Peanut Butter & Raspberry Jelly Black Tea

52teas 12 Teas of Christmas 2023 – Day 9

First steep is a bit more robust and malty, layered with thick nut butter and sweet red berry jam/jelly. Second steep was less bold and more creamy sweet. It’s the perfect wake-me-up breakfast tea.

52teas 12 Teas of Christmas 2023 – Day 9

Yeah, I’m a day late with this one. Yesterday was an incredibly busy day & I wasn’t able to actually focus on the countdown. So, I held this tea until today, thinking that since Day 10’s tea is a caffeine-free tea, it’s one that I can have after this tea and it will all work out OK (gotta have that caffeine!)

This was a tea that I was extremely hesitant to create way back when I created it (it was crafted as a create-your-own tea of the week reward from our start-up Kickstarter back in 2015!) I was hesitant because as I’ve said (probably more often than necessary) I do not like Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches. I never have. I’ve recently learned that it is an inherited trait (or a naturalized trait) from my mom, who also has never liked Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches. So I’m sure she had everything to do with influencing my opinion of the sandwich.

I like Peanut Butter. I like it in cookies, I like it smeared on my pancakes. I like it in a Peanut Butter & banana sandwich or a Peanut Butter & marshmallow creme sandwich. Or even just on toast with a little butter & a sprinkling of cinnamon & sugar. But I don’t want it with jelly.

I also like jelly on just about everything. (I’m still kicking myself for not doing the Bonne Maman advent.)

But I don’t want them together.

So I guess you get my point. I didn’t want to create this tea back in 2015 (it might have actually been 2016 when I actually crafted this one). But I did – and I ended up LOVING IT. So, I actually probably would actually enjoy a PB&J sando. But I’m not gonna risk it because years and years of conditioning have made me this way. Who am I to upset that hard work?

But this tea: I love it. I get a strong raspberry jammy flavor – a good raspberry jelly flavor – the kind that’s made with lots of real fruit & less sugar. The kind that you end up paying about $5 more per jar for just because it’s made better & tastes better. (Which is kind of a good reason, if you ask me.) The peanut butter comes in after the strong raspberry note. You don’t get a lot of “bread” flavor – that’s intentional on my part, because I didn’t want to make this too sandwich-y for reasons I’ve already mentioned. I did add a hint of breadiness to it by way of a rich, malty, bready Yunnan to the blend (also in this blend is a malty Assam & a crisp Nilgiri) but this wasn’t intended to be a sandwich tea, but a PB & J non-sando tea. I think way back when I was originally crafting this tea, my thought process was that if I don’t go for the sandwich angle, I can drink it.

It’s all mental.

Anyway, I love the way this tea came out. I love the raspberry. I love the black base. I even love the peanut butter with the raspberry. It’s yummy!

Day 9 of the 52teas advent calendar. This has more of a “raspberry jelly on toast” vibe to me. I think it’s the malty, astringent quality of the base that’s translating as toasty. Some brown sugar brings out the raspberry jelly flavor more, but washes out the toast note. Alas, I’m not picking up on the peanut butter flavor, with or without sugar.

52teas 12 Teas of Christmas – Day 9

If only this tasted like it smelled in the bag — rich sunflower seed (not peanut) butter and thick, tangy raspberry jam. Those are both there in the brewed tea but kind of both separated and smothered by the malt and toast flavors of the leaf. It’s certainly drinkable as is, but I can’t help to think there’s some kind of tweaking on my end that can really make this tea pop.

52teas 12 Teas of Christmas 2023 – Day 9

Okay, so this is pretty delicious. I was drawn in by the wonderful dry scent, and while the steeped tea isn’t quite as good as that, it’s still really good. The raspberry is spot-on for jam, with a balance of syrupy and tart notes and a nice intense flavor. The peanut butter part doesn’t really taste exactly like peanut butter to me, maybe almond butter? Anyway, it’s close enough that the overall flavor does remind me a bit of a PB&J.

Homemade Advent Swap Day 9
from AJRimmer
I made a cup of this one last night and sipped on it while doing some holiday shopping. This was my first peanut butter and jelly tea. Raspberry PB&J was always my favorite with grape being a close second. The black tea was strong and reminded me of a breakfast tea without any bitterness or astringency. It works really well with the fresh raspberry jam notes. (so many teas miss the mark with raspberry but not this one!) Unfortunately as hard as I tried I didn’t taste anything reminiscent of PB. It’s a lovely raspberry jam tea though! I noticed that in the description of the tea it says that Anne isn’t a fan of PB & J together. So the peanut butter note is meant to be faint here and I might just be unable to identify it. I need to try my next cup of this one with milk when I finally get ahold of some more.
Question for Anne though do you like other types of nut butter sandwiches with jam or jelly?

I have to say that this tea doesn’t taste like its name. The black tea is pretty strong, and it tastes nice. I also get a strong berry flavor. It tasted good without milk, but I added some anyway and like it this way too. I wish there were something like peanut butter here, but it is a nice berry black tea.

My first sipdown! :D

This is from the most recent advent box, and I keep forgetting that putting milk in it makes it a lot harder to taste the flavors! I did get a sort of sunflower nuttiness, especially as an after taste.

The black base is pretty brisk this time around. Still not tasting any peanut butter, but the raspberry is nice and jammy.

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
December 2022 → A favorite tea

I love love love this tea. It will always be a favorite. Should 52Teas ever release it again, I’ll be buying it in bulk. Mine’s an older version, but it’s held up really well after all this time. It’s dark and bold in flavor with a nuttiness alongside the raspberry. So delicious.