Friday Afternoon Tea's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

 A friend sent me a sample of the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang blend by Friday Afternoon Tea.  Friday Afternoon Tea is a self-described "small family owned, geeky-themed tea company."  They have really cool stuff and I'm delighted to get the chance to review one of their blends.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a blend of black teas infused with pine smoke.  It's one of their "fandom blends" -- in this case, it's inspired by the Supernatural TV show.

I'm not sure how one infuses pine smoke into tea, but they did it.  When brewed, there's a definite pine scent interlaced with the tea scent. It tastes like good quality, slightly smoky black tea with a gentle pine tree aftertaste, like the equivalent of tasting the smell of a Christmas tree.  It's not the taste of pine.  It's the taste of the scent of pine, if that makes any sense at all.  I think this tea would appeal to people who like Russian Caravan-style teas or Lapsang Souchong.

For the second cup I made out of the sample, I experimented putting a little bit of honey in the brew.  Nope.  Sweetening the tea managed to kill off what makes the tea unique.  It became just a basic black tea, albeit of good quality.

Old Barrel Tea's Prickly Pear

 I generally do not like rooibos, so I am pleasantly delighted by how much I enjoy Old Barrel Tea's Prickly Pear tea, which I received as a gift from friends.

Ingredients:  green rooibos, sencha green tea, hibiscus, pear pieces, safflower, and natural flavors

Brew Instructions: "1 - 2 teaspoons in 8 oz of hot water for 5 minutes"  

The company doesn't specify what temperature of water is "hot" so I've tried brewing the tea at both boiling (212°F) and short of boiling (185°F).  I can't detect a meaningful difference in flavor.

The brew is a tiny bit fruity and very slightly tart, with a citrus-like note sort of like a sweet grapefruit.  I've never eaten an actual prickly pear, so for all I know this is how they taste.  I couldn't imagine adding sweetener to this flavor, so I haven't experimented with sugar or honey.  It's enough all by itself.   I like drinking it as a palate cleanser after I've eaten something with strong flavors.  It's easy and refreshing.

I give his tea a wholly unexpected A grade.

Adagio's Casablanca Mint

Adagio's Casablanca Mint bills itself as a spin on the traditional Moroccan Mint, only using Darjeeling black in place of gunpowder green.  Given that I love Moroccan Mint, I wanted to give this a try.

Package says: Black Tea | Moderate caffeine | Steep at 180°F for 2 minutes

Ingredients: peppermint leaves, darjeeling sungma summer tea, spring darjeeling tea

Sungma summer darjeeling is supposed to have a slightly sugary grape note, like white wine.

Well, I accidentally brewed it for 3 minutes because Lucy, my housemate's cat who is weirdly fond of me, was being particularly cute and distracting.  Let's see if that matters.

It's a good minty black but nothing spectacular.  It's got that refreshing mouth feel of a high-quality peppermint blend.  The darjeeling is there, but doesn't seem to be doing a lot other than supporting the peppermint.  I'm not getting the supposed white wine notes but that could be because I am recovering from being sick and/or that extra minute of brewing amped up the mint.  Honestly, I like the bite of a Moroccan Mint a bit better.

 I will defintely brew again paying more attention to the timer and less to feline cuteness.  

Test #2 yielded better results.  Keeping the brew down to two minutes yields a slightly different mint/black balance, but I'm still not getting that alleged white wine flavor.  I added about a teaspoon of amber sugar and that's the only sweetness for me.  Again, a solid minty black, but nothing spectacular.

Adagio's Candy Cane Black Tea

I've been crushing candy canes and pouring them into tea since at least high school age.  In college, this particular hit of sugar and caffeine got me through many a winter final exam.  Therefore, when my sampler pack gave me Adagio's Candy Cane black tea, I looked forward to seeing what they'd do with the idea.

Ingredients: Black Tea, Candy Cane Pieces, Natural Candy Cane Flavor & Peppermint Leaves

Brewing Instructions: Steep at 212° for 3 minutes.

Whelp, it's exactly what it says on the tin.  I'm not sure what "natural candy cane flavor" is apart from sugar and some sort of mint.  It's a mystery.

The tea is good, very minty, with a bit of sweetness that is just enough for me but likely not enough for those who like sweetened tea.   It doesn't need the full 3 minute brew - I find closer to 2 minutes to be a better balance of mint and tea.  The 3 minute steep puts the mint level higher than I prefer.  

The real question is whether it's better than just crushing candy canes into tea I already have in the house.  Not really.  It's equally as good, but that also probably depends on the quality of your tea and your candy canes.  The main advantage of going with this brew is that both the tea quality and the candy cane quality seem to be high.  And it's a bit less sticky to clean out of your cup.

I'd rate this good enough to spend money on once a year.

Adagio's Cinnamon Vanilla Black Tea

 I got SO MUCH TEA for the holidays, including a whole lot of samplers from different companies.  So, off I go to start reviewing.

Today's tea is, unfortunately, a straight up disappointment.  Cinnamon + vanilla sounds like a great idea, doesn't it?   No so much in the execution.  I brewed it per the package directions at 212° F for 3 minutes, using my lovely little tea timer hourglasses that were also a Christmas present (using a gift card from my sister).  It was utterly unremarkable.  I barely tasted cinnamon, much less anything resembling vanilla.  It was bland.  

Now, my first worry these days when I don't taste something is to go take a COVID test.  But fortunately I had some very delicately flavored marzipan easily to hand, so I ate some of that to see if I could taste it and yep, tasted exactly like it is supposed to taste.  Having confirmed that the problem isn't in my taste buds, I can only blame the tea. 

It doesn't appear that this tea is generally available.  Apparently it's only part of the sampler pack I was gifted.  So it looks like y'all have dodged a bullet.   However, should it become available, I can't recommend it.

Harney & Sons' Tower of London

 If I had to pick one and only one flavored black to drink for the rest of my life (the horror!), it would be Harney & Sons' Tower of London blend.  

Ingredients: Black tea, oolong tea, vanilla, black currant, caramel flavors, bergamot oil, honey flavor.

First of all, as someone who is not the biggest fan of bergamot, let me assure the rest of my bergamot-haters out there that I cannot taste it in this tea AT ALL.

What I get from this tea is the black currant and the honey, with just a shade of vanilla.  There is the tiniest bit of natural sweetness.  Before I looked at the ingredient label, I would have said there was black cherry of some kind in here too, but there isn't.  It's dark, subtle with its flavoring and still tastes like good black tea more than anything else.  All of the flavors come together into a truly elegant mix.  I have never found another tea quite like it.  

The instructions call for a 5-minute steep and it definitely wants that long.  The few times I've gotten called away and left the tea bag in, I have come back to a strong brew but never a bitter one.  Those who like sweetener or milk in their tea tell me it holds up to both admirably.

Harney & Sons' Capri

 Harney & Sons is one of my all-around favorite tea blenders.  I've never had a bad tea blend from them.  I'm pleased to say their Capri blend continues the trend.

It's billed as "Reminiscent of Isola di Capri in Italy, Capri combines dried figs, tart lemon, with a hint of vanilla. A wonderful naturally flavored black tea just as miraculous at the coastal scenes from the island!"

Ingredients: Black tea, lemon peel, dried figs, fig flavor, vanilla flavor, lemon flavor. Contains natural flavors. 

The aroma in the tin is very subtle, mostly tea.  The Harney website suggests a 5-minute steep, which is long for a black, but they've never steered me wrong before.   

The 5-minute steep turns out to be just about right.  Brewed for that length, I can taste the lemon and fig notes very lightly amid the good quality black tea.   Brewed for a shorter time, those notes disappear entirely.  Don't get me wrong, this is good tea.  It tastes good, very bright.  But those specific individual flavor notes mentioned in the write-up are hard to discern.  

This tea stands up for  second brewing, also very good, also featuring a nice blend of the flavors with no particular note standing out more than any other.

I need to play around with this tea a little bit.  Maybe honey.  Maybe different kinds of honey.  Hmmm.