Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Shirt
Tea Description:
Premium black tea pearls from Guangxi Province, China.
Handmade pearls of about 1cm in diameter with distinctive golden tips. Fruity and characteristic aroma.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have been devouring the teas that I picked up from Tea Shirt and this is another fantastic offering! Little pearls lovely hand rolled. Who wouldn’t love these?
I have always loved the “pearl” or “ball” like teas. There is something so alluring about watching the tea leaves uncurl in the steeper creating this illusion of the tea leaves dancing in the water. Just a lovely sight.
I prepped my water per the instructions on the package and grabbed a few of the pearls. Dropped them into my steeper and poured the water. I couldn’t wait to watch those leaves uncurl and dance.
Finally the tea was ready and poured myself a huge cuppa and sat down to enjoy. I have to say, this tea was fantastic! Lovely malty notes with a hint of a fruity finish with a slight astringent mouth feel. Everything you would hope a black pearl like tea would be. The flavors yield such a lovely mix of the right amount of each characteristic. So much so that I can’t seem to put my cup down.
My favorite flavor note is this lovely malty woodsy like flavor. It really does mix well with the sweet almost fruity or jam like hint that I’m getting. The fruity notes are very subtle and gentle allowing the black tea flavor to really shine.
Another tea I can’t get enough of from this company. I see a second order on the horizon!
Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Black Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
The original blend was a black tea base with marigold petals and organic flavors. We can do that!
Our black tea base IS different from the original. We spent months developing a black tea base that is well rounded and flavorful. To learn more about it, click here.
So we took our all-new, go-to black tea base and blended it with organic marigold petals and all-natural, organic flavors. As the original description states; “It’s a guilt-free (vegan even) caramelly, cheesecakey, pumpkiny feast for your sweet-tooth all wrapped up in the hug of a great cuppa premium black tea.” And it is!
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about subscribing to the Tea of the Week Program here.
Taster’s Review:
52Teas recently had a grab bag on sale of a mix of their teas and who am I to say no to that. I jumped on the opportunity and picked up two grab bags. I couldn’t wait to try some of the new takes on old favorites. 52Teas has recently gone thru a much needed (IMO) management shake up and I’m thrilled with what Anne has put out for us so far. To be as transparent as possible with this review, I did purchase this tea from 52Teas and it wasn’t a sample from Anne. This review is 100% my own honest review of what I thought of this tea.
I was excited to try this one. I distantly remember enjoying the original version of this tea and was looking forward to the reboot. I brewed this black tea up with water that was at 212F and allowed it to steep for a 3 minutes. I was picking up some lovely caramel notes and a certain sweetness but nothing that I would say translated into caramel pumpkin cheesecake.
I took my first sip and the lovely caramel notes that I was picking up translated into a lovely caramel flavor. I loved the caramel flavoring that 52Teas has used. Rich and creamy. But I do have to say, I am missing any of the other flavors like the pumpkin or the cheesecake. I tried steeping this tea a few different ways and always came away with this being more of a caramel flavored black tea than the pumpkin cheesecake.
Now, I did have a friend try this tea and they loved the combination of the pumpkin and caramel flavors. She said that the more she drank the tea, the more she picked up those pumpkin notes. She really liked it and said it was helping her sore throat.
As far as a flavored tea goes, this tea was quite delicious. Like I said, those caramel flavors were very good. But this tea is supposed to be a caramel pumpkin cheesecake tea. So yes it is really tasty but it seems the title doesn’t exactly match up. Regardless this tea found a home with someone who really enjoys it and to me that is a winning combination!
Now to see what other lovely teas are awaiting me from my grab bag!
Breakfast Americano Black from Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
A blended black tea with smooth cocoa beans gives a rich and malty cup of tea. Breakfast Americano makes an amazing start to your day and we recommend you try it with a touch of steamed milk.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Still on my Epic Sipdown Journey, I came across this fellow who I bought from other Steepster friend in a Stash Sale a while ago. I’ve had a few Simple Loose Leaf blends before so I was looking forwarded to this one.
I have to admit right off the bat, I think I steeped this guy wrong. The whole description of this tea doesn’t match what I’m drinking. The description is a malty rich cocoa like black tea. Exactly what the dry mixture smells like. When I brewed this up like a black tea with water at 212F and 3 min, I got a very smoky malty tea with no hints of cocoa beans and a very astringent finish. This is a new tea cup and tea pot that I hadn’t used before so I’m very curious on how this happened.
I think even if the smoky notes weren’t there, this wouldn’t be the tea for me. There is an overwhelming amount of malty notes and nothing but the astringency to offset them. I wish I could get those cocoa beans to pop.
My apologizes to Simple Loose Leaf. I think I royally screwed up this tea and won’t be able to give you the proper review. Maybe another time I’ll get this right and we can try this again!