Similar tea available.
“This week is a five-day series of sleep, starve/drink protein shakes while doing lab work until the wee hours of the morning, come home, eat, sleep, repeat. So no time for tea decisions, I’m...” Read full tasting note
“Hey, you guys? Guys? Guys! Guess what? I’m opening my very last pouch of my FAVOURITE 52teas flavour for a very special reason… I got a seasonal position at LUSH! eeee~! Caramel & cashews and...” Read full tasting note
“So ladies and gents, I was able to wrangle a small sample of this one from the lovely Kittenna who is hanging on to the last of her bag for dear life :) I have to say that I’m really glad I did. ...” Read full tasting note
“Snuck a quick cup of this in before heading out to the dentist yesterday morning. It also happened to be the last cup I had of this from last year’s Xmas sampler. This was one of the teas that I...” Read full tasting note
Tea of the Week for March 20, 2023!
This blend was originally blended during Frank’s era (2011) & then reblended as part of our rewards from our Kickstarter Startup Campaign (2016). Since then, it’s been requested quite a bit, but I’ve held back on reblending it until now.
I “revamped” the recipe, using different teas in the base & omitting the cashews – because all of our teas are allergen-friendly (& omitting the sunflower seeds because they go stale too quickly!) & replacing the “salty” note from those ingredients with Himalayan sea salt flakes (just enough to impart a slight hint of salt without making it too salty).So YUMMY! This blend is vegan, gluten-free, allergen-friendly & all natural!
ingredients: black tea, vegan chocolate chips & Himalayan sea salt flakes
organic ingredients: black teas, cacao nibs, cacao shells & calendula petals
more about this tea: This is my second time reblending this tea, but since I used a dramatically different blend of teas for the base, I decided to call it v.2. For those of you who have been a customer of 52Teas since Frank’s era, you’re likely to remember that this tea originated during his time as the Chief Zoomdweebie of 52Teas. When I reblended it the first time, I changed things up slightly because I used roasted, salted sunflower seeds in the blend in place of the cashew nuts. (We do not use tree nuts in our blends for those who may have nut sensitivities – but I thought sunflower seeds would be fine – since they don’t grow on trees.
And they were – except that they became stale pretty quickly (after a couple of years) & as we have customers out there who like to hang on to their teas for a while (read: hoard! LoL) the staleness became a problem. As a result, I opted not to include sunflower seeds in this blend & because I also still do not use tree nuts in my blends – this does affect the flavor somewhat.
One thing that was missing from the first taste testing is the hint of saltiness that the sunflower seeds added to the cup – so to offer this blend a hint of saltiness, I added some Himalayan sea salt flakes to the blending process. You won’t find a lot of salt flakes in this, because some of them broke down into tiny bits, while others dissolved & became part of the flavoring. The goal wasn’t to make this salty but to impart a hint of salt to the nutty, caramel-y, chocolate-y goodness that is Cashew Turtle! YUM!
To brew: shake the pouch well before you measure to ensure that all the ingredients are incorporated. Use 3g of tea to 12oz of nearly boiling water (205°F). Steep for 3 minutes. Strain & allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. The cool time will allow those flavors to POP!
serving suggestion: I like this one best served hot – but it’s also fantastic iced! I don’t say that about many of the chocolate teas as I tend to prefer my chocolate-y teas hot, but the flavors really come to life as the tea cools. You taste the caramel, the cashews (complete with that hint of salt) and the chocolate even better when it cools. You’ll still get those amazing flavors with a hot cuppa – but the flavors intensify as the cup cools! I like this with a teensy bit of sugar because it is a dessert-y tea & these flavors tend to taste better with just a little bit of sugar.
At 52teas.com, you will find unique, hand-blended artisan loose leaf teas: a new limited edition creation every week of the year. We pride ourselves on offering truly unique, one-of-a-kind tea blends that you won’t find anywhere else.
Wow! I really like this one. It’s a dessert tea, sweet, with a base of black tea and a thread of caramel. I don’t really get a nutty flavor to this, but the overall idea of a chocolate turtle is definitely there. I’ll be trying milk with this soon to see how it tastes.
Thanks to LiberTea for passing on a sample!
Wow. If you want a tea that tastes exactly like what it says, this is a good one to try. You can taste the nutty overtones very strongly, and there’s a hint of chocolatey caramel that mixes distinctively with the cashews. If I chew on my ice cubes it’s like I’ve eaten a little sweet treat without the guilt. I am on an iced tea kick, as usual in the summer, and this one is brilliant over ice. I use a splash of half & half to up the creaminess, and I sweeten with splenda. I’m sure it would be just as lovely with other sweeteners, especially honey (I imagine it taking on a honey nut cheerio flavor) — overall I think this tea is really wonderful for a hot summer day, or as an after dinner tea. Really, it’s great any time of day, but I don’t really place time restrictions on tea with the exception of chamomile (bedtime). Love it, love it!!
What a perfect christmas tea! Unfortunately I didn’t read any of the caveats about oversteeping until after I committed the same sin. I typically like my flavored black teas a little stronger, and disregard steeping instructions, but this delicate blend would have none of that! Despite the bitterness, there was excellent deep, dark chocolately flavor mixed with caramel and a hint of nuttiness that made for a decadent indulgence, which helped get through today at work! After all, isn’t that what the holidays are all about?
We have a box turtle hanging out by our backyard pond, and we’ve been periodically checking on her to see what she’s up to. Yesterday we went out back to look for her, but she was very well camouflaged in some dried leaves, and my partner couldn’t spot her at first.
We are huge fans of The Office, and my partner immediately channeled Michael Scott:
“WHERE. IS. THE. TURTLE?!”
A deep(ish) cut from season 4, but it’s from a great episode—the one where Michael drives his car into a F*CKING lake!
Anyway, the quote made me think of chocolate turtles, which made me think of this tea, so after pointing out our camouflaged turtle friend, I went inside and brewed up some cashew turtle tea. :D
I’ve had this one twice now and each time I feel like there’s something missing! I want more of the buttery richness I associate with cashews and more rich, deep, chocolatey-ness. It’s a tasty tea, but I want more depth!
Flavors: Nuts
March was a reblend month and this is one of the teas I chose to reblend. I had held off reblending it (I haven’t blended it since 2016 & Frank’s original blend of this tea was crafted in 2011) because I needed to find a suitable substitute for the sunflower seeds that I used in the 2016 reblend – which replaced the cashews from Frank’s original blend.
I finally decided to try it with some big flakes of sea salt and it worked out nice! The salt is just enough to bring out the saltiness of the cashew – because while the essence I use does in fact taste like cashew, it doesn’t taste like a salted cashew – which is why I used the sunflower seeds in the first place, to give the cup some salt notes.
Anyway – I also changed up the base of the blend because I had some Gu Zhang – and I thought that the natural chocolate-y notes of the Gu Zhang would play nicely to this confectionary tea.
It’s yummy! Chocolate notes (not just from the tea, but also cacao shells & nibs & vegan chocolate chips) with notes of caramel (vegan) & cashew (nut-free) and just a hint of salt!
Also: the link on the “buy now” does not lead you to 52Teas. It leads you to an Adagio tea that IS NOT a similar tea. Not at all.
My cup of this tonight was less creamy and rich than I wanted, but I did still get a good cashew flavor, so my overall impression is a positive one.
I’m really happy to have tried this, but I’m also to have a sipdown!
Finally getting through most of my older 52Teas! I’ve been looking forward to this one, because cashews are my favourite kind of nut. I’m the kind of person who always hogs the cashew chicken when we’re having Chinese. I wanted this tea to be good (52 Teas from this era are so hit and miss), and, fortunately, it is!
I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3.5 minutes in boiling water, splash of milk. The initial flavour is smooth, silky caramel, followed by a hit of dark chocolate that even the milk hasn’t managed to mellow out. So rich and cocoa-like! The cashew, glorious, creamy nuttiness, comes out mostly towards the end of the sip, and works really well with the chocolate and caramel (of course it does!). It’s such a good combination, I’m pretty sure I could drink this all day and not tire of it.
I’m enjoying this one. It’ll be a good way to say goodbye to the last of my old 52Teas, if there’s still some left when I get to that point!
The “cashew” part of this is a TOTAL LIE.
They’re actually, due to food allergies, sunflower seeds. I suppose this is an acceptable alternative to keep people from dying. I GUESS. WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, GO HUG A TREE, HIPPIES.*
(*I can’t taste the difference whatsoever.)
…
On to the taste.
I’d rank the flavors in the following order of strength:
1) nuts
2) black tea
3) chocolate
This is a really solid, tasty blend.
It’s like dating a lumberjack who gets along with your mom AND your grandma. You might not marry him, but he helps out around the house and generally improves everyone’s day.
Flavors: Chocolate, Nuts, Nutty
