Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
My wife wanted to pick out the tea of the week this week. With her Irish-Scottish heritage, it wasn’t enough to choose the tea for the week of St. Patty’s Day without an additional tip of the hat to her Scottish ancestry. For that reason, our tea of the week for the week of St. Patrick’s Day: what else, but a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, a butterSCOTCH flavored black tea.
I realize butterscotch is not as groundbreaking as maple bacon or pancake breakfast, but let me assure you, it IS delicious! Creamy and smooth, and satisfying in that way that only butterscotch can be, but without the guilt. And yes, it is 100% vegan.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh YUM! Yum YUM yummy YUM yum!
As you probably know, I’m a big fan of 52Teas, so it probably comes as no big surprise to you that I am enjoying this tea. But, as much as I love 52Teas, I will be the first to admit that Frank (chief Zoomdweebie at 52Teas, aka the “Willy Wonka of Teas”) doesn’t always hit it out of the park with every single blend. But, more often than not, I enjoy the blends he creates. Usually, they are a hit, less often they are a miss, but every once in a while, he puts out a blend that knocks my socks off.
This one knocks my socks off.
The flavors and the black tea blend works so well together. The blend of Assam and Nilgiri teas tastes rich and smooth with hints of malt in the background which meld perfectly with the Scotch notes. The overall cup is sweet and buttery rich with hints of caramel. This is a remarkably smooth black tea – no harshness or bitterness at all, and only a trace of astringency toward the tail.
This is AWESOME!
Butter Truffle Black Tea Blend from ESP Emporium
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: ESP Emporium
Tea Description:
A tea creation for all “sweet teeth”. Just like licking out a dish with freshly made huller cookie dough with hints of freshly grated orange peel… it must be scooped out to the last drop. Not even adults can say no to this indescribable taste. The unusual, colorful and abundant decoration of savory and spicy ingredients makes your mouth water just by looking at it.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Unexpected! That’s the word for this tea. I must admit that when this tea was ordered it was because of the name: Butter Truffle. It sounds amazing. I didn’t really even read the description or check the ingredients. My sweet tooth did all the decision making when it comes to this tea, and when I read “Butter Truffle” that sweet tooth of mine said: YES!
So, I guess I need not explain that I had expected something sweeter than what I’m tasting at the moment. But that is not to say that I dislike what I taste. This is really delicious – it’s just not quite what I had anticipated. I like when a tea surprises me this way.
The sweetness is there from the almonds and pistachios as well as a hint of citrus. It has a very biscuit-y kind of note to it, reminiscent of freshly baked cookies or possibly freshly baked scones. But this tea also has a savory tone to it, a delightfully savory quality from the spices. I taste a touch of smokiness from the cumin and a kiss of pepper. It tastes warm and spicy, but the spices are not overwhelming. It all works together very harmoniously.
The black tea base is fairly mellow and unassuming, completing the flavor of the cup without overwhelming it. There is a pleasing balance of tea flavors and spice, while teasing this drinker with hints of sweetness.
A very surprising and rewarding tea from ESP Emporium.
On The Fifth Day of Christmas, 52Teas Sent to Me …
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.
English Toffee from Simpson & Vail
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Product Description:
English Toffee is a sweet made with sugar and butter. This decadent tea has a sweet, creamy taste with no calories! Blended with black teas from China and Sri Lanka, our English Toffee tea brews to a deep amber cup with a light butterscotch taste.
Ingredients: black teas, flavoring, and marigold petals.
Taster’s Review:
I’m liking this one a lot. I have to admit that there was some initial disappointment because the chocoholic in me wanted some chocolate flavor in with the English Toffee flavors (when I think of English Toffee, I think of the candy bars like Heath or Scor, or even the decadent gourmet toffees from Cary’s of Oregon, all of which are enrobed in chocolate). That chocoholic sometimes forgets that “English Toffee” is that yummy, buttery, caramel-y crunchy candy under the chocolate coating!
And, this is indeed yummy, buttery and caramel-y rich. All that’s missing is the crunchy texture. There is a bit of a burnt sugar – I almost want to say bitterness, but I mean it in the most delicious way possible – taste to it, reminding me of the days when I was in my early 20s and I actually had time to make confections such as English Toffee (I used to make my own toffee, break it into tiny bits, and then mix it to cookie dough with chocolate chips to make my own homemade toffee cookies. YUM!)
This English Toffee tea has all the flavor that I’d experience with my homemade English Toffee, plus the delicious taste of black tea. The black tea base lends a solid background of flavor and a bit of astringency to this cup without overwhelming the buttery sweet flavor of the toffee. I would categorize this black tea as a somewhat mild black tea – it is strong but not overbearing – and it makes a delightful base for the flavors of toffee.
A delightful autumnal blend that would be delicious to serve any time of year!
Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Product Description:
After creating our Pumpkin Cheesecake blend last week, I was bitten by the pumpkin bug, and reminded of the delicious pumpkin pancakes my wife likes to make. As popular as our pancake breakfast tea is, I thought this could be just as popular–a Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast tea.
Here is the essence of pumpkin pancakes, drizzled in warm maple syrup and topped with a touch of fresh creamy butter. (To our vegan friends, I assure you this is still 100% Vegan, and we only use natural flavors–something of a miracle, if you ask me, but a delicious miracle.)
Taster’s Review:
As I sit here typing, this tea is in my mug which is placed right in front of me… and the aroma wafting out of the mug is irresistible. It smells so good that my taste buds seem to be focusing all their powers to make my hands stop typing and start sipping.
And … YUM! Yes, of course, yum. This is 52Teas we’re talking about. Frank is the “Willy Wonka of Teas.” I am sure that he’s working on some fantastic blend that is a 3 course meal all in itself.
But in the meantime, I’m blown away by this Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast tea. It really delivers what it promises: the flavors of pumpkin, pancake, butter and maple syrup are all there. Yummy! Plus, of course, I can taste the flavor of rich black tea.
The black tea base that Frank uses is a blend of Nilgiri and Assam teas, and it provides a very solid backdrop for the unusual blends that Frank dreams up. However, I have noticed that with some of the blends – more so than with others – it comes across as slightly bitter. And that is the case with this tea, so I recommend caution when brewing it, start out with just 2 minutes (or 2 minutes 15 seconds) and adjust according to your own taste. I brewed this cup at 2 1/2 minutes, and I think it could benefit with a little less time. It is still very flavorful, and I’m not getting much bitterness here, but, I can sense that if I steeped it even 15 seconds longer I would have a bitter cup.
As it is, though, it is rich and flavorful without being too bitter. Next time, though, I think I shall brew it for just 2 minutes.
I enjoyed my cup straight up and found that it is pleasantly sweet on its own. I then tried it with a little sprinkling of turbinado sugar and found that this brought out some of the maple-y tones a bit more which was nice. I think next time I try it, I shall try a drizzle of pure maple syrup and see how delightful that turns out!
At the time of this writing, this blend is sold out. I hope Frank does decide to reblend it for those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to try it, because this would make the PERFECT tea to serve with breakfast on Thanksgiving morning!