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In the bag, it doesn’t smell like pineapple or bacon. It smells like wood maybe. Once brewed I get a bizarre smell that if I try really hard I can agree it’s a maple-smokiness of bacon. The funny thing is that it tastes nothing like bacon. And no, I am not going to add salt. It tastes like Juicy Fruit chewing gum. Or something. Someone said bubble gum. I agree with the gum part, but not the bubble part. Of course it’s been a while since I chewed bubble gum…

I am not going to do a second steep on this one, I do not like it enough to have back to back cups.

For my first honeybush I decided to try this one because it’s a big favourite of Dexter3657 ’s and she generously shared this with me.

I might have overstepped, I didn’t put a timer on and I kinda forgot. I didn’t forget for too long but hit might have been a minute or so over the recommended time. Maybe 7 minutes? Will do this properly the next time.

I had Neapolitan ice cream only once many many years ago. I am not a huge chocolate fan so if I wanted strawberry ice cream, well, I just bought strawberry ice cream. Chocolate is growing on me in the last few years. It came with a 3-month pastry chef stint. When you have to taste everything, and it surrounds you, you start eating it.

This tea, therefore, does not bring memories of Neapolitan ice cream. It has a funky smell when brewed which I’m sure I will later learn its probably the Rooibos. Thankfully the funky smell is not in the taste too much. Maybe more so on the aftertaste and as it cools. I think this is a tea that could grow on me.

Must try other Rooibos teas so I can compare and figure out flavour. I do get the sour note people are writing bout.

If you subconsciously associate the “Chunky Monkey” ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s with this tea, well… Try not to.

I had a visions of a sweet almond caramel nutty tea, maybe even banana. You see, I was so certain what it would taste like that my mind just glossed over the ingredients when I read them online before buying. Because I must have read them, I’ve been looking at this tea for a good few weeks now.

So I bring this home last night (along with forever nuts and a few others) and I just got around to making it. Stick my nose in the bag and I see something very similar to North African mint. I see some green grass looking things, brown tea leaves and so on. If you have both these teas, go look at them now. They both even have cloves. You will see what I mean. Now the smell. Mostly cloves. Let me tell you, I’ve been drinking strictly coffee until about a month ago. This stuff does NOT smell like coffee. I just get cloves and some grass.

So I brew it even though I’m already sceptical. I brewed using their instructions. Des it taste like coffee? Nope. I can’t tell a predominant flavour, it all kinda blends for me. I do taste the clove though. Not overpowering, more like a…. "What is that taste back there? "

I don’t hate it but it’s so very far from what I thought it would be that it will take a few cups to decide if or how much I like it.

It’s good if you like apple juice. Mostly apple with good cherry aftertaste and distant, barely there coconut. Looks like apple juice also. I’m drinking it cold. Not iced, just cold. I steeped it a couple of hours ago and left it on the counter to have later. This was later :)

Thank you to Dexter3657 for sharing this.

I really was going to have the pineapple bacon from 52teas this morning but in the end this tea won me over with its colourful additions to the dry leaf. I decided to drink it almost before I knew what it was about but once I read the description the decision was solidified. Marshmallow and caramel? But of course! It smells sweet. It is sweet but not enough for me, of course I had to add sugar. (I can hear some of you gasping from way over here!).

Golden brown liquor, slightly opaque. Astringency, zero. I think I remember a note where someone said it was very astringent. Ummm.. 1 tsp for 8 oz, 2 minutes with boiling water gave me no astringency at all. I would never dare go for the 5 minute steep, I’m just not there yet. I am not fond of astringency. And for those enjoying the wine references, you’d typically lay down a very tannic bottle of red for a couple or more years so the tannins can mellow out. Nobody likes to feel like they took a big bite of paper napkin.

As for this tea, as it cools to a drinkable temperature, it is marshmallow but theres a funky taste to it. I don’t know enough about tea to tell you what this is. There is a powdery sediment in my jar and usually nothing goes through the fine mesh of DAVIDs Steeper.
Aftertaste is marshmallow with funk. The rating is mostly for my future tea purchases because I doubt I’ll remember all of them as I continue to drink increasing amounts and wider varietals.

I must have been a Parisian in another life. I wish desperately to have been born of French parents instead of Eastern European ones. As a chef, I am trained in classical French cuisine and it is still my favourite cuisine, although the Indian and Mexican are closing the gap.

I don’t think of tea being a French thing and it would take some tea to steal me away from coffee on Saturday morning. With my warm baguette (yes, I went to the bakery at 6 am and got that) and my triple-creme Brie, croissants and the truffled eggs I made this morning, you just have to have coffee. This morning was no exception. What does this have to do with tea you ask? Well, tea is all about the senses, as is food. I’m sure you didn’t need to know my breakfast habits but I’m also sure you’ll think of it when you’re having your cereal or toast.

But since this is a tea review, I’ll tell you that I did manage to squeeze in a cup of this before I went to the bakery. I like it, a lot. There’s no mistaking the lemon peel flavour, even the uninitiated one can attest to this. I grew up with lemon in tea — every cup of tea I ever had growing up had a slice of lemon in it — so this tastes very familiar. I was 2 for 2 with butiki teas and so I had to try this one, my third. It is not a breakfast tea for me but an afternoon patio drink. Kinda like this:
http://instagram.com/p/Y3VEarnqRb/

Thank you to dexter3657. Gawd, I think I need to buy some tea of my own! But now I am getting to know my likes and dislikes somewhat.

sigh of relief Thank goodness I’m not crazy. A really deep inhale of the brewed tea… Another one… Is that jasmine? No, it can’t be. But I KNOW Jasmine and it’s in there. I don’t remember any of these people writing about jasmine, only about rice and cocoa and whatnot. But it’s jasmine I swear. So I looked up the tea and read the ingredients. Oh, there it is, jasmine freakin’ rice!

The aroma is really, really nice. Can’t get enough of it nice. But it smells savoury, like I should be eating this, not drinking it. Speaking of food teas, I wonder what it feels like to drink… well.. bacon. I have small baggie from, you guessed it, Dexter3657 so i’ll find out soon enough. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have eggs with a side of Pineapple Bacon Rooibos (52teas).

Anyway, back to this tea. This is very tasty. Now I get what the fuss is about. And it’s really nice to finally drink a tea that you’ve read all the notes and everyone is tasting these things and you wonder if you too will taste this, even though maybe you have the palate of a mat (you know, like doormat). Happy to have tried this.

Earlier today I explained that some of the teas I got in a treasure box from Dexter3657 smell similar and I realized it must be a cross-contamination of sorts. I was looking for the offender, the tea who shamelessly pushed itself onto others. Well, I found it and thus I punished it by drinking it. Some of it, anyway.

I had to drink it. The smell has been driving me nuts for two days now. I was sniffing the air like a hound on a hunt and looking a little crazy, it has to be said. I’m trying to make friends with black teas and I’ve had some success. This being one of the more successful attempts. Only very slightly astringent and a very unique flavour indeed. I sweetened it. I always do. I only use unrefined or minimally refined brown sugars or agave. In this case Turbinado was used.

I have absolutely no desire to try this iced. It is the fastest I ever drank a black tea. The thing is I can still smell it all over the other bags. You know what this means… I have to drink those too!

Oh my god, I think I love hibiscus. I get the feeling I’m in minority here.

Can’t tell the dry leaf nose because a few teas decided to make friends in the box they were huddling in and despite the careful double bagging that occurred, they kinda smell the same. I have yet to find the offender who lent its smell to all others but I will eventually.

Fortunately, the flavour is all there, and untainted. Beautiful clear red liquor. You know, deep fiery sunset red. Or, as some of you will say, hibiscus red. It is very tangy. If you hate hibiscus, you would be advised to buy only a sample of this. I love it though. It is going to be amazing iced, I just know it.

Four giant ice cubes later

Move over “pink flamingo”, here comes Cherry Goddess! Ok, just kidding, there’s room for all of you on the shelf.

PS. You ready? Say it with me: " Thank you Dexter3657!"

I’m at work so this will be a brief one to start.

I am such a pleb. I like bold flavours. I don’t want “a hint of”. If you have a hint of whatever, you might as well not bother.

In the bag this smells so good I want to shove it in my mouth and eat it (what a barbarian, eh?). I might have under leafed, black teas scare me a little. So I’m getting some strawberry and almost no chocolate. I think the aftertaste is really goo though, get more chocolate here. I dumped in a bunch of sugar.

I’ll have to add more leaf next cup. It’s good but the aroma is way stronger than the flavour.

Can’t rate yet.

Ps. Thanks, Dexter3657 for sending this.
P.P.S: I get a feeling a lot of my notes will say thanks Dexter. Sorry if you’re bothered by it! I give credit where it’s due.