Milk & Cookies

I am just now getting to try this last (the surprise) tea in 52teas Christmas sampler.

Part of that was because I was a little worried from the smell. I’m the pickiest person ever about cookies (texture is a big thing for me – they have to be chewy and soft) and the smell of this dry was exactly like storebought Chips Ahoy! cookies. Which immediately reminded me of their dry crumbly nature and why I don’t like them. So it sat in the little red box, the last lonely package, until today.

I steeped 2 heaping tsp. (more or less the whole sample) at the below parameters in my Breville, in 500 ml. water. Milk and brown sugar were added after an initial tasting of the plain tea.

The steeped smell of the leaves still has a Chips Ahoy note, but the smell of the black tea has smoothed it out a bit, so it’s not reminding me of the hard dry cookie. The smells very chocolatey, like the chocolate in the Cashew turtle blend, which I really liked.

The first sip of the plain tea was strongly reminiscent of that chocolate Cashew turtle flavor – only then this STRONG note of bitterness overtook everything else and dominated the swallow. I’m glad I went with other reviewers and steeped it for a minute less than I usually would! I didn’t get any cookie or milk notes before additives were used.

Once milk and brown sugar were added a buttery, bakey note becomes more evident in with the chocolate. Ah, fresh cookies! No more storebought stuff! I’m not really getting any milk essence (besides that which I added, anyway) but strangely there seem to be hints of caramel (which, again, I’m probably imagining because of that Cashew turtle similarity).

Even though I’m very late to the party, I get the Christmasy feel of it – leaving milk and cookies for Santa was something I loved doing on Christmas eve as a kid. This wasn’t my favorite 52teas blend, but it is very fun for the nostalgia factor!

This is another one of the teas that got spilled inside the 12 days of x-mas sampler box and I think it mixed with a few other because it smells a bit like the Rainbow Sherbet right now. So I’m not sure if I should rate this tea at all.

Taste-wise I didn’t find it anything special, as it mostly just tasted like plain tea with a hint of chocolate and sweetness, though it did go nicely with some of the ginger cookies I made yesterday. I’ve got enough left to play around with the parameters so I’ll see if I can’t find a way to coax more flavour out of it.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Tuesday, June 1st: World Milk Day Tea #1

additional notes: Rather than go with the sipdown challenge idea of adding milk to a tea, I instead went to hunt down teas with ‘milk’ in the name!  This one surely works. It’s the first one I think of in my stash regarding ‘milk’.  And I’m also still amazed that this tea still tastes like cookies… it’s a Frank blend and somehow the flavor it still there.  I think cocoa nibs mostly work when you are aiming for a chocolate chip cookie flavor.  Somehow the nibs capture it more than any other chocolate ingredient.  Then there is a flavor that is most definitely something like milk, equally balanced with the cookie.  I’m sure this is more artificially flavored than what Anne uses now, so it might be tough to recreate it.  I will miss this when it’s gone.

I am having this iced again. It is even better than I remember it before. Much more chocolatey. And, the astringency that I noted before is barely there and really complements the taste. Tastes like milky, creamy chocolate cookies. I really like this one.

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp
Water: 500ml at 195°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: chocolate
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet, bakey-black tea
Flavor: sweet black tea
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: astringent
Liquor: translucent dark red-brown

not getting the cookie or chocolate or milk

Post-Steep Additives: german rock sugar, chocolate coming out, a little bakey for cookie, no milk

Blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2012/06/52teas-loose-leaf-black-tea-milk-and.html

Backlogging from Christmas: What a lovely and apropos finale to an amazing 12 teas of Christmas!!! This black tea is interesting to say the least. It’s sweet, and creamy but also has an almost floral-y element to it. I used a shorter steep time (thanks for the tip, Uniquity!) and I think I finally got a hang of it. It was a lovely christmas treat!!!

Moral of the story: 12 teas of christmas made the holiday season festive and bright!

Since I had the David’s Teas 24 Days of Tea, I decided to drink my 52Teas 12 teas of Christmas during the traditional 12 days of Christmas. And I started a day late. Oops. Yesterday was rough, with having to be at work at 7 a.m. And then after I got home, I didn’t want to have a caffeinated tea to get in the way of sleep later. So I decided to hold off until today.

Ninavampi said it best, without additions, Milk and Cookies tastes like a vaguely chocolately generic black tea, slightly harsh. I want to like it, I want it to be out of this world and cookie-like, but I dislike sweetened tea. In any form. With any amount of sugar. So I just can’t go there. My mental block is too strong. But to get the best out of many of their teas, you have to have milk and/or sugar. So after my brief crush on them, here I am. It smells delicious though. At least I have that.

This is a tea that doesn’t stand well alone. With sugar, there’s a perfect cookie smell and a pretty accurate (although very much simplified) taste, but without it, it’s just a too-bitter chocolate tea. I could see this being a nice little Christmas surprise, but if you missed it, I’m sure you can find something better.

I received this in a swap from someone over a year ago and it’s probably even older than that.

I accidentally oversteeped it while I was changing the baby and it got super bitter. Honestly, I’ve never found a 52Teas blend that I’ve enjoyed. I feel bad saying that because I know that behind the tea is a passionate dude who has a neat concept and cool flavor ideas but they’ve never worked out for me.

I’ve tried various ones received in swaps and they all seem to kind of taste the same, and the taste isn’t good. I may have oversteeped them all as I hear the base is picky, and I will allow for the fact that this one is crazy old and probably stale as all hell, but I think I just dislike this black base.

It kinda reminds me of the Pancake Breakfast blend which I was also not impressed with. Beyond the gross bitter base I am getting a hint of brown sugar, but no chocolatey taste.

If you want a tasty cookie tea I suggest Davidstea’s Cookie Dough, when they have it. Not sure if it still exists.

I won’t rate this because it’s old, but…it just wasn’t worth drinking. That’s my final answer.