Sipdown (143)!
After putting off trying it for nearly a year, I decided it was finally time to brew up this tea.
I’ve been sipping away at a pot of it for over an hour now, just contemplating the flavour. Honestly, I haven’t really been able to settle on whether or not I like it. I think the problem is that I can’t stand the finish, which is really intensely spicy from the chili in the blend. Like, when I swallow the liquor my throat burns and it’s SUPER unpleasant. However, despite hating that element of the tea… the rest is really good.
For starters, when you discard the chili spices, it actually does taste exactly like pancakes smothered in maple syrup with a side of bacon. The beginning of the sip is definitely where the pancake element of the tea shines through the most: there’s a rich maple sweetness followed by a very thick, buttery quality that to me captures the idea of pancakes very well. The little dash of cinnamon thrown in with that buttery note blends in with the pancake flavour near seamlessly, and gives it more of a ‘made with love and care’ sort of vibe. The evolution of those two flavours, one after the other, works perfectly too because I feel like I’m realistically taking a bite and getting the sweetness of the syrup I’ve added just before the pancake that makes up the bulk of the bite.
The bacon isn’t super direct, like 52Tea’s Bacon teas, but more a “sum of the parts” type of flavour. In this case, the combination of smoky notes from the Lapsang, a touch of the already experienced maple, and the earthy/brothy flavour of the Pu’erh come together to create the idea of bacon in a convincing way.
But that damn chili though… It truly ruins what would otherwise be a good tea.
And so I’m finishing this one off a little sad, because I got the flavour I’d hoped for but at the same time it wasn’t a relaxing pot of tea either. So, I’m not really satisfied overall which is frustrating ’cause I feel that without that one ingredient I really could have been.
