Similar tea available.
“(52teas (Anne) 2022: 105) I thought maybe I hadn’t had this before, since I opened up a brand new packet tonight, but it looks more likely that I’d just sipped down the previous packet and, heh,...” Read full tasting note
“Ok, this one is old, really old, but fine. I may have forgotten to shake the bag before dipping into the leaf. I.don’t remember any flavours in this one that are missing because of age—maybe...” Read full tasting note
“Sipdown (340) I got this from Christina about a year ago and am only trying it now. Thank you Christina! I decided to use the leaf to try this as a coconut milk latte since I thought the sweet...” Read full tasting note
“Sipdown of a sample I got from someone a while ago. The houjicha makes a good base for this, however I find this tastes more like the other 52Teas chai blends I’ve tried rather than specifically...” Read full tasting note
I haven’t written an official description yet, so I’ll use the description from Kickstarter temporarily:
I love the flavor of gingerbread and I think that the roasty-toasty, nutty flavor of houjicha would offer a delightful base to these flavors.
At 52teas.com, you will find unique, hand-blended artisan loose leaf teas: a new limited edition creation every week of the year. We pride ourselves on offering truly unique, one-of-a-kind tea blends that you won’t find anywhere else.
This is the ginger lovers tea – it’s very gingery, the most spice out of all the 52 Teas’ holiday teas. The pairing of roasty houjicha and gingerbread is great – both of those flavors I enjoy. Add a bit of sweetener and you get gingerbread sweets flavor!
Full review, along with the other 52 Teas Holiday teas on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/52-teas-2015-holiday-teas-tea-review/
Getting Festive!
I got this tea from 52Teas Holiday presale kickstarter. I love houjicha, and this blend sounded just so seasonally appropriate I had to have it.
I don’t think I was disappointed. Cracking open the bag, I got a strong whiff of baking ginger, sweet molasses, and the smooth toasty houjicha. I brewed it up, and the whole room was hit with the smell of freshly baked gingerbread. The tea is quite naturally sweet, and the ginger hits the palate first. Then you get some roasted green tea that transitions smoothly into fresh baked goodness.
I am feeling more festive with every sip :)
note to self: don’t write reviews in the review box in my browser. You will lose your notes. Every. Time.
Another one i’m drinking tonight – not in the mood for samples tonight as i’m sick and in case my taste buds aren’t quite right, i don’t want to risk it. it’s not bad, but it doesn’t really scream gingerbread to me. I’ll keep trying and playing with steeping.
I’m sorry to hear you’re feeling sick! kristinalee suggested I follow you because she said you liked a lot of blended teas. I’m excited to read your 52tea reviews since I want to grab a few teas. Feel better!
Thanks! I pretty much drink puerh, flavoured blends (mostly black/herbal) and black straight teas. I tend not to spend much time on greens, whites, oolongs :)
I’m finding myself favouring black/herbal and sometimes greens. So, I’m sure I’ll see lots of reviews for teas I’ll like! I also I noticed you lived in TO; I’ll be going to visit in Feb. Any good suggestion on tea places (aside from DavidsTea) to visit?
Tao Leaf Tea; Majesteas; Capital teas; Tealish; Tsaa; House of tea; Tea Emporium; Say Tea….there are a bunch :) You could also go for tea at the king edward.
Kitten and the Bear is a teeny tiny shop that does small batch jam and scones with Sloane teas as well…
I am totally jelly of your tea options. :)
I gave them all a quick look; I mostly want tea sampler sizes. It seems like Tao Leaf Tea, Tsaa and Tealish have samplers. If you think of more places, feel free to tell me!
Thanks for the suggestions!
not sure that any of them really offer samplers. the downside to a lot of canadian companies.
Tao Leaf Tea has a lot of 5g sizes for their teas. I gave Tssa a call and they had “2 cup” samplers. Tealish has prepackaged ones so, I think I will hit Tao Leaf first.
(If I were going to Toronto – Tao Tea Leaf would be at the top of my “must go to list”)
I definitely didn’t make it to Tao Tea Leaf. Instead we went to Niagara so I could ooh and ahh about the falls and get a mug!
@OMG – yeah but you live in a VERY good tea town – for those of us in the tea desert, making it to fun shops might have a higher priority. ;))
Heh. True! Still, we randomly walked past Tealish which was lovely. I was on a no-tea-buying spree, which didn’t really last.
LOL It’s the no-tea-buying spree thing. That’s the danger of travel to good tea towns. If I made it to Toronto, I would also like to check out some of the Chinese Markets that yyz finds fun stuff in. We don’t even have fun markets…. :(
I needed more time! Getting sick really killed my energy. I’d definitely go back. :)
We have a spare room with a queen in it now and the computer with the single….so room for everyone!
Maybe. One day. :)
I had this gingerbread-flavoured tea before going to bed. The leaf is dark brown and fluffy, and contains visible chunks of dried ginger and flower petals. The ginger is obvious in the scent, as well.
The leaf is fluffy, which means that it’s hard to measure out, but I used about 2 tsp for a 12-oz mug, brewed it at 85°C for 4 minutes, and was greeted with a pale umber liquid. As it cooled down, the tea became darker.
The roasted base of the houjicha is really complementary to the ginger — it’s not spicy, but I can sense the ginger’s fruity zing. I can also taste some gentle spices on the back of the sip, most notably coriander. However, the base is still the strongest flavour, especially in the middle of the sip. The ginger and spices only really come out to play at the end of the sip and in the aftertaste.
Full review of 52Teas 2015 Holiday Kickstarter set at http://booksandtea.ca/2015/12/christmas-teas-from-the-52teas-holiday-kickstarter/
So, I’m taste-testing this at the moment before packaging it up tomorrow.
So good. Even if I do say so myself.
After I blended this tea, I worried because I thought – what if the roasty-toasty, somwhat smoky notes of the Houjicha just don’t meld well with the gingerbread. But it works – and it works wonderfully.
I’ll be one very happy tea sipper if all my holiday teas turn out as good as this one did.
