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What else to do but have a cup of tea when you can’t sleep? I’ve been up since about 3:15 a.m. and after 30 minutes of unproductive laying around, I finally got up and had a couple of cups of this. If I’m going to be up even more ridiculously early than the already ridiculously early time I’m going to have to be up to go to work this morning, I might as well have some tea. This was the one tea, of my somewhat limited selection, that called my name.

I steeped for six minutes this morning, and the fruity sweetness of the tea really comes through. I still don’t get that much of a cocoa note from it, but I still enjoyed my pot of tea. It amazes and amuses me how much this tea has grown on me. I’m contemplating getting more once I run out, which is a far cry from where I started out with this tea. Proper preparation does wonders, I tell you!

I’m now trying to decide what to fix to take with me to work. Black or green? Or white? Definitely something caffeinated, after my whopping whole five hours of sleep (is my body not aware I’m not 21 anymore?) . My friend gave me a sample of a hibiscus black tea that I’m curious to try, maybe I’ll go for that.

Good digestif. Peppermint is lovely for dealing with dietary excess. I need to buy a few peppermint plants, so I can make it really fresh. Until that time, this will do. Adequate peppermint flavor, though ideally there would be more of a minty wallop.

I was in the mood after working out (go me!) for something tart and assertive, and this, steeped for three minutes, fit the bill. Yum.

So I picked the Pancake Breakfast Black Tea to fuel my exceptionally early rise this morning (work at 7 a.m.—say what?). Anyway, good tea, but bad choice. It isn’t nearly caffeinated enough to do the job. Now its around 11:30 and I’m hurting.

I fixed it according to my new 52teas parameters of 200 degrees/3 minute steep, and am pretty sure I should have stuck with boiling water for a 4 minute steep. I think I’d have gotten a better flavor. It never ceases to amaze me how tea can be so finicky.

I think the more I drink the 52teas black teas, I’m less sold on them. The scent is incredible, but I don’t think I’m that happy with the base. It just doesn’t taste quite right. It doesn’t help that my normal go-to black tea is Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Holiday Blend. I’ve been spoiled by that exceptional black tea blend. I’m knocking the rating down a bit because of the base. It isn’t bad, its just not fantastic, and not quite what I’m looking for.

A friend of mine came over today, took one whiff of this tea, and declared it a must try—even after I explained my problems with brewing a decent cup. So off we went to try once more. I used water from the brita again, figuring that since its company, I should pull out all the stops (well, one stop, I suppose). This time I tried upping both the temperature and the steep time—temperature at 200 degrees and a three minute steep.

Holy hand grenade batman! I fixed a good cup. Even though I forgot to put the lid tightly on the basket of the Breville so I had a tea explosion in the pot, I got a decent cup of tea from this preparation. I tasted strawberries, people—actual creamy strawberry, just like the dry mix promises. I declare victory. It only took a total of 4.8 liters of tea to get it, and now I’m running relatively low on the tea, but I finally did it. I did a little mental Snoopy dance of victory (doing it in person might have looked strange, after all). I think I’m going to try the same parameters with the other 52tea blends that I have, to see if I can get a more reliably good cup from them.

I’ve prepared a couple of pots of this, and have held off writing a tasting note, since I wasn’t getting what I thought I should be getting. The dry tea smell is heavenly. Cream, strawberries, tea, it is all there and it smells like it should taste wonderful. But my first couple of preparations didn’t. I didn’t really get any of the flavor notes, I’d get vague whiffs of strawberry and cream, but nothing like what the dry mix promised. And bitter. Clearly, my standard black tea preparation of boiling and a four minute steep wasn’t cutting it.

So this morning I set out, Brita pitcher in hand (okay, fridge), and looked over what Steepsteristas had to say about their preparation. According to most tasting notes, I was oversteeping. So step one was to cut the steep time to a mere 2.5 minutes. I admit, I was nervous. It seemed so little. Then I came across AmazonV’s tasting note. That recommended a scant 190-200 for temperature. At this point, I was game for anything. So I set up my Breville, filled my pitcher with filtered water (a first for my tea—normally it gets straight tap), and let the Breville do its thing.

This pot definitely has a much stronger scent than previous pots did. It is also significantly less bitter. It still isn’t there however. On the sip I get….tea. Yes, tea. Good tea, but tea. No fruit, no creaminess, just tea.

Is my palate broken? Is this thing on? This is not funny. Maybe I’m just not cut out for fancy flavored teas. This is very demoralizing. Maybe I should stock up on cheap bagged tea so that I’m not spending money on tea that I don’t really “get”.

Okay, hissy fit over. Onward and upward, right?

Backlogging from last night. This is rapidly becoming my go-to after dinner drink. At least until I run out, at which point I’ll switch over to the CS Chamomile, since I have some of that. After I finish that, I’ll be on the hunt for a good digestif. Any ideas?

A mild green for a mellow afternoon. Steeped according to Adagio’s instructions.

I must admit, this tea is starting to grow on me, so it is getting a bump in the ratings.

I’m getting a lot of fruit on this brew, definitely pineapple. Lots of pineapple when I sip, plus a bit of fruity sweet aftertaste. I still don’t get figs or chocolate from the brew itself, though I definitely get chocolate from the scent.