361 Tasting Notes
After yesterday’s festivities, I needed a strong cup this morning. Perfect morning to try this one. CTC Assams can be pretty hit or miss for me. One of my favorite teas is one, but so many end up tasting like grapenuts once they cool even slightly. Not my thing.
This one was not one of those. I followed her steeping instructions exactly as these can be pretty finnicy.No grapenuts flavor at all. Very malty and full flavored. Strong enough to stand up to some milk and honey. I really enjoyed it. This will go on the shelf for sure.
I needed something desserty to keep me from eating all my kids candy so I made this. It wasn’t quite what I wanted. I was also craving coconut. Could be my kids chocolate coconut eggs that look so amazing. Anyway, i also brewed up some coconut cream pie by 52teas extra strong and mixed them together. Added some honey and milk. Yum.
Not gonna lie. I’m feeling pretty special right now. It was an amazing day. Weather peaked out around 78. Unheard of and record breaking for Portland in March. After so much rain and gray weather it’s so much fun to see all the people suddenly emerge from hibernation and fill the streets and parks with nothing but laughter and smiles.
After an impromptu bbq at a friends and a few of my other favorite beverage, I got home to find my Butiki order had arrived already. The primary purpose (other than trying some more amazing teas) was for me to sample a few teas that may serve as the base for a custom hops tea that stacy is making for me. But the only tea I had my eye on tonight was the Caramel Vanilla Assam tea. Despite the late hour and my rule about no black tea after 5ish, I couldn’t resist.
This is brand new blend that she wrote about on FB and I asked her to include it in my order. And man am I glad I did. Cause seriously, I love when you have insanely high expectations for something, and not only does it meet your expectations, but blows it out.
This is no ordinary caramel flavored tea. In fact, it doesn’t even taste like caramel flavor. It tastes like if you were to plant a tea plant in a butter caramel and then water it with only vanilla and see what grew. Its as though caramel is actually a part of the tea. I couldn’t separate out the tea flavor from the caramel flavor. Like how the chocolate flavor is just part of LB, not added, but just a part of it. That’s how the caramel flavor is in this tea. It’s not an in your face flavor, but not subtle either.
In case you can’t tell yet, I friggin love this tea. Totally straight. No sugar/honey or cream. It reminds me so much of those individually wrapped in wax paper vanilla butter caramels you can get when you’re checking out in fancy grocery stores.
This is hands down my favorite caramel tea. Thanks for letting me try this Stacy! Please don’t ever stop making it!!!!
Update I had this again this morning and added some sugar per Stacy’s suggestion. The caramel flavor is even more pronounced. I think I prefer it straight though. Either way it’s super good.
That sounds AMAZING!!
want!
I’m so glad you are enjoying it! I wasn’t sure how this would be received. I recommend trying it with just a tiny bit of sugar. Its really decadent that way.
I thought about adding some sugar, but just loved it as is. I’ll throw a few rocks in there tomorrow. Because I will be having this again tomorrow :-)
This is the sample I want in my order!
yum, sounds like a good blend to me :-)
Yay, glad you are enjoying it that much! I’d love to hear what you think about it with a little bit of sugar.
Terri-I’ve already written it on your invoice. It’s the same base as the orange chocolate so, I thought you might like to try it.
awesome! Yay!
NOOOOOOO why did you have to review this before I place my order. Now I want 2 oz. of this one too. Is it absurd to order 6 oz. total of PTA/PTA-based teas?!
great review, sure I’ll order some !
Yeah, Stacy, that sounds so good I think I want an oz also.
Better find something else to give me a sample of :)
Gah. I thought I was done ordering tea for awhile. I need to make myself write tasting notes on my desktop and just save them and stay off this site for awhile!!!
Stacy – when do you plan to offer it online? It’s still in the preliminary review stage, huh?
Tealizzy-The tea itself is completely done. It should be up on our website next week if I can get some time in to do a photo shoot, otherwise everything else is ready. It’s order-able now for anyone who doesn’t want to wait.
Thanks Stacy. I’ll wait until its up, to help me spread out my orders ;)
Tealizzy-Great :)
Oh my gooooodnessssss, I HAVE to have this! I have to have it! Premium Taiwanese Assam is my favorite tea, and you’ve made me so excited to try this flavored one out! :D
I want to at least wait for my upcoming Butiki order to arrive though first. I ordered a couple teas I haven’t tried, and it’s entirely possible I’ll want more, so I’ll have to hold off.
Is this tea a limited time thing, or is it something that’ll stick around? Not sure if I need to panic order this, or if I have time to wait for my current order to arrive. xD
Chizakura-This is something that is sticking around. We may be out of it for a week or two but after that it should be available in full stock. I’m really low on one ingredient that makes up this tea and its not expected arrive for 2-3 weeks. We ran through the first batch before it hit the website and I’m already half way through this batch. I might borrow some of the ingredient that was reserved for a custom blend to make a third batch but I’m not sure yet. You definitely don’t need to panic order this since it will be in full stock within a month.
Aw okay, thanks :) That’s what I was hoping for, but I was worried, as you could see. xD
Alright, I’ll be patient and wait for my current parcel to arrive then, thanks. :D
I wasn’t going to log on to steepster today because it is 70 degrees in Portland today. That’s unheard of pretty much anytime before July. So. Yeah. CRAZY!!!
Anyway, nice weather made me want a cold drink. I made this. I’ve had a few of these flavored matchas that haven’t worked for me but this is no brainer. So good. Yum.
Okay, back outside.
This is a good tea! Smells wonderful. Not sure if I’ll order it though. I think David’s Salted Caramel is still my favorite. But I’m enjoying this and will definitely go through the rest of my sample.
3/4 so far. I think I have 1 more in me for today. After that I may be dessert tead out. But a 75% approval rating is pretty good!
Yum. Seriously. Yum. This is soooo dark, rich, and roasty. The malt aroma blasted my face as I added hot wot water to leaves and knew I was in for a treat. I added a splash of milk and no sweetener of any kind, but may another time. Holy chocolate tea. And not fake-y at all. The malt is a really authentic in flavor too. This is an all around winner and is going on the buy list.
2/3. Up next vanilla cafe to cleanse the palate.
I KNOWWWWwww! this one is so good! i have it cooling right now. and for me, i added milk and agave to it the other morning and i think it actually detracted from it’s deliciousness. it’s practically perfection!
it’s balancing on the line between stoically classy and sugar sweet innocence all on it’s own.
Mmmm I want to try this one :D
Dang, I guess I need to try this one!
This one isn’t working for me. I tried cinnamon crackle yesterday and as an avid lover of all things hot tamale, red hot, cinnamon bear, and goldschlager, I was super surprised to find that I didn’t really like it too much. It’s too candy-y, even more than candy. Anyway, this review is not about cinnamon crackle, but it kind of is. All I can taste in this tea is the same cinnamon as is in cinnamon crackle. Shoot. Oh well, saves me money when I don’t like a tea :-)
1 for 2 so far.
Thanks to Alphakitty again! It’s the tea swap that keeps on giving and giving!
My day of sampling Della Terra teas has begun. I want to get an order in while everything’s on sale and so time to dive into my stash of samples…
First up, S’mores. I got this from Alphakitty and have been very excited about it. Seems like its a favorite amongst the steepsterites. It smelled great while steeping and I immediately added just a bit of honey and then a little bit of steamed milk. Yum! I’ll definitely be ordering this. I think I’ll go a little heavier on the leaves in my next cup though. I’m only doing 8oz cups today instead of my usual 16oz mug since I have so many to go through. I don’t want to be bouncing off the walls by the end of the day so I have to hold back.
But so far, 1 for 1.
Yay for blueberry crumble!! :)
I assume this is one of the newer batches but in case it’s not, try a shorter steep and/or lower temp. I have some of the older stuff still and it can only go about 2 – 2.5 minutes without becoming bitter. Good luck!
Great! Thanks for the tip!
I wonder if it’s something with this new batch. I received mine about 3 or 4 days ago (so I assume it was from the same batch as yours), and I’m having the same reaction that you are. The dominent taste is bitter black tea. I had to pour out my first cup (steeped for 4.5 min) and now I’m on my second (2 min steep). While this one is better, it’s still a bit bitter (even with a piece of rock sugar) with not much flavor. I’m a sad panda after reading all these rave reviews. I think I’m going to step away from it for today and try again next week to see if I can get it right.