52teas 12 Teas of Christmas 2023 – Day 5
“It (dry leaf) smells kinda like banana candy! sniffs steam Very hot.” puts mug down
Yeah, we’ll let it sit for 5, 10 minutes.
I talked to Kiki about last night’s tea – Candy Cane Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha – and natural and artificial flavors. She said she feels bad for leaving “bad reviews”. She’s concerned about 52teas taking them too deeply to heart. She said she expects to taste the tea leaf more. I said most of the time with flavored teas, it’s about creating a concept of taste and not so much about the leaf itself, that the leaf plays a role in rounding out the flavor. She said she’ll try to approach this evening’s tea with that in mind, despite me not telling her the name of the tea until later.
“Okay! sniffs and cocks her head Banana pudding! Banana cream pie! sips Banana cream pie – that’s what it is, isn’t it?”
Haha, no.
chuckles “Don’t tell me no!”
“Creme brulee, it’s creme brulee! Pudding! No? It’s smooth, creamy, like one of those banana peanuts. Boy look at my cup already (she’s adding gel dye to cookies and now it’s all over her mug). It’s kinda like a hot toddy and it’s kinda got a little spice to it, may- maybe… cinnamon. Oh man, look at my fingers… (they’re covered in green dye). Kinda like a brandy. So what would that make it? Butterscotchy… no. Kinda like vanilla. Maybe it’s – wait. Maybe it’s coconut. It could be coconut cream pie? It’s hard to say now. But it’s not too bad, I kinda like it!
sniffs mug Oh, jasmine, maybe jasmine or plumeria. sips A tropical island flavor. It’s nice, it’s very nice. I like it, i like it not as well as the first one but better than the last two, and I would give this a rating of… 7! big burps Wooof. burps Lay it on me. Did I hit anything? Like vanilla? Did I say vanilla?"
It’s called, um —
" — Tahitian Night. Is that what it’s called? Warm Breeze!" chuckles It’s called Put Your Suit On, We’re Going to the Islands. Oh boy. Okay, tell me what a big dope I am, go ahead."
It’s called Pomegranate Pear Black Tea.
“Hahaha, not even close, my interpretation. But it’s fruity and that’s why I kept going to the banana or coconut cream pie and coconuts and warm breeze and island sound and steel drums.”
It has real pomegranate arils in it and real pear.
“How about that. I didn’t get one of them. But it has kinda that astringent taste that pomegranates do now that you say that.”
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Another one that’s nice and smooth. It has strong yet soft aroma. The cinnamon is complementary to the juiciness and is warming, never biting or sweet. The sweetness of this tea is probably in the flavoring, which here, smells like bubblegum and banana candy. In taste, that flavoring is like a baked pear but maybe also a juicy green pear. The pomegranate probably helps pull the juicy quality out of the pear. Tastes a lot like Christmas punch. Good base black tea for this blend. Unfortunately this tea’s only really good for one steep, because I want more!
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“So did this lady make all of these teas?” Yeah. “That’s cool. She gets to do a lot of fun experimentation!”
Flavors: Banana, Bright, Bubblegum, Candy, Cinnamon, Fruit Punch, Fruity, Juicy, Malty, Pear, Pomegranate, Smooth, Stewed Fruits, Tangy
Pears now and then can be banana like a bit, so I don’t see that being so off.
Imagine if Kiki had accurately guessed that the name of the tea was ‘Put Your Suit On, We’re Going to the Islands’. I love these tasting notes.