Hello 2017! Welcome! Yes. . . I know I’m a few days late but I’m very ready to welcome this new year in.
This year I’m not going to make resolutions but I am going to make myself explore different types and flavors of tea. I thought this tea would be the perfect tea to get that ball rolling.
Yesterday I made a few homemade soups for my hubby’s and my lunches. One of those soups was a tomato bisque. I had a little veggie juice left over and enjoyed myself a glass. I don’t drink a lot of V8 or anything like that, but every once in a while I found myself craving it.
That is where this tea can absolutely come into play. There aren’t a lot of savory teas out there but everyone in awhile one will cross my path and I find myself devouring it.
Prepped up per the package recommendations- (212F-2 1/2 minutes- allowed to cool for 10 minutes) I was excited to see how this tea would taste. Smoky savory notes with a heat from the black peppercorn while the tomato and basil bring the flavor together to a solid and flavorful finish. This tea reminds me of a sweet yet savory tea but not sweet fruity like. Sweet like that familiar sweet and tangy flavor that is unique to what a tomato can deliver.
This is one of those teas that you surprisingly can’t get enough of. I found myself craving more after every sip. I think next infusion I’ll let the tea steep a bit longer and not allow the tea to cool for so long. If you have a chance to check out this tea or any savory tea, I recommend it. It definitely provides a nice change of pace from all of the teas I typically drink.
I have a feeling this will be a tea that I’ll be sad to see the end of.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This is a reblend that was crafted for one of 52Teas’ ambassadors. He didn’t actually request this reblend outright, instead, what he did is ask me to reblend my favorite tea. (Isn’t that nice?) Since I have several “favorites” from the 52Teas archives, I ultimately came to my decision by determining several factors: which tea I missed the most, which tea I wanted to try blending the most and which tea comes to mind first when I ponder the question: “what is my favorite 52Teas blend?” This tea – Tomato, Basil & Black Pepper Black Tea – won the most points overall in that decision making process.
Fortunately, the ambassador was very excited about trying the tea – so that was a bonus!
The original description of this tea went like this:
When our good friend, LiberTEAs [Yep, that’s me!] asked us to create this blend, I have to admit that I tabled the idea for a few days, thinking she would forget about it. We’ve created some unusual blends, but tomato, basil and black pepper? Really?
Well, she didn’t forget about it and though it took me a while, here we are.
We’ve blended our premium Indian black teas with just a tiny touch of lapsang souchoung, sun-dried tomatoes, black peppercorns, basil and natural flavors.
This is just a little different from the original because a) different black teas in the base, b) I crushed the black pepper with my trusty mortar and pestle and, c) I used freeze-dried tomato bits rather than sun-dried tomatoes.
For the base, I used my black tea base of organic Assam, Ceylon and Yunnan teas, plus I added a small amount of Lapsang Souchong – just enough to add a hint of smoke but not enough to overwhelm the cup. Then I added organic, natural flavors and freeze-dried tomatoes, organic basil and crushed organic black pepper. (You’ll still find some whole peppercorns in there too!)
This tastes amazing. If you liked the original blend – I’m confident you’ll enjoy this. Or, if you didn’t try the original blend and the idea of a tomato, basil and black pepper black tea sounds too interesting to pass up – please don’t! If history is any predictor, this tea will not stay around on my tea studio’s shelves.
Taster size is approximately 15g.
ingredients: organic teas, freeze-dried tomatoes, organic basil, organic black peppercorns & organic natural flavors.
