I just made my second order to 52 teas, couldn’t resist his peanut butter cup cheesecake! This tea was from my first order, and though I’ve had it several times now, I’ve put off reviewing it.
I really want to take a moment to praise 52teas business model. Not only does his model of temporary teas allow him to experiment and keep his inventory low while having a high turnover,more importantly his free shipping policy keeps customers buying week after week. With other companies, I hold off on buying things because I don’t want to pay for the shipping. I know its a measly five dollars or so usually, but something irks me as a customer when I have to pay for shipping; I feel like I just wasted that money. So I end up waiting and only buying large orders every six months or so, to take advantage of the free shipping that way. BUT even though I buy a lot more in that one purchase, I guarantee that I spend more at free shipping stores than the other, because I buy more frequently. So, something to think about, other tea shops!
On to the tea itself. I like the tea; you get the creamy cheesecake notes, vanilla, and an undertone of pumpkin and black tea that mixes together perfectly. I don’t taste any caramel actually, but I don’t mind too much. I wish the pumpkin taste was stronger, that is my only complaint. But, this seems to be a recurring thing with all pumpkin teas; maybe it is a hard flavor to bring out. This tastes great with a little soy milk, it brings out the creaminess to the extreme!
It is a pretty neat model. The only dislike I have about it is that a lot of the teas are once and done. Since 52teas has been around for a while, there’s a bunch of teas I missed early on. Although, Frank is known to reblend from time to time.