this really has been a very odd tea weekend… i’ve suspended numerical pronouncements more times this weekend than i ever have in my entire loose leaf drinking history! that’s not what i’ll be doing with this one… but it will be in the ball park.
like frank, 52teas alchemist/magician/cookerer i did not know what zabaglione was. i thought i did, but i was wrong. in my head it was a tart with strawberries and mascarpone cheese. thus when i tasted it i had a moment of pause…
i have no idea what kind of a real world dessert/bacon/jello baker frank is, but in terms of tea he is pretty skookum! this is a man that i would be happy cooking a pancake and bacon breakfast for me! im sure he’d pile on the butter and syrup, although we might have a brief heated discussion to the effect of ‘no, i do not want the bacon IN the pancakes’, but seeing as we haven’t met i could be way off in that statement. (something about their website strikes me that frank may have a small obsession with the bacon food group is all, lol). ANYWAY, i was surprised when i didn’t taste pastry.
… … … i was chagrined. frank makes awesome tea pastry! and pancakes, and french toast, and danii (the plural of danish… yes, my invention). where was my pastry? my buttery, flaky, liquid version of a crispy pastry to go with my strawberries and mascarpone? and speaking of which, where was my mascarpone??? i wished briefly i were in a restaurant so i could have an aside with chef frank!
and then i looked a bit more closely at the picture on the label… it didn’t have mascarpone or pastry. i was beginning to feel an overdeveloped sense of responsibility (the word guilt is so overdone).
following frank’s example i posed the question to the all knowing dr. google: ‘what is strawberry zabaglione?’ here is the short version of the answer: http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/sites/bbcgoodfood.com/files/recipe_images/recipe-image-legacy-id—9921_11.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/6319/strawberry-zabaglione&h=400&w=440&sz=20&tbnid=qtarfLGZBW-0XM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=99&zoom=1&usg=__6jg8fMJBZcG7a53d4ZBzn6JZ9zA=&docid=X7wR9peJ8PooOM&sa=X&ei=YRvjUe7tDIiviQLgyIHgCg&ved=0CE4Q9QEwAw&dur=3799
the less codified answer is ‘strawberries and whipped cream. aw… i’m sorry frank! here i thought you had dropped the tea ball, and you didn’t.
this tea is absolutely strawberries and whipped cream. i think maybe frank could have swirled the whipped cream up into a fancier shape… like a swan or a 52, but i get that he might have been busy. the black tea background is there and nicely blended with the rest of the blend. there is nothing overpowering or any flavours that should be there that are not.
pedal to the medal: okay frank, the number you see is for your accomplishment, this tea is totally fancy strawberries and whipped cream… i don’t taste the little glass dish and silver spoon, but hey— i’m not sad about that.
HOWEVER if i were given the chance to buy the tea (yes i know it’s archived) i wouldn’t… simply because i also wouldn’t buy the dessert. i’m a pastry guy, lol.
i hope our tastebuds are different as i’m pretty sure this one has finally made it to me.
I hope so for your sake too! I’m pretty sure I burned off all my tastebuds in my 20’s when all I drank was coffee…
haha! I tihnk mine were frozen off with all the ice and slurpees i used to knock back all the time.
This is one of my all time top 5 favorite tea treats. Its like my comfort tea. I can’t imagine why you didn’t get more flavor out of it. How sad. :(
Yeah, I know… this was my second attempt at liking it but it just didn’t do it for me. It is a little more flavorful as it cools I’m noticing.
Have you tried it with milk? I found that really brings out the flavours of this tea.
I didn’t like this either.