Smaug Tea

This was nice and warming for my throat today. It’s been neglected by me, too, so I figured it was about time it took a turn. The cinnamon is a little milder than I remember, but I think that’s at least partly because I can’t taste much at the moment. I must remember to pull this one out more — it’s sad that it languishes at the back of my work shelf.

How does this tea have no notes yet?! It’s sold out so certainly it’s popular! I don’t think I’ve ever had the first note for a 52teas blend before, how exciting. The magic of tea of the month club! Which, funny story, my mom accidentally ordered 2 of (in a 3 month increment) and instead of cancelling the second one decided to just give me 6 months. My family is pretty awesome in supporting my tea habits! Though part of the deal is that they get to try them all, which of course is no problem for me. I love sharing tea!

I am very picky about cinnamon tea. I love it when it’s done right, and man oh man… is this done right. My dad is a connoisseur of cinnamon teas and says that this is his favorite blend with cinnamon, and I agree. Let’s start with the base: it’s a dragonwell, giving it a nice lightness along with a buttery smooth quality. The cinnamon is hot, not mild and bake-y like cinnamon bark, but it also doesn’t have that fake Big Red quality you sometimes find in cinnamon. It’s pure and delicious!

It’s backed up by a punch of heat from the pepper, which gives it a bite that of course any dragon tea should have. The smoke is very subtle: in fact my only criticism is that I could have used perhaps a bit more, but I think going light was a good decision because lapsang tends to be really divisive.

Best of all, this tea stands up to a ridiculous number of steeps for a flavored blend. I did 4 hot steeps and a cold brew and the flavor lasted all the way through! As you’d expect the cinnamon fades a bit and the pepper was almost nonexistent by the end, but the dragonwell shines through a lot more and has a really crisp quality in steeps 3-4. And the cinnamon doesn’t seem watered down, just less strong. I think I’m going to shed some tears when I eventually run out of this blend, it’s perfect!

SPOILER – This is the first tea from the 12 Teas of Christmas 2013 box from 52Teas.

I have Smaug in my collection anyway so this is not a new tea for me, it is however very delicious. Enough in the bag for 2 cups so that is one for me and one for my husband. Yummy.

Yay! I finally got to try Smaug! Thanks RogersCK :D

I’ve been sampling a lot of cinnamon teas lately, it seems. This is the very first green tea with cinnamon though! I really appreciate the uniqueness of it. Everyone else’s tasting notes made me expect it to be a lot spicier than it actually is. So, if you haven’t tried it yet, don’t be scared! He’s a pretty friendly dragon :)

Even though I’ve been tasting a lot of FANCY cinnamon teas lately I think my favorite is still Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice! That stuff is IN YOUR FACE cinnamon! This is a refreshing change though. I love the hint of cayenne in it.

Sorry for the lack of posting. I was annoying ill last week and was grumpy most of the week. So much cursing and capslock on Facebook. At least this week seems a lot better for a few reasons.

1. The tea idea that I told Frank (52 Teas) about got made! I can’t wait to have french toast in a cup!

2. After weeks of searching I found one electric tea kettle that seemed actually worth trying. I swear I don’t understand how we can have this technology, yet no company can make an electric tea kettle that doesn’t leek, break down quick, or have a horrible plastic smell. At least I eventually found this one. I should be here by Friday or latest Wednesday.

3. I got all my tea cups (3) in from verdant tea! They are all so pretty. My only regret is that I didn’t get more of the Lotus one with the brown rim. That cup is sooooo pretty. It’s not even pure white; it’s kinda light blueish white. I also didn’t know that the lotus composition could differ so much as well. But I am so glad that I have one, and that just makes me cherish it more.

4. I got my order samples from Yunomi! I can’t wait to try the sencha, black tea, and the cherry blossoms!

So anyways on to the tea. I had been drinking this when I had my head cold last week and I think that it helped. It took some of the pressure out of my head, helped clear out my nose, and kept it from running. My ear is still kind clogged up but I am so much better then I was last week.

Either way even though I still about 2oz of this I bought another pouch of this tea. I never want to be out of this one. It has become my go to green. It can be either sweet or savory depending on the amount of leaf you use. And so deliciously spicy! Hmmmmmm spice….

Backlog:

OK, I REALLY liked this blend a whole lot. It packs a punch of spice, so if you’re a spice wimp, this tea is not for you. You’ve got to be able to handle your chili pepper because this one is an assault on your sinuses.

But I like it. It burns so good. And what I do like is that even though it is hot it isn’t so hot that I feel like I need to run to the kitchen to extinguish the fire with a bite of ice cream, you know?

The vegetative notes are sweet, but slightly overwhelmed by the strong flavors of cinnamon and cayenne pepper … I still taste the dragon well tea, but, it’s not as dominate as I usually like a tea to be in a tea blend. However, I find it hard to complain about anything with this tea, because I enjoyed it so much. I like the touch of Lapsang in here too – it’s an identifiable taste but not an overpowering one. A really good tea!

Day 1 of the 52 teas 12 days of Christmas.

I feel like I went all out on the “days of Christmas” sample packs this year. Ha ha. I am absolutely loving the scratch and reveal feature on each little pack. Next year, scratch and sniff maybe??

Anyway, for the 52 teas, I will do what I am doing with the Dammann calendar and review each tea the next day.

Upon smelling this one, it shouted “Christmastime!” to me. Not sure why, but something in the smell. The cinnamon or something.

The brewed tea tastes like valentine cinnamon hearts to me, which is my favourite food group. The cinnamon is sweet but there is a kick from cayenne in this blend. It is not too spicey or burn-y on the tongue though. The green tea is very light, maybe slightly astringent, but it works well with the spice and the cinnamon.

I would never have ordered this blend on my own, so I am glad to have had a chance to try it.

1/12 teas of Christmas, 2013.

This was a neat surprise! I’ve wanted to try this one for some time but have convinced myself out of it each time an opportunity has arisen to pick some up. I’m glad that I lucked out anyways with the the twelve day box.

Buttery cinnamon hearts with some vegetal, smoky peppers- that sums it up. :)

Day 1 of the 12 days of Christmas sampler. I am assuming everyone would have opened it by now and I am not ruining the suprise for anyone.

I brewed this up fully expecting not to like this tea because I am not much of a fan of spicy things. However, I actually really enjoy this. The green base is lost in all the cinnamon and spice but that’s ok with me because greens are usually my least preferable tea anyway. It isn’t quite as spicy as I thought it would be.

And “The Hobbit” is awesome. I want to go see the new one soon!

80 degrees for 3 minutes

I was rushed and uncaffeinated this morning when I made this up, so I made a couple mistakes. For some reason I thought it was a black tea, so I boiled it when I should have used a lower setting. I also didn’t have time to comb through the other reviews to estimate a steep time, which is another reason steeping directions would be nice.

Here’s what I did:

Teaware: 16oz travel mug
Measured dry: 2tsp
Temperature: Boiling
Steeping Time: 4min
Additives 4tsp raw sugar

I tried a three-minute steep first, but ended up adding another minute. I might have even gone more if I hadn’t been rushing out the door and grateful to have a hot caffeinated drink of any kind.

I’m going to have to make this up again and try to get it right, but for now I’m not really getting much of the green. There’s lots of cinnamon candy flavor and a hint of smokiness, but (and again, this could have been because of the messed up steep) little more than that.

For now, I’m just glad I have something to wake me up, but this will take some tweaking if it’s going to live up to expectations.