Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish Black Tea

On the 5th Day of Christmas . . . I’m a little behind as I haven’t yet posted my review for the 4th day of Christmas – but it kind of works out for me since that tea is a caffeine free selection and I’m really in need of some caffeine now – then in a bit, I’ll write a note for the 4th tea. A little backward, of course – but it works for me.

Anyway, this tea! I was happy this tea earned the votes to be reblended because a) I’ve gotten so many requests for it to be reblended; and b) I love it.

Big Blueberry flavor, hints of danish and a touch of smooth, creamy cream cheese. YUM!

12 days of tea day 5! I think it’s day 5. Anyway, I don’t normally care for blueberry teas. But, I was absolutely taken aback once I opened the pouch. It’s bursting with a wonderful blueberry pastry aroma. It’s incredibly strong, and I was so excited to brew this up. I added a bit of rock sugar and some oat milk, and sipped it with my morning stollen. Wow. Decadent and wonderful. It’s bursting with a very jam-like blueberry flavor. The pastry note is more subdued flavor-wise. But, it’s so yummy.

Possibly my last caffeinated tea for the day so I wanted to make it a good one. There are giant blueberries in the mix, plus long and twisty leaves. It’s a beautiful blend really. I steeped like I normally would for a black tea – cool for one minute, steep for seven. I’m drinking this with almond milk, but unfortunately I’ve added too much – the flavor is too light. I’ll try this one again, with a splash of cream instead, and will hold my rating until then. I think this is probably amazing when done right.

Cold Brew Sipdown (1327)!

Very refreshing brisk black tea with some floral and malt notes to it – but of course the star of this blend is rightfully the blueberry. Full bodied, “cooked” blueberry without the sticky sweetness of a blueberry jam/reduction. Still feels well rounded on the palate, but with an appropriate heaviness and thickness. Y’all know I’m a forever slut when it comes to a nice blueberry black tea, so this is righttttt up my alley.

Another sipdown of a delicious tea I should have finished a while ago. I think this one is 2 years old.

I love the malty black base and the blueberry comes through as natural but flavourful. I added a bit of soy milk, however I still didn’t get the pastry or cream cheese notes I would like. If I didn’t know what this tea was called, I would think it was a plain blueberry black tea. Still tasty (esp. because I love blueberries), however the desserty aspect of the name is what drew me to it. I even tried steeping a long time (over an hour) starting with boiling water.

Add a bit of cream to your cup and from time to time, you will have a sip of vanilla blueberry swirl ice cream. I could do with more vanilla and more blueberry, but really, I like it as is even though the flavours are mellow and mild. Delicious.

Thank you for this, VariaTEA.

So thrilled to have won the 52Teas May giveaway box! It came in the mail today and it’s brimful of exciting flavors :) Many thanks to Anne and Amethyst!

I decided to try this one first because I was curious to see just how much it could taste like blueberry danish, and the answer is VERY. It smells and tastes spot on, right down to those sort of jelly notes from the filling. The base tea provides good support, but doesn’t distract from the blueberry, which is very clearly the star of the show. I don’t get much cream cheese, but I feel like when I’ve eaten blueberry danish, I didn’t get much cream cheese there either — like it’s just a little smear usually to keep the blueberry from soaking into the pastry. So overall, the flavor balance seems incredibly accurate. Usually when I get flavored teas they just sort of vaguely taste like whatever they’re named after. I want to know what kind of alchemy is going on here!

I’ve sipped this tea a couple of times now and have been happy with it but not blown away, most likely because although I get the blueberry I really dont taste any cream cheese danish which is what really intrigued me. Overall its been a pretty blah tea for me…. until now…. So for christmas, I was spoiled, and when I say spoiled, I mean big time!! Hubby bought me a Breville one touch tea maker!!!! No longer do I have to guestimate my water temperature or brewing times and suddenly (seriously) tea tastes sooooo much better!!!! Finally I’m getting some cream cheese and major buttery pastry notes out of this tea which makes me deliriously happy!!! Unfortunately its such a touchy tea that you really do have to baby the steeping parameters… if its not perfect, all you’ll get is overwhelming blueberry which drops my overall rating.

So, I realized I have developed a bit of a backlog with tea tasting notes, since I only review one tea a day…and I drink a lot more, well it makes sense that my notebooks are filled with older notes. I do not want to neglect these teas, but the teas I am sent to review take precedent over teas I receive as gifts, buy for myself, or get in trades, it just seems polite. So, once a week I am cracking open the ‘vault’ and reviewing a tea from my older notebooks, sadly this does mean some of the photos are not the best. So glad I finally discovered the sweet spot for taking tea pictures, who knew I would have to rely on flash photography!

Today we are taking a look at 52Teas’s Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish Black Tea, no this tea is not exactly from 2010, I got my sample when I supported their Indiegogo campaign last year. I had heard a lot about 52Teas on Steepster and wanted to try a lot of their teas, but since Frank creates a new tea every week, usually once they are gone they are gone (unless you can trade for them on Steepster or get them from traveling tea boxes) so this was a perfect opportunity to crack into twelve of their most popular blends, and this was the one I tried first. The aroma is really sweet, it smells just like one of those vending machine danishes (I don’t think I have ever had any other kind of danish actually) there is intense blueberry notes with a hint of cream cheese and a touch of yeastiness like pastry. Add a touch of malty tea and it reminds me of drinking tea and having a vending machine pastry while waiting for my train. Very specific memory there, the Pittsburgh train station to be exact.

Once I give the tea a steeping the aroma of the leaves is really quite brisk, you can certainly tell it is an Indian black tea because of that distinct oak wood, malty, briskness that always comes to mind (at least for me) when sniffing it. There is also a nice burst of blueberries and a tiny hint of the other flavors present in the dry leaves. The liquid is rich and sweet, a nice brisk blend of malt and blueberry with a tiny hint of yeasty pastry at the finish.

The taste is fairly mild, a bit of malt and oak wood (like one expects from an Indian black tea) and a bit of sweet and slightly tart blueberries, much like blueberry jam. I decided to give this tea a try with some cream and sugar to see if it made any of the flavors pop, I can detect a bit of creaminess and a touch of a pastry like taste, but really this tea left me a tad bit underwhelmed. It is by no means bad, just did not knock my socks off as I had hoped. I guess the same can be said about the danishes I have had as well, maybe a real not from a vending machine danish is mild too. But even though this tea left me going ‘meh’ Frank’s imagination and blends always make me smile, especially the geeky reference teas.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/11/52teas-blueberry-cream-cheese-danish.html

T&C TTB Rd 2

This one smells heavenly! I was salivating as I prepped the cup to steep…and then I burned my tongue because I was too excited about getting a taste. :/

In any case, this one brews up to a purplish-dark liquid that’s clearly influenced by the whole – and yes, they are WHOLE and huge – blueberries tossed into the blend. I wound up muting it somewhat with whole milk because I wanted to try and bring out the “cream cheese” notes, but even with that the black tea and blueberries definitely pushed their way to the front of the flavour profile.

With that said, this wasn’t a tea that really impressed me. It was good, yes, but not one that I would want to have again in the future.