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I don’t like genmaicha, but I sampled this anyway. I didn’t prepare a full serving because I knew it wasn’t going to be my cup of tea, pun intended.

I can’t get past the taste of the toasted rice. The taste reminds of when you’re preparing rice and you sauté the rice in melted butter until it starts browning. That moment. That moment right before you add the liquid to the buttery browned (raw) rice. Genmaicha tastes the way that smells. There’s a green tea note in it as well, but that is so subtle compared to the taste of the rice on my tastebuds. I barely taste the marshmallow root, and the fragrance of the toasted rice really lingers in my head.

No bueno.

Blech. I knew I wasn’t going to like this blend the minute I opened the bag. I detest mint in tea. I had one sip of this tea, cringed after reluctantly swallowing, and immediately passed the mug over to my mum. She doesn’t mind mint. She didn’t love it either, but she prefers the combination of mint and chocolate. After having my one sip I checked the ingredients and discovered that this blend contained peppermint leaves, spearmint leaves, AND wintergreen essence. For real?! Kill me now. No, don’t, that’s a tad bit dramatic. It was uber minty, y’know the type of mint that when you exhale your breath feels cold and your lips burn?? If that’s your jam, more power to you. It’d probably be nice as a latte with chocolate milk – again, if mint is your thing.

Oolong blends are hit or miss for me; this one was a miss. It smelled delicious. The smell of dry leaf reminded me of the Snickerdoodle Re-Imagined blend from earlier in the 12 Day of Christmas sampler. I like the idea of a tea that combines bananas, cinnamon and buttered rum essence – a liquid version of bananas foster if you will – but the base of this tea just didn’t jive on my tastebuds. Meh.

I was so pleased that this was after the Winter Cabin Chai. Marshmallow Assam sounded sweet and, well, safe. LOL! I was wrong. This tea was sadly a miss for me. I don’t say that often about black tea blends from 52teas because they’re usually quite exceptional. I think the black tea in this blend is just too bold for the marshmallow root. It was really quite strong and assertive, and, while I don’t mind that from a black tea blend, it really overpowered the marshmallow note. I’ll give it another go as a latte; maybe a bit of dairy will make it a bit less robust.

This is another solid black tea (re)blend from 52teas. I love a good coconut tea, especially those with black tea bases, so this blend is right up my alley. While the coconut flavor is really outstanding and there’s a nice creamy flavor, this tea reminds me more of coconut custard/pudding that of coconut cream pie…coconut cream pie filling, perhaps. One of my favorite components of pie is the crust, so I’m really missing even a hint of pie crust or pastry. I’m happy it was included in the 12 Days of Christmas sampler, but it’s not something that I need to add to my collection.

I wasn’t expecting to be too keen on this tea, but it was really a great little cuppa. Upon opening the bag I got a whiff of citrus and butterscotch, and that was a surprise…again, with the teas that are named one thing but end up smelling/tasting like something else. But, I digress…

When steeped, the scent from this cup reminds me of Christmas baked goods; it sort of smells like fruitcake – not the cakey bits, but the candied orange and all the lovely, warming spices. It’s spicy, but the spice isn’t overpowering or overwhelming. The ginger is a nice surprise and adds a really nice warmth to the cup. Honestly, the orange saves it for me.

Even though I don’t really get hot buttered rum, spiced or otherwise, from this cup, it is a really nice blend. I’m going to enjoy the rest of my sample bag over the next few days, and I’m very tempted to purchase more.

I finished off my sample bag this morning. I made a pot of tea (with a little bit of vanilla powder added to the steeper) and enjoyed a few cups straight and a few cups with a splash of homemade eggnog. Tasty, very tasty.

Y’know, I was actually excited about this tea. It was a crisp 26 degrees this morning, and I was really looking forward to trying this tea. I’d accidentally scratched off the hologram sticker for day 6 yesterday before realizing yesterday was actually day 5. I don’t mind chai blends. I tend to steep them in milk to temper the spiciness, but the “cabin” bit should’ve tipped me off. That said, I’m from south Texas where winter isn’t really a thing and very few people actually have fireplaces. I don’t think I’ve ever even been to a cabin. But, I digress, I reluctantly took one sip of this tea and immediately offered up the remains of my cuppa to several family members who took one whiff and passed.

Sadly, the smokiness of the lapsang souchong makes this tea undrinkable for me. Had it just been one of the lovely black tea bases that I adore from 52teas, I probably would’ve made a few lattes and easily finished the sample bag.

So far I’m 4 for 6 with the 52teas 12 days of Christmas tea sampler. I guess that ain’t too bad.

I wasn’t wowed by this blend (or reblend), but it was a nice afternoon cuppa. I was a bit puzzled to see coconut in the sample bag, but, thankfully, I didn’t get a lot of coconut flavor in my cuppa. Even after cooling for ten-ish minutes, the “pudding” note wasn’t really present. I added a tiny bit of milk and that saved the cuppa for me. I love a good banana tea, and, while this one isn’t among my favorites, it was still a lovely little cuppa with good ripe banana flavor.

This is another tea that I’m happy I tried but even happier that I don’t like/love. It’s a very heavy tea, if I can even call it that, and I can’t imagine you’d get many steeps out of 50g/2oz. There’s a lot of candy in the blend and very little tea. I tried to drink it hot but it wasn’t doing anything for me. I added a bit of chocolate milk and that made it more drinkable, but I won’t be finishing the bag I’ve opened. It’s basically liquid candy cane, as one would expect from a tea called Candy Cane Crush. I was hoping for a lot more black tea flavor, so I could’ve done with about 1/4 of the white chocolate chips and 1/2 of the crushed candy cane bits. I’d recommend this to those who love candy canes and sweet teas.