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I feel like a jerk for panning my third tea in a row from the almost always fabulous 52 Teas. They will never lose me as a customer; they make beautiful and interesting fresh teas. I just have been having a hard time with my tea to water ratio. And it’s only been this brand that I keep messing up. I find the other brand of tea that I tend to stock up on is a bit more forgiving.

I ADORE the “other” mist that 52 Teas makes so I thought I’d try this one. I now remember trying this one several years ago in a swap, and at the time, I found the lemony flavor to be overbearing. Well, oops, I did it again. Maybe I overdid the ratio of tea to water this time, but I didn’t taste anything but lemonlemonlemon. I love marshmallow and mint in my tea so I was sad not to get any of that. And I’m not a fan of tart. So the quality of the tea was quite good. The flavor was just a miss for my personal taste.

This one just seemed like a great idea when I saw that it was available. I love coconut, cardamom, and the taste of French toast. I’m middle-of-the-road about maple.

So this time I dumped the entire tester envelope into my Breville. When it was finally ready, it smelled divine. Funny, I love coconut but I didn’t get much coconut flavor in this one. I got the French toast for sure, and some cardamom. It was tasty, but it just seemed weak for me again. Even the black tea wasn’t very strong. Maybe I’m just not used to such subtleTEAS? (Womp womp womp…)

I’m going to continue playing with the proportions of tea leaf to water, because all the 52 Teas testers I ordered smell divine and I want them to taste that way, too.

There is one thing I love more than a good Genmaicha, and that is a good flavored Genmaicha. I purchased a taster version of the Cherry Almond Genmaicha to see if I loved the 52 Teas Genmaicha as much as I used to. For what it’s worth, one of my favorite flavored tea flavors is cherry, so I was really looking forward to this one.

When I opened the envelope, the aroma was so fresh and full of cherry/almond scent. I dumped most of the 30 g package into my Breville and brewed about three cups’ worth, using the standard settings for green tea.

I don’t know if I should have put the entire envelope of tea into the basket instead of keeping about a tea spoon for later. I could taste the Genmaicha, and it was just as good as it always is from 52 Teas. As a matter of fact, I still have delicious flavored Genmaicha in my tea drawer that I purchased well before Frank stopped selling it.

Anyway, when I smelled the brewed tea, I could smell the toasted rice, but that’s about it. When I drank it, I got no cherry and no almond at all. Just the Genmaicha. As I mentioned before, the tea was on the weak side, in my opinion, and I’m wondering if I should have used the whole packet instead of holding back a teaspoon of it.

So I wouldn’t count it out just yet, but I don’t know if I want to spend another $4 on just one pot of tea when I’m not even sure that the problem is with the brew time and not the tea. It might be worth a try. I’ll change my review if I do that and will reset the ratings.

As expected, I just adored this tea. The roasted rice flavor complimented the chai spices in a delicious way that I didn’t expect. And the chai spice blend was perfect. Sometimes I find a chai to be too sharp. This one was mellow, but not so mellow that you couldn’t tell it was a chai. It was perfect. I’m hoping Frank keeps mixing this one up.

OK, so I realized yesterday that I’ve had the misfortune of having tried this tea twice. I originally tried it when my son and my partner and I were waiting for the pirate exhibit to open in a Milwaukee museum. I could not put enough sugar in this to redeem it. It smelled and tasted like rotten vegetables mixed with grass and frog dung or something. I dumped most of it out.

So yesterday, my partner and I went out for tea and I saw the Jade Cloud and thought, hmmm, that’s a pretty description for a tea, I think I’ll try it. As soon as I got to the table I could smell that SMELL and it brought me right back to the museum. I couldn’t even bring myself to taste it this time. My partner tasted it, thinking if she liked it we could trade. Nope, she was just as disgusted.

So I might tattoo the words “I don’t like Jade Cloud” on my forearm just to remind myself for the next time I come across it. Well. I’m glad I got that off my chest. ;-)

Same steeping parameters as my original tasting note. Once again, this tisane has helped me out of a sore throat. I used much less sweetener than I did before and realized it didn’t need all that sweetener in the first place. Good stuff from Fava Tea.

Sunday Sipdown Sample. Wow, if this tea tasted as good as the wet leaf smelled, I’d be a devotee. But I just didn’t get much flavor out of it until I got to the last 3rd of the cup. Then I got the vanilla. This was a fresh sample packet and I used 2 tsp in a 12-oz mug. I really didn’t get the cinnamon or orange, and that bummed me out because I like those flavors.

I’m wondering if I should blame my tea mug? It’s a tall mug but the infuser basket only comes down 1/3 of the way. It seems as if the tea wouldn’t steep as well if it’s not able to go all the way to the bottom. Anyone else find this to be true?

Saturday Sipdown Sample. The first time I drank this tea I just loved the fruity flavor and the mild touch of the green tea. This time, I don’t know, maybe because I have a minor cold virus, I just didn’t like it as much. I tasted the fruit and the green tea, it just seemed a little weak somehow. And I used plenty of dry leaf to make my cup. It was just OK.