If you missed the announcement in my previous post, our beloved and super-talented tea-blending friends at 52 Teas have recently launched a permanent line (yes friends, you heard me correctly) of teas! D’s Teas features all of the ultimate fan favorites from 52 Teas over the years: Pancake Breakfast black tea, Marshmallow Treat genmaicha, and Graveyard Mist green tea. If you’re curious about the history behind these beloved blends, check out my previous post. If you’re ready to hear the low-down on their delightful sip-ability, you’ve come to the right place! Let’s chat about each one individually:
Pancake Breakfast: is where we start. A robust black tea with calendula petals offering a lovely, maple-syrup-y variance in color, this tea smells like straight-up starchy, delicious pancakes. When my samples of these three arrived, this was the one that I could smell through the package. THIS was the one that my dark-and-malty-tea-loving fiance was ready to tear into at a moment’s notice. It brews up beautifully strong, almost like an English Breakfast, with syrupy maple notes perfectly balanced alongside the starchy, bread-y flavors of cooked breakfast cake. There’s something magical about 52 Teas’ flavors: a maple tea is never just a one-note maple tea. Sure, you can add maple to a black tea and call it a day, but this blend harnesses all the nuance of a true pancake (sweet, bready, starchy, slightly savory, fully syrupy, a little buttery) and packs it all into one cuppa. This one, I’m happy to say, makes an incredible tea latte, sweetened with a hint of– you guessed it– maple syrup.
Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha: As a fairly new fan of genmaichas– roasty, toasty, popped-rice greens– I was eager to dive into this one. How would the flavors vary from the few standards genmaichas I’ve begun to dip my toes into? First things first– this one boasts the addition of marshmallow root, my favorite creamy-herbal addition to tea, kicking the flavors to next-level sweet n’ creamy. Still harnessing the traditional toasty-green that I’ve come to love from genmaichas, this one uses a matcha-infused genmaicha (as Anne explained in our interview) that gives this green the perfect vegetal kick to round out the sweetness of the marshmallow-y notes. I drank this one straight, but I’d love to see what a touch of foam on top does for that already-present creamy factor. Yet again, D’s Teas knocks it out of the park!
Graveyard Mist: Oh, this tea. This delicious, magical tea. I’d been lucky enough to give this one a try before, when Sororitea Sister Nichole aka CuppaGeek- shared a sampling from her precious stash. I’d heard Nichole rave about this one– minty, creamy, green, fresh– so frequently that she practically had me salivating. This tea truly lives up to the sense of place set by its slightly spooky name– picture a foggy, chilly morning, mist rolling in across a centuries-old stone graveyard– yup. If that mist had a flavor, it’d be green tea-meets-marshmallow-with-some-spearmint-for-fun, yah? Yeah. This tea is crisp and bright, with a pillow-y vanilla mouthfeel that is unmatched by any green I’ve ever had. It’s minty, sure, but it’s a more delicate, fresh, and vanilla-y mint than say, a traditional peppermint. Think those green star mint candies as opposed to the red. But better. This one is as spectacular on ice as it is hot, and defies all logic to be perfectly appropriate morning or night, any season, in any mood. It’s one of those tea, you guys– simply magical.
It’s clear why these three are the teas that Anne and her team chose to bring back permanently. 52 Teas devotees and newbies alike can now stock up on some of the blends that make this brand such a crowd favorite! And if these three are any indication, I’d recommend you stock up on as much as you can find. Even permanently-stocked, these are bound to be snapped up quickly.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black/Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
Every once in a while, we craft a very special tea – well, we think all our teas are pretty special! But sometimes, one is so special that it’s beloved by our customers and requested for reblends on a regular basis.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Razzleberry Rooibos from 52Teas. . . .
I am always on the lookout for good caffeine-free options. Always. It seems like my cupboard is comprised of mostly black teas but I don’t want to be drinking cup after cup of caffeinated blends just before bed. So…the search is always on and I am always open to suggestions.
Recently, I was browsing the 52 Teas site and noticed this tea, Razzleberry Rooibos, was still available in both large and taster size and since I had an unopened taster bag at home, I decided to try it out to see if it was a blend I might want to stock up on.
This tea is a blend of green and red rooibos with blackberries, raspberries, and natural flavors.
Flavorwise, I get mostly red rooibos if I am being honest. It’s a mellow rooibos flavor that is neither medicinal nor woody and melds with the slight berry flavor that is present. It is sweet, not overly so but more generic than distinctly berry, even though the berry flavor pops up every now and again.
I love 52 Teas but this blend leaves me wanting more. More berry flavor. More razzledazzle.
So this isn’t going to be a caffeine-free staple in my cupboard but 52 Teas has many offerings for me to search through so I am not discouraged.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
Here at 52Teas, we’ve had a few different variations on the Razzleberry (Raspberry & Blackberry) flavor – and they’ve all been so delicious that I see no reason why we should stop exploring all that’s Razzleberry! This time, we’ve flavored a combination of organic green and red rooibos. The result is a slightly tart, deliciously sweet berry tea that’s naturally caffeine free!
The base is light, slightly fruity with hints of nutty warmth. The berry flavor is bright and tempting! Tasty!
Taster size is approximately 15g
organic ingredients: green rooibos, red rooibos, blackberries, raspberries and natural flavors
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Banana Flavored Tea? We’re Listening. . . . #52Teas
There is definitely no mistaking that I don’t love banana- banana bread, banana tea, banana pancakes, banana smoothies. I just love bananas! I actually made chocolate covered bananas the other day. I dipped them in milk chocolate and covered them with crumbled graham crackers, crushed peanuts, sprinkles, chocolate chips, and shredded coconut. They were really really good. Sometimes I don’t always have the time to freeze, coat, and roll out chocolate covered bananas. Naturally, tea would be the next best option! You can always rely on 52 Teas for creativity and I know Anne (the mad tea artist at 52 Teas) is a huge fan of banana tea, so I had high expectations for this one.
My expectations were certainly met! This tea was a honey bush blend. I definitely prefer honey bush to rooibos, any day. It does still have a nice nuttiness to it though, just isn’t as woodsy or earthy. The nuttiness of the honey bush almost gave the illusion that this was more of a chocolate covered banana rolled-in-pecans tea. Either way, its delicious. The chocolate adds a creamy component and of course- the taste of chocolate! And who doesn’t like chocolate? The banana flavor is present but not overpowering or artificial. It is quite delicious and realistic!
I would definitely recommend this blend. I know not everyone is a fan of banana flavor, but even if you’re not I would suggest you try this. It is really good. A great after-dinner treat!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This blend is longer available but click below for blends that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Glazed Donut from 52Teas
I’ve hear about the 52Teas company for its unique and varying tea flavors (flavors like banana pudding, pumpkin cheesecake, and cotton candy), but this is my first time trying tea from 52Teas. With a name like Glazed Donut, how could you not give this blend a try?
Glazed Donut is a black tea with organic flavors added to create the dessert-flavor of its namesake. I brewed this tea in a variety of ways. First, I went for my preferred style: hot tea without any sugar or milk. With this method, the strongest glazed donut experience I had was the smell in my mug from the hot brew. The fragrance had the sugary, frosted notes of a sweet and buttery donut. When drinking the tea, the sweetness is much more mild, mostly tasting like quality, loose leaf black tea with the expected tart tannin flavors.
I also tried this tea as a twelve-hour cold brew. The blend is much smoother with this method, though I didn’t find the glazed donut flavor to be any stronger. It’s still the most noticeable in the scent and the first sip of the tea. The later notes are all traditional black tea.
Finally, I went out on a bit of a limb for me, and I tried this tea hot, with a hefty teaspoon of sugar. I also made sure to follow the recommended steeping instructions: brewing for 3 minutes and then letting sit to cool for 10 minutes. Overall, I think this was the best brewing style. Adding real sweetness to the glazed donut fragrance helped complete the flavor profile, and letting the brew cool a bit before drinking brought out more donut notes.
For best results, I recommend drinking this blend alongside a morning indulgence of your choice: cinnamon roll, danish, or glazed donut.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
I originally blended this tea as part of the Breakfast Inspired Sampler Add-On for the start-up Kickstarter campaign, but I do have a few packages of this tea remaining.
This tea was crafted with a very special tea base (a Thyolo OP1 from the Satemwa estate in Malawi). It’s a fair-trade and rainforest alliance tea – and it’s seriously good stuff!
I used this tea as the base for flavors to create a Glazed Donut like experiencece – and all I can say about this is YUM! So good!
Ingredients: single estate black tea, organic calendula petals, organic all-natural flavors.
This tea is no longer available but click below for the unique flavors that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Bonfire in a Cup: Smoky Spice from 52Teas
As we endure the last cold nights of the season, it seemed the perfect time to brew up a cup of Smoky Spice from 52Teas. This blend combines two of my favorite cold-weather sensations: woodsmoke and cardamom. Nothing quite makes me feel as cozy and nostalgic as holding a hot cup of spicy tea, with the smell your neighbor’s wood stove on the wind.
Growing up in New England in a family with an Eastern European heritage, it seemed like we were always having winter bonfires and mulled cider or tea, celebrating some equinox or natural deity. These winter memories hit hard when I stuck my nose in the bag of these tea leaves, and I was caught up in the heat of the fire and the warmth of the spices.
52Teas does a great job with their smoky blends, the smoke is not too savory or bacon-like, just the perfect charcoal-nutty waft of roasting logs on the fire. The smoke is this blend is balanced, with a solid black tea base and a generous scoop of cardamom pods and vanilla beans, with no one flavor coming on too strong.
Drinking this tea is like sitting next to the fireplace and eating snappy spice cookies, or sipping on a spiced tea from your thermos out in the snow, watching a bonfire crackle away. I know I’ll be keeping an eye out for this blend when the weather turns again in the fall and you smell that first wisp of wood smoke on a crisp, cool day.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
This tea actually began as my Masterpiece Chai. While I was blending the spices, I toasted my cumin and I think either the cumin was especially fresh (not a bad thing at all) or I used too much cumin (much more likely) but the resulting blend ended up tasting strongly of smoky cumin. So I decided to add some Lapsang Souchong to amplify the smoky notes and create a Smoky Spice blend. This is a chai with a pleasant smoky tone – it’s not overly smoky – which is fine with me because I’m not a huge fan of a strong smoky essence. This has just the right level of smoke with a pleasant spicy note that isn’t too spicy, and it’s a little sweet and a little savory. It’s really nice.