Rhubarb Vanilla Ale

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

Yay, my first ever TTB! So exciting. I looked through and picked out what I want to try, and this one sounded like it could be either very good or very weird. I love vanilla, and rhubarb is interesting, but I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the ale part of it. Visually, it’s a large leaf black tea with flower petals mixed in. It smells sweet, tart, and effervescent!

I actually am liking this tea, even if it is a bit odd. Mine is definitely weaker than it’s supposed to be, but I didn’t want to use a full tablespoon when there’s not much of it in there! There’s definitely a tart fruitiness which is obviously the rhubarb, and I get a little bit of vanilla, though I would prefer more. The ale quality of it is very interesting! It’s more bubbly-tasting than anything, maybe with a little bit of the malty ale flavor. And I get a little touch of spice at the end, presumably from the hops. It’s odd though, there’s something about this tea that tastes like artificial sweetener to me. I’m not sure if it’s the rhubarb flavoring or if it’s something to do with the hops, but it’s kind of stevia-like.

Overall, I do enjoy this tea and I would definitely try it again. Probably not going to make this week’s Butiki order, however. :P

I like this. It’s nice. But I don’t necessarily feel like writing a ton about it. I’ve never found anything remotely similar to rhubarb in any of the supposed rhubarb teas I’ve had before this one. I am pleasantly surprised to find it here. I like the tang with the vanilla. There’s a strange flavour in there though, it comes and goes in an instant…Is it the hops? I’ve never had it so I really don’t know. I added sugar and I enjoyed it less.

I tried this as a tea soda today. 1 tablespoon leaf + 3 oz boiling water for 4 minutes + 8 oz of cold seltzer. Unsurprisingly, the carbonation really brought out the hops flavor. This ended up tasting a lot like watered-down fruity beer with a sweet vanilla aftertaste. Not bad.

My first cold steep ever! Hooray for it not going horribly wrong!

I put what I had left from the sample MissB sent me into a mason jar with some cold filtered water before I went to bed last night. I didn’t get to check on it or drink it until after work so it had been steeping for a good 20 hours or so at that point.

It tastes nice, I might have put too much water in the jar for the amount of tea, because it’s a bit lighter than I expected as far as taste goes, but it definitely got even smoother than it was hot. The taste is similar, though the vanilla isn’t as pronounced for sure. I’m pretty happy with how my first cold steep went!

Stacy sent me this as a sample, and since I’m about ready to place an order I knew I needed to try this so I could decide if I wanted to add it.

I love the way the dry leaves smell. I love the way it looks. This tea was really malty, which I love in my beer, but I don’t like as much in my tea. Weird, I know. This did remind me of a fruity porter. I liked the vanilla. I liked the rhubarb. I liked the hops a lot. I liked this tea better than the Peach HoppiTea myself, but my husband felt the opposite about it. And since he’s the one I’d get hop tea for, I have to go with his choice.

Anyway, this was a good tea to try, and I would drink it again if I were offered it, but I don’t think I’ll be stocking it regularly.

OMG, I don’t know what I did to disgrace this tea so badly! I’m sure it isn’t normally unbearably bitter. Did I over leaf? Over steep? Call it names? Cream and sugar help a little bit, but I’m sure this isn’t how it is supposed to taste. Maybe we will cross paths again someday and can start fresh!

Thank you to Greenteafairy for this sample!

Man, I wished I ordered a package of this instead of just requesting a sample! Very delicious! I’m an intrigued by the hops teas at Butiki, but I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy them since I don’t like alcohol, but I do love rhubarb teas. BTW, I added a bit of german rock sugar while steeping.

Rhubarb Vanilla Ale is smooth, cooked sweet rhubarb flavor, bit of an interesting spice dancing in the background that I’m not to familiar with, the hops? Very fun tea, I shall get more next time I do an order!