52teas

Started my day with this! A great way to start your day!!!

It looks like with this tea…you either love it or ya don’t…I’m in the group that likes it quite a bit! What’s left of my stash was hidden under a bunch of other tea and I am so happy I found this today.

This is tastier than I remember it too. I can really taste the chocolate today as well! The mint is powerful! You know I love my mint!!!

I seem to be breezing thru this one…I have given some to friends too, but, I am afraid it won’t be lasting much longer…

Tried to over infuse on purpose today to taste the difference. I noticed the longer you infuse the more the mint comes out and the chocolate hides…now…that’s not good, bad, or indifferent in my book for this specific tea, just an observation.

Nom Nom Nom…sorry this is from this morning…backlogging…

My first cuppa the day! More for comfort more than anything…this past weekend sucked!

I decided I didn’t have enough Black Tea or Black Flavors yet today so I switched back…I’m saving a portion of this for a swappin’ buddy so I should do that before drinking much more! LOL

My local Big Lots has a HUGE Tea Section now…at least bagged teas that I haven’t tried. I am going to TRY and get over there to grab some because they are super cheap at the moment and I am getting low on what I like to call LAZY tea…AKA BAGGED TEA lol

I have been trying to win the 52 Teas Email Trivia of the week since the first week they started it! I FINALLY WON 2 weeks ago!!! I was soooo excited! I ended up choose this tea as my tea that I won…I just got it in the mail today! YAY! And it couldn’t have come at a better time because I seem to be running out of most of my teas in my stash! Oye! Anyhow…upon opening the package I was stunned by a glorious chocolate aroma! Very powerful Chocolate Aroma! It was delightful, indeed! Color-wise it’s a medium brown once infused. After the infusion you can smell both the chocolate AND the mint but neither are overpowering. My first sip confused me as I thought based on the dry smell it would be all about the chocolate but it wasn’t. I wasn’t to quick to form an opinion…I took sip #2 and noticed the pleasant minty freshness. The mint it’s overpower but you certainly know it’s there. It accompanies the chocolate taste, again, neither too overpowering, taste-wise. There’s a bit of a woodsy undertone as an after thought but it doesn’t last long…the mint-chocolate combo pulls thru again at the end and lingers on to the aftertaste. All-in-All I do like this tea. It’s a bit different than I thought it would be but certainly not in a bad way. I like it. It’s tasty and flavorful but not obnoxious. Others have mentioned a Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mint comparison and I can totally see/taste the likeness! I’m sooooooo glad I won this! It’s nice. I will enjoy this often.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1.5 tsp
Additives: 1 tsp German rock sugar, 2 sprinkles powered cinnamon, 10 raisins
Water: 6 ounces filtered boiling water
Tool: Mesh basket strainer in cup
Steep Time: a little over 4 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: Raisin bran cereal, sweet raisins
Steeped Tea Smell: cinnamon, raisin, smoke
Flavor: raisin, cinnamon, a little too sweet, bake-y/cardboard astringent (is this the toast?)
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: astringent, bitter very briefly
Liquor: dark reddish-brown

Well I, and Bobbie and MilitiaJim like this steep. I don’t like that I had to doctor it so much to get what I wanted.

Post-Steep Additives: none

Resteep: weak, watery, even after leaving it in after the 5 min were up, cinnamon and raisin came through but nothing else, dumped it

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tsp
Additives: none
Water: 3 cups filtered boiling water (1 cast iron teapot full)
Tool: Cast Iron Teapot with Mesh basket strainer
Steep Time: a little over 7 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: Raisin bran cereal, sweet raisins
Steeped Tea Smell: cinnamon and tea
Flavor: black tea, smoky, astringent
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: tea
Liquor: translucent light reddish-brown

I started with 3 minutes, it was too weak, went and kept sipping, the tea was not yet bitter at 7 and I think it could have steeped longer.

The tea smells very much like cinnamon and tea. I was not getting toast (or was the smoky flavor supposed to represent crispy toast?) or butter.

The raisins was only present in the dry leaf smell.

To test the quality of a steeped golden raisin I took some of my golden raisins from the cupboard and steeped them a few minutes, very grape. So apparently the tea doesn’t have enough raisins for my liking.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this tea, it’s smooth and not bitter and really just fine. But I have done something wrong or it’s too subtle for me.

Next steep I will try adding sugar, cream separately and together while tossing in extra raisins. It may end up getting a higher rating once I fiddle with the preparation, it has potential.

I am interested to get MilitaJim’s thoughts on it – he’s out celebrating St. Patty’s Day. Bobbie agrees with my tea that smells like cinnamon assessment.

Post-Steep Additives: none

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/52teas-loose-leaf-black-tea-buttered.html

Hello there, old friend. Whatcha doin’ hanging out in the back of the tea drawer!?

Perfect for today. Light, mellow, fruity. I accidentally let the water get too hot, but it tastes great anyway.

OK, I finally broke down and made some of this iced. I haven’t before now because (a) it’s been cold and snowy here up until this weekend and (b) I love this tea and didn’t want to waste it to make iced tea. But, I have to admit, it is really tasty iced. It needs no sweetener (or maybe the barest smidgen of agave nectar). The white tea is excellent iced and the black currant pops. I still think I like it better hot (but I always feel that way about iced tea).

1 T per large glass of cold water (~16 oz) steeped about 15 hours in the fridge.

Ok, I’ll admit it. I just cracked open the 3rd bag of this tea. I don’t think I can live without it.

I haven’t been able to drink tea all day! I went to the dentist today. They suggested a fluoride treatment to help with sensitive teeth. I asked if I’d be able to eat and drink afterwards. They said yes. After they applied the treatment, they handed me a card which instructed me to eat soft foods (of which I had none at home) and to not drink hot beverages. I’ve been sadly waiting till evening so I could have some tea. I know I could have made iced tea, but that is not what I wanted.

Anyway, long story short, I am happily sipping away at Black Currant Bai Mu Dan. I probably only have one more cup of this one and I will be very sad when it is gone. And, this is my second bag of it.

Ha. Just opened brand new bag of this. It’s really lovely and delicate.

Second steeping and it still tastes great! Sadly, this is the very last cup.

Finally got to brew this at the right temp (got a tea kettle for my birthday and replaced the batteries in the thermometer). Man it’s good. I didn’t think it could get better, but it did. It seemed mellower when brewed at the lower temp. Sadly, I only have about 1 more cup of this one.