Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
This one I suspect is going to go really fast. This is an awesome blend of genmaicha, cashews and macadamias, with organic cashew, macadamia and honey flavors. Just the smell of this tea is enough to cause instant drooling.
Learn more about this blend here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
One of the first things I like to do with any tea when I first “approach” it is to smell it. I like to check out the dry leaf to see what it looks like and more importantly, what it tastes like. This one smells so nutty! It smells a bit like I had just opened a can of honey roasted mixed nuts … and a tin of Genmaicha!
The dry leaf looks pretty much the way it smells too: chunks of cashews and macadamia nuts, green tea leaves, tan toasted rice grains and popped bits of sorghum seed.
I brewed this tea in my Breville One-Touch tea maker, measuring out 2 bamboo scoops of tea into the basket and adding 500ml of water. I set the timer for 2 minutes and the temperature for 170°F. Then I walked away for a few minutes and let the tea maker do it’s thing. I came back to a kitchen that smelled of delicious, roasted nuts and honey.
The brewed tea smells less of Genmaicha and more like cashews and macadamia nuts. I still smell hints of the toasted rice from the Genmaicha, but they’re quite faint.
The taste is an interesting combination of all the components of this tea. I taste the Genmaicha – the sweet green tea and the warm, toasty flavor of the rice – and I taste the nuts and the honey. It all comes together in a very seamless way. It’s hard to say where the flavors start and end … they all seem very melded into one flavor that is Genmacashew!
As I started sipping this tea, I noticed that the honey notes were softer than the other flavors. Not surprising, because honey isn’t usually a very aggressive flavor. But now that I’m about mid-way through the cup, I’m picking up more of the honey. It’s a strong, persistent flavor throughout the sip.
The nut flavors taste more like a medley of nuts. Like I reached into the mixed nut can and grabbed a handful and popped it into my mouth. It doesn’t necessarily taste like macadamia or cashew … but it tastes like both of them, if that makes sense. And I also get a nutty flavor from the toasted rice that melds with the both of them.
The green tea is probably the softest flavor of the components, but it isn’t hidden behind the flavors. I taste that sweet, “green” taste that’s lightly grassy, buttery and I even taste very subtle notes of flower in the distance.
Overall, this is a really enjoyable cup of tea. After I drank a cup hot, I resteeped it and let that cool and enjoyed a cup of this chilled. It’s good both hot or cold!
On The Second Day of Christmas, 52Teas Sent To Me …
It’s the second day of the Christmas tea “project” and I’m very happy with today’s selection, and judging from the tasting notes for this tea on Steepster, I’d say that others would agree with me.
So, without further ado, I’ll just jump right in with information about today’s tea!
For The Second Day of Christmas, 52Teas Sent to me:
CASHEW TURTLE FLAVORED BLACK TEA
It should really come as no surprise that I love this tea. Caramel, chocolate, cashew and Assam tea? YUM, yum, YUM!
The Assam is strong and bold. It has a nice malty tone to it that accents the caramel notes especially well. The chocolate comes through as a bitter-sweet flavor, with a pleasing nutty dimension. It tastes as though I dropped a candy in a cup of hot Assam tea. Rich, chocolate-y, caramel-y, nutty goodness!
Of course, I did review this one previously, and I see that my thoughts really haven’t changed much on this tea, so I’ll just leave you with a link to my review, so that you can see what I thought of it back when I first tried it.
Can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s tea will be!
Cashew Turtle from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Product Description:
So here we are: I started with a bold blend of Assam teas; none of those lighter crisper teas for this blend, this is to be a deep, rich experience. Into that blend of Assam teas, I’ve added organic cacao nibs for a bittersweet, dark-chocolatey experience and real cashew pieces along with all natural chocolate, caramel and cashew flavors.
If you can open a pouch of this tea and your mouth doesn’t instantly start to water, you might want to check your pulse. This folks, is a Dessert tea with a capital “D”. Enjoy it, and don’t miss out. It’s not going to last long!
Taster’s Review:
This tea was announced the second week after I had purchased my first subscription (well, actually, I had received a gift subscription a few months back, so that was technically my first subscription, but this was the first that I purchased) from 52Teas, and it just solidified the fact that I NEED to keep a running subscription for 52Teas. Chocolate, caramel and cashew? Yeah, my mouth was watering by the time I had finished reading the name of the tea!
And it’s SO GOOD!
But I have to tell you, I didn’t think so the first time I steeped it. I had forgotten that this was made with an Assam base instead of the usual blend of Nilgiri and Assam teas that 52Teas uses for their black tea blends. And, well, I oversteeped it. It was still alright… but, kind of just … meh. You know? Not all that exciting. It tasted bitter and the bitterness sort of overwhelmed the flavors of chocolate, caramel and cashew. What I tasted mostly was oversteeped tea.
But I didn’t give up. I altered the steeping parameters slightly: using my Breville One-Touch (have I mentioned lately how much I love this machine?), I set the thermometer for 205°F instead of 212°F (boiling). I set the timer for 2 1/2 minutes. And? Perfection!
The Assam is rich and malty, and these characteristics offer just the right platform for the chocolate and caramel flavors to express themselves. The chocolate tastes like a dark chocolate – it has that deep, bittersweet flavor. (If you prefer a milk chocolate-y flavor, you can add a splash of milk to the cup) The caramel is sweet and creamy.
The best part about this blend (at least as far as my sweet tooth is c0ncerned) is that the chocolate and caramel are about equal. They aren’t competing with one another, the chocolate doesn’t overwhelm the caramel flavor; which is so often the case when it comes to teas with both chocolate and caramel flavors. The nutty flavor of the cashew gives this cup a really delicious dimension.
It’s even better when the leaves are infused a second time! Delicious served hot, straight up with no additions; it is also quite nice with a little sugar which helps to define the caramel-y undertones. A little milk makes this a really creamy experience. Personally, I prefer it straight-up, but, I certainly would never say no to a latte!
This is so YUMMY!
PRODUCT REVIEW:Chai Tea & Cashew Artisan Brittle from Morning Glory Confections
Where to Buy: Morning Glory Confections
Product Description:
Morning Glory’s Chai Tea & Cashew Brittle takes the warm, complex flavors of chai tea and combines them with buttery cashews for an experience that evokes the coziness of winter nights.
Taster’s Review:
About a month ago, I noticed this brittle was featured on the homepage of Foodzie. You know I had to try it!
And I am so glad I did. It is absolutely delicious! This brittle has an amazing set of flavors: salty, sweet, spicy. The contrast between these flavors is so delicate. The spicy tones from the chai tea don’t smack you upside the head, but instead, they sneak up underneath the sweetness of the brittle and the mellow nutty flavor of the cashews, developing slowly. The spicy flavors are so intriguing in their development that it keeps me munching on the confection and wishing I had more when it disappeared.
This is one of the best brittle candies I’ve ever tasted. It has an amazing complexity! As you may know, I previously reviewed the New Mexico Chili & Pumpkin Seed Brittle from the same company on my Hungry in Portland blog, and honestly, I can’t tell you which one of these I like best! They are both so delicious – certainly NOT your run-of-the-mill brittle confections that you might find in the candy aisle of the grocery store.
If you’ve a sweet tooth and love contrasting flavors like sweet and salty or sweet and spicy – you MUST try this brittle! You will love it.