Spiced Orappangele

I bought this tea on a whim – I was ordering from 52teas and needed an even number of bags purchased. But I’m glad I did. This is one mellow tea! It’s citrus-y and apple-y, with a touch of spice. I can’t say it tastes like a certain spice, just spicy. It smells as good as it tastes. It’s refreshing and bright, like sunshine after a rainy day. I also like the green tea base – which is grassy and crisp. All around a good tea.

Made a pot of this yesterday afternoon when my parents came over to visit. We were looking through my stash deciding what to make and I said to my mom to smell this and she said “OH make that one!” :) My mom loved it! My dad drank some but really doesn’t care for fruity blends but said it was ok. But my mom goes to me again later… that it was really good. She really enjoyed it! I keep pesting her to get on steepster but so far she has not. :(

I finally broke down and ordered this one recently, and I’m glad I did. Even though it sounds a little common, it is so good! The tea, orange, apple and cinnamon flavors are all in perfect balance. Lightly vegetative and buttery from the green tea. Sweet and juicy from the orange. Crisp sweetness with a hint of apple-y tartness. And just enough sweet-spiced cinnamon flavor to keep it from tasting like kool aid.

It’s awesome, and I can’t wait to brew some up for iced tea! YUM!

I won the 52 teas 6-week subscription contest (insert happy dance here), and this is the first tea I received! I was excited because this probably wouldn’t have been a tea I would have purchased myself, but it was really quite delicious!
Apple, cinnamon, orange, green tea all the flavors are their without fighting one another. Plus it has this yummy baked quality that I saw other people mention.
I posted a more extensive review on my blog if you want to check it out, but in short- yum!: http://apurpledress.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/52-teas-a-six-part-series/

I don’t know if you’ve ever made those weird orange things where you stick whole cloves all over it into the peel. If you have, then you can imagine exactly what this tea smells like. It brought me back to the third grade.

It is a spicy scent, but fortunately, I’m not picking up on an overkill of spices in the taste, which often loses the tea. I can still taste the sencha, which is nice, because for once I didn’t oversteep it. I went with 175/2 min and it came out as a really nice cup of tea. I have to say that I put off trying this one for a couple of days, not being a spiced tea lover, but it surprised me. It’s not fruity in the tropical fruit way that I normally love. It is a homey, down-to-earth flavor. It’s interesting that the ingredients say cinnamon, but I’m tasting clove. The apple isn’t a fresh taste, rather more of a deep, baked taste. It comes together well.

I’ve been feeling a bit bleh today (that oh-so-fun migraine/menstrual cramp double whammy) and have been sipping on this between naps. Prepared warm with no additions.

The tea has a strong and pleasant orange aroma… it reminds me of a mandarin orange flavored green tea from TeaSource I enjoyed coldbrewing. There is a subtle hint of cinnamon in the aroma, as well.

The flavor is predominantly orange as well; it is a bright and pithy flavor lacking the weird artificial orange notes I often taste in orange teas. It’s like a mellow orange spice tea, with a subtle touch of spice rather than a massive dumping of clove often found in orange spice flavor profiles, though I wouldn’t have minded if the cinnamon and nutmeg were a bit stronger. The green tea base is pretty mild beneath the pithy citrus, but I can detect a mild grassiness and a very slight green bean note. I find it very hard to detect the apple, though; as the tea cools a sweeter fruit note that I can see as apple pops out slightly, but this is presenting mainly as an orange tea for me.

It’s a pleasant warm tea, but I think I like it even better after its gone cold.

Thanks again, AJRimmer!  Slowly getting through all of these samples! :D  I have no idea how to pronounce the name of this tea.  Anyway, it’s tasty. I do wish it was more “spiced” – only a wisp of occasional nutmeg – but there is plenty of bright orange flavor here.   Not really any cinnamon or apple for me, which is a bit disappointing for such a crazily named tea.  At least it didn’t only taste like plain green tea though.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 43 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 32 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 min

AJRimmer Advent Day 14

Orange and apple? That’s not a combo you see often. I could see it if there were other fruits joining in for a fruit punch celebration. This reminds me that one of my favorite drinks as a young child with milk and apple juice. No idea how I came across it, but it was my thing. XP

This has more of a light cider type thing going on. There is a faint green base behind that is smooth. I can pick out the apple and cinnamon, but not really the orange. I’m not getting a ton of flavor out of this which makes me think I should have cold steeped it. I’m going to try that with the rest of this sample!

It’s probably just my tastes, but this one isn’t for me. Either the spices or the tea itself just end up too harsh for me. I don’t get much fruitiness, just green tea and harsh flavor. Based on the positive reviews, I’m probably in the wrong here and just steeped it improperly both times. Regardless I’ve sent the rest away to hopefully be enjoyed more!

Review for the Anne reblend (Jan 2020?)

Unfortunately, oversteeped this and it wasn’t great. Couldn’t really pick up much fruity flavour, and the base was of course bitter and astringent due to the oversteeping. If I recall correctly, though, I wasn’t a big fan the first time either.