I have come to expect some pretty astounding combinations of flavors from 52Teas. It is almost like people wake up from a dream where their favorite foods collided and they call and say, “Hey, how about making up some….” and this time it was Carrot Cake Pancakes.
When I saw the name I thought it was just a mash up of someone’s favorite foods, but I have since heard that there are such baked goods available in different forms here and there. They are real, people! REAL!
So let’s give it a go!
This is a really brisk black tea base, fairly strong. It is strong enough to carry instructions to only steep for 2 1/2 minutes. After the black tea, I really taste the spices first. Cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg…and then comes maple syrup on the back. It isn’t sweet, though. That is the strange part to me, that I taste maple but not sugar. I don’t usually add sugar to my tea and I am sometimes disappointed to find that a vendor has added to a blend, so I am glad this isn’t already sweet. If you like sugar in your tea, this would probably taste like maple syrup, but for me it tastes like maple without the sugary taste, which brings it across as deep, dark, and lightly smokey.
When it cooled, the spices seemed to get stronger and the black tea a little milder, though the brisk affect is growing as I continue to sip.
Then, just for you guys, I decided to try it with sugar to see what it would taste like. And now it tastes like a mulled tea for Thanksgiving or Christmas, with lots of black tea heft!
I think this would be really good paired with sweets, which I don’t usually do, preferring to serve a strong but plain tea with sweet or rich foods. Otherwise I would serve it when I want a rich and full tea experience when I am distracted and need to focus, perhaps at work, rather than serving it as a soothing, contemplative cup.
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Gingerbread Brulee/52Teas
I found a super simple recipe to make tea infused hot chocolates and I have been making them since. 10/10 would recommend this recipe by Savvy Eats which can be found here.
I have tried this with A Quarter to Tea’s Sticky Toffee Bread Pudding, Bird and Blend’s Monkey Chops and this time I am using 52 Tea’s Gingerbread Brulee. Each time has been delicious and distinctly flavored by the tea.
You start by cold brewing 1-1.5 teaspoons of tea in 1 cup of milk. The recipe says to do this for 20 minutes which I followed the first time and had a flavorful drink. Since then, I have set the cold brew up earlier so it steeps for longer just so I can get more flavor (usually I leave it cold brewing anywhere between an hour and 6 hours). It probably isn’t necessary for it to sit that long but it makes me happy. I also usually double the recipe, using 3 teaspoons of tea for 16 ounces of milk.
When the milk is done cold brewing I get to preparing the drink on the stove. If I doubled the milk, as I did with this hot chocolate, I also double the recommended cacao powder and chocolate chips, but still only use the one tablespoon of sugar. I tend to use either a 1:1 mixture of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips, or just milk chocolate chips. I have salted caramel chips that I think I will try one time just to change things up but this particular hot chocolate was made with all milk chocolate chips because that was what was most easily accessible.
Now that I am drinking this hot chocolate, I think all milk chocolate chips was the right way to go. This tea is so true to gingerbread but the kind you’d make at home that isn’t overly processed or sweet. That means it is heavy on the ginger and has a richness from the molasses. That depth is balanced nicely by the sweet and creamy milk chocolate, a balance that might have been tilted more to bitter if there was semi-sweet chocolate in the mix. Not that that would have been particularly bad, just more adult and sometimes you just like the nostalgia of a sweeter, creamier hot chocolate. And nostalgic this is because it essentially tastes like I made gingerbread cookies and then let one just melt into my hot chocolate. So. Good!
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Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is not available but click below for blends that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Blackberry Custard Tart Green Tea/52Teas. . . . .
I have seen a lot of praise for 52 Teas banana flavoring. There is also a lot of amazement over the 52 Teas coconut, which never seems to go bad no matter how old it gets. What you don’t hear a lot about is the 52 Teas blackberry flavor, which is a shame because it is awesome!
I had a cup of 52 Teas’ Blackberry Dumpling tea not too long ago and it was delicious. However, I had only a one-serving sample so after finishing that mug I was left with a blackberry tea void…until I remembered that this tea, Blackberry Custard Tart Green Tea, was part of the most recent 12 Teas of Christmas box.
While green tea is not typically my favorite, I am still smiling as I sip this because, like Blackberry Dumpling, the blackberry flavor is once again the super delicious star of the mug. There is the faintest vegetal note from the base but mostly it highlights the fresh and juicy flavors of the blackberry. I am not getting too much custard or tart but it is there, light and subtle and adding just a twinge of creaminess. Probably also keeping things on the sweeter side.
52 Teas just nails some flavors and blackberry is one of their more underrated skills. This is yet another delicious blackberry beverage, even if it doesn’t quite capture its namesake.
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Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for blends that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
China Bancha/Herbie Organic. . . . .
This is intriguing! Bancha usually refers to Japanese tea, specifically the second harvest from the same tea bushes that produce sencha. Bancha is considered to be an every day tea grade rather than something to reserve for special occasions, so I am drinking this as my after brunch cup.
This tea is harvested in China but is processed like Japanese bancha. The leaves are not terribly long – not like Hou Kui – but they are similar in that they are pressed flat. They are quite dark green in color.
The steeped tea is a rich gold color, not pale at all. It looks a lot like apple juice! My first sip gave the impression of mint, but the more I drink, the more I realize it is a very light briskness that builds over time. It is not creamy, buttery, or very vegetal. It is not sour when sipping. There is a bit of mineral flavor. By halfway through the cup, my tongue is feeling rather dry. And dry makes you want to drink more.
As is so often true of brisk tea, the follow up to the sip is a slight rising sweetness. There is only a hint of that here and it seems to come and go, being the most noticeable in the very back of the throat. Once the aftertaste establishes itself, though, it does linger well.
With its palate cleansing tendencies, I think this is a tea I would serve with or immediately after a meal. It is not a favorite for me, as I tend to like highly vegetal or buttery green tea, but is the sort of thing my daughter loves.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Herbie Organic
Description
Green tea produced by combining the best Chinese and Japanese tea making traditions. Grown on the northern side of the River Yangtze at altitudes of up to 250 meters, pressed and long leaves give this green tea light and gentle taste and a mild character.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Bananas! from 52Teas. . . .
Banana is a flavor that 52 Teas does well. Very well. So when I saw they had a new banana tea, Bananas!, I was itching to buy it. Lucky for me I did not have to since I won a Steepster giveaway and got this tasty sounding tea in a subscription box. Thank you, 52 Teas!
I brewed up this black tea per the recommended steeping parameters, 3 minutes at 200F. I let it cool as I read the ingredients and wrote a yelp review about a burger joint I tried the other day. The ingredient list is short and simple: single estate black tea, banana, and natural flavors.
Just like the list of ingredients, the flavor is simple too. Black tea with banana flavors. Neither in-your-face and both nicely balanced. This has a fresh banana flavor that is not too sweet and pairs nicely with the gentle malt of the black base. It is a flavored tea that is not so flavored you could grow tired of it quickly. A nice everyday sort of tea you can skip on while doing other things since it does not demand much attention.
Some of my favorite banana blends from 52 Teas have been Banana Pudding, Anne’s Gone Bananas…and a Little (Coco)Nuts, Buttered Banana Bread, Banana Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha….this list goes one. However, what this list has in common is that they are banana blends with a little something else. This tea is just bananas and while I definitely recommend it for purists who might want more simplicity, I think personally I prefer some of the other blends more.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.