November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). In the spirit of the month, instead of writing 50,000 words in 30 days, I’m going to write a short review every day, up to a maximum of 300 words. Think of it is NaNoReMo (National Novel Review Month). This month I’ll do short reviews of books, varieties of tea, and even individual short stories as the mood strikes. So read on!


Tonight I’m going to look at a tea that I got nearly a year ago from 52Teas as part of last year’s holiday Kickstarter campaign. In addition to her seasonal blends, Anne also offered backers the chance to try limited-edition reblends of older teas, so I took her up on it.

And oh man, some of the teas in this reblend package looked amazing, like tonight’s sample, Pancake Breakfast Black Tea.

52teas_pancake_breakfast_pack

Upon opening the package, I was greeted by an intense smell of sweet, syrupy cakey-ness. It really did smell amazingly of syrup-soaked pancakes! Underneath the sweetness of the syrup scent and the doughiness of the pancake batter scent, I also detected a note of creamy saltiness: the perfect companion note of a pat of butter, melting over the pancakes.

Here’s what the leaf looked like — curled black bits mixed with the occasional orange streak of dried calendula petals:

52teas_pancake_breakfast_leaf

Brewing this according to the directions on the package resulted in a deep, dark brew with cool, coffee-coloured undertones rather than warm, amber ones.

52teas_pancake_breakfast_brew

On the tongue, I tasted the sweetness of the syrup and a doughy thickness at the back of my mouth that was definitely reminiscent of pancake batter. However, there was also a slight floral sharpness underneath, which I’m assuming came from the calendula petals.

The overall combination gave me the impression that I was drinking a tea flavoured not just like pancakes, but like blueberry pancakes, which is really something. Pancake Breakfast Black Tea is totally legit. Who would have guessed?