Pancake Breakfast Black Tea

When I first got this tea I tried it right away because I was so excited, but then ended up a bit disappointed because I didn’t get as much flavor as I would have liked. After that it sat in the back of my cupboard while all manner of new teas piled up around it, but then I read LiberTEAS’ note on one of the other 52teas about how she always waits a while before trying the new blends because it takes a while for all the flavors to meld together and develop. I ordered both the Pumpkin Cheesecake and the Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast recently and have been waiting to try them, so I thought I’d revisit this one since it’s been so long.

To be honest the aroma of the brewed tea still smells like what I remember: black tea. It’s a bit bright, almost like a darjeeling, oddly. I do get a hint of underlying sweetness to the aroma, but it overall reminds me more of Harney’s Indian Nimbu than pancakes! The taste is very interesting, and definitely different from how I remember. I get a bright, clean black tea, not heavy or malty, followed by a slight aftertaste of maple, perhaps. I don’t really know what’s going on… I read all the other reviews and people rave and rave about how pancakey this is, but I’m just not getting it. Maybe I need to try it sweetened, but I’m not big on sweetening my teas. The overall flavor of the cup is interesting enough that I have no problem drinking it down, but I’m a bit underwhelmed. C’est la vie! Sometimes a tea is not for everyone.

I bought this as one of the teas for the participants in the 12 days of Christmas swap.
I had tried this mixed with the maple bacon tea. it was unique.
today I brewed it up on it’s own. my first sip tasted just like pancake, but not any pancake, you know when there is slightly too much butter in the pan & the edges of a pancake are almost deep fried? Crunchy, buttery & bakey yummy yum yum
if you’ve never had a pancake like this, go, now & make some. My grandmother use to make all pancakes this way.
it’s strange the flavour throughout didn’t come through the rest of my mug.
I got a mostly black tea flavour with maple & occasionally some pancake flavour.

Mmmmm! I haven’t eaten breakfast yet, but I feel like I don’t need to now. This tea is fantastic and I’m thrilled to add it to my collection.

What do I love as much as tea? Chocolate! This morning I put an extra twist on Frank’s already delish pancake breakfast tea-Chocolate chips for chocolate chip pancakes!!!!

For the most part I consider myself a perennial optimist, and I make that statement less out of ego and more out of intent: there’s always a silver lining, even if the silver lining is having learned something so you don’t do whatever it is again. However, we all have our moments and right now is one of mine.

The bonus though is this— in telling you that my day is grim on this website (while brewing tea) it means that it’s not just a standard pity party, it becomes a pity TEA party! My tea is steeped and prepped in the most comforting manner that I know (part of a Chinese sugar cake and cream) and I am sufficiently bolstered to tell you why I am underwhelmed by today.

I fell at work halfway through April. We thought it was a scaffoid fracture (the bone that allows you to have an opposable thumb) but instead it is nerve damage stemming from the rotator cuff. I also have a nervous system disease. I have been casted or splinted since April 13th. Not the end of the world, but at least with a fracture you have an idea of when you’ll be getting out the constrictions! (I have no clue and neither does anybody else). The important part of my right hand has very little strength or is frozen. The whole thing has been a gong show. (insertion of strong opinion at this point): ANYBODY WHO TELLS YOU THAT WCB IS YOUR FRIEND HAS NEVER DEALT WITH THEM.

My employer made 48 BILLION dollars profit in Canada alone last year. I fell over aging SAFETY equipment. An ergonomic mat that was reported to management more times than I can count. Hell, a mat that TRIPPED management more times than I can count. Right off the bat they suggested it was my fault because of my disease… uh, no. The more I spoke with my managers the more it sounded like I was going to lose my job… not a sad thing in terms of job fantasticness, but not good in terms of financial stability for my family. I expressed my concern. Verbatim my manager replied ‘you don’t lose your job over something like this, you just don’t get any hours.’ (I should explain that for the sake of reader relief I am keeping things short…. Sad, really, that this is the short version.) and I have been on WCB ever since.

I get a fraction of my pay (which wasn’t much to begin with), but I think it’s the endless harassment that I find so exhausting. So I grabbed my brain, did some soul searching and signed up to go to school in September. In the meantime everyday is filled with physio, doctor’s appointments, nagging from WBC ‘are you better yet, because we don’t want to pay you’. Almost 3 months of this because a conglomerate employer doesn’t like to protect it’s employees. What prompted this rant you may be asking yourself. This isn’t new… why today? Because they have me going in for an MRI. Through a private firm. It’s one of 2. I do these routinely at the hospital…. Once, twice a year. No big deal. The only other time I’ve had one through a private company the tech screamed at me the whole time and actually listed her insults in her report!

I think it just comes down to: you can only push someone so far before you get a negative result. WCB doesn’t let up, the appointments don’t let up and I have had enough. I managed to botch my ‘with open eyes’ brew this morning by underleafing, when my American teas order arrived today I discovered that my samples arrived, but the one tea I really wanted ‘brioche’ had not (operator error). I resent it when outside stress impacts my tea!

I needed tea. I needed something comforting. There are so many teas I love, what to choose. Well, I suppose I was hoping for a new perspective on the day so I wagered a gamble on a tea I’ve never had before… who did I choose? In honour of the laughter I gained from my sample yesterday I chose ‘pancake breakfast’ by 52teas. And it worked. I won’t say the day is great, or relaxing, or that I have any faith in this imaging procedure, but this tea helped ME.

I love breakfast for dinner, I love pancakes. Frequently with too much butter and real maple syrup. The blend gave me buttery, syrup, the really light cake flavour. All the components were there, plus a caffeine settle down. The Chinese sugar added some extra richness, the cream is my standard….. thanks for reading my rant. We all have days where we are…. Other. This tea gave me comfort, familiarity with a favourite food and a moment away from all the nonsense. Thank you 52teas… and thank you CHAroma for sending me the sample.

I’m sure I’ll be back to myself once the MRI is over. Grrrr.

This was for breakfast this morning:) My first time having this tea:) I was so excited to see it reblended after much uproar about it on here. It does not dissappoint. Every component is present. The airy pancake texture. The creamy buttery notes…and the sweet maple syrup. This tea is genius pure genius. I have found that 52teas does better with lower temperature water, if you use boiling it always turns out to just be a strong plain black tea sometimes even bitter. So I am happy I perfected it! Yummo! I am truly happy with this purchase.

Decupboarding this to make room for plethora of tea orders I made over the weekend. (Don’t tell my husband!)

I will miss Pancake Breakfast for the time being, but I know I’ll throw a pouch of it in my 52teas cart the next time I make an order. It’s mapley, cakey goodness is hard to resist!

I’m a little disappointed with this one, not gonna lie! Maybe because I hyped it up in my head too much. For some reason or another, it’s just not what I was hoping for or expecting.

The dry smell was pure maple for me, which was nice but a little off putting. I was expecting a buttery, bakey scent but all I could pick up was sweet maple.

Brewed up, I taste black tea and maple. Still a really enjoyable cup, but not the true pancake flavour that everyone else seems to rave about.

I think next time I’ll try a shorter steep and see if that helps bring out more of the flavouring. I’m actually sipping this as I type, and the pancake comes out a bit more as it cools. This is one I think I’d have to be in the mood for, though.

This tea is freak’n fantastic! At first sip I get a warm maple syrup flavor which I expected from both the name and the amazing aroma of the dry tea. What I didn’t expect was the complexity of this tea. That initial warm maple syrup taste moves into a buttery rich pancake flavor. It literally tastes like you took hearty bite of your pancake breakfast and washed it down with a sip of smooth high quality black tea. This tea is making me so happy this morning!

I’m sitting here sipping my tea, a little melancholy today.
The blog site I frequent, and have been on for many years lost a blogger today. Someone I’ve come to regard as a living angel, and a dear friend. He died last night, complications from surgery/cancer. I’ve never met the man in person, but know people who have.

Then there is what’s going on in my “real” life… Mum is in surgery right now, nothing major… just kidney stones that lodged somewhere they couldn’t blast with an ultrasound. Still, they’re cutting her up and poking around some major organs/arteries. I’m a bit lot worried.

And I can’t stop wondering, as absolutely ridiculous as it is, if my friend down in Oregon passed so that she could live. And then I think to myself what an awful person I am for even contemplating that… how do I come up with these things? and why can’t I just put the idea aside. I’ve tried distracting myself with all sorts of things but nothing has worked yet. Except for maybe writing this “review”.
Sorry for the emodump. I couldn’t really post this in my regular blog place.

Anyhow. This tea was a much needed cup of selfcare. Emotional drinking? you bet.
With just 1/3 tsp of sugar, the pancake and syrup notes pop a bit. Of course I added a dollop of milk as well. It really adds that extra oomph needed for pancake texture.

Well, that’s all I got. RIP my dear sweet PM. Meanwhile my fingernails are shredded waiting for word on Mum.