On The Eighth Day of Christmas, 52Teas Sent to Me …

by liberteas

I have been very happy with this sampler box and loving every tea that has been featured.  But I don’t think I’ve been happier with a selection than I am with today’s choice … this tea was easily my favorite from the past year.  (Exception:  my Tomato, Basil and Black Pepper Tea was actually my favorite, but, I don’t think that 52Teas is going to include that tea with this sampler.  So, I guess I should rephrase the previous statement to say that this tea is my favorite tea from the past year that didn’t include tomato.)

And it really surprised me at just how much I loved this tea.  I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were a chocolate tea.  But, vanilla?  I didn’t think I’d ever be choosing that as a favorite.  I mean I like it, but, is it my favorite flavor?  This tea certainly opened my eyes.  And the biggest surprise of all was just how well the malty tones of Assam and the sweet, creamy flavor of vanilla meld together.

I guess by now it’s probably pretty obvious what tea I’m talking about, so let’s get this part over with:  For the Eighth Tea of Christmas, 52Teas this to me …

FRENCH VANILLA FLAVORED ASSAM

As I said above, this is my favorite tea that 52Teas produced this past year that doesn’t include tomato.  It is sweet, creamy and absolutely incredible.  The Assam is rich and malty, has a moderate astringency.  I am actually experiencing a tad more astringency with this cup than I remember from previous tastings of this tea.  As you can read in my first review of this tea, I thought the astringency was lighter than with other Assam teas that I’ve tasted.  Today, I experience more astringency, but, even so, it’s not an overly astringent tea.

Still no bitterness, still sweet, bold and malty.  The malty tones of the Assam marry so well with the creamy notes of the vanilla, and create a caramel-ish taste that is incredibly decadent.

I love this tea.

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in 52Teas, Black Tea, Tea Company, Type Of Tea

On the Seventh Day of Christmas, 52Teas Sent to Me …

by liberteas

I was pretty confident that this blend would appear in this 12 Teas of Christmas box, because it is probably one of 52Teas’ top 3 sellers this year, if not of all time.  (Note:  I don’t know this for sure, it’s a guess based only on the response to the tea on Steepster as well as the fact that it had been reblended several times before it was made a permanent part of the My Sweet Honeybush line).

This is also one of the only tisanes out there that I’ve purchased multiple pouches of, as this became a daily beverage for my daughter for a while.  As much as I love most of 52Teas’ blends, if I were to purchase multiple pouches of all of them, well, I just wouldn’t have any room in my kitchen for anything but tea… and my family would disown me.  As it is, they’re getting pretty frustrated with the amount of tea that I own now.

But, I digress.

I am really glad that this tea was in the sampler box, because I’ve been out of it for a while now, and I’ve missed it.  It’s nice to revisit it!

COCONUT CHEESECAKE FLAVORED HONEYBUSH

As I mentioned above, this was my daughter’s favorite tea for quite a while.  And, one sip will tell you why:  it’s really delicious.  Sweet and creamy, with a delicious coconut flavor that lingers.  The cheesecake flavor here is very well pronounced with a tangy cream cheese and sour cream kind of flavor in the background.

The nutty flavor of the honeybush ties in well with the pastry-like flavor.

I find this just as delicious now as I did back in February when I wrote my full-length review of this tea.  It makes a wonderful late-night treat that will satisfy my sweet tooth without calories, and since it’s honeybush, it’s caffeine-free too!

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in 52Teas, Honeybush, Tea Company, Type Of Tea

On The Sixth Day of Christmas, 52Teas sent to me …

by liberteas

Wow, already halfway through this sampler box!  It seems weird to me that Christmas is less than a week away.  Time flies.  This is going to be a very strange holiday for me.  Without going into details and making this a sappy, sordid story, I will just say that it is going to be different, and I’m glad that I have tea and the fun of this sampler box to make things a little easier.

So… for the sixth day of Christmas, 52Teas sent me this tea:

MARSHMALLOW TREAT FLAVORED GENMAICHA

I was one of the “lucky” customers that managed to get a pouch of the very first batch of this that Frank blended.  His later batches were not mixed with mini-marshmallows and instead have marshmallow root.  In addition, his later batches (including this one) did not include Uji-Genmaicha (Genmaicha with Matcha).

And that certainly does make a difference from the Marshmallow Treat tea that I reviewed back in June.  The green tea flavor is softer, as is the marshmallow flavor.  I find that as the tea cools slightly (still hot, just not fresh from the teapot hot), the marshmallow flavor develops a bit, and as I continue to sip, it develops even more.  But, it doesn’t ever really become quite as memorable as that first batch was for me.  The overall cup is lighter in flavor, and I think that this has just as much to do with the lack of Matcha as it does the lack of real marshmallows, if not more.

That being said, this is still really good.

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in 52Teas, Green Tea, Tea Company, Type Of Tea

On The Fifth Day of Christmas, 52Teas Sent to Me …

by liberteas

This is another tea I was fairly certain would make it into one of the coveted spots of the 12 Days of Christmas sampler.  This one has been a huge hit, it has even been reblended a couple of times and it manages to sell out quickly.  (In other words, if this is a tea you want to try, I recommend getting to 52Teas NOW and buy one of the revived in-stock pouches, because, they will not last long.

For the 5th Day of Christmas, 52Teas chose this tea …

PANCAKE BREAKFAST FLAVORED BLACK TEA

This tea has been a big hit on Steepster.  And for good reason.  It’s not only incredibly good … it actually tastes like pancakes that have been topped with butter and maple syrup.  It is pleasantly sweet (but not too much), buttery, maple-y, and there is a bread-y, cake-y kind of taste in there that gives it the pancake-like taste.

This is one of those teas that is best served warm, and it is a rich, satisfying tea so I think it’s fitting that it was chosen for a Sunday tea.  It’s one of those teas that you want to reach for after sleeping in a bit.

If you’d like to read my review of this tea from earlier this year, click here.  I really don’t know what else I can say about this tea that I haven’t already said, except that this is one that you need to taste to believe.  It’s remarkable.

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in 52Teas, Black Tea, Tea Company, Type Of Tea

On The Fourth Day of Christmas, 52Teas Sent to Me…

by liberteas

Back in October (I think?), 52Teas posted in the Steepster Forums asking which teas that “we” Steepsterites would like to see in the 12 Days of Christmas Sampler.  I responded that I’d like to see my Tomato, Basil and Black Pepper blend in there (and I would still like that!), and then went on to list some that I thought he’d include as well as some of my favorites.

This tea – today’s tea – happened to be on that list.  Yay!

So … for the Fourth Day of Christmas, 52Teas sent to me …

RAINBOW SHERBET FLAVORED BLACK TEA

If you’ve been keeping up with my reviews of 52Teas this past summer, you know that they had a couple of iced tea series … and those were great.  But NONE of them made as good an iced tea as this.  In fact, I think that this may just be my #1 favorite iced tea.

It is also very good hot.  It has the flavors of lime, orange and raspberry, as well as a hint – the faintest hint – of vanilla to give it a sense of creaminess.  And it tastes as though someone put a scoop of rainbow sherbet in my black tea and let it melt.  So incredibly YUM!

Here is the review I wrote for this tea back in August.  It is as good now as it was back then!

Ho!  Ho!  Ho!  This is shaping up to be a great 12 Days of Christmas sampler!

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in 52Teas, Black Tea, Tea Company, Type Of Tea