Apple Cider Black Tea

Thanks to CHAroma I get to try yet another delicious (and timely!) concoction from 52teas.

I brewed this up last night, but decided to go to bed before drinking more than a sip of it, so I’m finishing it off now (it’s still good!) It tastes surprisingly like apple cider in tea form. A bit less spicey and appley, but both are present and good! The spicing here is again reminiscent of many of 52teas’ spiced blends (e.g. Cinnamon Roll Honeybush, Strawberry Pie Honeybush, Melange Rooibos), but it works quite well.

I think this would (have been) a great choice for a caffeinated, sugar-free cider for those cold winter nights (or tonight. -2C felt pretty darn freezing!) I have another cup’s worth, which I’ll save for when it gets a little colder.

ETA: Second infusion is way bitter, even with a 2.5 minute infusion. Boo.

Do you ever walk around the house collecting dishes, start the dishwasher, and then find another cup that could have gone in? Agh, I hate when that happens. Oh well, a cup of tea will help me feel better!

I was all out of my Tazo concentrated chai tea mix this morning, so I decided to make this tea instead. According to my previous tasting note, I last drank it about 2 years ago. O_o

I really need to drink down all these old teas. Wow, you know what? I can actually taste apple in this! Usually all I get is spices. I think the lower temperature and steep time really helped coax out the apple. Age hasn’t hurt this one at all. Mmm! What a wonderful way to start the morning! Raising the rating from 68 to 75.

Finished off the last of this sample last night, brewed black with a small piece of crystal sugar. I had a feeling it would make a positive contribution to the flavour, and it did. If it was reminiscent of cider before, it’s doubly so now! I doubt I’ll ever get chance to try this again, but I’ve enjoyed these two cups more than I’ve enjoyed any apple tea in a long time. Absolutely fabulous stuff!

I can taste cinnamon and spice and it does have some apple cider flavours but personally I find the black tea too strong for this blend. Even when adding sugar I find the black tea too thick, it pushes a lot of the flavours away that should be coming through with an apple cider tea. Also it has some astringency from having such a strong black base.

I only have one, perhaps two cups of this left but it’s not something I would re-stock. A nice try but too unbalanced for me.

This is pretty good. Not my favorite Frank blend, but, then, they can’t all be, can they?

The aroma of the dry leaf is so … familiar … but it’s distantly familiar, you know? Like something from my childhood but I can’t quite place it. It smells candy-like but I’m not sure which candy I’m smelling. Like bubblegum and candy apples, maybe?

The aroma of the brewed tea is much more like what I would have expected. Very mulled cider-esque, but a little heavier on the spices than on the apple.

The flavor is nice. This particular combination of flavors/ingredients seem to highlight the astringency of the blend that 52Teas uses, and this is something happens occasionally with Frank’s blends. Some (more often than not) are able to work very harmoniously with the tea, and others tend to bring out some of the harshness in the blend. That is not to say that this blend is bad, because it certainly is not. But it is a little on the astringent side.

That being said, this is incredibly comforting on this chilly day. I didn’t want to get going today, I would have preferred to stay under the covers where it was warm and cozy, but this tea is helping me come to terms with the fact that I cannot stay in bed.

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp
Water: boiling
Tool: kati loose tea system
Steep Time: a little over 2 minutes…I forgot about it so + ???
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: mulled apple cider (cinnamon, apple)
Steeped Tea Smell: mulled apple cider (cinnamon, apple)
Flavor: black tea, hints of apple, cinnamon, spice
Body: Full
Aftertaste: slight astringency
Liquor: translucent dark orange-brown

As usual, the smell is much stronger than the taste.

Post-Steep Additives: +1 tsp german rock sugar = brings out the flavors more

Rating: 2/4 leaves

Blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2011/11/52teas-loose-leaf-black-tea-apple-cider.html

Sampled this one this matin. I’m visiting a friend of mine, my only tea friend, and it called to me from her tea shelf.

I steeped it the usual way and added some sugar. The aroma I got originally was pretty much solely cinnamon. I could vaguely tell I was sniffing a black tea. Other than that, nothing.

There were five puny pieces of apple floating around in there, but they clearly weren’t enough to affect the flavor. For a spiced tea, it was lovely to drink—warming and yummy, leaving the same puckery mouthfeel that apple cider does… but with none of that sweet, apple-y goodness. It just wasn’t there.

CHAroma’s review is spot on for this. There’s not a strong apple taste, but the spices of cider are all there. I’m not big on spicy teas so I can’t say that I’m crazy about this one, but the spices are present without being overwhelming so it’s one of the more enjoyable ones that I’ve had.

Just now trying this sample from Rachel’s sale.. thanks so much! These have been standing up to their age very well. They are tasty and I can’t imagine them being tastier when they were just blended! The dry blend here has plenty of cinnamon and apples… AND it smells like cider already!

Steep #1 // just boiled // 2-3 min
Steeped the color of the cup is a reddish light brown. Somehow the flavor actually reminds me of cantaloupe at the top of the cup… then the apple slowly takes over. Some apple teas are terrible but this one is definitely authentic apple. The apple in the infuser looks like apple I just cut apart and threw in the infuser. The cinnamon is very nice & sweet. The black tea base is perfect with the flavors.

Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 min
The apple flavor is stronger now.. whatever the cantaloupe flavor was is gone now. The cinnamon is stronger too. This cup is definitely the tea most like apple cider that I’ve ever tried. I love this one — it’d definitely be one of my favorite apple teas.