tea-sipper select Send Message

I was super thrilled when Annie was posting tasting notes on the 52Teas advent this past Christmas. I couldn’t wait to see what blends would be released, and Annie was mentioning them every day. So thanks for that… I was experiencing the advents through tasting notes, since I didn’t grab an advent. AND THEN Annie was awesome and shared most of the the advent teas with me. I really really appreciate it. I’ve heard so many people fawning over this one so I’m happy to try it. I love vanilla and marshmallow root and assam. I used less than a teaspoon as the pouch suggested, but used my smaller mug. The assam is a smaller leaf and not the huge assam leaves, so I can see why this suggestion was made. The flavor is lovely – a nice comforting hug of a cup on a winter day (sipped while reading Tommy Orange’s ‘There There’ in front of a sunny window). I like the additional vanilla flavor, because usually if there are only vanilla beans in a 52teas blend, I can’t really taste vanilla at all. Here, I’m tasting a little bit of vanilla and some marshmallow on a brisk assam base. On the second steep, the flavors were a bit diminished. Third steep, the leaf was very done on the flavor level and was pretty much a plain assam by that point. So this blend is tasty enough. Possibly not as magical as most of you made it sound! As an aside, this blend reminds me of my beloved Berried Treasure blend… why didn’t anyone else share my love of that one?! I love Berried Treasure more, but of course will also enjoy the remaining teaspoons of this one. It also reminds me of the big leaf Marshmallow Assam that was Frank’s blend. This blend could also remind me of another beloved: Peachy Keen but with additional blackberry and peach flavors. I do like the idea of a vanilla/marshmallow blend always being in 52Teas permanent collection.
Steep #1 // less than 1 teaspoon for a full mug // 18 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled (half a mug) // ?? min