Buttered Cinnamon Raisin Toast Black Tea

(52teas (Anne) 2022: already recorded)

B is for… Buttered Cinnamon Raisin Toast!

Review is for the April 2021 reblend. I’m getting some nice toastiness, and maybe a bit of raisin and cinnamon… it does indeed taste like cinnamon raisin toast, though I’m not convinced on the “buttered” aspect. I feel like this is fairly similar to the previous version I tried, perhaps a touch less smoky?

I feel I did something wrong with this first cup. It seems a cup of hot water with a touch of cinnamon in it? I think I must have screwed up the steep.

So I wandered onto the 52teas website a few days ago, looking to see if the permanent teas that I’ve been wanting to try for so long were in stock. And they were, huzzah! But so many of the other teas sounded so good that I ended up with 12 pouches! And Anne threw in an extra tea as a bonus as well! Oops?

Anyway, this was one of the flavors I was most excited to try! Opening up the pouch, the smell was… odd? Almost chemically?

The steeped tea has a bit of chemical character as well, I think it’s the lapsang combined with the grape? I agree with Kelly, the grape here is very artificial and popsicle-like. Which isn’t a horrible thing on its own, but it doesn’t really make sense for this blend. The cinnamon is also giving me some serious potpourri vibes, perhaps it’s the combination of the Red Hots-esque flavor with the lapsang?

So I’m mostly getting grape popsicle and cinnamon potpourri, which is a far cry from what I was hoping for… Ah well, you can’t win them all I suppose!

Cold Brew!

Because the grape flavouring in this blend is so “grape popsicle” in type, I decided to lean into that and try this chilled. Truthfully, I actually liked the taste a lot more that way because there is something almost “juice” or “melted popsicle” like to it – even with the hints of cinnamon and the brisk black tea that come through. It’s still not a match for the name and also just not a favourite blend, but I’m glad I tested this method of steeping out!

My first tasting note in quite a few days. Between the insanely hot weather and super busy work schedule, I just haven’t really been drinking tea. I’m looking forward to the weather getting cooler and getting back into my 5-10 cups/day.
As for the tea- it’s absolutely delicious! Really loving the smoky base against the sweet caramelized flavor going on. Not really getting cinnamon or butter, but I’m not missing those flavors, as what is happening is delicious.

This has been hanging around my cupboard for a long time and I finally cracked it open today. Alas, now having tried it, I think there is a reason I subconsciously put this off. It was a whole lot of smoke and some cinnamon and not much else. No raisin. No butter. No baked goods. I didn’t love it.

Ick this is very smokey, like smoked almonds or hickory chips. I dislike smokey teas, so this isn’t for me. I do appreciate trying different teas, and this might be enjoyable for other people though.

I taste savoury smoke, dark wood, dry wood chips, BBQ char, toasted bread, something a tiny bit fruity like apple wood or raisins. I like how this tea tastes like things that are dry and hot, like a hot BBQ or brittle charred wood. Very unique and interesting. Not for me though.

Ah, the euphoria of waking after having had a full night’s sleep! It’s been weeks or months of sleeplessness for me due to my neighbours’ baby shrieking through the night and their daily early morning exercise thumping and banging and motivational videoing on wooden floors in an old house converted to open concept space. For someone with chronic illness, I can assure you that being sleep deprived does not help any of the rest that I am dealing with. I’ve been experimenting with all possible interventions in order to sleep through the night. The winning combo seems to be acupuncture in the day followed by silicone earplugs and campfire white noise throughout the night. Let’s hope this lasts because seriously.

This morning’s spoon of dry leaf contained a raisin and this alongside whatever leaf combination present here has resulted in a faint grape raisin echo with the smoke and butter. This will be the first raisin that I’ve come across in my sample pack of this tea. Quite enjoyable. This is a tea that I would purchase should it come back again. I am bumping up the rating of this one and putting the kettle back on to savour the next cup.

My final kickstarted reward arrived in the post this week, the breakfast blends add on, and therefore this review is for the new 52 Teas version of this tea.

Opening the bag I’m immediately hit with the overpowering scent of cinnamon which concerns me a little bit as I’m not a huge cinnamon fan… Huge juicy looking raisins greet me as I pull my spoon out of the bag and dump it into my cup. I probably over leafed, using closer to a teaspoon and a half of dry leaf but I do like my tea strong. Brewed for three minutes, I then added milk and took a sip… Lots of cinnamon… I let it sit for 10 minutes to cool as the packet advises and took another sip… Ok, still plenty of cinnamon but now I can taste the raisin, butter, and bread notes! Definitely a tea that tastes better once it’s cooled down than when it’s piping hot which is how I feel abt a lot of 52 teas blends.

If your a fan of cinnamon don’t let this one get away without sampling it.

Thank you Momo for the great sale! I realize this blend was probably ancient but it has a label that says “rescued from retirement by Little Mew Brew” so I have no clue how old this particular pouch is. It must be less old than the original batch though? But if the black tea is the older type, I’d rather try the older blend! This also contains lots of cinnamon, raisins that I couldn’t see, and a very unique scent wafting from the open pouch. The scent seems a little odd and it carries to the flavor. It doesn’t seem old or anything and I guess it should be the butter. When the tea gets cold, it tastes more like that flavor. The cinnamon shows through and the black tea pairs well with the flavor that this should be. Does this taste like cinnamon toast? As much as it can. I expected worse, but this isn’t bad. Then I accidentally threw out the wrong leaves, no resteep!
Steep #1 // just boiled // 1 min steep