Red Velvet

Sipdown! (85 | 182)

So I signed up for the B&B subscription again, because why not. But I gotta say, this first month’s package was really not my jam. There was a fruit tisane with butterfly pea flower, a violet-flavored tea (went into the TTB), and a chocolate-flavored tea. Basically all things that I probably won’t like ha ha. So not off to a great start with the subscription…

Honestly, this one is fine. It might even be good for someone who likes chocolate flavoring, I don’t know. The beetroot adds color without making it taste overly earthy, and overall it has a rather light chocolate flavor, which I think makes sense given the inspiration. But even if I did like chocolate teas, I feel like this would still be boring. It’s just a Sri Lankan black base with some mild chocolate flavoring and a color gimmick. I don’t really pick up on the vanilla at all, which is a shame. There is a slight booziness to the chocolate that makes me think of cherry cordials (my father’s favorite).

Also, to me it really doesn’t make sense to make a red velvet tea without taking into account the cream cheese frosting, which is most people’s favorite part. My grandma actually made it with a different type of frosting, but cream cheese is definitely the standard.

I never see B&B blends in the Reddit TTBs, so I was really excited to see this one and brew some up. It’s okay! B&B chocolate teas are never as amazing as I want them to be, but with some milk and sugar, it’s a quite a pink, desserty cup. There’s a tiny bit of earthiness from the beet and a little thin chocolate. It was much better hot. Once it cooled, the earthier, more negative flavors took over, and I really wasn’t a fan.

A little bit too much earthy beet and too little richness or sweetness from the chocolate; I couldn’t decide if it was trying to be dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or actual cacao and I think I would have been happy with any of those, but the direction needed to be more clear. The steeped liquor was beautiful though; very dark with red undertones that perfectly conveyed a “Red Velvet” appearance.

I think this would be perked right up with milk (for body/creaminess) and a bit of sweetener like agave for a flavour boost/carrier.

Ever had a morning where all your tea plans fall apart? First, I couldn’t find this tea anywhere. I have my teas “catalogued” and organized in a very specific way, and it just wasn’t where it should be. As a librarian, this was very frustrating. As a librarian, I also know it is entirely possible for an item to get miscatalogued and be “on the shelf” in the wrong place, so I basically had to go through my entire tea shelf digging through each section until I could find it (finally found it in the “white teas” section… ugh!) I moved house last year and am not entirely surprised that when unpacking over 500 teas a few mishaps happened along that way, but that put me short on time racing against the clock to get a cup of tea brewed before work… and then when I dumped the hot water into my gravity well infuser, it didn’t hold the water like it always has, and I had boiling water all over my counter! That was fun to clean up.

So, then I had to get my spare infuser out and start a fresh cup (I thankfully had just enough in my sample from teasipper’s cupboard sale to make another cup — thanks, teasipper!) and steeping another cup made me late for work. I don’t know if the other infuser is dead or if a really thorough cleaning will bring life back into it, but I cleaned it just a few months ago, so it may just be time to lay it out to pasture… I do make an awful lot of tea with it…

Anyway, the tea is quite a fudgy flavor. I do recall it brewed pink originally in my infuser, but I’m drinking it in a closed thermos here at work, so I can’t really enjoy that “novelty” of it now, and don’t really taste any difference from the beetroot to the flavor. It does taste a little fruity, though; it reminds me of the subtle fruity notes from a good dark chocolate, like a hint of berry that I can’t quite place (I’m leaning raspberry, but not quite).

It’s a nice chocolately tea, I just wish it hadn’t been such an utter mishap to make it! Thanks for the sample, tea-sipper!

Additional notes: This one might be improving with time? Or my parameters? So I just want to make a note of parameters that I should use. It really did taste like Red Velvet today… or at least Red Velvet Pop Tarts which is my only knowledge of the flavor of Red Velvet. Raising the rating from 83.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5+ minutes (maybe doesn’t need to be that long)
2020 Sipdowns: 35 (52Teas – Frank’s Caramel Monkey Bread Rooibos – not sad about it because Anne’s reblend is EXACT.)

And here is a song I particularly like, and fitting for me wondering about the craziness of opening things back up for the virus to spread right now. Certain people will be living in denial or just pretending it’s gone… or even being less careful if they think they’ve already had it… sigh: Jim James cover of Beach Boys ‘I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBWe7ntARxY

This is another tea that I purchased from Tea-Sipper’s stash sale.

The dryleaf has an assortment of stuff in it including a ton of cocoa shells.
It brews up a lovely reddish pink color due to the beetroot. Upon first taste It reminds me almost exactly of Spice & Tea Exchange’s Black Chocolate tea. So I compared ingredients and while this tea has many the Black Chocolate tea only has black tea and chocolate flavoring. They both use Sri Lanka Black Tea as the base though and of course are chocolate teas.

I can see a lot of people really liking this.
This tastes just like chocolate cake without the frosting. I always am disappointed when teas are named Red Velvet but lack the cream cheese aspect. Even a bit of raspberry flavor would be nice to give you some aspect of the red velvet part since some recipes have raspberry included. The best part of red velvet to me is the frosting. So until I find a red velvet tea with the cream cheese aspect I don’t need to buy more for my cupboard.

I’ve been back on the pink lattes again this week, and I still adore them. They really do taste like red velvet cake, and it definitely cheers up my working day. I’ve switched from honey to agave nectar for this run, but other than that I make them as I always did. And they’re pink…I mean, how can you not love that?!