Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
A VIT! Very Important Tea
I originally blended this tea as part of the Breakfast Inspired Sampler Add-On for the start-up Kickstarter campaign, but I do have a few packages of this tea remaining.
This tea was crafted with a very special tea base (a Thyolo OP1 from the Satemwa estate in Malawi). It’s a fair-trade and rainforest alliance tea – and it’s seriously good stuff!
I used this tea as the base for flavors to create a Glazed Donut like experiencece – and all I can say about this is YUM! So good!
Ingredients: single estate black tea, organic calendula petals, organic all-natural flavors.
This tea is no longer available, but check out 52Teas other black teas!
Taster’s Review:
A Glazed Donut Tea. This is one of those tea blends that had me at the first word. Glazed. Seriously. As long as it didn’t have rooibos in it, I’m in! And was lucky and received a taster pouch of this and then screwed up an order recently with 52Teas and exchanged a blend for a larger pouch of this. I am so glad I did.
This tea is the perfect way to curve your sweet tooth. I’ve drank it cold brewed, hot brewed, and as iced cubed tea, all tasting amazingly sweet and delicious!
For Hot: I brewed this tea up with fresh boiled water and allowed the tea to steep for about 4 minutes. There are definite sugary notes that I could pick up, almost vanilla like. I took my first sip and was in heaven! This doesn’t exactly taste like a glazed donut but what it does taste like is the glazing that is used for donuts! Warning, this is a very sweet tea, but it isn’t overwhelming crazy like what you would get at a restaurant. Very similar to the same sweet note you would get from eating a donut. The black tea base is very hidden and I really didn’t pick up any real hints of there being a black tea in it. Quite a nice tasty treat for after dinner when you are craving that sweet treat.
For Cold Brewed: I cold brewed this tea in my new Mason Jar Cold Brewer and let it sit overnight. In the morning I was greeted with a lovely tea that just made me smile. Again, first sip in and you get that glazed taste with notes of vanilla. The black tea is there but very subtle, more prominent than when I brewed this tea hot, but still very gentle.
For Ice Cubed Tea: I’ve started to make tea and pour it into my silicone molds for a really cool ice tea cube that I just plunk out of the mold in the morning and toss in some water. During the day the iced tea cube will melt, and I’m left with lovely tasting iced tea. Here is how I make them. I just brew up hot tea but use about twice as much tea as I normally do and then I pour the tea into a silicone ice cube mold. In the morning I have a glorious hunk of tea that I pour cold water over to enjoy iced tea all day long. Thru the day I just add more water and the ice tea cube just slowly melts turning my ice water to ice tea.
So how did this tea fair with this method? Wonderfully! Probably my favorite way to make the tea actually. You can actually taste the marvelous black tea base and note hints of what tastes like a donut where and there with that some glazed sweetness still there but toned down a notch. I’ve been drinking this tea all day and loving it.
Overall, this tea is just plain delicious and one of the reasons why I love 52Teas so much. Even tho this blend is sold out, I highly recommend you check out the others that are on the site now. I’m excited to dive into the rest of my order to see what lovelies await me!
Mango Ice Cream Black Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Black Tea, Freeze-Dried Mango Bits, Vanilla Bean and Natural Flavors
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ tea of the week subscription here.
Taster’s Review:
I love 52Teas. The idea behind having a tea company create a new blend each week is just brilliant. I love the variety that you are able to purchase and the creativity that this sort of company can provide. With teas like Toffee Bar Chai or Carrot Cake Honeybush. . .I mean you really can’t go wrong.
I can’t remember if I picked this tea up from one of the Kickstarter Campaigns or if I bought this one outright from the site. It doesn’t look like this particlar one is offered anymore. That is the only downside to a company like 52Teas. Since they are being mad tea scientists, blending all these crazy and fabulous blends, the inventory is smaller and constantly revolving. So if you are looking at a tea and it looks amazing, you better get it quick because quantities are extremely limited.
Mango Ice Cream Black Tea is a black tea blend with bits of mango that you can actually see. The dry leaf smells delicious and I couldn’t wait to check out the blend. Brewed up with water prepped at boiling and allowed to steep for about 4 minutes, this tea looked and smelled so warming and inviting even tho it is supposed to be ice cream based. I couldn’t wait to check it out!
Unfortunately, this tea just isn’t for me. First sip in and all I was really getting was the black tea base and hints of a sweetness from the vanilla. Even tho I could visibly see the mango pieces, I didn’t get any of that fruity tropical like flavor in the brew. I did get more of an astringent tone to the tea so maybe I overleafed my serving.
I did brew this tea up again and only allowed this tea to steep for about 3 minutes and I did notice that those flavors I was looking for come thru a bit more but not enough for me to think mango ice cream. Regardless, the tea was still drinkable and I didn’t feel the need to dump it, I just didn’t get the flavor I was looking or hoping for. I only had a 1/2 oz of the tea so I won’t be able to try these, but I would love to try this as a cold brew. I bet that is the way to pull out those tropical creamy flavors.
Even tho this tea might not have been my cuppa tea, I still highly recommend 52Teas and encourage checking out their teas if you haven’t yet. You won’t regret it!