Sunrise Sensation

I’m not a Cyber-toothed -tiger! (Cyber Monday in the U.S.A.!)

I’ve been in my pink polka-dot jammies ‘ALL DAY’ because I don’t feel well. Over these jammies, I’ve wrapped myself in a red plaid shawl …and I have red fuzzy socks on my feet. When My body aches I drink tea, go to sleep…drink tea…come here and ’I’m Thankful’ that ya’ll can’t see me!

I can’t afford all the sales that are out there today, sorry to say. Maybe next year I’ll be ready for them. We’ll see. I still have lots of tea to drink in my cupboard and some samples from sTEAp Shoppe to review!

This little tea had a curious combo of ingredients. I couldn’t imagine the tea taste. Sometimes, I have an idea of what I’m about to taste. The ones I can’t imagine can be a disaster if the ingredients are weird.
None of the ingredients in this tea were unknown to me, just never imagined together in a tea. Especially curious to me was the Lingonberry which is sweet/tarte little seed-like berries mixed with Black Tea.

Brew Time:
I set the brew time as suggested (2 minutes). My later comment to Janet at sTEAp Shoppe was that I liked a little longer steep (2.5 to 3 minutes) and a 3 minute second steep worked well also.

Taste:
I didn’t expect this tea to taste fantastic. Lack of respect on my part. I should know better!

At first, before the fruit flavors developed in the black tea, it tasted like yummy Black Tea with Vanilla.
Then, with a little longer steeping…the Honey flavor developed and a little Lingonberry, which was so light, popped up in the background.

Goodness…this tea was so full of rich, layered flavors that it caught me off guard.

Even though there are Maple Sugar Crystals in the tea, you don’t taste Maple. What you taste is Vanilla Honey woven with a Caramel Trio of Black Tea’s and a subtle hint of Lingonberry (like Jam).

This was like having a European layered pastry. A waffle!

So, good. FYI, BTW …(I sweetened my dessert waffle tea!)

sipdown! (200) yay for being back down to 200! i’m trying to finish up a few more teas that i want to send off to my tea sister this weekend so there will likely be a few more of these here and there :) I still can’t figure out this tea…it tastes like cinnamon swirl but then it tastes like something completely different. I don’t dislike this one..but i’m not sure where it fits…

Tea #8 from Another TTB
Wow, the honey really comes through from the gold buds. At first sight and smell I was not sur about this one, but since I love cinnamon swirl bread from sTEAp shoppe I thought, what the heck! And boy am I glad I tried it. Who would have ever guessed that many different teas and ingredients would steep into such a great cup! This would be a perfect breakfast tea! The sweet from the honey, the cinnamon notes, the cocoa definitely comes through in taste as well as smell! I do get tiny notes of some fruit flavors but I don’t know what exactly! I’m glad I went for it and tried this. Even though I so badly want to keep the last teaspoon for myself, I will let it go oj its way with the box.

This is a really nice cup! I don’t know what Lingonberries taste like, but there’s a nice mix of real tea in here, along with some cacao, vanilla, etc. Bold, Rich & mellow at the same time, with a slightly sweet aftertaste. The orange is there, giving an overall sunny disposition, but not enough to make the cup overly acidic. Sipdown!

I really like this tea, it tastes almost like raisinbread or cinnamon rolls very good for breakfast first thing in the morning.
The first steep has the best bold black TEA flavors while the second and third steeps seemed to have less of the bold TEA flavors but they have more of the flavors from other ingredients like the cinnamon and the little berries, I liked the second steep best.

Wow what a mix of teas and flavors in this one. It’s really very good I’m just afraid I’m going to be absolute crap at reviewing it! There are some lovely honey notes, something a bit toasty, something a bit sweet. I don’t know, it’s just really good!

So I’m home nursing a bum ankle today, so it’s a tea-splurging day. And this was the first I grabbed out of the pile I set aside.
Got this one recently and I loved the smell of it. Also the ingredients sounded interesting, though I wasn’t sure what half of them should taste like. Lol.
I get cinnamon right off the bat just from smelling it, but not much else. I definitely get the cinnamon in tasting it, maybe hints of something else, but unfortunately the cinnamon is pretty much all I’m tasting from this. I have enough for a cup, possibly two cups, left, so I might try either a longer steep time or more leaf to see what sort of result I get.
I’m glad I tried it, but if all I get is cinnamon next time I make this, this definitely won’t be going in the reorder pile. As it stands now, I probly wouldn’t reorder it at this time.

Edit – Made a second steep (3 min, same temp) of this just ‘cause I figured it wouldn’t hurt. The cinnamon definitely backs off, but lingers around. It’s gotten a bit sour/tart now, maybe from the berries coming through? I added a bit of sugar to tame that and it’s alright. Nothing spectacular or impressive and likely I won’t finish this cup. /shrug/

Ah boo, what a let down. I saw all the ingredients in this one and thought “gee, this will be a good strong cup!” And with a name like ‘sunrise sensation’, it had better be.

I used 3.4g in a 14oz mug and steeped for 2 min (recommended time was 1min30sec). Its a coppery puddle of cinnamon flavored water with a tiny squeeze from an orange. It’s not icky or anything, but way to weak for my standards.

Thanks anyway TastyBrew!

I do have some left for another cup. When I’m feeling up to it I will try brewing stronger and longer to see if it makes a difference. However, if I really need to use so much leaf, it probably won’t be cost effective in the long run.

one more thing to note, my tea thermometer said that the water reached 200F today. Either it’s broken or the elevation around here is fickle (quite possible, really).

Finishing off a sample in ATTB. This is really nice! It makes me think of the green tea they often serve in sushi restaurants, but there is more to it than that, it’s heartier too. There is a hint of cinnamon and popped rice. It isn’t quite savory, but almost. I’m not really getting any hints of maple, but the bottom of the bag isn’t always the most accurate representation of a tea either. I would like to cross paths with this tea again some day.