Raspberry Cream

1.5 tbsp for 375 ml

Mild raspberry flavour. Slight tartness makes the raspberry flavour more authentic. Little to no creaminess. Raspberry flavour balanced with black tea taste.

Even though this tea interested me and I was THIS close to buying it, it didn’t officially make it into my shopping cart. Looking at my tea collection, I have SO many darn teas that I need to drink that I couldn’t justify making another purchase (unless it was a tea that I could not live without). Scheherazade shared a bit of this with me (THANK YOU!) so I will either regret or celebrate my passing up on this tea when it was on sale.

The scent of this tea is nice… a bit of a frilly raspberry, some floral note and a bit of black tea. I’m interested in seeing how this compares to other raspberry blends. Raspberry is such a lovely flavor in tea, but it has to be just right… Sipping.. a nice and light raspberry flavor that slides into into something like vanilla ice cream.. or maybe just an artificial vanilla note. I have to be looking for the creamy aspect as it’s not terribly evident. This blend leaves a strange and unpleasant aftertaste: a bit like stale tea leaves and chemicals.

I am very glad to have tried this blend and am happy I didn’t buy a whole pouch of it. I’ll certainly finish the cup, though.

From the LiberTEAS sampler I bought a while back

Dry, this was much like I was expecting – you could smell the raspberry, but it wasn’t too impressive. Once you start pouring the boiling water over it, though, this mouthwatering right-off-the-vine sort of raspberry flavour comes rolling up at you…I have high hopes for how this one is going to turn out.

As I was waiting for it to cool the aroma kept drawing me back to the mug – it smells fresh and clean, almost like when my aunts used to cook up big batches of raspberry jam – but sadly that first sip didn’t quite impress me. The smell is pungent (and quite delightful) but the flavour seems to play second fiddle to the black tea base.

As it cools, though, the subtle raspberry flavours start to rise again…it’s a steady, calming sort of tea – the black base is rich and flavourful and the raspberry serves as a delightful overlay. It’s well-suited to a lazy evening at home in front of the tv or when you just need a quiet cuppa to chill you out.

As far as black-based teas go, this one is rather delightful. I enjoy how simple and well-executed the flavours are…I’d happily have another few cups of this one.

This is another 52teas blend that took me by surprise. When I first received this blend I was hesitant as I was expecting the typical artificial raspberry flavoring you often get with tea blends – but I should have known Frank has higher standards than most. The dry leaves have a delicate creamy scent which simply brings out the nice fresh raspberry in this blend. The raspberry is a nice tart natural flavor which is supported nicely by both the black tea base and cream-like notes in the background. I am a straight tea drinker and was surprised how lovely this tea was hot but even more impressed with the flavor profile when it was at room temperature/cold. I am not typically one to try black teas cold or cool but due to a combined hectic day at the office and a desperate end of day caffeine fix I decided to down the half cup of cold tea on my desk – and I have to admit this is one tea best enjoyed cold.

I love raspberries, and this is a really nice raspberry black tea. The taste in the cup isn’t as strong or punchy as the smell of raspberry in the dry leaves, but it’s still a nice gentle raspberry against the black tea background. I would have liked the raspberry to be stronger, which seems strange to me, since other folks here seem to be tasting it more than I can. Sigh. :-\

The black tea base was pleasantly not-bitter. I have trouble detecting “cream” flavouring in anything, it seems, so I’m not sure about how people taste that – maybe it comes across as a sort of mellowness. Anyway, overall it was a good mug of tea. Thanks to Starfevre for this!
I added sugar and skim milk.

From StarFevre a while ago! THANK YOU for that epic package. This won’t be an extravagant note, because the flavors here are mostly faded now (Frank’s blend). But there are hints of raspberry, no cream. I would have really loved this one fresh. Wasn’t one I tried when it was first released. Just wanted to write a note that I’m drinking it/ who sent it!

Arby Advent Day 10
I’ve been enjoying trying 52teas flavors that I missed! This one turned out somewhat bitter, but I covered it with milk and sugar. I definitely taste the tang of the raspberry. The flavor is pretty much what you’d expect from a fruity black tea. There’s a hint of cream lurking in the background. Not bad!

Teabox Tuesday! I squeezed in another sample from the Discovery Teabox on my lunch break, so thank you to Skysamurai for organizing and all participants for sharing! This one is from 2013, so not quite as old as my tea from this morning, but still an old enough blend I’m certainly not expecting any miracles due to the age of the blend.

Surprisingly, the dry leaf of this still had a lot of aroma, especially compared to the last two of these older 52Teas blends, and they’ve been fairly comparable in age. Not sure if that’s just luck of this particular flavoring holding up well, or it was just stored better, or what, but I’m definitely smelling raspberry… a bit like a raspberry creme soda? And that aroma is holding up in the brewed cup, too. It isn’t a really strong flavor hit, and I’m still getting that metallic/alcoholic note, but it actually tastes just like a different raspberry tea in my collection (that is only a year or two old, I might add!), just a bit softer/not as robust. That other tea has that metallic/alcoholic quality to its flavoring, too. I really wish natural/artificial flavorings listed their contents so I could figure out which flavorings gave me this issue, I bet its a specific chemical/ingredient in certain ones, but I have no way of knowing since they don’t have to disclose that… meh.

But I’m pretty surprised. Considering the age of this tea and it tastes comparable to other raspberry teas I have that I bought around 2017, I’m really impressed. Though I can smell a cream component, I don’t think it’s really coming forward in the taste; I get the maltiness of the black base, the slight tart note of the raspberry, a hint of sweetness, but nothing noticably cream-like as far as flavor. Not a bad cuppa as far as age. I’m definitely finding that whatever flavorings 52Teas uses today are far more to my liking than what they used in the previous era; I definitely don’t get that weird unnatural aftertaste from the flavorings used now (I’d say the fruit flavorings in particular are some of the most juicy, best fruity flavorings I’ve tasted in teas).

Discover TTB #12

Man, 52Teas just nails their raspberry flavor! This tea is sweet and fruity and jammy…tastes like I stirred a spoonful of raspberry jam into my cup. The creaminess isn’t really coming through for me, but I don’t mind. A great tea to start my day with!

Well this tea is just fabulous. Rich raspberry and creamy, malty black tea. I think the raspberry flavour tastes a bit artificial because of the age of the sample. I am out of milk, but I think this would make a fabulous latte.