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I’m going old school with my last bag of this. Milk and sugar and drinking it from a nice cup. There’s something to be said for the classic blends like EB.

I posted a bunch of teas in the ‘Take It Away’ thread last night and I’m already getting lots of interest from people. There’s still some teas left so if anyone wants in you’d better hurry. ;D

Mucha thanks to Ricky for sharing this tea with me! blows a kiss ;D

I’ve been eyeing this particular 52Teas blend for awhile, being a big fan of apple pie. The interior of British-Columbia is orchard country so in the summer and fall there’s always a good supply of fresh, tasty apples for baking and my dad can bake the best pies completely from scratch.

This tea doesn’t quite make me think of those pies, the crust component is missing for one thing. The apple flavour is nice, but it could stand to be a touch stronger. The sweet vanilla and spice notes are what really completes this tea though. I’m drinking it plain this time, but I can’t wait to see how it’ll taste with some milk and/or honey.

…Damn, I think I ‘overcooked’ this tea. I though, based on how it looked in the container Lena sent me, that it was a black tea so I set the water temperature accordingly. Only when I bother to look at the tea’s Steepster entry did I realize that it was actually a white tea. Ooops.

It definitely has that bitter tang you get from oversteeping unfortunately. I’m still getting some tantalizing notes of strawberries and cake (yes, cake!) which makes me all the more annoyed that I pretty much wrecked this cup. Oh well, at least I have more so I can make it again properly.

I tried this at the recommended steeping temp and it isn’t terrible it’s just kinda…blah. It has a weak green tea taste with lemongrass dominating the flavour. For a tea that has so many ingredients in it I was expecting more complexity. This could easily br mistaken for a lemongrass tisane of some sort – which is fine if you like that sort of thing, but I’m not a big fan personally.

I’ll admit, the first time I drank this it was without anything added, and I didn’t see what the fuss was about this tea. But today I decided to try it with some skim milk. OMG – YUMMMMY!

It tastes so smooth and creamy with a hint of vanilla and the light sweetness balances out of pungency of the bergamot very nicely. I’m jacking the rating up a couple notches.

The leaves yielded a great resteep that was almost as flavourful as the initial cuppa, although with a slight vegetale note creeping in this time.

Something sinister is stirring in the shadows, stretching out its hands to ensnare you. It’s…it’s…

THE RETURN OF THE DARK TICKLE!
*is shot * XD

Mmm, it’s hard to believe that this isn’t a flavoured tea because I could distinctly smell notes of citrus and spice and something that makes me think of chocolate when I opened the sample package. The tea doesn’t look that much different from other white tea buds, but when I put them in the water they took on the appearance of tarnished silver. It’s really quite pretty in an almost poetic way.

The flavour is very subtle and normally I don’t like that in a tea, but in this one I find I don’t mind it. I think it’s the flavour; instead of the vegetal/cooked greens flavour I get from Chinese silver needle teas, it has notes of nutmeg and sweet oranges that sort of gently tease at the palate and linger on the tongue.

Well that’s the end of this tea, sadly. I got a couple good steeps out of the last scoop of leaves and while the tea itself has good staying power the sweet cherry flavour…not so much.

Thanks so much Takgoti for sharing this one with me. :)

I tried this tea again with a higher steeping time and temperature and the results were better. The white tea base is still a little bit whimpy but the goji berry flavour was nice – though I suppose that’s partially because I deliberatly mushed the berries against the side of the cup as I was taking the bag out.

I’m still not sure if I want to keep this tea or give it away. Maybe I’ll take half and put the other half up for adoption. I sense another post in the “Take It Away” thread in my future. ;)