Soooo excited Stacy threw in a sample of this with my last order! It is a pretty blend, peppered with pink and white. Dry you can really smell the rhubarb (impressive!) and the vanilla. I wondered if it would inevitably conjure up pie to me complete with pastry, if only because that’s the major association I have with those flavors. But no! Dry and steeping it smells a bit more like the baked rhubarb topped with vanilla cream I sometimes make in the winter, a mix of rhubarb’s unique tang and sweet cream. A fizzy quality emerges with the tanginess of the steeping smell. Altogether the aroma reminds me a bit of cream soda with the vanilla and fizz but way less saccharine sweet, with that sweet-sour quality of rhubarb.
Stacy thoughtfully reiterated through email the suggestion to add a wee bit of sugar to bring out the rhubarb and vanilla, but not too much lest the hops get drowned out. Initially the finished steeping smell made me wonder if the black base was going to be a bit bitter or do that thing with the rhubarb like black tea often does with strawberry, where a distinct tartness comes out that (for me) doesn’t mesh well with the base. Added the pinch of sugar, took a sip, and no! Surprised to find it so round and creamy, a perfect dessert cup. But again, it never goes into pastry territory, which is great as again it’s not billed as pie but something else. The hops are there with a tinge of spiciness, but subtly so, not bitter at all. More like a gentle glowing warming quality than anything approaching fire. Holding the sip in one’s throat, letting it bathe the sides of one’s mouth and coat the back of the throat, the beer aspect comes out more in a really yummy way. This is lovely. I suspect it has a versatility to it, where if you want the sweet creaminess you can focus on that with sugar, and if you want more of the hoppiness and tang you could try without. A little to get the best of all worlds was a good suggestion; you can taste all three elements by focusing on each in different parts of the mouth and the sip. Personally, I’m really digging the hops, which are more prominent at the end of the swallow and the cup as it cools—just a hint of earthy bitterness and a tingling warmth left in the mouth. I like that the lingering mouthfeel is similar to the one you get eating rhubarb that’s barely cooked, like in Pesach fish poaching sauces, that lightly grainy astringency (I’ve never before thought of how tea tannins are similar!). Never would’ve guessed keemun would work well with these flavors, but then I’m not the flavor wizard Stacy is. (;
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I’m going to log the new Irish Cream Cheesecake here until it gets added to the Steepster DB—I’d add it but I don’t see it yet on the site so I figure Stacy will once it’s there. Just don’t want to forget about it! I’ll move this to the appropriate spot later, with any luck.
1 1/2 tsp, 212F (boil), 4 min (no idea if these are optimal/recommended steeping parameters yet, just guessing)
Yowza, the smell is everything you want it to be both dry and steeping. I’m only guessing and knowing me I’ll be wrong, but I think this has mallow in it maybe (?) as it has the same luscious cake-y smell that’s a huge part of my obsession with the (sadly discontinued for now :( ) Birthday Cake. Drooooling. Once again it’s abruptly cold as a witch’s tit (is that too racy for Steepster? Ack) tonight—says it’s going to feel like 7F, I’m shivering by the window (the best place to get a wireless signal in our apartment) and worried about the feral cat in our foyer (I fed her extra today, she’s in her roughneck home and I put a thick blanket over the top of it…still…). Got horrifying news this morning that R’s grandmother’s home burned down (his sister has been occupying it, long story there) with the dog in it (… seriously, there are no words), R gets evaluated at work this week, and tomorrow begins the insanity that is Thanksgiving week. Teas I’ve been mega excited about seem the thing right now (also, I want to know if I like the teas Stacy sent as samples before the Black Friday sale!). This is exactly what I was expecting from a Butiki tea called Irish Cream Cheesecake—dreamy smell, subtle but uncanny flavor, good mouthfeel (and that hug in a cup any good tea can provide in a time of dark cold weather and stress!). G’ah, the smell. Oh so good. I could be imagining it but you even get the liquor aspect in the finished cup. The cheesecake tang is the subtlest component, coming out mid and late sip alongside the black tea flavor, but it’s great and dead-on too. What’s neat about this one is it feels like it’d work well as a morning tea, not just a dessert one, because there is true yummy strong black tea flavor, not just the cream and cake (though there’s that too, in spades, and nothing that feels artificial or cloying). As someone who just had chocolate pie for breakfast, I approve of a tea you can drink for breakfast that feels like a dessert treat at the same time! I think I will definitely be ordering more of this. It’s perfect when it’s freezing cold first thing in the morning and you need something to comfort you and tastes rich, sends that signal to the body that you’re putting on padding to stay warm.
Man, that smell. You think you’ll get saturated in it and stop being able to appreciate it, but then it wafts up when half the cup’s gone and your heart lights up all over again.