Rainbow Sherbet

I’m so happy to have this tea again even if it’s just enough for a few cups. Thank you for sharing, Kittenna!

So weird thing happened. I got Allegra D for my allergies for the next week before I can’t take anything. Its two main ingredients are both supposed to make you really awake. I mean it claims non-drowsy on the box even and I had my ID scanned to make sure I’m not making meth in my apartment. Benadryl, on the other hand, is supposed to make you sleepy. I completely fell asleep for two hours earlier, and I can never get Benadryl to work on me. I don’t get it AT ALL.

I still want to fall back asleep for the time being, but I finished off the pitcher of iced tea I had already and I’m still thirsty so I grabbed this and made myself a big glass of iced tea.

I know this is in the SBT tea bags but I just love this one sooooo much more. I wish it was a permanent blend! It was the very first 52teas blend I ordered and it remains that way, given it’s one of the few teas I have ever completely finished a decent sized package of on my own.

Sweet, fruity, slightly creamy, this is just always going to be one of my absolute favorites.

Returning from another Unlogged Period, though not a Great one this time, a Small one.

I had a pretty bad headache this afternoon for the second day in a row. Usually I like plain strong black teas when I have a headache. But I’d been planning on having this one this morning before I woke up with the headache and it still sounded good to me. So I went with it.

You know how post really bad headache you’re just so grateful and happy and things taste so good again. That’s how this tea was today for me. Like mmmm this tea is so good and right right now. Creamy and citrus-y. I am finding 52teas often change over time and usually for the better. I immediately just wanted another cup of tea and not the sandwich I’d made to try to eat something.

Hot-brewed and chilled some of this a few days ago. It’s ok; it mostly certainly is very tart-citrusy-sherbety, but it’s a little bit on the acidic and astringent side. Perhaps it’s an age thing? Either way, it’s moved to being kind of meh for me. I don’t recall if I tried it hot, but can only imagine that this is one tea that was designed to be drank chilled.

Yeees my pouch came today!
Out of this world delicious, and I was brave and steeped it with boiling hot water, just a bubblin’ away, and it wasn’t bitter O:
Only steeped for 2 minutes, but to be honest I’m usually scared to use boiling water with 52teas. derp. No more!

Tonight I steeped this again so I could have the first cup. My son took it last night. The flavor difference between first and second steep is pretty minimal. The biggest being I did not notice the black tea in the cup last night. Today it is very obvious. The fruit flavors are awesome. I can taste the lime, the orange, and the raspberry. The vanilla makes it kind of creamy. I notice on 52Teas site this is no longer available. Too bad for you guys because this is really good. Too bad for me as well as my son has claimed the bag. :)

You guessed it, another from last year’s 12 Teas of Christmas. Dry leaf is overwhelmingly citrus, though it turns funky once steeped. I get dry old flowers, like potpourri. THis smell is really off-putting, I’m working up the guts to try it. It may also be slightly oversteeped for the bitter black tea base. Whoops.

Luckily this tastes way different than it smells. There is a sweetness reminiscent of candy and an aftertaste that really does spell out the lime, orange and raspberry of sorbet. It’s more like I had some a while ago and then had a sip of tea, but it’s there. The black base is a bit too bold but I think that is probably my fault with the slight over-steeping. With a bit of sugar this could be really good but I dont like sweetening my teas so I think I shall just leave it as is. Passable but not my fave. Interesting tea though!

EDIT to add: This is getting really bitter. I wish I had done this one in a T-Sac. Definitely not my favourite. Bitter blegh!

I am a little late getting to the 4th tea of Christmas – it’s been a long day.

When I opened the packet and asked the boyfriend if he wanted tea, I assumed that he for sure would not want to try this (see: he hates flavored anything). But he sniffed this and said “Whoa. WHOA.” which was amazing in and of itself. So I used the whole sample in 750 ml. water in the Breville at the below parameters, since that would be enough to allow both of us to try it hot and leave some for me to make iced.

The tea when hot is insane, in a very good way! It tastes just like sherbet – I get the raspberry and orange the most, with a hint of lime. The black tea was a little astringent without sweetener, but the astringence seemed to bring out the creaminess of the vanilla, so that ended up being a positive. And the aftertaste is the most impressive – it’s kind of a head trip because you feel like you’ve just taken a bite of sherbet but don’t have the accompanying cold sensation that goes with it.

I ended up adding a little bit of sugar to really make the sherbet stand out and take away from some of the astringent flavor, but really it works well sweetened or not. I’ve put the remainder in the refrigerator to see what happens when it becomes iced, but I will be seriously amazed if it manages to surpass the wonderfulness that it is hot.

This is some REALLY good stuff!

SIPDOWN!

Thanks to kittenna for sharing some of this. The dry smell of this tea is pretty spot on to how i remember rainbow sherbet. However, after brewing it, it tastes more like a swampy mixture of randomw fruity citrusy flavours. Not something i’m a fan of, and even the addition of s bit of sugar didn’t help much. While i’m glad to have tried it, that’s as far as i need to go with this.

One day late on this tea from the 12 days of Christmas…

This tea is wow… Yep… This tea is wow… I find no other way to accurately put it. Most definitely Sherbet. 100% of the way. So much so that my brother smelled, sipped, looked puzzled and asked how Frank does it! His exact question was: “Does this actually has Sherbet melted in it?” I was very tempted to just say yes, I can’t imagine how else black tea could be urged to taste so similar to Sherbet…

When I opened and sniffed and looked at the leaves I smelled fruity and vaguely familiar. I looked at the label and I knew that the familiarity I was getting was because it was reminding me of Sherbet! I haven’t had Sherbet in years (I have never seen it in Ecuador…) and it was neat to me that the memory of the taste/smell was so familiar still. The pieces of berry and orange peal made the tea leaves just as fun to look at as real sherbet. So colorful!

I was weary of what I would think of HOT sherbet. I was pretty sure that this would end up being a tea that needed to be iced. As I brewed it and the smell spread through the kitchen, I couldn’t help getting excited about it. It smelled more and more just like Sherbet.

As with all teas that taste like something sweet, I decided to go ahead and add sugar. Stirred until it all dissolved, crossed my fingers and sipped… and… success! Sherbet in tea form has been a great idea! Even hot it is delicious! I get orange, berry and lime taste (if I think about each of the flavors separately) and a smooth vanilla finish with a dash of astringency to remind you it is a black tea. The aftertaste is pure “I just had a mouthful of sherbet!” Wow… I haven’t tried it iced yet, but I am sure that it will be just as good.

Rarely a tea comes along that even non tea lovers are surprised by it in a good way. This is one of those few occasions!

Sipdown! Finished off the last of this one at work today. I’m missing it already – it was good at any time of day, didn’t need milk, and tasted amazing to boot. A very sad departure from my cupboard.