Friday Teas – Pirate Pride Sampler
Jan. 24th, 2026 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroIrritatingly, Friday Afternoon Teas do offer steeping instructions for each tea on their website. These should really be printed on the packet, or failing that, included in the box on a card. Many of these teas wanted to be steeped at 185 degrees instead of boiling, and I had to look up individually which was which.
This box was blends nominally inspired by the show Our Flag Means Death. As with last time, I’ve ordered them from my favorite to my least favorite.
Stede’s Orange Marmalade - Black tea, orange peel, bergamot oil, natural vanilla flavoring, gold lustre dust. This one tastes good but smells amazing; Rebecca particularly liked it. (The lustre dust is entirely unnecessary.)
Queen of Hearts – Black tea, peppercorns, rose hip and rose petals. Black tea with a hint of rose and a tiny bit of pepper bite at the end. Nice.
Blackbeard’s Delicacies & Tealights – Black tea, sweet violet, natural vanilla flavoring, lustre dust. Probably a tie with the Queen of Hearts; the violet and vanilla are subtle but a nice addition to the tea.
Ooh, Daddy! - Black teas, cross sprinkles, spicy ginger, black peppercorn, butter rum flavoring. There’s a little bite from the ginger and pepper, but the butter rum just gets lost and the sprinkles continue to add nothing but ugly color.
I Could Be Family – Roasted green tea, cinnamon, allspice, clove, pineapple, allspice, vanilla, and blue sugar sprinkles. The smell is overwhelmed by “spicy cinnamon” and while the flavor is more subtle than you’d expect, most of the nuance is still lost to the spices. I don’t think the sprinkles are adding any value.
Moonglow – Heather flower, lemon myrtle, moon sprinkles, lavender, yarrow flower. Contains no tea, smells strongly like potpourri in the packet, but once steeped it’s…inoffensively lemon?
Stabbed By Jim - Green yaupon holly, yerba mate, annatto seed, orange peel, blood orange, shaved coconut, orange sprinkles, lime peel, natural coconut flavoring. (This one is noted on the website to be “hyper-caffeinated”, by which they mean 80 mg, twice the caffeine of the average black tea or still less than a weak cup of coffee.) The coconut and citrus contrast come through decently, but there are weird overtones and aftertastes that don’t really work for me.
Mexican Chocolate Mate (Bonus tea) – I think I just don’t like yerba mate? This mostly tastes like cinnamon tea, with that weird yerba mate aftertaste. The chocolate doesn’t particularly come through.
In general, I was unimpressed with the lustre dust (I don’t need sparkly bits in my tea) and I don’t think sprinkles actually added anything to any of these, even any real sweetness. But they’re good at making black tea blends, especially when they focus on one or two primary flavors.
This box was blends nominally inspired by the show Our Flag Means Death. As with last time, I’ve ordered them from my favorite to my least favorite.
Stede’s Orange Marmalade - Black tea, orange peel, bergamot oil, natural vanilla flavoring, gold lustre dust. This one tastes good but smells amazing; Rebecca particularly liked it. (The lustre dust is entirely unnecessary.)
Queen of Hearts – Black tea, peppercorns, rose hip and rose petals. Black tea with a hint of rose and a tiny bit of pepper bite at the end. Nice.
Blackbeard’s Delicacies & Tealights – Black tea, sweet violet, natural vanilla flavoring, lustre dust. Probably a tie with the Queen of Hearts; the violet and vanilla are subtle but a nice addition to the tea.
Ooh, Daddy! - Black teas, cross sprinkles, spicy ginger, black peppercorn, butter rum flavoring. There’s a little bite from the ginger and pepper, but the butter rum just gets lost and the sprinkles continue to add nothing but ugly color.
I Could Be Family – Roasted green tea, cinnamon, allspice, clove, pineapple, allspice, vanilla, and blue sugar sprinkles. The smell is overwhelmed by “spicy cinnamon” and while the flavor is more subtle than you’d expect, most of the nuance is still lost to the spices. I don’t think the sprinkles are adding any value.
Moonglow – Heather flower, lemon myrtle, moon sprinkles, lavender, yarrow flower. Contains no tea, smells strongly like potpourri in the packet, but once steeped it’s…inoffensively lemon?
Stabbed By Jim - Green yaupon holly, yerba mate, annatto seed, orange peel, blood orange, shaved coconut, orange sprinkles, lime peel, natural coconut flavoring. (This one is noted on the website to be “hyper-caffeinated”, by which they mean 80 mg, twice the caffeine of the average black tea or still less than a weak cup of coffee.) The coconut and citrus contrast come through decently, but there are weird overtones and aftertastes that don’t really work for me.
Mexican Chocolate Mate (Bonus tea) – I think I just don’t like yerba mate? This mostly tastes like cinnamon tea, with that weird yerba mate aftertaste. The chocolate doesn’t particularly come through.
In general, I was unimpressed with the lustre dust (I don’t need sparkly bits in my tea) and I don’t think sprinkles actually added anything to any of these, even any real sweetness. But they’re good at making black tea blends, especially when they focus on one or two primary flavors.
