Grapefruit Creme Brulee

Resteep of my leaves from this morning. It tastes practically the exact same! Honestly the grapefruit note is coming through just as strong as it did this morning, and so is the Crimson Horizon. It’s a little weird having something that tastes so much like breakfast this late on in the day, but I can deal with it. I threw the leaves out before trying the second steep, and I’m wishing I hadn’t because I think I could have gotten another one or two steeps out of it easily. Still, at least we parted on good terms. I rectified this morning’s mistake by adding rock sugar and no milk, and it tastes much better. Just how it should. The custardy cream note I was picking up on this morning isn’t there any more, but I’m not missing it. I’m upping my rating from 69 because honestly, for a resteep it’s pretty amazing.

This one went heavy on the grapefruit and the brulee—I’ve never had grapefruit brulee the dessert, but I imagine this came pretty close to it. The creme part was missing for me, but there was enough going on without it to keep me satisfied. The assertive base and bright pop of citrus made this one a nice, brisk morning cup.

Currently sipping on a mug of this tea and, while it’s a bit flat because of the age, it’s definitely helping hold me up this morning as I get through tasting note backlog – it’s tannic and malty and full bodied but has these super gentle notes of pithy grapefruit and burnt sugar. It’s amazing how, after all this time, it still tastes so great!

Also… I am less than 100 tasting notes away from tasting note 11,111 so I guess it’s time to start thinking of a good landmark tea for that note!?

Such an amazing Grapefruit tea! Sad I can not get more. I picked this up from a stash sale and so glad I did. Burnt Sugar Grapefruit Goodness with a rich malt base. This tea tastes exactly like its name. If anybody has any they have lingering around, let me know.

The flavours in this are pretty true to form, but I’m not sure it’s the tea for me. I find it a bit bitter – too grapefruity I suppose.

Maybe someone will want to trade me for Praline or Pistachio Horizon ;)

Love this one! I’ll be sad when it’s gone. So grapefruity and it wasn’t bitter at all. I was surprised and impressed that when I resteeped it it still have some grapefruityness to it.

I am in love with this cup of tea…
Going against my original intentions, I added a splash of cream and about 1/8tsp of raw sugar… Not that it needed it; I just was in the ‘oh, what the heck, go all out with this one!", frame of mind….
The scent of this in its bag is the perfect citrus cream mix, to me… It’s incredible. Steeped, the cream falls a little bit to the back, making room for the base to shine.
Really, this would be a ‘keep stocked at all times’ tea for me….

Here’s another tea/reason why I’ll miss Stacy’s amazing work at Butiki- like I needed one more. I wish I could bottle up the creamy sweet citrus aroma and keep it with me forever, but then I couldn’t drink it and appreciate it in all of it’s mouth puckering glory.. there’s no winning here, eh? At least an ounce seems to go a long way- it even has a decent second steep in it.

I’ve never had grapefruit creme brulee, and now I’ll be disappointed if it isn’t as tasty as this. Definitely one of my favourites out of the last wave of new teas I picked up!

I actually had intended to grab either Praline Horizon or Pistachio Horizon (neither of which I currently have, I just realized), but I guess the Crimson Horizon base was what was on my mind, so when I saw this, I grabbed it. The aroma is quite heavenly – creamy, sweet, grapefruity deliciousness, but sadly it doesn’t quite taste like that. Grapefruit and a nice base, yes, but I really wanted the cream and the sweet. I will add a touch of sugar next time, as I suspect that was what this tea really needed, though I certainly did enjoy drinking it regardless!

YAY! I’m the first to review my tea creation! What started out as mixing grapefruit and maple, turned into Grapefruit Creme Brûlée. I remember having grapefruit halves with brown sugar on them and broiled a little, with a cherry in the middle, every time we would go to visit my grandma in South Florida. I never really liked grapefruit then, but I had always liked it when she made it. Grandmas are magical, yo! :P I have since grown to like them more, but I have to be in the right mood for them sometimes, and this way of making them is, and has always been, my favourite. I liked the Grapefruit Dragon green tea that Stacy made, so I thought this would be done well too, and it was. Was there any doubt?

So on to the tea. This is my first CTC, at least in loose form. It’s possible that I have had it in a bagged tea, unknowingly, and if so, I did not know anything about CTC then anyway. What I am picking up is a deep rich black tea flavour, with some lightly smokey and bitterness…the description for the base (Crimson Horizon) mentions burnt chocolate, and I can get behind that. My mouth feels really juicy, and almost acidic on my tongue! It also mentions bergamot, and I can kind of detect a tiny floral note like that, but I’m not sure I’d’ve picked out that one on my own. It mingles with the grapefruit quite nicely.

I usually find the blends I get from Stacy to have smooth and subtle bases, but this one, WOW, it is pretty bold. Between the CTC Crimson Horizon base, and the tangy grapefruit, it is a surefire wake up sunny breakfast tea. All this flavour in just a single minute steep! I think that in the future, I will stick to 1 level tsp, even if I am making a mug’s worth, just to tone down some of the bitterness. I don’t mind some, because hey, grapefruit IS bitter, but I’d like to see if I can get a better balance of flavors with a little less leaf. I decided to add some organic cane sugar, and later I added a tiny bit of milk…no curdling. I like the milk addition…it does something that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Well done, me, and Stacy of course. This tea is lovely and can’t wait to cold steep or ice it and maybe make it with sweetened condensed milk over the summer.