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Backlog:

With most of the SBT Iced Tea pouches from 52Teas, I’ve been first cold brewing the pouch, then stashing the pouch in a covered container in the fridge, and then resteeping the pouch in boiling water so that I can get a full gallon out of the pouch. This worked out for me very well, and I got a very flavorful gallon of tea from each of the teas that they offered this summer (exception: Pink Lemonade tea, this one just … didn’t work for me as a cold-brew. The flavor was too muddled. I hot brewed it instead, and I loved it so much that I didn’t mind that I was only getting a half gallon out of the pouch … it was worth it to me because that flavor is a total WINNER!)

but I digress!

This was the first of the new teas introduced this year from SBT that I tried. (Yeah, I’m really behind. I know. And I will get caught up even though Sil has cursed me not to. ha!)

This was delicious. Fruity and juicy tasting. Not my favorite SBT tea, but I was certainly happy to drink it and I enjoyed every glass of it. The mango and peach notes were a bit “united” … they weren’t really distinct on their own. But it was a tasty glass of refreshing iced tea.

Backlog:

I was pretty confident that I’d enjoy this tea, and I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would! It starts out sweet with hints of burnt sugar, then a slight saltiness, and then I taste the smooth, rich flavor of the black tea. The yerba mate gives it a nice earthy flavor and the barley gives it a grainy taste.

There is some malt to the tea, which complements the caramel tones. There is rooibos in this blend too, I didn’t really notice much contribution of flavor from the rooibos, but I’m OK with that since rooibos isn’t exactly my favorite thing anyway.

A really yummy blend. I gave it two thumbs up.

Backlog:

According to the Hari Tea/Shoti Maa Tea website, hibiscus is supposed to be a aphrodisiac. Not something I knew about the herb, it doesn’t make me like it any better.

There is a lot of hibiscus in this blend, and that is immediately off-putting for me. This wasn’t a horrible blend, but, it certainly wasn’t my favorite and not one I’d select for myself. I wish there was more of a licorice-y taste to this and less hibiscus.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/07/09/in-the-mood-herbal-tisane-from-hari-tea-shoti-maa/

Backlog:

This is really refreshing served as an iced latte. It’s also alright hot, but I really prefer this one chilled, and it’s also good non-latte, but, I think that the milk adds a really nice component to give it a sort of “berries and cream” kind of taste that I really enjoyed.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/07/08/berry-flavored-matcha-from-red-leaf-tea/

Backlog:

A really nice Oolong. I like the charcoal-y taste to it. A nice, roasted taste with notes of mineral and hints of wood. One of the more masculine Oolong teas that I’ve encountered. It’s earthy, sweet, with notes of peach and very, very faint notes of flower.

I enjoyed it.

Backlog:

OK, you know I loved this one right from the start, right? Chocolate? Earl Grey? Um … YES PLEASE!

Of all the variations on Earl Grey that I’ve tried to date, the chocolate Earl Grey teas have been my favorites. I guess that should come as no surprise to those who know that I’m a chocoholic … and that’s something I’ve never attempted to hide.

This is an excellent chocolate Earl Grey. A nice balance between bergamot fruit and chocolate. Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/07/07/chocolate-earl-grey-tea-from-tea-for-all-reasons/

Backlog:

Yummy! Mango and watermelon are two fruits that I wouldn’t normally think of putting together … not sure exactly why that is, but, the flavors work very well together in this tisane. It is sweet, and the watermelon flavors from 52Teas usually tend to taste a bit more like jolly rancher watermelon than true watermelon, but I like jolly rancher watermelon, so I’m OK with that.

The nutty notes of the honeybush cut through some of the sweeter fruit notes to create a very palate pleasing flavor that is not too cloying. It is sweet, to the point of tasting a bit like liquefied candy but I’m not finding it to be unpleasant. (That’s my sweet tooth talking there.) A really good tisane – it’s amazing iced!

Backlog:

A deliciously sweet, roasty/toasty genmaicha. Really nice with a good balance between the nutty, sweet, “green” taste of the tea with the toasted rice notes.

Backlog:

Trying to get caught up again … it’s been a while since I’ve worked on my backlogs and the teas keep piling up! Ack!

This is a very finely chopped CTC from Upton. My tip for smaller cut tea like this one is to brew it for a shorter time. If you’d normally brew a black Ceylon for 2 1/2 minutes, go for just 2 minutes with a CTC like this.

This is a delightfully malty tea: rich and surprisingly hearty for a Ceylon. It is very reminiscent of an Assam. I wrote that this is like a Ceylon in Assam’s clothing, and I think that had I tasted this blindly, I would have thought it was an Assam rather than a Ceylon.

After a few sips, more Ceylon-esque qualities emerge, this is definitely more even tempered than an Assam, and it has that classic citrus-y finish. Woody and earthy … this has a very complex character. A really nice tea.

I’m brewing this tea up as I type this, my daughter is over, and she likes mint so I thought I’d brew the last that I have of this tea in my stash.