52 Tasting Notes
Ah. Malted Genmaicha. Old reliable. Very exhausting weekend; I had to wake up at 7am Sat/Sun for rehearsals and a gig. Not a very fun weekend. And today, I spent my day doing absolutely nothing. Yay weekends.
Also, I need to get some more tea; I’m sick of the stuff I have now. I want to order from Rishi but they offer no samples and I don’t feel like throwing down 20$+ for teas without tasting. Samovar does it great with the samples, but I usually am forced to pay 10$ shipping. Oh what to do.. I do want to try some of the stuff Rishi has to offer however. Suggestions? :)
Hello Steepster!
Yeah so I had spring break last week which consisted of a week of doing absolutely nothing. Needless to say I kinda liked it a lot. But… now it’s back to the grind. I want summer to be here already! What gives! At least this malted Genmaicha is keeping me happy. And sane.
So I’m pretty addicted to the whole “malted” tea taste. It’s really bad honestly. But so good… SO good. I’m tempted to get some more malts from 52teas…
Threw in a packet of sugar into the mixed after steeping for about 3 minutes. Tasted good. I’m sort of losing the genmaicha taste now and getting a whole lot of malt. Maybe I’m just not tasting “hard” enough and just getting obsessed with the malt feel. I’ll put more into it later.
I wanted to get this note in before I pass out in my bed and let the ZzzZ’s begin so here we go.
Success! THANK YOU Cofftea for you’re lazy man’s Chai recipe.. it worked wonders! I put in a teaspoon of this blend in 4oz of heated water, steeped for 5 minutes and then added about 6 oz of milk. Reheated, and drank. DELICIOUS! Everything mixed so much better than my last tasting; very malty, chocolate was there and cayenne pepper was much less harsh. Definitely opt for less tea rather than more with this stuff as it can get really hot. Unless you digg that sort of thing. Regardless, I had an amazing latte. I plan on adding some sugar next time. I think that will bring it to the next level. Great. Now I want some more..
Preparation
I’m proud to say this is the first tea I’ve given a rating of a 100! YES 52teas YOU’VE DONE IT!
But seriously, this stuff is awesome! If you are a fan of genmaicha I HIGHLY suggest you try this blend. It’s so different but so good.
And now for the analysis:
This stuff certainly passes the smell test. The maltiness is certainly there; not overpowering but there. It’s that, quite frankly, malt smelling quality to the smell of sencha and brown rice. And if you are a fan of milkshakes/malts like I am well, please, do indulge on this stuff. I steeped it for a good 3 minutes, throwing in about 2 teaspoons in about 16oz of water. The malty smell REALLY came out strong with the hot water added. De-c-i-lious.
Taste? This stuff is so milky and gets even more so as it cools. I LOVE IT. I will say that the maltiness is primarily the taste I got, followed by the brown rice and then sencha; in that order. The first flavor that hits your palette is the malt. It’s so milky. I was afraid that this tea was going to be all brown rice, since it is a pretty powerful flavor (or at least it was in Adagio’s Genmaicha), but I was surprised to find such a milky, malty flavor in every sip. Excuse me while I enjoy another cup. And go buy some. NOW.
Preparation
I went to Teavana this weekend to get some tea for my girlfriend and this was one of the samples they had out for tasting. We both drank the samples and fell in love with the taste.. naturally we dropped 16$ for 4oz of the blend (Um a little expensive for 4oz? or is this just me), took it home, and here we are. In the store, it tasted amazingly sweet and bright; reminded me of fruity tootie gum. Then they wafted the mix into our faces, you know, the lid waving “technique” all the employees learn to do, and it just smelled SO GOOD.
Now here we stand. 16$ later and this tea sitting in my cup. Will it live up to my expectations or will it be sitting in dust for the next 6 months? Find out next time…
No but seriously here we go.
I poured a good 2 heaping teaspoons of the mix into my infuser, poured on my water, and let it steep for a little over 3 minutes (prolly around 3:30?). The rooibos tropicana (i like that better than tropica) smell is present throughout, but very light tasting. Jasmine is there. I would best describe it as a light taste of fruitiness with a Jasmine base. It’s not badddd… I don’t know. I think they sugared the crap out of it in the store because it tasted like candy. I didn’t toss any sugar in and didn’t conform to buying the sugar they pressured us into buying along with our tea. Then again, I never put sugar any of my tea so yeah, nothing is ever like crazy sweet. I will say that this tea isn’t dull, but it isn’t very busy. Nothing real complex going on. It’s nice. That’s about it.
Preparation
Thanks for not going through with the “to be continued”. :)
I like how people expect their tea to taste exactly like it does in a Teavana store, then don’t follow the recommended steeping, don’t buy rock sugar, and then complain that their tea isn’t as good as the sample. There’s probably a reason why they “pressure” people to buy sweeteners that interfere less with the flavor of the tea. Maybe it’s because they try to encourage people to buy the same products they used to make the sample you loved in the store. Those same people who turn it down and complain and conforming to Teavana’s recommendations are the same ones who are disappointed. I follow the recommendations and have all the tools I need to be satisfied with what I bought.
Got my order from 52 teas! Was excited to try this stuff after hearing alot of great things.
From the second I opened the package, I was overwhelmed by the spicyness of the cayenne pepper and the sweet smell of chocolate. It smelled AMAZING. I made 2 steeps of this, one with milk and one with just water. Let me say that I’m not rating this just yet because I don’t think I prepared it right at all (that’s where YOU get to help me!) but anyway, let me tell you what I did :) I attempted to make a latte for my girlfriend and I, in which I poured about 16oz of heated milk into about 2 heaping teaspoons of the chai mix. I let this steep for about 5 minutes before pouring. Yes, I realize this was not going to work well. I wasn’t sure how much water to add to the leaves, or whether or not I should have steeped the leaves in X amount of water and then added X amount of milk.. If anyone could give me numbers on these variables, much appreciated :) Regardless, I was able to get a little chocolate flavor in the milk blend, with a strong spicy aftertaste. Like really strong. After finishing these, I resteeped the leaves with water. The chocolate was almost non-existant and I REALLY tasted the pepper now. Sort of off topic but, one thing I will say is that this stuff will be great for anyone with a sore throat or congestion.
Not sure where I stand with this. I feel like my preparation resulted in a sub par experience. Help me! :)
I make lazy man’s chai. 4g of leaf steeped in 2-3oz just below boiling water for 5-6min then add 4(if using 2oz water)-3(if using 3oz water)oz milk. Stir, reheat, and stir again. Not only is it less messy, but it also keeps the leaves clean for the next steep. You can also steep in 6oz water and add 1tsp-1TB coffee creamer of your choice.
No I didn’t get any confirmation email. Don’t worry.
From our Coconut Cream Pie Tea post (http://www.52teas.com/2009/02/22/022209-coconut-cream-pie-flavored-black-tea/), here’s our recipe for a tea latte:
How to make a fat-free tea latte: Combine 1 can of fat free sweetened condensed milk with 3 cans of skim milk in a saucepan, heat and stir until uniform. Combine resulting mixture with hot tea in equal parts tea and latte. Thank me out loud for sharing our latte recipe.
Leftover latte will keep in the fridge for a few days, allowing you to either reheat, or use to make iced tea lattes, of which, the coconut cream pie flavored black tea iced tea latte is the KING.
