Cashew Turtle

Tea of the Week for March 20, 2023!

This blend was originally blended during Frank’s era (2011) & then reblended as part of our rewards from our Kickstarter Startup Campaign (2016). Since then, it’s been requested quite a bit, but I’ve held back on reblending it until now.

I “revamped” the recipe, using different teas in the base & omitting the cashews – because all of our teas are allergen-friendly (& omitting the sunflower seeds because they go stale too quickly!) & replacing the “salty” note from those ingredients with Himalayan sea salt flakes (just enough to impart a slight hint of salt without making it too salty).So YUMMY! This blend is vegan, gluten-free, allergen-friendly & all natural!

ingredients: black tea, vegan chocolate chips & Himalayan sea salt flakes

organic ingredients: black teas, cacao nibs, cacao shells & calendula petals

more about this tea: This is my second time reblending this tea, but since I used a dramatically different blend of teas for the base, I decided to call it v.2. For those of you who have been a customer of 52Teas since Frank’s era, you’re likely to remember that this tea originated during his time as the Chief Zoomdweebie of 52Teas. When I reblended it the first time, I changed things up slightly because I used roasted, salted sunflower seeds in the blend in place of the cashew nuts. (We do not use tree nuts in our blends for those who may have nut sensitivities – but I thought sunflower seeds would be fine – since they don’t grow on trees.

And they were – except that they became stale pretty quickly (after a couple of years) & as we have customers out there who like to hang on to their teas for a while (read: hoard! LoL) the staleness became a problem. As a result, I opted not to include sunflower seeds in this blend & because I also still do not use tree nuts in my blends – this does affect the flavor somewhat.

One thing that was missing from the first taste testing is the hint of saltiness that the sunflower seeds added to the cup – so to offer this blend a hint of saltiness, I added some Himalayan sea salt flakes to the blending process. You won’t find a lot of salt flakes in this, because some of them broke down into tiny bits, while others dissolved & became part of the flavoring. The goal wasn’t to make this salty but to impart a hint of salt to the nutty, caramel-y, chocolate-y goodness that is Cashew Turtle! YUM!

To brew: shake the pouch well before you measure to ensure that all the ingredients are incorporated. Use 3g of tea to 12oz of nearly boiling water (205°F). Steep for 3 minutes. Strain & allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. The cool time will allow those flavors to POP!

serving suggestion: I like this one best served hot – but it’s also fantastic iced! I don’t say that about many of the chocolate teas as I tend to prefer my chocolate-y teas hot, but the flavors really come to life as the tea cools. You taste the caramel, the cashews (complete with that hint of salt) and the chocolate even better when it cools. You’ll still get those amazing flavors with a hot cuppa – but the flavors intensify as the cup cools! I like this with a teensy bit of sugar because it is a dessert-y tea & these flavors tend to taste better with just a little bit of sugar.