Cinnamon Roll Honeybush

Thanks again Emilie for the generous sample so I could play around with it. I also got this in my grab bag, so I am happy.

This was a cold brewing. DaisyChubb was right, the cream cheese icing comes through more in the cold brew. It tastes noticeably different than a hot brew. It also has less cinnamon roll taste. This is very different than most of my other iced tea, as I like fruity iced teas. A welcomed different iced tea!

SIPDOWN! oh yeah baby! One of the first 52 teas i ordered and i’m finally finished the bag. While i thoroughly enjoyed this one, i find that i like the balance the strawberry pie gives to the cinnamon so that will likely be the staple in my cupboard instead of this one, though this is pretty darn delicious!

My initial thought when opening this package (first one I’m reviewing from the grab bag sale), was that it seems to have the same sort of spicing as Strawberry Pie honeybush! That’s exciting, since I quite like that one. It keeps that same sort of cinnamony smells throughout the infusion too, which made me quite happy although slightly worried that it was going to taste like Strawberry Pie minus the strawberry. Luckily, I am wrong.

The flavour of this one is absolutely delicious, and rather unexpected! Yes, there’s the same cinnamon of SP, but I definitely tasted some delicious cream cheese icing on top of a warm doughy cinnamon bun. Divine. And the best part? I’m not having to imagine a single one of these flavours. This literally tastes like a liquified cinnamon bun. How on earth did the bun flavour get in here?!

Anyways, wow. Incredibly high marks for this one! I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a blend quite so amazingly true to its name! The only problem I’m having is that instead of satisfying a craving, this has created a massive one. All I want to do is eat a giant warm cinnamon bun right now. I may in fact look up recipes tomorrow because of it.

ETA: Second infusion mostly just tastes of cinnamon, not really at all like cinnamon bun. That’s ok, though, I need more teas that only last through one infusion! :D

Started this last night/this morning, and just finishing it now. Whatever was bugging my stomach last night has now moved lower on down, and while I feel better, I’m still a bit off. Going to take it easy today, knit, drink a lot of tea, and hopefully get a bit of writing done to boot. This tea? Amazing, as always. One of the few 52 Teas I’ve purchased more than one bag of.

I still have some of this left, but I ended up mixing it with some plain honeybush I bought in bulk at the Scarlet Sage herb company. I think it’s a bit nicer when it’s a little less strong, also I added some soymilk to it which was nice. I decided to quit alcohol at the same time my ex-BF and I broke up, I wasn’t drinking that much anyway but I figured I didn’t need anything that would be making me feel depressed… so far, so good. Drinking a lot more herbal teas and the like currently. I like my new routine even if I am something of a goody two-shoes right now. The Buddha would have approved. Nighty-night, Steepster!

Dry, this honeybush tisane smells so strongly of cinnamon that it could quite possibly take down a pterodactyl. I opened up the package and was almost knocked over by the cinnamon aroma rushing into my nostrils. As I steadied myself and wiped the tears from my eyes I thought, whoa, this must be cinnamon’s response to pepper spray. I brewed it up with some feelings of trepidation.

I braced myself as I took my first sip, expecting my poor taste buds to be accosted by the fiery onslaught of cinnamon.

…sip…
…slurp…
…gulp…

Imagine my surprise… it wasn’t overpoweringly cinnamon flavored… it was good!

I must say that I can’t taste the baked roll portion of this tea, but the cinnamon does play nicely with the honeybush. At least I’m assuming it’s the honeybush that I taste. This is my first Honeybush tea ever, (well, as far as I know). How ‘bout I describe it to you, and you can correct me if my assumption is wrong: So, accompanying the cinnamon there’s a lovely honey scent akin to homemade beeswax candles, sans wax, of course. Logic is telling me to assume that’s the *honey*bush. I wonder if the baked roll taste might come out more as this tea ages? I will have to see, well, assuming I can hold off on drinking it all in the next little while. Hmmm, speaking of which, I could really use another cup.

Wowww. So my first shipment from 52 Teas arrived today and after happy dancing at the mailbox for a few I quickly ran inside and started ripping open the package as fast as I could. I was like a little kid on Christmas morning.
This was the first one I tried because I could actually smell it through the packaging. I was so happy that Frank miscounted and that there was more of this blend left because I knew I’d be in love. I was pretty brokenhearted to see it’d run out before I got to try it; I’m a big honeybush fan especially since I have an overactive heartbeat and can’t indulge in too much caffeine, I’m also a big cinnamon fan.
I grew up smelling the aroma of home baked cinnamon rolls. It was my dad’s favorite (Rip Daddy) and he’d always ask my mom to make them. I used to help spread the butter on the dough. The smell of this tea takes me right back there. Also reminds me of dancing on the kitchen floor with him on his toes. He loved to cook, and he loved to eat, we spent a lot of time in the kitchen. :)
The dry leaves smell mouthwatering. They reminded me a bit of fig newtons, too, for some reason. But lots of ooey gooey cinnamon roll.
Steeped 1 heaping teaspoon per 8 ounces at 195 degrees for 5 minutes. Tried my first sip without any sweetener and… wow, this. is. amazing. Perfect balance. That was my first thought. This is perfect. Frank knows what he’s doing. It was great on it’s own but it was so tempting that I had to add a dash of cream and brown sugar.
I was in heaven. I’m still in heaven, I’m on my second cup. My boyfriend had just walked in on his break and I handed a cup to him and his eye brows shot up. He was very impressed. So impressed he told me to go order some more right away before it runs out. Very well done, Frank. You’ve got some new converts.

Today is pretty much the most awesome tea day I’ve had in a long time. Mostly because I am FINALLY getting around to trying this hot. (I’m a Pitta and in the southern US, so I seriously cannot even do hot liquids if it isn’t cool enough outside. So on the minus side that means no hot tea for…7 months-ish? But on the plus side I REALLY appreciate hot tea season for the brief time I have it. And I do prefer cold tea, so I’m not deprived!)

The first time I tasted this was after cold brewing, where the liquor was MUCH lighter. It was great cold brewed – the flavor was dead on. So I knew this would be great hot.

It is definitely even better than the cold brew! I used my traditional honeybush steeping parameters for this (boiling/10 minute steep/3 tsp. leaf to 16 oz. water in the Breville) and the resulting drink is SO sweet and pastry smelling. I got the icing, and the dough and the cinnamon all when it was unsweetened, and then added some brown sugar and the flavor sky rocketed to decadent.

SO. NOM. Bumping up the rating a bit…

Backlogging. 2 days ago. Late Monday night.

Omg, another tea that I’ve drank through most of the pouch and haven’t logged yet due to The Great Unlogged Period. This one is spot on. Exactly like a cinnamon roll and very yummy. Frank, you did good!

For this cup I got distracted doing things and didn’t quite finish it. But what I had was still v comforting.

Man I haven’t been logging notes lately, with all the house craziness haha, it’s all getting there though, removed conditions tonight so just a bit left to do! So excited to move in!!

Anyways, this is a sad sipdown I am logging tonight. This was my favorite honeybush of the Bestsellers sampler I think, Coconut Cheesecake came close but this is just so good at all times. I almost made it in my travel mug today but I didn’t want to risk ruining the last cup. I steeped for 10 minutes tonight and it is delicious, very cakey cinnamon smelling tonight, I can smell the icing, and the flavor definitely has cream cheese icing in it, along with the breadiness of cinnamon buns and of course the cinnamon. One of the few teas I really enjoy where the main flavor is supposed to be cinnamon! A yummy one, would buy this again! See previous notes :)

ETA – 750 notes! How did that happen in a little over a year haha, lots of good teas I guess :)