Southern Boy Teas

Being Canadian, I am used to rye whiskey, as that is what I would say the majority of Canadian whiskey is made of. Where I am from, there is actually not such a thing as whiskey, we call it rye – Can I have a rye and coke please! Ha ha. Anyway this is a preface to this note as this one tastes more like a malt corn whiskey. If anyone cares to know. (I swear I don’t drink that much…).

Made this one as per package directions, added 2 tsp of white sugar.

This one is actually not too bad. It definitely has a cola flavour and there are hints of whiskey in the background. I mentioned it tasted like malt corn whiskey, but I don’t get the feel of malt from the liquor, just the slight taste of malt, if that makes sense. (You can actually buy “malt” which is like a powder and you can mix it into things like drinks and milk shakes etc.). That is what I am tasting. There is, however, a strange chemical taste. It seems like that chemical taste you can get from some flavourings.

I would say that from the new SBTs (new as in from last years Kickstarter campaign), this is one of the better ones, IMO,

This is my second bag. The first bag I followed the traditional hot brew instructions and I did not get enough coconut cream pie for me so I cold brewed the 2nd steep and enjoyed the flavor much more and knew I would try it again. Cold brewed the second bag and so far it’s ok. I think I was hoping for something magical to happen because coconut cream pie is my favorite pie. The more I drink it the more I like it. Sweet coconut cream, good with a little milk also.

Backlog:

I liked this one. I don’t know that I got a pumpkin pie crepe that had been topped with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce or not. Then again, I can’t say that I’ve actually ever had this dessert before, but if I saw it on a menu, I’d be sure to save room for dessert so that I could try it.

It is an interesting medley of flavors though, and I can taste the pumpkin and the chocolate and the vanilla. I can taste notes of spice and the black tea notes in this too.

It’s tasty. It’s an interesting combination of flavors, but I like it.

While I like a lot of 52Teas blends, this one didn’t agree with me. It tasted very artificial and bothered my stomach, for whatever reason. The boything didn’t care for it either, and we wound up throwing out most of the pitcher.

I hot brewed a jug of this last night and am frankly disappointed. It’s weak and very perfumy. I wonder if I should have added some sugar… I might try resteeping the bag again and hope it resteeps well.

This is a drink I have some experience with, so I was interested to try the SBT version. I drink more tea than alcohol now, so it’s fitting in some ways! I gave this one the usual SBT treatment (3 minutes in 1/4 litre of boiling water, topped up to 2 litres with cold and into the fridge overnight). Dry, I could definitely smell cola.

Fridge cold, this is a nice experience on a hot day. Far more refreshing than the alcoholic alternative would be! Cola is the first flavour I can taste upon taking a sip, and it’s the usual generic brand, flat cola that 52 Teas do so well. I mean that as a compliment, because I adore Frank’s cola flavouring. The whiskey comes out second, and adds a soft, mellow note to the overall taste. Slightly grainy. It’s actually hard to describe how whiskey tastes — it tastes like whiskey, only without the warming power of the real thing.

I’m enjoying this one, and I’ll happily sip away on it for the rest of the day. This is an SBT I’d pick up again.

I was so excited when I saw this because I love peppermint. My husband thinks it tasted like drinking iced tea with an Altoid in your mouth. I can see where he gets that, it does have a nice cool mouth feel, but it reminded me more of peppermint extract. I’m hoping today was just an off day for me and plan on trying it again in the future.

This tea is so weird.

Good weird.

Somehow I can taste every single element of it and while it’s quite the busy tea it’s very yum. The pumpkin pie comes out and screams "oh hi now, I’m pumpkin pie!!!!!!(how is this ever going to work?) out peaks something soft and creamy(oh hmmm vanilla I see you now) then at the swallow comes some sweet chocolate(wait a minute did I seriously just drink a Pumpkin Pie Crepe with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce tea?)

Why yes I did!

I hot brewed/flash chilled my first batch, saved the bag and did a second cold brew of it for about 16 hours rendering a rather potent drink.

This is a crazy tea I can never quite wrap my head around but I keep drinking more of it so it’s doing something right.

Made this one as per the package directions, added 1 TBSP of white sugar.

Today I am re-hydrating. I went to the local fair yesterday, all day. I didn’t think I got too dehydrated because I drank ALOT (1/2 litre of fair rootbeer, a “freshly squeezed” from syrup lemonade, a bottle of water, a lychee soda, a gingerale, and a large coconut water, I was only able to have one cup of tea yesterday – so that was probably the problem). So you know when you get dehyrdrated, but you don’t really feel it. After I had washed off all of the dirt, the calf cramps hit!!! I feel not too awesome today. So I have been trying to rehydrate all last night and today.

I had made this one yesterday with the intention of drinking it, but it got too late by the time I got home.

I quite liked the 52 teas version of this, it was a rooibos base. There was a small window where it actually tasted like mountain dew, but for the most part it tasted like jelly beans. Well this SBT it pretty jelly bean-y. It is not bad, I am just a but disappointed as I was hoping for more mountain dew. Again it is not as strong as I would have liked, would have been better with 1 liter vs 2.

First thing I notice is an alcohol smell and somewhere along the way I realize its rum, duh! I forgot all about the rum in Pina Coladas, I always associate the drink with the flavors pineapple and coconut. I really don’t remember the last time I had a Pina Colada for a number of reasons, a few being: I’m cheap, to many calories, my husband does not like coconut so I will never make it at home and I hardly drink anymore.
I do notice the pineapple and coconut, I can’t tell which one I notice more. The rum flavor stands out the most for me and makes me wish I had tried some of Frank’s other Rum teas already. Yum!

This is lovely. It’s the first green SBT I’ve tried and it certainly won’t be the last. Thank goodness for Kickstarter.

It really does taste creamy!. It’s not hard to make a decent peach tea but the cream notes seem hit or miss and it’s trickier with a green tea not to make it too heavy. It actually tastes a bit sweet drinking it straight up with out sugar.

I cold brewed it for about 7 hours I think. Normally with black teas I go up 10-12 but I thought with the green base it might be better with a shorter steep so I sipped it earlier and was very happy with the flavor and removed the tea bag.

I’m crazy itchy all over for some unknown reason and I’m just trying to distract myself from it so I don’t scratch my skin off. This tea is a refreshing diversion, perfect for a hot day.

I saved the tea bag because I’m stingy and want to try a second brew with it, probably traditional with hot water then dilute with ice. If anyone has tried this let me know how it worked and how much water you used. If I can get multiple steeps out of any tea I will!

Sipdown! 144/365!

10th iced tea of Christmas, from whatever year that was. Unfortunately, this was nothing like my recollection of the first time I had it, and tasted kind of plasticky and artificial. I actually couldn’t pick out any flavours I enjoyed. Luckily, the husband thought it was fine when sweetened, so he drank the vast majority of it. I don’t think it was age here, because Rainbow Sherbet, which was of a similar age, was fantastic (side note: no Rainbow Sherbet in the 12 packages. I checked, which involved scratching off the labels of 11/12 of the teas.) So, not sure what happened, but I know this tea should have been good. Sad times. I discovered a Cotton Candy black tea in the box as well, which I’m hoping is going to be good!

Sipdown! Yum! This one was great, and I am debating picking more up (although I really need to not buy more tea… Oh well!) Anyhow, I seemed to remember hearing good things about this flavour previously, and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. Sweet candy raspberry, tasty black base that wasn’t too astringent with a 2-min infusion. Made a great iced tea to keep in the fridge and pour into a Timolino every morning. Sadly though, I live in a basement which is super humid, and the stupid tea bag went moldy before I got a second infusion :(

Sipdown! Yum; I did enjoy this one. Definitely candy banana flavour, with a nice solid base. Not a tea I would want again, but I’d certainly recommend it for anyone looking for a good banana flavoured iced tea.

Coconut teas can be hit and miss for me, which is probably why I’ve put off trying this SBT for a while. I also have a pouch of the reblended 52 Teas version, which I’ve not opened yet either. The scent of this one dry worried me a little, too; I got suncream from the scent! I’m guessing it’s that artificial coconut type smell some of them have. It was a pretty chemically scent, though, and not encouraging.

That was why my first sip this morning was a revelation. I think I’ve got brewing these down to an art now. I always use a timer so they get exactly three minutes, and I don’t squeeze the bag too hard when I’m taking it out. That seems to help avoid any bitterness, or losing the flavour among an over-strong black base. This one got the usual treatment; 3 minutes in a quarter pint of boiling water, topped up with cold water and into the fridge over night.

This one is pretty much liquid coconut cream. I’m hesitating about adding “pie” because I’m not getting too much that would make me think of pastry or pie crust. Definitely the coconut cream filling, though! The most prominent flavour is coconut, and it tastes toasted. There’s nothing fake-tasting here, despite the scent while dry. There’s also a fairly strong vanilla/cream flavour, which pairs really nicely with the coconut. Together, they’re totally reminiscent of coconut cream pie filling! This is naturally quite a sweet tea, so quite a contrast with yesterday’s Cucumber Melon SBT. I’ve got into the habit of always trying these without additions first, and it’s definitely proved worthwhile. This one is so spot on, it needs nothing else to help it shine.

I guess that makes it another inherently satisfying SBT. It’s HOT today, so this has made my day of work infinitely more bearable so far, especially when fridge cold. It’s flavoursome and beautifully refreshing. Everything you could want in an iced tea, really!

Brewed this as per package instructions, steeped for 3 minutes. Added 1tbsp of white sugar.

This one dried and brewed smells like Harneys ginger peach black tea, which I quite like. The brewed tea was quite cloudy which I find unusual for SBTs. The cloudiness dissipated after it cooled. Definitely a honey ginger taste. The honey is a bit artificial tasting and the ginger is candied tasting but still good. The black base is subtle. To me this one is more of a sipping vs thirst quenching iced tea.

I have made a personal decision to stop re-steeping the SBT’s, to save on disappointment and resources. But I am enjoying this first steep.

I made a gallon of this from 2 steepings, and it tastes like…mint chocolate chip ice cream! I think it is refreshing, but not cloyingly sweet. I did add some liquid stevia (because I just don’t like unsweetened tea), and it was perfect.

Made as per package directions. Added some white sugar.

This one is pretty much a basic iced tea. No flavourings. And that is ok because I like it that way. There is a slight sweetness to the tea, (not the sugar I added, but from the assam blend). It is not bitter or astringent but I could see how it could become that if it is steeped for too long. It is not the smoothest of blends, but it is still ok.

Edit: re steeped for 3 min. The colour of the liquor was quite dark so I added a full 2L of water, as it would do for the first steep. Sadly, the disappointment of the new blend SBT resteeps remains. It was actually fairly weak. I wish I would have added only 1L of water.

I picked this as one of my Kickstarter rewards. Then when all of the teas came today, I let my daughter pick which one we would make first and this is what she chose. It’s really good, and definitely tastes like cotton candy! Now, what to do with the tea bag until I do a second steep. Put in the fridge?

Today’s iced tea for work. I gave this my usual treatment (3 mins in 1/4 pint boiling water, topped up to 2 litres with cold and into the fridge overnight). It tastes beautifully of cola — absolutely, ridiculously spot on. How does Frank do it?! It’s flat cola, to be sure, but it’s cola! What I can’t really taste here is vanilla, which is a shame because I was particularly looking forward to that aspect. There’s a very mild creamy sweetness kicking around in the background, but it’s not enough to make me really say “yeah, that’s vanilla.” I do like cola flavoured iced tea, though, and this is a good one. I’d definitely try another bag at some point in the future to see if I can eke out some vanilla flavour. A good treat for a hot day, all the same!

Sipdown (110)! Well, sort of because I used the one bag I had, but I still have a pretty full pitcher of this to work on for the next couple of days. I decided to rebel against the given instructions and just cold brew this baby. I stuck it into the fridge for about 5 hours, which is a little short for me, but I was impatient! First impressions are that it is a very candy watermelon flavor rather than straight up fresh, juicy watermelon. I was a little disappointed by that but not too surprised. The black base seems a bit weak, but that may be because of the short cold brew time. I may just embrace the candy-like flavor and add some sugar to it later to make it like Southern sweet iced tea (or as they call it just “iced tea”). I will come back and update this note if I do, or if my feelings about it change as I get through the pitcher.

I was really hoping to like this because I saw Frank’s moving sale and really wanted to help out! Even though SBT & 52teas flavors are so inventive and fun, I just don’t think they’re up my alley as I continue to stray away from flavored teas and toward straight teas. If you like your flavored & sweet teas, though, you should definitely check it out!

Next day edit: So I sweetened a little using a simple syrup, which did seem to enhance the candy watermelon flavor. I also realized that the off-putting flavor from yesterday was a bit of a medicinal flavor. After this realization, I couldn’t bring myself to finish the cup, sadly.

Yummy! Tastes a bit “sweet” due to the flavoring, without any actual sweetener in it or added. :-)

Sipdown!!

Pumpkin spice? Check. Vanilla Bean? Check. Chocolate Sauce? Check. It is all there, maybe not in each and every sip but all components can be detected at some point while drinking the cup. It is not something I feel I need to have again but it is something that was fun to try and worth a taste for those curious. However, I am not sad to see this go.