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“Moving from one blueberry tea to the next. As much as I love black teas, I think I might actually prefer this blueberry honeybush to the blueberry black I had earlier. I love the nuttiness from...” Read full tasting note
“Today was a day full of caffeine, courtesy of Kashmiri Chai. I wanted more tea and unfortunately, all the ones I wanted to drink were caffeinated. Sad moment in tea world. Since I was already...” Read full tasting note
“This has cooled quite a bit and yet the blueberry flavor is still shining. The base is mellow leaving room for the blueberry to shine. Plus, it is sweeter than the fruit itself. It reminds me of...” Read full tasting note
“Sample from VariaTEA i sometimes have challenges with honeybush and i’m happy to say here that in this brew i had no issues, instead this was a great blueberry tea (though im’ not sure on the...” Read full tasting note
Tea of the Week for October 17, 2016!
I hadn’t originally planned on creating this Blueberry Muffin Honeybush for this week – but that’s not because my original idea needed to be rethought. It’s because I didn’t have all the supplies that I needed for my previous idea – so I had to come up with something based on what I had available. One quick look at the stock I had on hand brought to life the idea of a Blueberry Muffin Honeybush blend.
I started with organic honeybush from South Africa and added a bounty of freeze-dried blueberries and some calendula petals for a little color. I added some all-natural, organic essence to create a blueberry muffin flavor.
Imagine a blueberry muffin – one that’s packed full of big, juicy blueberries and topped with a sweet, nutty streusel topping with some butter melting into the muffin. Mmm! That’s what I’m tasting as I sip on this cup – LOTS of blueberry flavor right up front with mid-tones that feature a freshly baked muffin, melting butter and strong notes of pecan.
organic ingredients: honeybush, freeze-dried blueberries, calendula petals and natural flavors.
Shake pouch to redistribute ingredients. Use 1 tsp to 12 oz. hot water (195°F). Steep 6-10 minutes. Allow tea to cool 10 minutes for best flavor.
At 52teas.com, you will find unique, hand-blended artisan loose leaf teas: a new limited edition creation every week of the year. We pride ourselves on offering truly unique, one-of-a-kind tea blends that you won’t find anywhere else.
Moving from one blueberry tea to the next. As much as I love black teas, I think I might actually prefer this blueberry honeybush to the blueberry black I had earlier. I love the nuttiness from the honeybush that comes through with the blueberry.
Flavors: Blueberry, Nutty
Today was a day full of caffeine, courtesy of Kashmiri Chai. I wanted more tea and unfortunately, all the ones I wanted to drink were caffeinated. Sad moment in tea world.
Since I was already buzzing, having more caffeine was out.
Perfect choice. The honeybush base is lovely fit here. It seems to lend itself to the dense baked good muffin concept. Natural blueberry followed by the hint of icing sugar drizzle. Nicely executed blend.
This has cooled quite a bit and yet the blueberry flavor is still shining. The base is mellow leaving room for the blueberry to shine. Plus, it is sweeter than the fruit itself. It reminds me of the baked blueberries you would find in muffins, the one that are a little syruppy and leaves the berry prints on the muffin. Though nothing screams muffin per se, I get the connection from the blueberry flavor and its namesake.
Just had to try this one to compare it to DAVIDsTEA’s way too tart version from the fall collection, especially since I had a conversation with Anne about hibiscus in confectionery themed teas and she left me feeling pretty assured that this wouldn’t be the same sort of cider-y tart/hibiscus tart profile…
Well, she didn’t lie.
- Much more buttery than the DT version
- That element alone kind of already makes this seem like a better recreation
- Sweet, with clear blueberry notes which taste natural/realistic
- I LOVE seeing the big blueberry pieces in the leaf, as well
- Maybe a little tart? Which is kind of jarring next to the buttery aspect
- But it’s a more successful version than DT’s one overall
- By quite a bit, actually…
Next thing I want to try with this one is adding milk, since that’s actually an option for this tea but wasn’t for the DT one. I can only imagine it’ll improve the illusion.
I don’t really care for hibiscus much so it is unlikely that you’ll find hibiscus in one of my blends unless I feel like the blend really needs the thick texture or tart flavor of the hibiscus in it. I had a couple of blends that I used hibiscus in during my LiberTEAS days. One was my Meadow Nocturne and the other was Candy Shoppe. I have been asked to reblend my Candy Shoppe and I’m considering doing that without the hibiscus and rosehips. Not sure how it’ll turn out . . .
Some of us like hibiscus. A lot even. :)
I purposely didn’t buy this blend because I was ruined by the DT version. Hibiscus belongs in tart iced teas, not pastry/dessert flavours. It is one of those ingredients (much like smoke, licorice root, cinnamon, coconut, and rose hips) that one must be careful with. It is a shame that so many blends have high hibiscus concentrations when a smaller amount of hibiscus would taste much better.
I’ll have to try to sample the 52Teas version!
@Evol
Don’t get me wrong – hibiscus has its place in the tea world. Confectionery themed teas, I think, just isn’t one of them.
For the most part, Ms. Strange, I agree with you on this.
I set some of this to cold-brew overnight last night so I could enjoy it during tonight’s late night follies. Wow – this is really good cold brewed. I enjoy it quite a lot as a hot beverage, but cold-brew might be where it’s at for this one – a lot of ‘muffin-y’ notes with the cold-brew – tasting a bit like a freshly baked, lightly buttered muffin brimming with blueberries.
Sweet, juicy and really yummy.
But the real question is… Did you pull a DAVIDsTEA move and add hibiscus into your muffin inspired blend? ;)
I have a strong dislike for hibiscus – so no. I wouldn’t do that. I can only foresee myself using hibiscus in a blend where I felt like I wanted the strong, distinct flavor of hibiscus and at this point, I can’t see a time when that would be a necessity. But I don’t want to say ‘never’ – although I can comfortably say that I can’t imagine that I would do it because I really dislike it.
Awesome – glad there will hardly never be hibiscus in 52Teas. :D
Have to agree with tea-sipper; I don’t miss seeing it in your blends at all. It was more a small jab at DT for the fact they added it to a blend that’s supposed to be smooth and buttery and really capture the pastry/confectionery element of a muffin. Sorry, but hibiscus has NO PLACE in a blend that’s based off cake/baking in general.
Agreed – I really can’t think of a time when hibiscus actually improved a tea. I used to use it when I was blending as LiberTEAS but after I started reviewing teas I realized that it’s generally a cheap filler and it’s general purpose in a blend outside of filling it/adding weight to the blend is to add some body and tart berry notes to a blend. Since I’m neither a fan of the strong tartness nor the syrupy quality of hibiscus, it’s as I said before, I really don’t want to use it in blends. The one exception that comes to mind is possibly if I recreate a blend I created as LiberTEAS and in that instance, the thickness of the hibiscus as well as the tartness did enhance the overall brew.
what part of the tea causes the muffin taste?
The honeybush adds a natural nutty and slight honey-like sweetness that contributes to the organic flavorings that are added.
@LiberTEAS, oh, i see
