I was browsing the Internet for some tea items and noticed this website called 52teas. These people make artisan teas based on suggestions by viewers. It's a really neat concept as it offers some community interaction. People request a type of tea, and then each week 52teas blends tea with the other ingredients. The tea I ended up having a date with was the Vanilla Date Flavored Black Tea with Coconut.

I was drawn to the Vanilla Date Flavored Black Tea with Coconut partially due to the coconut, which happens to be an awesome flavor in its own right, but I've never heard of a date flavored tea before this one, and was unsure as to if I would enjoy it. 52teas’ date flavored black tea is a blend of tea, medjool date pieces, and unsweetened coconut flakes. The tea itself is a proprietary blend of Nilgiri FOP (Flowery Orange Pekoe) and CTC (crush, tear, curl) Assam.

Close up of the Vanilla Date Flavored Black Tea with CoconutThe dry tea has a powerful and sweet floral smell that reminds me of a cherry liqueur or some candied fruit. The appearance is small and dark bits of tea mixed with shavings of coconut and pieces of dates. 52teas instructions say to steep one teaspoon with eight ounces of boiling (100° C ⁄ 212° F) water for four to five minutes. I find that steeping the tea in slightly cooler water (90.5° C ⁄ 195° F) for four minutes does the trick nicely.

After steeping, the liquor is a dark reddish brown color that has a rich floral/date scent. I'm assuming this is due to the CTC Assam tea, which is known to have that color. After a few sips, I noted how the flavor slowly unfurled within my mouth, filling my mouth with a rich and complex flavor that I enjoyed. I also felt cozy while sipping this tea — I even think I developed a grin like the cheshire cat while sipping this for the first time. I tried this tea unsweetened and sweetened with rock sugarl I found both methods to be delicious. While I did try the tea chilled, I preferred the warm flavor over the chilled one.

While the tea might be a limited edition tea from 52teas (at posting they had seven items left), I would strongly recommend  this tea to anyone sitting on the fence over whether to try a date flavored tea or not; I was pleasantly surprised.