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Countdown To Catching Up – Tea 7
I am so behind on posting these, my apologies to anyone who might be waiting for me to add these teas to the database!
Anyway, this tea is amazing. As I mentioned in the description, I can’t believe I didn’t think of creating a Chai Spiced Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha sooner than I did! I love chai blends & I love our classic Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha, it seems only natural to bring these two together – but honestly, I didn’t even think on it for a moment until I came across a recipe for a chai spiced rice krispy treat & finally the lightbulb appeared!
I’m glad I finally did happen upon that recipe, because this tea is amazingly good. My personal preferences for a chai blend is for a black tea base, but it works so well with the classic marshmallow treat genmaicha! The spices are strong enough to be present within every sip, but the marshmallow notes shine through too! YUM!
Lime flavoring and I don’t get along. It just tastes like cleaner to me. I don’t taste much else other than that cleaner flavor and some slightly peppery honeybush. Possibly there’s some creaminess, but I’m drinking it with milk to try to bring out the cheesecake vibes. I drank the whole cup, but I’ll likely pass along the rest of the bag.
I don’t like alcohol, so I’m relieved it doesn’t taste too much like that. The base is also a little strong, almost like green tea, but I guess green rooibos has a similar vibe. I drank the whole package without forming too strong an opinion. I guess I thought the base overshadowed the flavors this time. I would have liked more strawberry or bubbliness.
Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2025 Tea #2 – Your newest tea
This was just delivered in a 52Teas order, so it is my very newest tea. A part of me felt I needed to buy this one, as I MIGHT be the person who has asked Anne to reblend Frank’s Black Silk Chocolate Milk Qu Hao the most. Probably definitely. It was still in stock on the site after a few months, so I decided to order! It might be my favorite of Frank’s blends. Definitely top five. So I was thrilled that Anne tried to recreate a similar blend! The Qu Hao base used in the original blend is rare, impossible to find when it isn’t expensive, so I understand it won’t be the SAME blend. But I also was very happy that Anne aimed to recreate it. The base in this blend is Gu Zhang mixed with Assam and Yunnan. Sounds good to me! Though I am not sure I have ever actually had another Gu Zhang leaf before. (A quick search of all the teas that I have rated in my Steepster lifetime tells me no, no Gu Zhang in my tea drinking history, at least directly in the name.) I’m wondering if Anne has ever used it before? So I have no idea how the Gu Zhang tastes on its own. But I was also thrilled that Anne still has the original recipe for the Black Silk Chocolate Milk Qu Hao… as sometimes I hear many of Frank’s recipes were lost. So there was a chance the flavoring would be similar! AND IT IS. The base probably isn’t as deep as the Qu Hao, but the flavoring is spot on. It’s like a silky smooth mix of chocolate/ marshmallow/ vanilla and kahlua. You know… exactly what the ingredients contain… minus the kahlua. But wow, the flavors really meld together so well and very balanced. (One of my favorite combinations of flavors is chocolate/marshmallow, so this is very much my thing.) It’s amazing that the flavors are so spot on to the original blend. It seems like a simple mix of flavors, but I have only ever noticed this exact flavoring with Black Silk Chocolate Milk Qu Hao before. The third steep (milking the leaves for all I can) is quite good too — smooth, never harsh. In a mystery taste test, I would definitely compare the two blends. So… mission successful! I was so blinded by the lack of Qu Hao in the tea world, that I didn’t realize something similar could be recreated, especially by someone with Anne’s talents! Thank you! Very glad you put this together!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 23 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 10 minute steep
Also, I can’t remember if I have ever had Pinwheel cookies, so I can’t say if the name is accurate or not. Though I trust Anne’s judgement on that!
Daughter who lives with us LOVES Pinwheel cookies, and actually prefers the Publix brand version because of the size. I made most of her advent this year with Pinwheel cookies as the daily treat!
@tea=sipper thank you, I’m so glad you enjoyed this tea! When I realized you were the one who bought the last of the Pinwheel that I had in stock, I was glad, because I had blended this with you in mind, hoping you might like it, because the blend of teas was about as close to the Qu Hao that I could manage without this blend costing WAY too much.
@ashmanra – pinwheels were my favorite as a kid, and it wasn’t always the pinwheels that were purchased, I think Nabisco also makes Mallowmars? which are basically the same thing. Which is kind or weird, actually, because Nabisco makes both cookies but I think they’re both basically a cookie base topped with a marshmallow and then it’s all covered in chocolate. I’ve always loved anything chocolate and anything marshmallow, so these cookies were a bit of heaven for me. :)
ashmanra – I love that! And I loved hearing about all of the advent details of your fam this year. :D
52Teas – Ah, Anne, thank you. I had a feeling you MAY have had me in mind in creating this blend, and your comment just warms my heart. :D I saw Pinwheel was still on the site after a few months of giving anyone else a chance to grab them, so I just went for it and purchased. Another BIG thank you!
I don’t taste plum, but I definitely taste peach! It’s good quality and nice, though not the most special of 52teas blends. Sort of just a peach black tea. The flavoring could be a lot bolder. I saved this one to share with my dad since peach is his favorite. He agreed that the flavoring was super light, but he could taste the peach.
Day 12 of the 52teas advent calendar. I made this as an oat milk latte because the word “chai” always makes me think I should add oat milk. The spice balance here reminds me a lot of the gingerbread blend, in a favorable way. The cinnamon, clove, and pepper are clear but not overpowering. Not sure I’m getting “chestnut” per se, but there’s a nice creaminess that goes deeper than the oat milk. Another one that’s risky because of my stomach but I’d recommend for flavor.
Overall, this continues to be an excellent advent. There were some returning favorites (banana eggnog oolong! candy cane marshmallow treat genmaicha!) as well as some new and new-to-me blends that I found quite enjoyable. The gingerbread green and raspberry lemon linzer black were particular highlights there. The quantity of tea is just right – enough to play around with but not so much that it ends up sitting around forever. This calendar has quickly become a constant in my advent lineup; I expect that will continue to be the case.
Countdown to Catching Up – Tea 8!
This is a reblend from Frank’s era of teas . . . Hey! with my last anniversary, I think I surpassed Frank’s time as a chief zoomdweebie of tea. (That’s what he called himself, the chief zoomdweebie. As for me, I’m sure you’re aware that I refer to myself as the Mad Tea Artist of 52Teas!) I’m pretty sure he held on to 52Teas for 7 years, and in June, we celebrated our 8th year. So, yeah! That happened. Yay for me & 52Teas!
Anyway – I don’t know if Frank was ever as behind on crafting his teas as I am now. I do know that it takes me a bit longer than it did Frank because I think he would package the teas immediately after blending them rather than allowing them time to cure. I allow them to cure before I test them – I do this because I have found throughout my journey as a tea blender that a tea blended today will taste different 3 weeks from now than it does today. I want to give the teas time to cure so that i can test the true flavor of the tea that YOU will taste when you open the pouch, rather than what I would taste immediately upon blending.
Anyway – that’s part of the reason it takes me longer to get a tea out to you than it did Frank – in case you’re wondering.
So, let’s talk about this tea. Frank crafted this back in 2011 (I think). I didn’t have the recipe of this tea due to a computer crash, so, I kind of winged it – using my best guestimate on the recipe that Frank would have used. The tea is a little different: Frank used a black tea blend of Nilgiri & Assam, while I used a blend of Yunnan & Assam. Frank also did not include any dried pumpkin bits in his tea blend – and I used freeze-dried pumpkin as well as pumpkin seeds – which, I’m not sure how it would have impacted the flavor overall, as most addition of fruit does not really impact the flavor tremendously, but I like the way it looks when there are fruit bits (is pumpkin a fruit or a veggie – I know it’s a gourd, but is it classified as a fruit or a veg?)
So, there are definite differences between the two blends, and if I had to choose between them, I think I like mine more, if no other reason than my own ego. LoL
Nice pumpkin-y flavor, that starchy, pancake-y flavor that we all love from the pancake breakfast blend, plus a drizzle of maple-y syrup goodness. YUM!
Wow, can’t believe Frank was only in charge for seven years?!? That was a lot of tea in seven years. Congrats on eight years!
I like that you “cure” the tea blends. My mother always said that iced tea should be made a day ahead so it could “meld”, and she was right. Most same day iced sweet tea tastes like restaurant tea at first, and the character can be completely different the next day. I would love to have an understanding of how that works! With the dry leaves it makes sense that aromatics would saturate or dissipate. Maybe it is a similar process.
@tea-sipper – thank you! Yeah, when I look back, it seems like those 7 years was a lot longer! But he started 52Teas back in 2008 & left it to me in 2015. So, yeah, 7 years. Sometimes, most of the time, it’s hard for me to believe it’s been 8 years for me – almost 9!
@ashmanra – the cure is something I learned about before I ever really seriously started blending teas. I looked for anything – everything! – I could find about how to flavor teas myself, because I wanted a specific tea that I couldn’t find anywhere. I wanted a tea similar to one I had tried in California at one point – and I couldn’t find anything that was similar, so I set out to blend it myself. It was quite a process to find/learn how to do it myself, it was mostly through trial and error. It’s not like they have a “tea blending/flavoring for dummies” book, or really – any kind of book at the time. It’s been a long time since I got started, so maybe they have something now, but at the time, nothing!
Congrats on 8 years! I find that your descriptions and steeping recommendations are typically very reliable, which is probably in part because you are curing your teas. So I’m glad you do!
@Kaylee – thank you. I also taste test every tea several times & write my tasting notes/descriptions as I do. I’m also very mindful of how I brew each tea for the tasting notes – I didn’t used to measure everything out very carefully (including the amount of water) until I started doing the 52Teas thing, I would eyeball everything back then, but now, I want to be accurate, because while that accuracy wasn’t that important to me before, it IS important to other tea drinkers, so I want to be careful for my customers. I want my experiences with any tea to be as similar to those who will purchase the tea – so that they can be at ease with what they buy. Even the teas that I have crafted many, many times by this point (like the original pancake breakfast or graveyard mist, for example) – I measure accurately & taste test them every single time because I don’t want to take a chance that I could have a random bad batch. I love my teas too much for that to happen. :)
Congrats on eight years!
@Kelmishka – thank you!
Countdown to Catching Up – Tea 9!
I know I say this a LOT – but I absolutely LOVE how this tea turned out. It’s so very peachy! I think a better name for this would be gramma’s peach cobbler filling because it tastes a lot more like her gently spiced peach cobbler filling than it does a peach “cake” – which is what I understand a Kuchen is supposed to be, although to be perfectly honest, I’ve never actually tried a Peach Kuchen. I happened to stumble across a recipe for such a thing and it sounded delicious. Truth be told – I think I’m better at working out recipes for a tea blend than I am baking, so rather than trying to bake a Peach Kuchen, I thought I might just create a tea based off the recipe I found – and this is the result. (I think next summer, I might have my youngest try her hand at crafting a Peach Kuchen for me.)
Anyway, this tea is delicious. It has a lot of peach flavor, notes of cinnamon & ginger, as well as a hint of cake-y & custard-y flavors in the background. But the real star of this is the peach, peach is what I taste first & peach is what is there, proudly – throughout the sip. So good!
Countdown to Catching Up – Tea 10 (Counting down from 10 to 1!)
As I’ve mentioned previously – I’m very behind on getting teas out due to my cellulitis. An update on that: My legs are definitely getting better. They are healing, and they don’t hurt nearly as much as they did even last week. About 12 days ago, we were really worried that the infection had gotten worse, but after another round of antibiotics, they seem to be (finally) working & things are improving. Fingers crossed that this continues!
Anyway, because I was way too outraged & embarrassed at how behind I really was, I decided rather than call this a tea of the week (because I don’t even want to admit what month this is from to myself, much less anyone else!) I decided to call it a countdown to catching up! I figure by the time I’ve completed this countdown, I’ll still be a bit behind, but at least it will be a more manageable & easier thing to admit to!
But – anyway – this wonderful caffeine-free tea! Let’s talk about it! It tastes like someone liquified one of my cranberry oatmeal cookies! It’s wonderfully warm & inviting with the flavors of cinnamon, ginger & nutmeg. The cranberry brightens the cup a bit. The oatmeal notes are not overwhelming – but they’re there – enough to say – yep, this tastes like an oatmeal cookie!
Lately, I’ve been finding that most of my tisanes, I prefer cold-brewed. But this is best served hot. I like it with a drizzle of honey – but it’s also quite nice with a teensy bit of brown sugar to bring out that cookie element just a bit more. It’s also good without any sweetener, as I’ve had it several times without, but, I find that the cookie-ish flavors pop just a bit more with a sweetener of some sort.
So glad to hear that you are getting better! Praying for continued healing and return of full strength and health!
@ashmanra – thank you. I appreciate it. It has been a very long, long & difficult journey with this – a lot longer than I would have ever imagined. I’m just really glad I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now. Thanks again!
Sipdown!
Well, I really hope that I’d already recorded this sipdown and that I still have some left… but I just found out that it was reblended for this year’s 12 teas of Christmas, so at least I’ll have more on the way!
Such a fantastic tea – the absolute closest there has been to my favourite Banana Oolong from DavidsTea and bonus – no artificial sweetener! The perfect creamy oolong base blended with ripe banana.
The 12th Tea of Christmas!
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and to those who do not, Happy Holidays! I wish everyone a very happy & healthy new year!
So, this tea! Today, I brewed it a little strong so that I could go latte with it, because I was in the mood for something creamy. I really enjoy this chai, there is a rich, roasted chestnut flavor (thanks not only to the vegan & nut-free chestnut flavor but also the touch of Lapsang Souchong in the blend) & a really nice blend of warm spices. The black tea blend is rich & flavorful even though it’s a latte.
This one makes a really nice latte, I do recommend brewing it strong though (using extra leaf to do so rather than steeping it longer) so that the flavors are not masked by the presence of the dairy.
The 12 Teas countdown is over, but tomorrow, I think I’ll start counting down the 10 teas to getting caught up! :)
The 9th Tea of Christmas . . .
Of all the teas that I’ve crafted for this year’s box, I think this one has been the most delightful to have in my tea studio. I love all the teas I craft – some more than others; I admit I’m not an impartial mom when it comes to my teas! – but this tea has been special, because every time I open the bin in which this tea is stored, my olfactory nerves are met with the most amazing scent. Sure, all of the teas smell amazing, but this one is a whole other level! It smells SO GOOD! I am truly going to miss it when it does leave the tea studio. I’m sure this one’s gonna sell out quickly!
Anyway, I’m also pleased to report that it tastes as good as it smells. This is one that also tastes amazing as a cold-brew, but I think it’s even better as a hot tea. Usually when it comes to my naturally caffeine-free blends, I tend to prefer them cold-brewed because there’s something about the process that brings out the very best in the flavors of the tisane. But this is one that I prefer as a hot tea, maybe it has something to do with the idea that a Maple Baked Pear would be better served hot (preferably with a drizzle of sweet cream over it!)
The tea has a really pleasing pear note with a luscious maple-y note & just a hint of warmth from the cinnamon & nutmeg. So good!
The 8th Tea of Christmas . . . (And YES I’m very well aware of how behind I am on these! LOL)
I’ve had several pots of this particular tea by now & every time I taste it, I’m surprised at how much I love it. Mostly because – while I adore lemon teas, I’m not always such a huge raspberry fan. I don’t hate them, but if I were to create a top 10 list of my favorite fruits, I don’t think raspberries would be anywhere on that list, even in an honorable mention category.
But here, the combination of raspberry & lemon works so well. The “Linzer” part of the blend is more or less a nod to my inspiration behind this tea. I wasn’t actually trying to create a “cookie” tea, mostly because so many of my teas in this year’s box are baked good flavored – gingerbread coffeecake, spiced snowflake cookie, tangerine cupcake & the one that was just announced for today, Christmas eve: candy cane marshmallow treat genmaicha. So I mostly just used the idea of a Linzer cookie as an inspiration & rather than trying to nail the flavor of a linzer cookie, I just added some vanilla bean & even a little bit of cotton candy which when added to the tea while it “cures” becomes crystalized & crumbles into little tiny sugary bits.
Anyway, I love the way it all turned out. It’s sweet, it’s bright & pleasantly tart & fruity. A tasty cuppa!
Wow, I’m surprised you don’t love raspberries, because you do raspberry teas so well! :D
@Kelmishka – thank you! I don’t hate raspberries, but I don’t love them either. They are definitely not my go-to fruit for teas (that would be bananas, lol – at least for teas. I like bananas OK as a stand-alone fruit but love, LOVE, love banana teas.) I think I probably enjoy raspberry teas more than I enjoy the actual fruit, because I dislike the whole raspberry seeds getting caught in my teeth thing. I will eat them if they’re part of a dish/dessert (like pavlova, which is my favorite dessert, and my daughter will often include raspberries as part of it.) I will not go out of my way to get something that is raspberry, if that makes sense.
I now feel very validated about not tasting a pastry note :-D
Day 10 of 52teas advent calendar. I had this while working today so admittedly wasn’t able to give it my full attention. The tangerine/citrus seemed to pop more when it cooled. The base is a bit brisk and tannic, but in a way that serves to temper what I agree is best described as “marshmallow frosting” flavor. It’s got that fluffy marshmallow quality but also that particular sweetness and almost texture of frosting. It did mess with my stomach a little but not too badly (and not at all a reflection of the quality of the tea, it’s my own body’s sensitivity).
Day 9 of the 52teas advent calendar. Such a cozy fall/winter tea. I love this maple flavor. I find the pear soft and mellow. The base is great for this – sweet and slightly nutty. I can’t decide whether this would take oat milk well or the oat milk would drown out the flavors, but I don’t really feel like standing up to go get oat milk.
52Teas 12 Teas of Christmas: Day 9
Wow, this is so good! It’s got a super fresh pear flavor, laced with just-sweet-enough maple and a smidge of cinnamon. There are some round, creamy vanilla custard notes, too.
One of my favorites of the advent season so far!
Flavors: Cinnamon, Custard, Maple, Pear, Round
Homemade Advent Calendar from AJRimmer: Day 19
A cozy floral tea! I actually didn’t get a ton of rose in my cup and, frankly, I could’ve done with more! I probably didn’t shake/mix the blend well enough, and I think I was pretty distracted while drinking this one. Glad there’s another cup’s worth in the bag!
Flavors: Cinnamon, Rose, Vanilla
52Teas 12 Teas of Christmas: Day 6
I was holding off on drinking this one until I was in the mood for spice! The level of heat is actually really nice, enough that you get a tingle but your mouth isn’t on fire. The chocolate comes through as it cools, as do some of the other spices.
A fun one for sure!
Flavors: Black Pepper, Chili, Chocolate, Ginger, Spicy
