I’m a big fan of gingerbread flavoring: I love gingerbread in scones, tea, cookies, cakes, coffee, pancakes, waffles, muffins, candies, pretty much in any way available! Ginger is a seasoning I use in loads of foods, savory and sweet. For a grocery store bagged tea, this is quite good compared to any other gingerbread flavors that lack the extra spices beyond ginger and cinnamon. Overall, it’s quite alright and enjoyable enough to keep it until a better one comes along. I’m still searching for a better gingerbread tea, but this’ll do in the meanwhile. I recommend it for a easy-to-find, seasonal gingerbread fix.
Flavors: “Cinnamon, roasted chicory, ginger, natural flavors (soy lecithin), roasted carob and luo han guo.”
*Not perfection, but not a flat ginger+cinnamon
*The chicory + carob give a sweet molasses vibe, the requirement for me to take it from a ginger blend to gingerbread
*I’m not too fond of soy lecithin in tea blends, but it didn’t make me mad or detract too much
*The luo han guo/monk fruit sweetens the tea a bit and blends with the molasses note to emulate more of a slightly anemic brown sugar vibe
Temperature:
*Boiling can destroy the carob subtlety and make it more forest floor dirty than umami earthy, boosting the cinnamon and ginger over everything else and keeping a more one-dimensional and boring flavor
*Just under boiling doesn’t kill the carob, but doesn’t do it any favors in this blend
*I prefer a cooler 165-170 for this blend
Timing:
*3 minutes, eh. Not enough sweetness to rich molasses ratio, chicory needs more time to bloom, nearly all cinnamon.
*3.5, better.
*4 minutes, very good flavor combination for those that aren’t full-flavor/crunchy tea connoisseur, unlike me.
*I prefer 5+ minutes to get a stronger flavor with optimal ginger to molasses flavor. I’m all about that richness in flavor for the cream to enhance it
Flavors: Cinnamon, Earth, Ginger, Molasses, Sweet
