. I checked, which involved scratching off the labels of 11/12 of the teas.) So, not sure what happened, but I know this tea should have been good. Sad times. I discovered a Cotton Candy black tea in the box as well, which I’m hoping is going to be good!

Sipdown! Yum! This one was great, and I am debating picking more up (although I really need to not buy more tea… Oh well!) Anyhow, I seemed to remember hearing good things about this flavour previously, and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. Sweet candy raspberry, tasty black base that wasn’t too astringent with a 2-min infusion. Made a great iced tea to keep in the fridge and pour into a Timolino every morning. Sadly though, I live in a basement which is super humid, and the stupid tea bag went moldy before I got a second infusion :(

Sipdown! Yum; I did enjoy this one. Definitely candy banana flavour, with a nice solid base. Not a tea I would want again, but I’d certainly recommend it for anyone looking for a good banana flavoured iced tea.

Coconut teas can be hit and miss for me, which is probably why I’ve put off trying this SBT for a while. I also have a pouch of the reblended 52 Teas version, which I’ve not opened yet either. The scent of this one dry worried me a little, too; I got suncream from the scent! I’m guessing it’s that artificial coconut type smell some of them have. It was a pretty chemically scent, though, and not encouraging.

That was why my first sip this morning was a revelation. I think I’ve got brewing these down to an art now. I always use a timer so they get exactly three minutes, and I don’t squeeze the bag too hard when I’m taking it out. That seems to help avoid any bitterness, or losing the flavour among an over-strong black base. This one got the usual treatment; 3 minutes in a quarter pint of boiling water, topped up with cold water and into the fridge over night.

This one is pretty much liquid coconut cream. I’m hesitating about adding “pie” because I’m not getting too much that would make me think of pastry or pie crust. Definitely the coconut cream filling, though! The most prominent flavour is coconut, and it tastes toasted. There’s nothing fake-tasting here, despite the scent while dry. There’s also a fairly strong vanilla/cream flavour, which pairs really nicely with the coconut. Together, they’re totally reminiscent of coconut cream pie filling! This is naturally quite a sweet tea, so quite a contrast with yesterday’s Cucumber Melon SBT. I’ve got into the habit of always trying these without additions first, and it’s definitely proved worthwhile. This one is so spot on, it needs nothing else to help it shine.

I guess that makes it another inherently satisfying SBT. It’s HOT today, so this has made my day of work infinitely more bearable so far, especially when fridge cold. It’s flavoursome and beautifully refreshing. Everything you could want in an iced tea, really!

Brewed this as per package instructions, steeped for 3 minutes. Added 1tbsp of white sugar.

This one dried and brewed smells like Harneys ginger peach black tea, which I quite like. The brewed tea was quite cloudy which I find unusual for SBTs. The cloudiness dissipated after it cooled. Definitely a honey ginger taste. The honey is a bit artificial tasting and the ginger is candied tasting but still good. The black base is subtle. To me this one is more of a sipping vs thirst quenching iced tea.

I have made a personal decision to stop re-steeping the SBT’s, to save on disappointment and resources. But I am enjoying this first steep.

I made a gallon of this from 2 steepings, and it tastes like…mint chocolate chip ice cream! I think it is refreshing, but not cloyingly sweet. I did add some liquid stevia (because I just don’t like unsweetened tea), and it was perfect.

I picked this as one of my Kickstarter rewards. Then when all of the teas came today, I let my daughter pick which one we would make first and this is what she chose. It’s really good, and definitely tastes like cotton candy! Now, what to do with the tea bag until I do a second steep. Put in the fridge?

Today’s iced tea for work. I gave this my usual treatment (3 mins in 1/4 pint boiling water, topped up to 2 litres with cold and into the fridge overnight). It tastes beautifully of cola — absolutely, ridiculously spot on. How does Frank do it?! It’s flat cola, to be sure, but it’s cola! What I can’t really taste here is vanilla, which is a shame because I was particularly looking forward to that aspect. There’s a very mild creamy sweetness kicking around in the background, but it’s not enough to make me really say “yeah, that’s vanilla.” I do like cola flavoured iced tea, though, and this is a good one. I’d definitely try another bag at some point in the future to see if I can eke out some vanilla flavour. A good treat for a hot day, all the same!

Sipdown (110)! Well, sort of because I used the one bag I had, but I still have a pretty full pitcher of this to work on for the next couple of days. I decided to rebel against the given instructions and just cold brew this baby. I stuck it into the fridge for about 5 hours, which is a little short for me, but I was impatient! First impressions are that it is a very candy watermelon flavor rather than straight up fresh, juicy watermelon. I was a little disappointed by that but not too surprised. The black base seems a bit weak, but that may be because of the short cold brew time. I may just embrace the candy-like flavor and add some sugar to it later to make it like Southern sweet iced tea (or as they call it just “iced tea”). I will come back and update this note if I do, or if my feelings about it change as I get through the pitcher.

I was really hoping to like this because I saw Frank’s moving sale and really wanted to help out! Even though SBT & 52teas flavors are so inventive and fun, I just don’t think they’re up my alley as I continue to stray away from flavored teas and toward straight teas. If you like your flavored & sweet teas, though, you should definitely check it out!

Next day edit: So I sweetened a little using a simple syrup, which did seem to enhance the candy watermelon flavor. I also realized that the off-putting flavor from yesterday was a bit of a medicinal flavor. After this realization, I couldn’t bring myself to finish the cup, sadly.

Yummy! Tastes a bit “sweet” due to the flavoring, without any actual sweetener in it or added. :-)

Sipdown!!

Pumpkin spice? Check. Vanilla Bean? Check. Chocolate Sauce? Check. It is all there, maybe not in each and every sip but all components can be detected at some point while drinking the cup. It is not something I feel I need to have again but it is something that was fun to try and worth a taste for those curious. However, I am not sad to see this go.

Last night I tossed some of this into my new iced tea mug to take upstairs and drink it. Unfortunately, I never got around to drinking it last night and so I am drinking it now, keeping with my fall theme of the morning, mostly because I need the mug back to get my $1 refill at the mall :P. Today’s cup has a bit more vanilla sweetness than the last but pumpkin spice is still the most dominant flavor and chocolate sauce is no where to be found.

For some reason this SBT was just calling my name. I guess I just thought it was so elaborate that I was excited to see how it would taste. Sipping on it now, I am getting pumpkin spice first and base second. Every now and then I think I catch a bit of the vanilla or chocolate but it is fleeting and might just be me tasting it because I think it should be there. I mean, this is good, but it does fall short in a few areas so I don’t think it will be one I get again. However, it is fun to try and I am happy I have the rest of the pitcher to enjoy for the next little while.

I’m pretty strict about the amount of caffeine my kids consume after school. They are both natural night owls, so giving them caffeine after noon is just asking for trouble. Since they are almost done with school (they still have a half day on Monday) and the first day of summer is tomorrow I decided to break out the SBT bag and let them choose a flavor. This eventually won out.

This tea does taste a lot like rainbow sherbet! It has a kind of mixed fruity sweetness and a creamy note that gives it a sherbet vibe. Both of my kids loved it immediately, and I have to say their mom downed her glass pretty quickly, too. Looks like this will be a reorder.

I made this tea according to the directions on the package and it was fabulous for work. It was so convenient. It did not need to be sweetened at all, but wasn’t sickly sweet. I got a lot of orange flavour in mine.

Another kickstarter iced tea down! It was OK. It had a lemon/lime taste but not strong enough to me to really like it much. There was something going on in the background that didn’t taste too good either, just thought I’d like it more I guess.

So… we’re finally getting enough sunshine to warm things up a bit around here.. YEah! But we are also starting to see mosquitos and bees. Saturday night we spent some time outside at a friends house and my son got a bunch of mosquito bites… they welt up on him and drive him crazy, poor kid. Then last night when he went to brush his teeth in the bathroom upstairs, a jellow jacket had somehow gotten trapped in the bathroom and stung his finger when he tried to brush it away from his neck. Good thing today is a day off from school or we would have one sleepy kid today! He is feeling better this morning… kept him dosed with Benadryl & Ibuprofen last night. I hope we are done with the bugs for awhile.. I’ve had enough already!

I decided that this was the next SBT I was going to try the last time I looked at making one. I’m still experimenting with steeping these to get the maximum flavor and quantity out of each bag. I’m still not sure about the best method, but felt better about this one, although I wish the flavoring was more intense.

Since I already had a big home made batch of spearmint iced tea in the fridge, I decided to make a half a batch of this. I evened out the amount of tea in the baggie it came in, cut it in half, and put half of it in a tea bag for loose leaf tea. I decided on cold steeping to start with and did so with a 1 quart Mason jar in the fridge all day. I then removed it and hot steeped the bag w/about 1 cup of hot water. The cold steeped batch looked much more like I would expect iced tea to look.. much darker and almost thicker looking. I decided to pour the two together to get the best of both.

I left it unsweetened and added some splenda to my cup and made one for my son. He laughed at the name every time I said it. I have to say that we both enjoyed the flavor of the tea, the banana was there but not overly so… I typically hate! artificial banana! This was drinkable for me. I actually would have preferred more of the flavor because it was only present on the initial sip or two and if I kept drinking I didn’t notice it much anymore until I took a break and came back to it. Next time I use the rest of this I will keep the hot and cold steeps separate to see if one is better than the other.

My son really liked this tea, but I think couldn’t get past the name of it. He drank some of it, but wouldn’t finish his cup. I think next time I’ll just tell him it’s tea and see how it goes. I’ll let him guess the flavor.. such a picky guy he is. He likes bananas but will rarely eat them, and likes banana candy. I told him he must be afraid he will fart bananas if he drinks all that was in his cup… he thinks I’m silly sometimes… Maybe he’s right. :)

I do have to say I was pleasantly surprised that I could tolerate this banana flavoring. I think maybe it worked for me because it wasn’t as intense as banana candies are, but I do still think it would be nice to be a bit stronger. I could taste the flavoring over the tea base, but not by a lot. Thanks so much MissB for sharing this one.. I never would have bought it to try for myself… and again, I am pleasantly surprised. I might have grabbed it to let my son try it at some point just due to the name. Now I know if it’s good enough to grab if we want something different or have some friends coming over that it might be fun to share with them.

I ordered this one a while ago, with three other SBT iced teas, but I’ve only just gotten around to pulling them out and trying one. I steeped it for the recommended amount of time, but beyond that, the instructions were very vague… So I’m not sure if it’s because I steeped it in too much water, or because I added too much water after the fact, or what. It was a bit weak. The flavor of vanilla cola was certainly present, and quite tasty, but I think the instructions need to be a bit more explicit? I don’t make iced tea that often, and so I’m not really used to the dynamics. My hubby’s usually the one who does it. I’ll go ahead and rate this one according to the flavoring, which was indeed quite good. :)

I am picky about Cola to begin with, as in very picky. If I ask for Coca Cola and am offered Pepsi, I drink water instead so I was not all that excited about this blend. However, my brother wanted it so it was added to the order. Sipping on it now, it is not as bad as I thought it might be. It definitely is reminiscent of cola but as to be expected it is flat and watered down, two things you never really want in a soda. As for the lime, it provides a bit of freshness to the cup that helps distract the flatness of the cup.

I’ll admit it: I suck at icing tea. It never tastes the way it should. Ever. Too much water, too much sugar, the wrong tea, something always goes wrong. When I saw this, I thought “perfect, that’s for me!”

I really didn’t read the description well because I thought it would be loose, but it is in fact a teabag. Since I don’t want to make full pitchers when I drink iced tea, I ripped the teabag appart and took out what I needed for 1 glass of iced tea and put it in my steeper.

The finished product is quite tasty! It does taste like cotton candy without tasting too artificial and the tea has that little bite at the end that I always love in iced tea. This is very good.

This is a good banana tea, not sure if I like bananas enough that I’d buy a lot of this but it goes on my ‘maybe I should throw one of these in my next order’ list. So much banana, clearly that I searched banana fart instead of monkey it was on my mind. I would like a fresh banana, so I could add it to my peanut butter jelly lunch tomorrow. None at home though, and I’m not leaving to get bananas at this hour.