Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Cantaloupe is one of my all-time favorite fruits and so is watermelon, so when I had the chance, I just couldn’t resist creating this blend of premium white teas, dried cantaloupe, and organic cantaloupe and watermelon flavors. This is a serious glass of refreshment as an iced tea and I’m sure it’s awesome as a hot tea too. I’m already getting a little anxious for spring. I’ve got this week’s tea and next week’s tea already blended up, and they are both on the fruity end of the spectrum. But that’s all I can tell you for now.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm! This Cantaloupe Watermelon Flavored White Tea from 52Teas is YUMMY! It tastes like summer in tea form!
The overall flavor is sweet and fruity. I love that the watermelon and cantaloupe come through loud and clear. There’s no mistaking these two flavors – this definitely taste just as I wanted a tea that promises cantaloupe and watermelon flavors with its name the way this tea does. It tastes like sweet, luscious cantaloupe and juicy, sweet watermelon.
The white tea is just the right base for these two flavors too, because these are typically two more delicate tasting fruits and I think a stronger tea flavor would have obscured the nuances of the cantaloupe and watermelon flavors (although I think it would be interesting to try these flavors with a buttery Chinese Sencha too). The white tea has a light, airy kind of taste, and the fruit notes that I often associate with a white tea tend to be melons, so I think that pairing a Shou Mei white tea with watermelon and cantaloupe is ideal.
It tastes great served hot, but it’s even better iced, mostly because these flavors just seem to beg to be served over ice, don’t they? Cantaloupe and Watermelon sound better cold than hot. A thin slice of lemon might be nice to serve with this – just a hint of acid to perk up the sweetness a bit!
As I write this review, I see that there are six pouches of this tea left. This is going to be a tea you WANT to have on hand when summer arrives – it’s so deliciously refreshing and fruity! So, hurry on over to 52Teas and get yourself a pouch!
A really delightful tea.
Cran-Grape Shou Mei from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
I assure you, I am not dead.
I’ve been down with the flu early this week and then I got so busy with our Kickstarter rewards that I nearly forgot to post the tea of the week! Shame on me. And it’s a yummy one too. Soft, sweet shou mei blended with cranberries and grapes. Yummmmm.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
As soon as I opened the pouch of this Cran-Grape Shou Mei from 52Teas, I could smell the grape. Or perhaps, I should say, I could smell grape candy, because that’s what it smells like. It smells like the grape <insert favorite grape flavored candy here>. Yeah, that’s what this smells like. The grape scent was so strong that I couldn’t really detect any cranberry notes, or any white tea notes for that matter.
Once brewed, the fragrance mellows out a little bit. Now, I still smell grape, but it actually smells like grape … and not so much like grape candy. There are still hints of candy-like sweetness, but, the aroma becomes a little more complex after the tea is brewed. I even smell a wine-like note in there. And I can smell hints of white tea too. Much more promising than the dry leaf scent.
The grape flavor is the strongest note that I taste, and the sweetness of the candy-like grape taste is curbed with the tartness of the cranberry. This combination keeps the grape from tasting too cloying. But, I have to say that this isn’t my favorite fruit combination. I’ve never made any big secret of my dislike for grape flavored things. But the cranberry does improve the flavor considerably.
The white tea is a little obscured by the strength of the fruit flavors. I notice the white tea notes a little more when I slurp the sip, and then I taste the earthy qualities of the Shou Mei, and a slight “hay-ish” taste that offers a palate-pleasing contrast to the fruit notes.
This tastes alright. It’s not my favorite 52Teas blend. (I have much higher hopes for the next blend that I’ll be tasting: Rum Raisin! YUM!) I like this much better as an iced tea than when it’s served hot.
Pineapple Angel Food Cake Shou Mei White Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
I blended our premium shou mei white tea with freeze-dried pineapple and organic flavors to create a soothing cuppa yummy. The pineapple is a very strong scent when you smell the dry tea, but tasting it, you definitely get the flavor of soft, vanilla, spongy angel food cake underlying the sweet pineapple. All it’s missing is the ability to chew it, and for me, the flavor is so spot on, it makes me want to start chewing to feel that soft, chewy, spongy cake. I have a feeling this one is going to be very popular.
Learn more about this blend here.
Learn more about 52Teas Kickstarter Initiative for new equipment to enhance his business (specifically, his iced tea business: Southern Boy Teas) here.
Taster’s Review:
There was a time when you would ask me what my favorite kind of cake was, and my answer would be angel food cake. In fact, every year as a youngster, my gramma would make me an angel food cake as my birthday cake. But not just any angel food cake … she made this incredible chocolate frosting … it was so perfectly, deliciously chocolate-y that there were even chunks of milk chocolate bar in the frosting. My mouth is watering right now, thinking about that cake. It was so good.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had that cake … or any angel food cake for that matter. I’m not big on baking. So, when 52Teas announced this Pineapple Angel Food Cake Shou Mei White Tea as their tea of the week for the week of October 7th, I was excited! I could not wait to try it!
The dry leaf smells delicious! The aroma of the brewed tea is not nearly as strong as the dry leaf, but it still smells yummy. I smell the pineapple, and the crisp, vegetal scent of the white tea. I don’t smell a strong baked cake sort of smell here … I’m hoping that I’ll taste it though.
When right-from-the-teapot hot, the flavors are a little bit muddled. I taste the pineapple, and I taste a sweet creaminess. I taste the white tea notes. But, allow the tea to cool a few minutes and the flavors begin to emerge!
Now, I taste the delicate vanilla notes that reflect a sort of “angel food cake” sort of taste. These meld very nicely with the softness of the white tea, which is airy and slightly earthy. In keeping with the overall “delicateness” of this tea, the pineapple is not an aggressive, in your face flavor. It’s all a very soft, sweet experience – sort of like what you’d get if you were to be eating a slice of angel food cake topped with a pineapple sauce. The flavors continue to improve as the tea cools, telling me that this would be excellent as an iced tea.
And speaking of iced tea … the newest fundraising initiative that 52Teas has “kickstarted” is for equipment for their iced tea brand: Southern Boy Teas. I’ve reviewed quite a few of these teas, and there have been a few new ones recently announced. (I am eagerly awaiting my delivery of these teas, which I will receive as a gift for supporting the kickstarter fundraising campaign. When I get them … I’ll review them!) Please consider contributing to this fundraiser, because I really want to see Frank dance the jig!