Tea: 52 Tea’s Southern Boy Ice Tea flavors review part 1

Tea: Monkey Fart, Neapolitan Ice cream, Rainbow Sherbert, RazzleBerry
Company: 52 Tea’s Southern Boy Collection

Today I am going to be reviewing 52 Tea’s Southern Boy Tea’s collection in a two part series. There just are too many of them to review at once, so I will be reviewing 4 of them for today. I also have a post on how to brew these tea bags here if you wold like to know how to do so.

A few quick things that I want to mention about this collection is that each tea bag makes up to 2 quarts each and sell for about $2.99 each. However, there is a discount if you buy multiples of a flavor. For instance if you buy 4-9 bags of a flavor it cost only $2.49 each, which saves you between $2-$4.50 of the regular price for that quantity. If you buy 10+ of a single flavor it only costs $1.99 per bag, which can save you a minimum of $10 compared to the regular price. I would also like to mention that these prices include free shipping in the U.S.A. That means that you can try at least one flavor from this collection and only have to pay $2.99 for it (if shipped in the U.S.) Trust me though, you are going to want to try more then one of these flavors.

The first tea that I will be reviewing is Monkey Fart, which is my favorite flavor so far out of the group.

During the hot summer months one of my most favorite things to drink is ice tea. One of my favorite brands to make ice tea with is with 52 Tea’s Southern Boy Ice Tea bags. Here is a quick step-by-step process so you can make ice tea with 52 Tea’s ice tea bags at home. Now 52 Tea’s says that you can use the bags to make one quart at a time and to save the bag for another day to use. Personally I like to make 2 quarts all at once so I will show you how to do that. If you wish to only make 1 quart at a time, just half all of the measurements for your water and sweetener (except the 2 cups to steep your tea), and skip step 8. 

First thing that you need to do is clear off a spot on the counter or flat stove top and gather all of your equipment that you will need which are:

Tea: Banana Pudding

Tea: Banana Pudding
Company: 52 teas

Ok when I saw this tea I had to grab it. I love Franks banana flavor and it has coconut? YESTH!!!

Ok the dry leaf smells exactly like banana pudding. It’s a really strong sent too. Very sweet and creamy, with a lot a banana and a hint of coconut. The brew smells just as good as well.

Ok one thing I have noticed is that Franks banana flavor doesn’t come out when it is hot. I mostly tasted sweet black tea. But hey, you eat banana pudding cold right? So after I put a nice bit of lite agave nectar in my cup and left it in the freezer to get cold……. it was perfect. Supper sweet and pudding like. I loved the hints of coconut as well. The black tea base is good as well with a nice light malty flavor and little astringency. I bet this would do great as an ice late’.

Overall it is a very good tea and definitely taste like banana pudding. The only down side is that it isn’t as good warm, but that is fine with me.Idea pops in head, I SHOULD EAT VANILLA WAFERS WITH THIS!!!!

The amount of pouches that are currently left is 12 None are left. If you would like it to come back put yourself on the waiting list to get it re-blended.

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Specifics

Pot: Porcelain
Water: 8oz per steep
Leaf: 1.5 tsp (5 grams)
Steep Time: 2:45 minuets; 3:00 minuets
Sweetener: a good small spoon full per 8 oz
Temp: 200F

Combined two steepings in one cup.

Tea: S’mores Genmaicha

Tea: S’mores Genmaicha
Company: 52 Teas

I have had this tea for a while and been waiting to rate it, since I have been messing around with it. But I have figured out weather or not I like this tea….. I do. This tea is basically the offspring off one of Franks other Genmaicha teas, Marshmallow Treat; that review is coming up.

Ok the first time I smelled the dry leaf it wasn’t the best thing. It smelled like chocolate liquor, but in a meh way. However, when I bought the tea Frank had just made it and he also mention to other people talking about the smell that he might not have let them air out as long as they should have, and that it would disparate over time. Needless to say he was right. When I went to smell my tea today it was great. It smelled so toasty, gooey sweet and chocolaty. YUM!

The taste is pretty good. You got the gooey sweet from the marshmallow, a lot of chocolate flavor, and a toasty butteryness coming from the genmaicha. However, there was one flavor I wasn’t getting that is part of a s’more…… gram cracker. Luckily I figured out that if I put a small (very small) piece of cinnamon stick in my tea pot it helped add that cinnamon gram cracker flavor that it was missing. I do kinda wish it had more lapsang souchoung so it could be a bit more smoky though. Then again I am the kind of person that either roast there marshmallow to perfection OR get it on fire and let it burn a nice crispy shell around it. Hmmm burnt sugar…..

Overall S’mores Genmaicha is a very tasty tea. If you are looking for a good sweetly flavored Genmaicha or something a bit different to try, pick this one up. But you better hurry though. There are only 5 left  4 left  NONE.

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Specifics

• leaf: 1.5tsp
• Pot: porcelain (no top)
• Water: 8oz
• Temp: 185F
• Steep: 2:20 minuets; 2:45 minuets

Tea Related: 52 Teas re-blends.

Just thought I would mention that 52 Tea’s has a new flavor out and some re-blends as well. One of them being Smaug. I went ahead and bought a pouch, since I was running out of it. You can check them all out here.

Tea: Earl Black

Tea: Earl Black
Company: 52 Teas (Zoomdweebies)

I bought this tea on a whim one day during a sale…….Glad I did.

The dry leaf smells really crisp bergamot with the fruity berry smell of currants. Wet leaf smells just the same but with the wet leaf of the tea coming threw as well. I had heard from other people on steepster that this blend was a bit strong, being white tea with bergamot and all. So I decided to brew three steeps together and combine them. It turned out perfect! The bergamot was at perfect level and gave a nice crisp menthol like citrus flavor which was backed up and broadened by the black current flavor. The tea was able to poke out through the flavors as well, adding to the crisp sweetness of the fruits. It doesn’t even need sweetener either. It taste pretty good iced too; flavors are a bit stronger and it leaves this cooling sensation in your mouth.

Overall it is a very good tea. I actually went  a head and bought another pouch. I mean $4.50 for an ounce of tea with free shipping? YESTH! (I am such a sucker for free shipping.) I recommend this tea to anyone who likes strong bergamot tea, but wants something other then a black tea base.

Note: This tea is still currently on sale. 

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Brewing Specifics

• leaf: 1.5tsp
• Pot: Glass
• Water: 8oz
• Temp: 180F
• Steep: 1:30 minuets; 2 minuets; 2:30 minuets.

Tea: Pineapple Bacon Rooibos

Company: 52 Teas
Tea: Pineapple Bacon Rooibos

No, this is not an early April Fools, this tea is for real. 52 teas is no stranger when it come to putting bacon flavor in their tea’s, but this is the first time it is with rooibos….. AND PINEAPPLE! I love pineapple! Plus I have been wanting a non-caffeinated tea for nights when I have to go into work early.

The dry leaf of the tea is a little weird. The smell reminds me of bubble gum flavor couch syrup…… I don’t know why. The brew it self has that typical rooibos earthy smell with a tinge of pineapple gum flavor. Now the first time I tried this tea, I didn’t get much bacon flavor, just a salty after taste. Then Frank (52 Teas) suggested that I add a pinch of salt to bring out the bacon flavor. THAT HELPED A LOT! With just a shake of salt in my big 16oz mug the flavor really came together  The citric woodsy flavor of the rooibos combined well with the pineapple flavor, which was paired with a savory slightly smoke bacon flavor.

Overall a very interesting tea. The smell is a bit weird (but hey it’s a weird tea), but the warm brew is a tasty concoction of flavor. It would be a nice tea to try for fun or to give to somebody to see there reaction. Did I also mention that this tea is VEGAN; all of 52 teas flavorings are vegan, and Frank uses imitation bacon bits. There are currently 10 left  4 left.

P.S. If you don’t want the bacon flavor so much, just don’t add salt and use a pinch more sugar for a nice pineapple rooibos tea.

Brewing Specifics

• leaf: 1tsp
• Pot: Porcelain
• Water: 8oz
• Temp: 205F
• Steep: 8-10 minuets
• Add a dash of salt to your cup.

Tea: Cuba Libre

Today’s tea comes from 52 Teas and is called Cuba Libre. I decided to make this ice tea style; it tasted fine warm, but this just seems more like an ice tea to me. The first time I made some I did my usual 2 steeping in one cup and added a bit of sweetener. It tasted pretty authentic…. AND STRONG! A little too strong. The second time I made this I did a combined 3 steeps and found it to be perfect. So from a little over 1 tsp of tea you can make 24 oz of tea. Minus the bubbles it tasted exactly like cola with rum in it! I am getting a slight lime tang, but if you want that to be more a flavor you will need to add that.

Overall this is a pretty interesting tea. It would be great to serve at a party as an interesting non-alcoholic option or it you just want to drink an out of the ordinary ice tea. So if you want to get your hands on it I would do it soon. Last time I checked there are only 7 left 6 left  4 left 2 left  GONE.

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Brewing Specifics

• Pot: Porcelain
• Water: 8oz per steep
• Leaf: 1.5 tsp
• Steep Time: 2:35 minuets (then 3:15 for the other two)
• Sweetener:  2 small spoon fulls for 24 oz
• Temp: 205 F

Tea Related: Possible 52 Tea’s Pay As You Go Monthly Subscription.

Frank from 52 Teas is considering making a monthly pay as you go tea subscription, compared to the lump-sum subscription options currently available. For just $24.99 every 3 weeks, ($29.99 for Canada and International) you get three 1-2oz packets of custom blended loose leaf artisan tea.

However, for this subscription to become a reality he needs enough people willing to join to start this service.

Here is his proposal via Steepster forums:

“So, in the past we’ve had a few requests for a way to subscribe on a recurring payment basis (ie signing up and paying every month as opposed to paying for a 3- 6- or 12-month subscription up front).

I think I have a way to accomplish this, but it will cost me a little extra and I wanted to see if I could get a headcount of folks still interested in this. The offer would be something like this:

You would get three weeks of tea delivered every three weeks for $24.99. Canadian/Overseas subscribers would get the same for $29.99.

The only way I could do it logistically would be to have folks sign up, and THEN hold 3-weeks worth of tea. Depending on when in the week you signed up (and how popular our tea was that week, your first shipment would go out in 2-3 weeks, but from then on, it would just be on auto-pilot. You would get three weeks worth of tea every three weeks. And your payment method (We would be using Paypal for this, so (I’m pretty sure) it could be your credit card, bank account or Paypal account) would be charged every three weeks. Thoughts?” You can read feed back on the subject here.

So if this sounds like an interesting proposal and are serious about joining the subscription drop him a line and tell him your thoughts here at http://www.52teas.com/contact-us/

*NOTE: Zoomdweebies and 52 Teas is the same guy

Tea: Smaug

Ok, I know I already did a post about 52 teas and have a bunch of Verdant Tea samples to get through, but when you have a tea this awesome you have to write about it; plus I wasn’t going to be home a lot today, so I didn’t have time to do multiple steeps.

I first came across this tea while parusing 52 teas website, as I had not been on there in a while. When I came across it I first thought, “A tea with a Dragon on it?Automatic win!” Then when I read the ingredients I new I had to have it. Dragonwell Green Tea with cinnamon and cayenne, with just a touch of lapsang souchoung; 1 ounce of it in 5 pounds of green tea. However by the time I found this tea it was already sold out….. Oh the disappointment. But with a bit of hope I put myself on the waiting list for it. Sure enough after a few days later I notice it for sale again……… at 2:00 AM…….. I don’t sleep. Anyways I didn’t take any chances and insta-bought it right then and there. So glad I did

The smell of the tea when I opened my pouch was sweet cinnamon with a tinge of smoke. The brew was a golden yellow and smelled of cinnamon green tea, but not in a overpowering way. The base tea in this mix is great. Sweet and has an apple like sweet crisp. This is then accented by sweet cinnamon and hint of cayenne heat. There is also a wafting flavor of smoke that brings the flavor home. If it was still available (and I had the money) I would buy another pouch of this. I put myself back on the waiting list though; as I really do want to buy some more of this tea.

If you want to also buy some more of this tea, follow the link here and put yourself on the waiting list. The more people on the list, the better the chance of it being re-blended. If you want to see more reviews of this tea, check them out here on Steepster.

I would recommend this tea to anyone who likes green tea and even spice weenies; unless you just loath cinnamon.

P.S. To my non-geek people Smaug is the dragon from the movie and book, The Hobbit. Also I have no idea how to say it.

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Brewing Specifics

• Pot: Porcelain (I recommend glass though)
• Water: 8oz per steep
• Leaf: 1.5 tsp
• Steep Time: 2 minuet  2.25 minuet  
• Sweetener: not needed
• Temp: between 160-175

Directions

1. After letting your boiling water cool down between 160-175F poor it into the pot
2. When it is done steeping strain it off into a pitcher or giant mug.
3. Steep the leaves as before, but just a little bit longer.
4. Pour that steep into the same pitcher or mug
5. ENJOY