Red Queen Cupcake

I am definitely tasting espresso when I drink this. It took a long while for me to pin down the flavour other than ‘dark but not chocolate’. Coffee, that’s what it was. I’m not a fan of coffee, generally, that is why I drink tea instead, but this is…decent. Definitely not my favourite and it’s old besides so probably it’s good that I can never get it again. Still have a couple of pots worth in my sample so I’ll get to try again.

I decided to try this as a latte after the recent success of my Malt Shop latte, but sadly neither the coffee nor the chocolate is very prominent, and those are the notes which would make this a great latte. The strawberry is definitely the most prominent note, alongside the malty base, but there is a chocolate note I get towards the end of the sip. The espresso is nowhere to be found in latte form. I resteeped the leaf and it held up well, making a strong cup of malty black tea which actually had the coffee note more prominently than the first steep did. Bumping up the rating a little from 60 because while it wasn’t mindblowing, I did enjoy it more both as a latte and in the resteep than I previously have.

This must be pretty old in my tea stash. I’m sure the flavouring has lost some of its impact by now but still found this plenty sweet without sugar.

Quite cupcakey and yes, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. A little bit of the espresso note yeah.

Will re-try this with sugar next time though. What a shame I only got to order from Butiki once before they closed down!

I tried this one with a couple of pieces of crystal sugar last night. It certainly increased the vanilla, strawberry and cake flavours, but I completely lost the coffee/espresso. It almost becomes a different tea, and I suppose that’s the point.

On balance, I think I enjoy this one without sugar more. I like the chocolate/coffee/strawberry playoff, and the way it culminates in a kind of strawberry mocha heaven. That’s too good to lose, even for stronger cake flavour!

I’ve had this a few times now. First with sugar, then without, then with less sugar. It definitely needs sugar and 1tsp/16oz cup seems to be the perfect ratio to get chocolate covered strawberry sweetness. Anything else and the duskiness of the espresso-chocolate mix is at the forefront. Not bad!

A teeny sample from Kittenna! Thank you. :)

This one smelled overwhelmingly of chocolate, and I was worried. I also had a LOT of chocolate chips in the 1.5 tsps or so that Kittenna shared with me, so I was worried about that too.

But! Somehow it works. It smells very much like chocolate something baking in the oven. Chocolate with vanilla. Tasting it, however, and I get the coffee. Weird! Yet also somehow tasty.

I added a tiny bit of sugar and that really brought out the coffee. A dollop of cream, and it’s… berries and coffee and chocolate. Huh. I wouldn’t have expected the chocolate to be so mild!

Thanks so much for sharing, Kittenna. You have aided my goal to Try ALL the Teas! I’m glad I didn’t get this one, it’s not exactly to my taste, although it’s a really interesting blend.

Strawberry is the dominant flavor here. You can see the chocolate chips in the blend but in flavor they are on the back burner. there is a slight espresso note too. It is good. I believe this is another one they are out of.

Brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 min.

Scent of the dry leaf is quite intriguing: mostly strawberry, with chocolaty espresso and maybe even a hint of butteriness. After brewing, I recall the strawberry was still present, but it was accompanied by an unexpected floral note and a rather strong bitterness. So I added a squeeze of agave, like I normally do with flavored blends. Still bitter. I may have wound up using twice as much as I normally do. The bitterness is minimized, but unfortunately so too is the strawberry flavor – it ended up tasting pretty much like a sweetened Assam with strong coffee flavoring that made me feel a bit woozy. I’m not entirely sure what happened, as I followed the steeping parameters on the bag pretty closely. Maybe next time I’ll drop the steep time to 2:30.

Another from my order! I originally overlooked this one since I thought the base tea plain tasted like tomato soup to me. Retrying it, it wasn’t! Odd. So then I ended up buying this one. It’s similar to Ruby Pie, but I could always go for a blend slightly different than Ruby Pie! The chocolate chips from Butiki never seem to impart much chocolate flavor to me, for whatever reason. But there are plenty of strawberries and strawberry flavor. The black tea is lighter but it’s perfect with this blend anyway. Very sweet and actually does taste like a cupcake. The pink flowers are perfect with it too! The second steep is just as flavorful as the first. I really don’t think this amount of tea will make 16 cups though. There isn’t 16 teaspoons.
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // 5 min after boiling // 3 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

today i tried this tea . it was on my wishlist and Stephanie was so kind to send me in Christmas care package.
it was delicious. it does have espresso notes ( i love espresso). Strawberries and chocolate are great addition. the tea is so pretty to look at. smells and tastes heavenly.

Thank you so much my #teafiend for making my dreadful afternoon so yummy and cheerful. i need to make that last order w/Butiki.