308 Tasting Notes
Oolongs, particularly flavored oolongs, are quite tricky for me, so I didn’t have high hopes. Truthfully, I only ordered it because there was mango in the blend. LOL I stopped after my second re-steep, but this was a surprisingly nice fruity oolong. The first steep was bit mineral-y. The first re-steep yielded the best flavor – smooth oolong base and lots of lovely, juicy fruit notes. I was concerned about the pineapple because that doesn’t always work for me, but the combination of pineapple, mango, and strawberry was really quite nice. By the second re-steep the freeze-dried fruits had lost most of their punch, so I gave up the ghost. All in all, not a bad lil’ blend.
I’m glad the re-blend features Chun Mee and Gunpowder rather than Sencha as that might’ve been a bit buttery, especially for an iced tea. I knew I wanted to ice it when I ordered it. I prefer fruitier green teas iced or cold-steeped. It was an enjoyable cuppa. The pomegranate arils (and flavoring IIRC) add a nice tart fruitiness. The green tea is a bit grassy but not overly astringent or bitter. I think I’ll cold-steep the remainder of my bag, but this is a solid fruity green tea by 52teas. Very nice indeed.
I’ve been camping out at home because of this crazy weather we’re having, so I’m really digging into my stash. I had a lone bag of Maracuja Mango. It’s one of the best tropical black teas I’ve had. There’s such a great combination of flavors – passion fruit, mango and pineapple. Sweet, fruity, refreshing…I’ll definitely need to restock for the summer.
Honestly, I forgot I’d purchased this blend. I discovered it while frantically searching for my stash of Peachy Lychee (which I realized I’d shipped to, ironically enough, grandma’s house and not my home in Houston — grrrrrr Harvey!).
This is lovely. I’m glad I bought two large bags. It has reminded me how much I adore teas that feature apricots. The warming spice blend is really nice and compliments the flavor of the dried apricots quite nicely. The almond essence really helps give it that cake-y vibe. It reminds me a lot of an applesauce cake I made last year for, again, my grandma, that was heavily spiced and laden with dried fruits.
Needless to say, I’ve worked my way through most of the first bag. It makes a killer latte, but it’s a lovely hot/straight cuppa too. It’s very comforting and reminds me of my childhood spent baking, whilst perched on a little step stool, in granny’s kitchen.
Flavors: Almond, Apricot, Bread, Cake, Ginger, Nutmeg
If memory serves, I believe it was the tea of the week at the tail end of August. I’m hoping it’ll be re-blended later this year. It’s proving to be a very cozy, warming blend on a day like today where the temperature hovers around freezing.
Uh…
I need to start looking for more black tea blends that feature hibiscus, because the few that I’ve tried have been absolute winners. This tea is no exception. It’s excellent iced. The raspberry flavor combined with the tartness of the hibiscus is lovely. I’m happy the black tea base isn’t more assertive because it would really compete with the raspberry and hibiscus.
Yum.
Flavors: Hibiscus, Raspberry, Tart
I have a soft spot for banana flavored black teas, so I had to add this to my order. It tastes more like bananas and caramel than a tray bake, but that’s fine by me. It’s sweet and it has nice banana flavor. There’s a bit of cinnamon which makes it taste a bit more like a baked good, but, overall, it’s just a sweet black tea with decent banana flavor. I’ve had a few cups of this – hot/straight, latte, iced latte. They’ve all been pleasant cuppas. Again, not a tea I’d rush out to repurchase, but I shouldn’t have any trouble finishing off my 100g.
Flavors: Caramel, Cinnamon, Sweet
This is one of the better pancake-inspired blends I’ve tried. The black tea base isn’t really anything remarkable, but it blends well with the flavors of vanilla and cinnamon. I enjoyed it hot and straight, but I preferred it with a splash of milk. It’s not a tea I’d repurchase, but I might hold onto the rest of the 100g. It’d probably make a nice latte.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Vanilla
As a lover of vanilla black tea blends, I was fully expecting this to be my favorite of the breakfast teas I purchased during T2’s Black Friday sale. To my surprise, it wasn’t. It’s nice enough, but it’s certainly not one of the better vanilla teas I’ve had in the past year or so. I don’t think I’ll be sipping the rest of my 100g, unless I can find something to mix it with. Life’s too short to carry on sipping teas you don’t enjoy.
Also, while I love the cute orange boxes, I loathe the way these teas are packaged. How on earth am I meant to seal these bags? I’ve just about used up my entire stash of tiny binder clips. I think I’ll just have to transfer the teas to ziploc bags. So annoying.
Flavors: Vanilla
Ayup, bags that are ridiculous to reseal are most annoying and will weigh in to how readily I am going to be purchasing from that blender.