New Year’s is right around the corner. Do you still make resolutions for the new year? I pretty much stopped because I never kept the resolutions so I didn’t see the point in going through the motions. Good intentions, yeah … maybe.
Maple Bacon Iced Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
OK, I’ll be the first to admit it, as much as I do enjoy the bacon flavored teas from 52Teas, I wasn’t too sure about this one. I mean, it works on a certain level for the hot tea, but I’m not so sure how good this is going to be iced. It kind of sounds weird. When bacon gets cold, you get congealed fat. And even though this is vegan bacon flavor … the thought of cold bacon just sort of … evokes those thoughts for me.
And as I’m sipping this … yeah, it’s weird. It’s … alright. It’s not horrible, but it’s still really weird. And I can’t say that it’s my favorite iced tea flavor, because it isn’t.
That said, Frank (chief zoomdweebie at 52Teas and Southern Boy Teas) nailed the maple bacon flavor. This tastes like bacon. I taste notes of maple (although, I wouldn’t complain if there were a little more maple-y notes). I even taste the brisk black tea in the background.
To enhance the salty notes of the bacon, I added about 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt to the hot-brewed tea (yes, I hot-brewed this pouch this time. I don’t know why, but something inside just told me that the bacon flavors needed to be extracted via hot-brewing). And I think that the 1/4 teaspoon adds just the right touch of saltiness to this iced tea that’s needed to bacon-ize this tea.
Yeah … it’s still weird. I can’t see myself actually wanting this tea again … you know, craving it? That said, I’m not hating this. I just don’t think it will be a tea that I’d order again, because I find myself more refreshed with Southern Boy Teas’ fruit-flavored iced teas.
I didn’t love this tea but I didn’t hate it. However, there are so many other successful flavors of iced tea out there and this one is just sort of misses the mark for me. I like the original maple bacon tea from 52Teas served hot much better, and I guess it goes back to what I was saying at the beginning of this review: I don’t think that maple bacon flavor works for an iced tea flavor. Not for me, at least. And it pains me to say that, because I love bacon.
On the Fourth Day of Christmas, Southern Boy Teas Edition!
One thing that I like … that’s different about the 52Teas and now the Southern Boy Teas 12 Teas of Christmas countdown packages is how the teas are packaged. Previously, the labels for the tea were stashed in the package with the teas so that you wouldn’t know what the tea was until you opened it and could remove the label to put on the sample package. However, Frank seems to have implemented a “scratcher” type of reveal system now, sort of like the scratcher lotto tickets. You scratch off the silver coating from the label, and it reveals to you what the tea of the day is. Pretty cool!
Key Lime Cheesecake Iced Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
Given the success that I’ve had with the previous “Lime” flavored iced teas from the SBT collection – Lime Jello and Lime Cola – I was pretty confident that I’d enjoy this Key Lime Cheesecake iced tea too.
And I am enjoying this Key Lime Cheesecake from Southern Boy Teas quite a bit. The flavor is very bright with the flavor of lime: tart but not so tart that I’m puckering when I take a drink. I can also taste the creamy, tangy note of the cream cheese peaking out beneath the lime flavor. The black tea is not completely hidden behind the flavors, and I appreciate that. It has a brisk flavor that refreshes and invigorates.
Just as I have been doing with the other iced tea pouches, I cold-brewed this pouch, and I’m very satisfied with the flavor. In every sip, I get lime, I get cheesecake (although I don’t really taste a lot of pastry or crust here, I do get a hint of a buttery note every once in a while if I really focus on what I’m tasting), and I get black tea.
After I finished my pitcher of cold-brewed iced tea, I resteeped the pouch by hot-brewing it. I found this second pitcher of iced tea much more flavorful. The key lime was slightly softer, but there were still plenty of sweet-tart notes from the citrus fruit, and I could taste more of the tangy cream cheese and even more of the crust notes. The black tea was slightly less apparent in the second pitcher, but it was still discernible.
Overall, I enjoyed the Key Lime Cheesecake iced tea, although I think the Lime Cola and Lime Jello flavors are much tastier.
On The Third Day of Christmas, Southern Boy Teas Edition!
This countdown is a bit more difficult for a couple of reasons. First, it’s iced tea. I don’t drink a lot of iced tea, especially in the winter, although I certainly do drink some. But, drinking a whole half a gallon in a day? No, I don’t usually drink that much each day.
It’s also a little more difficult because it takes a little longer to produce a cold-brewed pitcher of iced tea. It needs to sit and brew for at least a few hours to get full flavor out of the tea when it’s cold-brewed, and I usually leave the tea in the fridge overnight. So, the difficulty becomes … waiting for the tea to brew.
Butter Beer Iced Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
When 52Teas/Southern Boy Teas first introduced this tea as an iced tea, I got very excited, because the original Butter Beer Tea from 52Teas is one of my FAVES from 52Teas. Partly because I asked Frank from 52Teas to create a butter beer-ish sort of tea (yeah, I’m a Harry Potter nerd), and part because it’s just so dang good. So, I was very happy that he decided to add this to his iced tea line.
Cold-brewed, the flavor is a little underwhelming with this tea. Perhaps the issue is that I loved the original Butter Beer Tea so much that maybe this just isn’t living up to that. But I remember that tea being so much more … Butter Beer-ish.
It’s still good, but, it’s a little less than what I envisioned. The black tea base tastes nicely round, and I can taste a butter-scotch-y sort of taste with the flavoring. I’m not getting a whole lot of the chicory notes that were in the original, and I don’t taste a lot of licorice either. I taste hints of root beer, but this tastes more like a cream soda flavored tea than the Butter Beer Tea that I remember.
The hot-brewed, re-steeped tea pouch produces a much more flavorful pitcher of iced tea than the cold-brewed first steep. This tells me that this particular flavor (just like the pink lemonade flavor) should be hot-brewed instead of cold-brewed. But, based on this re-steep, I would say that it’s certainly worth it. This is more of the Butter Beer flavor that I was looking for. I still don’t taste much of the chicory, but, I do get a lot of the butter-scotch-y notes and hints of root beer-ish notes. I find myself still looking for some licorice and the chicory.
When I get around to hot-brewing my second pouch of this tea, I’ll be sure to update you on how well that comes out. In the meantime, this one is good, but, I think that the original was better.
On The Second Day of Christmas, Southern Boy Teas Edition!
OK, it’s day 2. And I’m happy that today’s iced tea from the SBT 12 Day of Christmas countdown is a tea that’s “new to me.” Well, kind of new to me, anyway. You’ll see what I mean in a second …
Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish Iced Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
Well, as I said, this tea is sort of new to me. I have tried the Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish Black Tea blend that 52Teas as well as their more recent Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish Green Tea blend, I feel that I’m somewhat familiar with this tea, although the SBT iced tea version is still “new to me,” and one I definitely wanted to try, so I’m glad to find it in this collection of 12 iced teas of Christmas.
This is really yummy. I cold-brewed the tea overnight, the way I typically do brew these extra-large tea bags from Southern Boy Teas. The flavor is nicely balanced between black tea notes and blueberry flavors, with a hint of tangy cream cheese that is especially noticeable toward the tail and in the aftertaste. Every once in a while, when I’m really focused on the sip, I can taste the buttery taste of a flaky pastry in there, but that flavor is a little less discernible than the blueberry, cream cheese and black tea flavors.
The aftertaste with this iced tea is noteworthy, because I find myself enjoying a delicate taste of sweet-tart blueberry and tangy cream cheese that continues to linger on my palate long after I’ve finished the glass of iced tea. I don’t recall another iced tea that has had such an impressive aftertaste as this one. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t experienced another tea with as strong a presence in the aftertaste, it just means that I can’t remember one.
This is quite a treat!
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, Della Terra Teas Sent Me This Tea!
Merry Christmas! I hope that you had as much fun as I did counting down the days until Christmas day with me. I’m very excited about today’s tea!
Figgy Pudding
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
Merry Christmas!!! You made it! Do you hear the 12 drummers drumming? Now open this up and sip away!
Whether you are having a festive get together like Ole Fezziwig, or spending the day at home with family … like the song says, O’ bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer!
Taster’s Review:
Few tea flavors out there get me as excited as when I find a fig flavored tea. I really love figs, and as I’ve reminisced at least once (probably more) here on this blog, they bring back some happy childhood memories for me. And while there are other fruits that I might enjoy more – like strawberries or peaches, for example – finding a good strawberry or peach flavored tea isn’t quite as challenging as finding a good fig flavored tea. They’re few and far between.
And this tea was well worth the wait as I counted down the teas of Christmas. This is delicious. The fig notes are prominent. From the moment I opened the pouch, I could smell the fig! And just now, as I walked into the kitchen to pour myself of the freshly brewed tea, the smell of warm figs filled my kitchen. YUM! My mouth started watering.
This Figgy Pudding Tea is really, really good. The fig flavor is strong and true to the fruit. It is sweet, just like biting into a fig … all that’s missing is the seedy texture of the inside of the fruit.
There is a slight creaminess to the background, not really a strong, pronounced “vanilla” or even “cream” flavor but more of just a slight creaminess to the cup that might be further enhanced with a drop or two of warm milk, but, I’d not want to risk losing some of this fig flavor!
The black tea is a even-toned base. I suspect it is most likely a Ceylon as it doesn’t have a strong or robust character. Instead, it’s brisk and slightly astringent. It’s not too strong-tasting a tea but I do pick up on slight notes of malt and the hints of fruity taste in the black tea play well to the sweetness of the fig.
Such a yummy Christmas gift from Della Terra Teas! Thank you!