Southern Boy Teas

Cold brewed this and it’s powerful. The taste and smell is totally spot on for me. So much so that I may have overdosed on it because it tasted so good :)

Yay! Tastes good. Oh my goodness, this is such a busy week. This is a good tasting tea because I could tell what it was even when I’d forgotten what it was, till I got home to check. I love my hydroflask, still cold iced tea even at the end of the day in the car in Hawaii. I went to help with the food/supply distribution for peoples still trying to get by after the ‘tropical storm’ after work today. Cannot believe how lucky we are to have power and water when so many still do not.

This is really good. I wouldn’t mind getting more next time I order tea. It really does taste like vanilla cola… Flat, but yeah really nice.

Huh, this one just didn’t work for me. Whether smell or taste, was not something I got along with… which kind of sucked since it was the only drink I had so I kept drinking it at work today haha. So it was horrible but just didn’t appeal to me. Bummer.

MirandaGou sent me this one. Thanks!

This is my first SBT. I made it according to directions. Well, I boiled 2 qts of water than allowed the tea bag to steep in said water for 3 minutes. It’s been sitting in the fridge the majority of the day and I just poured myself a mug with ice cubes.

I’m not generally enamoured with 52Teas, but Ive heard good things about the SBTs and I’m happy to say I’m enjoying this. The flavours aren’t in-your-face, but they complement each other well. The ginger is subtle and the honey a bit stronger but both are there, albeit subtle with the black tea base.

Now I have a pitcher of this in my fridge, but that’s one less envelope of tea in my swap-in box!

Edit: I just checked the tracking and my wellies just updated and they are now sheduled for EARLY delivery!

Backlog:

I enjoyed the Very Big Hill Dew Honeybush so I was interested to see how this would compare. This makes a very tasty iced tea. I think that this does work better with a honeybush base than it does with a black tea base. The lemon-lime notes shine through in the iced tea version, but, I am getting less of the bubbly, effervescent taste that Frank captures so well in his “soda” inspired teas, and I felt like that flavor came through better with the honeybush version.

But this is still a very refreshing, tasty iced tea.

Been drinking this for 2 days as I recover from wisdom teeth extraction yesterday. No hot tea allowed, but I’ve been sucking down the gallon I made of this, and boy, is it good! I don’t like juice, and I just can’t manage to drink a lot of water, but this stuff has really been great to stay hydrated with!

I don’t know the last time I had iced tea, but I guarantee you it was from a mix and not real tea.

I’m getting my wisdom teeth out on Wednesday, and stocking up on really soft foods. I read that neither hot stuff (like hot tea) nor soda isn’t going to go over well, so I decided to make a pitcher of one of the iced teas to have on hand for when I want something to drink! I decided to make a pitcher of the Razzleberry.

I steeped the large teabag twice, and added enough water/ice to make a gallon of iced tea. I thought this was pretty good tea, and will definitely be refreshing as I recuperate. I have another pouch (I got pouches of iced tea as part of the Kickstarter campaign) of Razzleberry, but I’ll be wanting to try one of the other ones first! I’d buy this again.

My kickstarter iced teas finally came in! It feels like so long, I was going to cave and just order some from the website since it seems that’d be faster but here they have arrived! I picked this one out of all of them because – c’mon just look at the name… It sounds awesome, I would order it for dessert absolutely. Unfortunately maybe it just was not possible to live up that. It does taste really good but I’m not getting a whole lot that reminds me of a pumpkin pie crepe with vanilla bean ice cream. I think I’m getting mostly chocolate taste. There’s a little bit that could be the pumpkin and vanilla but if I didn’t know what it was meant to be I don’t know that I would have it figured out. Regardless it’s a tasty tea and I’m glad I got 2 bags of it and can resteep it one more time.

So, I’ve been really bad at reviewing tea lately because I’ve been crazy addicted to Dark Souls. And Fiance is horribly seductive with his offers of playing it co-op with me sometimes. (Bless him for helping me through the Anor Londo archers.)

It’s also almost felt like spring for us lately, so I’ve spent way more time outside. And then tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be a rain/snow mixture. Sigh.

I made an unsweetened pitcher of this, because I honestly think it’s sweet enough on it’s own. It’s a definite solid candy-like watermelon flavor. It’s also not so overwhelming that you feel like you’re chewing Bubble Yum (which I actually like, but know it’s not for everyone). This reminds me of a dialed back version of the Watermelon Mint from Republic of Tea.

Definitely another tasty tea!

Backlog:

I don’t drink a lot of alcohol, but, I have had a few JD and pepsi drinks in my past. When I was young and thought that drinking alcohol was the cool thing to do, JD and pepsi was my drink of choice. So, I was excited to try this Whiskey and Cola from SBT, if for no other reason than it was a drink that I felt I could adequately rate because I do have some history with it, even if the history is a bit distant.

The cola notes are definitely distinct in the fragrance of the dry leaf, with softer whisky notes. The same is true of the brewed tea … and the taste of the iced tea. I could certainly pick up on the cola notes right away, but the whisky was a little less obvious. After a few sips, I began to pick up on the whisky.

The black tea melds nicely with these other flavors. This is not my favorite SBT tea, but, I did enjoy it, and it would be one that I’d be willing to have now and again.

I’m really enjoying this SBT. The flavors aren’t as ‘in-your-face’ as some of the other SBT blends I’ve enjoyed, but they’re very good.

The ginger is quite subtle, so if you’re expecting something peppery or strong this isn’t the one for you, but the honey is a little bit stronger and adds almost a sweet thickness to the mouthfeel. I can almost imagine a little bit of syrupyness from it. Both flavors work together very well, and I’ll enjoy my pitcher of this.

Backlog:

I really like this blend from SBT. Of the teas that I’ve tried thus far that were created as flavor incentives during the kickstarter campaign … this one is definitely one of my favorites. I like the way the ginger comes through … it isn’t super peppery or strong, and the honey isn’t overwhelming either.

I like the way the two flavors come together in this blend, and that the black tea seems to be the primary focus. This is one I’d reorder.

We finished off the first steeping, mostly mixed with milk. It was pretty darn good that way! Right now I’ve got the whole pitcher (6cups worth) sitting here with me and I plan on drinking most of it throughout the evening lol. After the “green bean tea” fiasco I just want something cold and sweet and this certainly fits the bill.

I ordered a few of the SBT to try since the fiance (soon to be husband!!! OMG I’M GETTING MARRIED IN ONE DAY!!) and I both really like iced tea. There was a bit of an ordeal getting these. Our mail carrier didn’t deliver these because “no one was home” in order to receive the package. um, wait, we were home all day! We didn’t get the slip stating that the package wasn’t delivered though. I only found out because I checked the tracking knowing that it was supposed to arrive. ugh.

On to the tea though! I was really nervous to brew this up due to some of the “brewing mishap” reviews I’ve read regarding this tea series. I measured out the two quarts into my pitcher, and then transferred about 2 1/2 cups of that to a pot on the stove. Covering the pot I brought the water just to a boil, shut off the burner, added the bag of tea, and started my timer. Two minutes and 50 seconds later I fished out the bag, and poured the tea from the pot to my pitcher. Set in the fridge and wait until cold!

The dry tea had hints of a creaminess to it, but I wasn’t really getting anything else. Brewed up there is definitely a creamy vanilla scent going on. Taste-wise it’s an enjoyable base, smooth. I am just not getting coconut cream pie. I really really really wanted coconut cream pie. Added some home-made simple syrup to make it a sweet iced tea. Again really lovely, just not what I was expecting/hoping for.

ETA: Totally delish sweetened and with half and half! Still not getting a lot of coconut though. bummer!

So, I’m going to be at my parent’s house for eight days starting Friday to house and dogsit while they’re in Puerta Viarta (mildly jealous, but eh). The saddest part is that I’m far more concerned about how much tea I should bring and such than any other aspect of this. Because I know I drink more tea while I’m there because there’s not much else to do, but I don’t want to, like, pack a suitcase of tea.

Oh well. I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

The name of this tea has made everyone I’ve told it too giggle uncontrollably. I appreciate that in a tea.

I also like the banana candy-type flavor paired with the slightly malty black base. The banana kind of sneaks up on you towards the latter part of the sip and then explodes with a sweet banana flourish.

This isn’t my favorite of the SBTs I’ve tried so far (I think that might go to Rainbow Sherbet), but I like it and would definitely consider having it on hand again.

This one was taken out of the HH teabox a while back since I happen to love 52Teas banana blends. This is actually one big tea bag for a pitcher of iced tea, so I just busted the bag open to have one teaspoon hot. Even though the leaves are tiny, the taste isn’t bitter right after boiling, but that’s because I only steeped for two minutes. The banana flavor is nice as usual, but on its own without the extra ingredients that usually make up a nice 52Teas blend, I can see how this might be considered artificial tasting. But this is a long way from being unbearably artificial, it tastes fine to me! Thanks monkey! I love the bakey bready black tea base… tastes like I’m eating banana bread!

After Fiance and I finished the Cherry Limeade SBT in record time for us, I went for this one. And after cold steeping it overnight, I was really excited to try it!

I love it when excitement is well warranted. This really tastes like sherbet. Initally, I get lime, then orange, and then the raspberry, but the best moment is at the end of the sip where they all kind of come together and bcome a spoonful of guilt-free sherbet. It’s even a little creamy.

I personally didn’t add sugar because there’s a bit of natural sweetness, but I can’t see it as anything but delicious and even more sherbet-ty then.

(And only 5 more reviews till I hit 500! Yikes!)

I cold-brewed this tea a few days ago but only now got around to putting sugar in it. I’m somewhat sick with a cold but there’s cleaning that needs to get done today and I’ve gotten a late start to it.

This tea, when cold brewed as long as I did, which is about 12 hours, has a nice dark rich tasting base and some sweetness on top that must be the cotton candy/caramelized sugar. If asked what the sweetness was, I wouldn’t have said cotton candy, but this is nice tasting all the same. Not quite up to the razzleberry standards but still pleasant to taste.

I am always impressed at how the actually does resemble rainbow sherbet. Served cold it really does seem as though you are enjoying the liquid version of the tasty treat. It is sweet but also slightly tart just like the dessert.

After 16 hours, this turned out to be yet another tasty SBT! This perfectly captures the flavor of rainbow sherbet right down to its icy, fruity deliciousness. Yet another restock!

Grabbed some more of this during a recent purchase and yessss, still fantastic. I’m a fan of Frank’s Razzleberry blends in general and this one’s pretty great. I originally was going to make a Birthday Cake SBT but it was a little alcohol smelling when I opened the package so I thought it best to air that one out a bit. The one time I ignored it, the iced tea tasted of alcohol also and I’d rather not ruin a tea bag like that. Should fade in a day or a few. Likely I’ll have finished this tea by then and possibly the resteep as well because it’s fantastic.

I read in one of the reviews that someone made a tea slushy out of it and got me to thinking. How does one do that? poured with ice cubes into a blender? hmmm.

Finally found an iced tea method that works for me, provided I follow it. Tea for my 2 quart pitcher – 8 cups worth or the SBT packages. 8 hours – timed by the oven timer so I don’t forget. Take the tea out immediately and then toss or save for a resteep. Add sugar (a spoonful per cup right now so 8 for this which is an insane amount of sugar but I wanted something sweet so I don’t care). Pour over ice and drink. Working pretty well so far.

Haaa, finally an iced tea that I manage to not screw up, even though I tried my hardest. First I forgot that it was steeping in the fridge so it steeped for..I dunno 48 hours? I added sugar, not sweet enough. Added more sugar, barely too sweet. Hopefully on the second steep I can get the sugar right and hopefully remember that it’s in the fridge, though it’ll probably take a few days to get through 2 quarts of the first steep all by myself in the middle of winter. Nice break from hot tea and I just need something cold sometimes that isn’t as boring as water.

So yeah, this is really nice and I like it. Good to be able to try it in it’s original form for once when I love it so much as a Genmaicha.

Sipdown!!

So long Monkey Fart. It was fun while it lasted but we won’t be seeing each other again.