Napalm Ferret

Well, I’m a little happy and a little sad – for a couple reasons.

Tea related, I thought this was going to be a sipdown so I was excited to lower my number of teas but as I measured everything out I realized I had just enough leaf for two cups and I decided that I’d better not just overleaf because the flavour of this one is pretty damn strong. So that makes me sad about not getting in another sipdown, but happy because this is kinda growing on me (though still way too strong for an everyday tea), and it means I get more of Frank’s Banana ;)

But yeah – basically this is the spiciest tea I’ve ever encountered and I both love and hate that about it. it’s super peppery and definitely needs to be paired with something that can tone it down, in addition to the banana in the flavouring which already does that to some extent.

I would only recommend this to someone who really enjoys spicy things.

Also, the other happy/sad part comes from the fact I just finished all of the episodes of Bones currently on Netflix. I still have to watch the Season 9 episodes but without a regular computer it’ll take a while for me to do that. Now I need to find something else to spend my time watching on Netflix – since that’s what I do when I don’t have the computer. Maybe Nip Tuck? Anyone else watched that?

And – Tre also just made fun of me for eating popcorn with a spoon. I’m doing it for his sake, though. I didn’t want to get globs of butter all over his laptop.

Today’s Christmas tea from 52 Teas. This was one that I also wanted to try from this years releases.

This tea smells very dry and spicy but with a strange yet fitting sweet banana tone in the background. It was spicy enough to make me sneeze when I took in a deep sniff of it.

The pepper is strong and fiery as the name suggests but it gets softened quickly by the sweet banana. The banana tastes delicious, Frank does excellent banana flavours in his blends. It tastes like I imagined a spicy banana bomb pudding would (banana napalm bomb pudding). The cinnamon is very strong in the after taste..or after burn as my husband put it.

A nice and unusual tea, glad I got to try this.
Happy Holidays everyone!

11th tea from 52 Teas 12 Days of Christmas.

I knew I would not like this one because of the ingredients, but I am still going to try it.

On initial sip, there is a burning in the back of my throat from the cayenne pepper, but it disappears really quick. That’s the napalm I’m assuming :)

After the cayenne wears off, there is a very ripe banana taste. I am not a huge banana or banana flavoured type of girl, so that is why I assumed I wouldn’t/don’t like the tea. The banana taste disappears really quick as well, then the cayenne comes back in the aftertaste. Double napalm!

The banana and cayenne work really well with the gunpowder green tea. The cayenne does mellow a bit as the tea cools.

Not my taste, but this is a really neat idea and really well blended tea.

11/12 teas of Christmas, 2013. Backlog.

Peppers with a bit of banana and smooth gunpowder green turns out to be an interesting combination. Sis and I sipped away at this last night without coming to any major conclusions. If this tea was available all the time and I had easy access to it I’d probably pick some up every now and then.

Backlog:

I loved this blend. I love the laugh I got from the label (Not flavored like ferret or napalm, no animals were harmed making this tea). I love Frank’s humor.

A cinnamon-y tea. I like the sweet banana contrasting with the spicy cayenne, and the smooth, buttery green tea base.

I really enjoyed this tea. My one complaint is that I would like a little more banana flavor. As it is, I can taste the banana, I just found myself wanting just a little more banana.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, 52 Teas gave to me…Napalm Ferret!

This is one I was interested to try this year, but which I ultimately kept away from due to the cayenne pepper. I like 52 Teas Smaug, as the cayenne in that is quite gentle, overall. I really did not like Mayan Chocolate Chai, though (what a disappointment that was!), and I was worried my experience would be similar here. I’m glad to have the opportunity to try it, though.

The cayenne is quite strong. It catches the back of my throat on first sip, although there’s not quite enough of it to really burn. I like spicy things, so possibly we will get on after all. The banana is a very clear flavour, and that I like. Frank is good at banana, and it tastes natural and sweet here rather than artificial or candy-like. It tempers the cayenne a little, too, cutting off some of the sharpness of the spice and rounding out the sip with sweetness. I’m not really getting cinnamon, or green tea — the cayenne and banana almost completely mask those. I did brew this quite conservatively, though, mostly out of fear, so possibly a longer brew time would bring those flavours out. Something to try next time.

On the whole, this isn’t one I’d look to restock. I can’t help but think that a banana cinnamon tea with a green base would have been more to my liking, but then it couldn’t be called Napalm Ferret. I don’t mind cayenne, but it seems pretty unnecessary here. All of the other flavours have to compete with it, and naturally they ultimately lose. This is undoubtedly an interesting tea, though — and a brave choice for a Christmas box! Totally unique, great name — there are a couple of things to love, at least.

This is the last tea in the 12 days of X-mas Sampler before the surprise Christmas blend. So that would make this, what….? Eleven pipers piping?

I accidentally oversteeped this one quite a bit because the microwave timer which I usually use for my tea was being put to use timing a pie I had in the oven. It doesn’t seemed to have harmed the tea too much, perhaps due to the robustness of the gunpowder base. Or maybe all the heat is just killing my taste buds.

And here I thought that the Mayan Chocolate Chai and the Flaming Chocolate Maté were spicy. They got nothing on this tea. I think it’s the combination of the cayenne pepper with the cinnamon that gives this blend extra bite. Though heat dominates the blend I can taste the banana sort of as a fruity aftertaste in the back of my mouth. It would be nice if it were a bit stronger I think – or the spices were a bit weaker. An interesting tea altogether, but I don’t think it’s really my thing.

Wooof I was definitely nervous to try this tea. I got it because I have a ferret named Archie. The aroma of the dry leaf smells like cinnamon and bananas. The actual tea tastes like bananas and then WHAM the pepper comes out. It’s a good tea but I think I’m gonna save it for when it’s ridiculously cold.

Steep Information:
Amount: 5 tsp
Water: 750ml at 175°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: banana runts and cinnamon
Steeped Tea Smell: very feint bakey, cinnamon
Flavor: watery, cinnamon
Body: Light
Aftertaste: burning – pepper
Liquor: translucent light golden brown

o.0

The tea needs a little more upfront to make the aftertaste less surprising

Post-Steep Additives:
natural sugar
not much change, it is now watery sugar with cinnamon

It reminds me of a weaker harney and sons cinnamon green with a kick

Rating: 2/4 leaves

For those who like it hot, this is definitely the tea for you! The combination of cayenne pepper and cinnamon create this bold yet savory heat that pairs perfectly with the sweetness of the banana. The choice of Gunpowder green was an ingenious choice as it adds just the right amount of smokey goodness to the brew. My hats off to whomever dreamed up this mix as it’s beyond addicting and makes a truly amazing cup.