As we endure the last cold nights of the season, it seemed the perfect time to brew up a cup of Smoky Spice from 52Teas. This blend combines two of my favorite cold-weather sensations: woodsmoke and cardamom. Nothing quite makes me feel as cozy and nostalgic as holding a hot cup of spicy tea, with the smell your neighbor’s wood stove on the wind.
Growing up in New England in a family with an Eastern European heritage, it seemed like we were always having winter bonfires and mulled cider or tea, celebrating some equinox or natural deity. These winter memories hit hard when I stuck my nose in the bag of these tea leaves, and I was caught up in the heat of the fire and the warmth of the spices.
52Teas does a great job with their smoky blends, the smoke is not too savory or bacon-like, just the perfect charcoal-nutty waft of roasting logs on the fire. The smoke is this blend is balanced, with a solid black tea base and a generous scoop of cardamom pods and vanilla beans, with no one flavor coming on too strong.
Drinking this tea is like sitting next to the fireplace and eating snappy spice cookies, or sipping on a spiced tea from your thermos out in the snow, watching a bonfire crackle away. I know I’ll be keeping an eye out for this blend when the weather turns again in the fall and you smell that first wisp of wood smoke on a crisp, cool day.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
This tea actually began as my Masterpiece Chai. While I was blending the spices, I toasted my cumin and I think either the cumin was especially fresh (not a bad thing at all) or I used too much cumin (much more likely) but the resulting blend ended up tasting strongly of smoky cumin. So I decided to add some Lapsang Souchong to amplify the smoky notes and create a Smoky Spice blend. This is a chai with a pleasant smoky tone – it’s not overly smoky – which is fine with me because I’m not a huge fan of a strong smoky essence. This has just the right level of smoke with a pleasant spicy note that isn’t too spicy, and it’s a little sweet and a little savory. It’s really nice.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Buttered Spiced Rum Green Tea from 52Teas
Gentle, warm, and soothing are 3 words I would use to describe Buttered Spiced Rum Green Tea from 52 Teas. Oddly…these are the same 3 words that 52 Teas used to describe this tea, too!
Organic ingredients include green tea, oranges, cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice, nutmeg and natural flavors. 52 Teas doesn’t mess around! At least they don’t mess around with top quality ingredients. They might just have a little TOO much fun when it comes to blending the flavors but there’s NOTHING wrong with that, is there? No. I didn’t think so.
As much as I hate the phrase ‘mouth feel’ I can’t think of another adjective at the moment to describe the way the buttery-goodness of the green tea base swirls around in my mouth. The spices aren’t overly loud but act more like a merry-go-round with the buttery green tea. The citrus notes juice it up nicely, too!
This is delicious hot or cold! A flavored green I would drink time and time again.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
Hot Buttered Rum is a traditional winter drink – something that will help warm you up when it’s cold outside. As I’ve often mentioned, I’m not much of a drinker of alcohol – tea is my drink of choice – but I still enjoy the idea of a warm, soothing cup of hot buttered rum – so I decided to create a tea that brought those flavors to life while still enjoying my favorite drink.
I chose a buttery Chinese Sencha as my base because I felt that the natural buttery tones of the tea would highlight the ‘buttered’ part of the buttered rum. Then I added a few spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. The spices aren’t overwhelming because I wanted a gentle, warm spice flavor but not something that would overpower the flavors of creamy butter and rum. A couple of the recipes that I found online for Hot Buttered Spiced Rum called for orange zest – instead, I added some dried orange segments. The orange flavor is delicate here, just a touch of orange to brighten the cup. As I already mentioned, my goal was to highlight the buttered rum flavor so I didn’t want those flavors overwhelmed by other profiles in this blend.
The result is a gentle, warm, soothing beverage. Something that makes me want to curl up next to a crackling fire and read a good book. This one’s really nice!
Taster size is approximately 15g
organic ingredients: green tea, oranges, cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice, nutmeg and natural flavors
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Pomegranate Black from 52Teas. . . .
Let me start by saying I love flavored black teas. Fruity, chocolately, spicy, you name it. So, I was stoked to try this one. It’s certainly not anything that will blow your socks off, but is more of a solid contender for a daily spring or summer tea.
Flavored teas are really only as good as the base upon which they’re built, so I was glad that this black tea base had a mild flavor. The pomegranate is a light, clean berry-ish flavor that’s more of a scent of the tea rather than a full-blown flavor. I also added just a touch of agave to bring out the sweetness of the fruit. It was a nice complement to the irresistible, ever-famous boxes of cookies that the little girls in green peddle each year around this time.
Overall, Pomegranate Black by 52 Teas is a simple, non-adventurous tea that begs to be paired with sweets for a mid-afternoon treat or as slight twist on iced tea to be served at lunch with friends.
I would certainly drink it again!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for the black flavored teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Cinnamon Pear from 52Teas. . . . .
I served a number of teas to some friends yesterday and this one came out as the favorite flavored blend we tried. No big surprise since 52Teas is one of the best tea blending companies I have come across.
I like the black tea base. It doesn’t bow down and disappear, but sails right along with the flavors. It isn’t super astringent like a lot of black tea bases in flavored blends. The cinnamon was nice – not red hot candy cinnamon but the kind of cinnamon levels you would expect in Grandma’s fruit pie.
The pear aspect was a little harder for me because I don’t eat pears. I like them fine, but I find them really mild and usually reach for an apple instead. I am an infrequent pear eater. So I can say this definitely has an apple/pear vibe, but I couldn’t pinpoint what kind of pear for you. The pear aficionados among you probably could pin it down right away. But the mild fruit flavor is very pleasant.
This is a nice blend with cinnamon to escape the ubiquitous orange/clove/cinnamon blends that are hanging around during the holidays. A breath of fresh pear…(sorry, couldn’t resist!)
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for what flavored black teas are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Jasmine Pecan Shortbread from A Quarter To Tea. . . .
I know Jasmine Pecan Shortbread is one of those teas that the name just intrigues you right off the bat and if its coming from A Quarter To Tea. . well than I’m really intrigued!
A Quarter To Tea offers unique hand blended small batch flavored teas that are simply brilliant. I’ve ordered my fair share of A Quarter To Teas and have never been disappointed. So I knew when I took a gamble on this particular blend, it would deliver.
And it did!
Let’s start with the buttery smooth green tea base that has a lovely jasmine flavor that doesn’t overwhelm but is noticeable. The pecan notes are the true star of the show. That flavor really brings home the pecan shortbread in the title of this tea.
You wouldn’t think those flavors would work together but they really do. Each sip you are presented with this sweet, nutty, and slightly floral flavor that delivers a truly unique and addicting flavor. There is even a slight vanilla and almost custard flavor as well.
Just delicious and giving me that sweet flavor I need without reaching for the candy bowl. Really lovely and I can’t seem to get enough of that nutty finish. This one is still available and one that I see using some of my Christmas money to get more of.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
Lovely vanilla, butter and pecans flavors with a jasmine background. Definitely try more than one steep — the more steeps, the more the jasmine comes to play!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
