Peppermint Bark

When I brewed this as the kids went off to school, it smelled delicious. I however still needed to sleep, so I had a sip and then put it on the counter. The brief sip I had was nice, surprising. I could definitely get the mint and the chocolate, although it was just too hot to enjoy.

Now, it’s cold. Very, very cold. I’m cool with that, because it’s like a syrupy sweet chocolate mint thin. It’s still a bit thin, and I think I should overleaf it in the future, as well as continue steeping it at a lower temperature. This is good… I just need to find the sweet spot to make it amazing.

I bought this because Peppermint Bark is my most favorite thing during the holidays and I absolutely do not allow it in the house when the holidays are over.

The aroma out of the bag is amazing, extremely reminiscent of the tasty treat. Brewed this in a medium glass teapot at 210oF for 2 minutes.
It tastes faintly of chocolate, minty and clean black tea. What I mean by clean is that the black tea itself is not malty or overly strong. Its tremendously good. You get the peppermint bark as an aroma and a minty clean black tea taste at the same time.

For those who plan on making this into a tea latte, I gave it a whirl: sugar and vigorously shaken warmed almond milk where added, and its extremely delicious. Much like a watered down minty hot choco/tea. Served to guests with some chocolate sprinkles on top and it would be a hit.

The second infusion was very light in color compared to the first, I let it sit a bit longer. The taste is still there but the chocolate aroma is gone.

This will not be a regular drink of mine expect when I have a sweet tooth that needs quelling, but I absolutely will add this to my re-order list over at 52 Teas.

Well, the dry and wet smell of this one is not so great. It’s super old but peppermint is one of those things that usually lingers. There’s something else to it, but I can’t seem to get my arms around it.

Taste-wise, this is…okay. Just okay. Slightly minty, more earthy than I expected and drinkable but just okay. Probably partly age to blame but the package was completely still sealed until about half an hour ago so probably not entirely that to blame.

Day 3 of the 12 Teas of Christmas 2014 set.

I won’t lie, I was a little disappointed in this one. I have never tried, came across or even heard of peppermint bark prior to this tea, so maybe I just lack the understanding, but from what I can gather from google it seems to pretty much be a combination of candy cane and chocolate? I have had many candy cane flavoured teas over the holiday period, and some just seemed minty whilst others captured the essence of a candy cane, vanilla sweetness and all. This, unfortunately, seems to capture peppermint and not much else. It is dominant in the sip and aftertaste, with the malty black base becoming prominent for a fleeting second in the middle, and possibly a very slight suggestion of chocolate at some point along the way. It is definitely not what I pictured when I searched peppermint bark online. That having been said, it is still a nice, and perfectly drinkable cup of tea! I actually would have been a lot happier with it if I hadn’t attempted to figure out what peppermint bark is between brewing the tea and drinking it. Maybe it tastes exactly like peppermint bark. I will never know.

Day 3 of the 52 Teas 12 days of Christmas box.

Is there anything more Christmas-y than peppermint when it comes to festive teas? This was a welcome find this morning. Monday morning is the start of my house wifely duties, and let me mention that I hate cleaning and tidying. I’m a messy person by nature though my clutter is almost always organized. Job list for today: cat litters, scrub toilets, sweep and hoover downstairs, put clothes away, try and find boxes to unpack etc etc etc. So far I’ve washed up, done the cat litters and put bleach down the toilet to go back to later. Tea break while watching Buffy sounds splendid.

So back to the tea, peppermint bark, it does smell very sweet and pure in terms of peppermint. The black tea was a little malty and cocoa like though very subtle in comparison to the dominating peppermint.

In flavour the black tea becomes a lot stronger than it was in scent, which I wouldn’t mind though the peppermint is actually in the background of it now. So it’s a black tea with a mild peppermint after taste. Usually I like my mint teas to be large and in charge, I drink mint tea for the mint aspect above all else.

Through the sip: It starts with a sour malt black base that gradually lightens to reveal a hint of peppermint amongst a now sweet and sour malt base.

It’s nice though not a new favourite, and it’s not peppermint enough to be Christmas like for me :(

52teas’ 12 Teas of Christmas Day 3! (Drank Dec. 3)

Decided to “catch up” today – since I got my parcel on the 2nd, and have both the hot and iced teas to go through, I figured that catching up one day would allow me to get through everything without having to pack any of them home. Unless, of course, Roswell Strange is interested in trying some. Because between her and my mom, I’m bringing back quite enough teas already! :D

Anyhow, first impressions of this one: it’s a black, and has little green leaf flecks. Therefore, I guess it’s a minty black of some variety. Scent confirms this. I don’t know which one(s) were released this year, though, so again I won’t be able to come up with the actual tea.

Brewed up, I’m getting a lovely malty aroma combined with much less mint than I expected. I’m ok with that – I don’t need in-your-face mint. I actually am thinking this might be the Peppermint Patty Black, or whatever the name was of that tea. it’s creamy, minty, and malty – hinting on chocolatey. Quite pleasant. Actually, on another large sip, I am getting chocolate. Delish. I’m pretty happy with this one too.

Peppermint Bark! Yep, I am right, just wasn’t 100% on the name. Anyways, I’m impressed. It’s a great level of mint, and a lovely winter tea.

Steep Information:
Amount: 4 tsp
Water: 1000ml at 205°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 2 minutes
Served: Hot

blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2014/12/52teas-loose-leaf-black-tea-peppermint.html

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: peppermint!
Steeped Tea Smell: toasty, perhaps a hint of mint
Flavor: smooth, minty, toasty finish
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: astringent, slightly toasty
Liquor: translucent red brown

Also the 3rd day of the 2014 12 Teas of Christmas

Rating: 2/4 leaves

Backlog:

Generally when I open a package of mint tea, I expect to be blown away by MINT … but that didn’t happen when I opened this package. It’s rather subdued for a mint tea … and I’m ok with that. I do enjoy mint, but I like it when the mint is carefully blended so that it doesn’t bowl me over with the minty presence.

This is pretty darned tasty. I taste mint, of course, but I taste the other flavors too. I taste tea, and I taste almond, and I taste white chocolate. I don’t know that I’m tasting “peppermint bark” here, but it does have a very confectionary-esque taste to it. I like the fluffy note that I get from the marshmallow, and it accentuates the white chocolate taste (which is the flavor I note least).

I enjoyed this, although I figured my oldest daughter would like it more than I did, so I gave her the rest of the package to enjoy. She loves it.

this came as a surprise from the ever-full-of-surprises MissB.

i feel so bad for this tea looking at the number! i mean, if you have to be an entity that’s given a number, .75 isn’t that great…. could be worse, but could be better… especially seeing as i really enjoyed it!

makes me think of an after eight, or a peppermint hot chocolate. lovely and wintery….

you know, total segue. it’s been a stressful semester and i’m sitting here writing this review watching a TED talk i’ve watched nearly a dozen times in the last ten days. this one: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-warren/postsecret-500000-secrets_b_3111905.html totally awesome, very mostly funny. =0)

i have these thoughts running around my head: Tealet in vancouver at TED (i could be there now!!!!!!!!), MissB reading my tea brain so well and suddenly it clicks why i’ve been watching this talk— it’s not far off the 3rd anniversary of my gran’s death. (just the ending that makes me wishful). =0) (bashful/wishful grin).

as dr who says: allons-y alonzo! (i’ve never met an alonzo, have you?)

This is another tea that I really wanted to like…but the mix of mint and chocolate somehow fell flat. I think I’m just used to my teas having a bit more body to them, honestly, and the thinness of this one caught me off guard.

It’d be worth experimenting with later, but for now this one isn’t impressing me.