Apres Ski

Hmm. I don’t think I’ve had this tea in ages. I was expecting not to like it (given my rating of less than 50), but I’m actually not finding it to be that bad. It’s kind of florally like Forbidden Fruit, and again, the fig is not super prominent (even though I know a large chunk made it into the infuser). There’s a bit of spicing that I can’t particularly place (I think it’s suppose to be cinnamon-orange, but I’m not picking those up specifically). Overall, it’s really not too bad. I could probably stick this in a travel mug and be reasonably happy with it. I probably have enough left for another cup or two of this one, as well. Sigh.

Thanks Daisy Chubb!!!!

Before reading all of the crazy reviews and tasting notes on this I already knew this would be an interesting cuppa as my thoughts upon first sniff was OUT HOUSE…yes…an OUT HOUSE type aroma! WTF!?

I then looked up this tea and noticed I was NOT the only one with that experience! LOL

The taste is very different from the aroma – THANK THE TEA GODS FOR THAT!

I can taste a sweet wood, burdock root, apples, orange, spice, and figs! I like the addition of the fig. It could have probably done with out the burdock root. The cinnamon is barely there and I am ok with this. This is a conflicting group of flavors and the aroma is awful to be blunt. Considering my height of dislike for the aroma the taste isn’t awful…thanks to the fig and orange. I can’ bring myself to give it a high rating as it isn’t that good but it’s not UNdrinkable either…as long as you plug your nose!

ehhhhh.

Okay, I hate to be the first one to review this tea – I don’t want to scare you away from it!
Maybe I’ll scare you.. towards it?

Okay let’s just do this. Dry smell: rotten fruit. Garbage. Oh my gaawwd my nostrils.
Okay so don’t stick your nose in the bag haha. It’s kind of nice and a deep fruity smell from farther away. :3

Steeped: Smells like.. figs I guess. Or garbage. whichever. haha.
Okay so I’m reminded of fig newtons. And.. christmas I guess. Figgy pudding?

Aftertaste is like I just finished chewing on a big dirty piece of corrugated cardboard. And then this delicious caramel buttery sensation comes. Right when you finish.

Well eff that. This tea is not for me. But I hope it’s for you :) Do you like figs? Maybe it just smells like figs. Fig Newtons are my first and last experience with figs – it’s all I know! I like them… anyways. Enjoy?

Had this again tonight and love it even more. I added brown sugar instead of regular white sugar and it really kicked up the fig flavor. Oddly enough, this may just be my favorite fig tea that I’ve tried. There was more orange flavor in this brew than the last one. Not sure how I feel about that.

But one slightly panicky question, why oh why is this blend not on the Davids site anymore? Please tell me it’s seasonal. Because I NEED this tea in my cupboard.

Backlog:

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

I don’t hate this as much as some other people did. But, it wasn’t the greatest cup of tea I’ve had either. I do like the representation of fig in this cup, it has a decent fig flavor. I tasted hints of citrus. Overall, it was just ok. Not something I’d order again (which is a good thing since it doesn’t appear to be available any longer) but if I were offered it, I wouldn’t mind drinking it again.

Ok, yeah, so…

Don’t smell it once it is in the bag, or at least smell very far in. In a certain range, it does smell a bit like garbage. Good call on that Daisy. I think it has something to do with a reaction to the plastic bag, or perhaps the burdock root, because it certainly didn’t smell like garbage in the store with the tester/tin, and…once I got very far in, I smelled the figs again. But there was a garbage smell range. shudders

On to taste…

I should state, in advance, that I actually do like figs (probably wouldn’t have tried it if I didn’t). I love figs on flatbread pizza with some prosciutto and goat cheese (sorry Jenn) on it. So yummy. Oh, and add caramelized onions too. :P

I do definitely taste the figs, and the flavour marries well with both the black tea base as well as the orange and cinnamon bits in it. I am not clear on what purpose the burdock root is in the mix for, other than potentially making this a very earthy blend. I think the tea is a little rich and hearty, and something that could be used as a dessert tea, perhaps as a latte.

I am undecided if I will repurchase this again, but I find the tea quite nice, and I can see why they have this as a holiday tea. I must try the others and see what I think, but it is conceivable that I’ll get a little more while it is around.

4 tsp for 750mL tea, 3 minute steep, 100C water.

Okay, there’s got to be a batch issue with Apres Ski. This time I made it from a 25g packet in the Winter Collection set, which I got as a gift, and it’s totally different: no fermented smell or taste, just some decent China (?) black and some sweet figs and a bit of spiciness from the cinnamon. Very agreeable. Balanced and a bit luxurious. A totally different liquor from what I drank last time, which was made for me at a DavidsTea store. This batch is lovely.

Yep, yuck. This does smell pretty foul, but I want to like it. I quite like figs! And, I loved Forbidden Fruit. I smell the rotten fruit/garbage that DaisyChubb mentioned, but also a faint hint of the figginess from Forbidden Fruit, so I resolved to fight through that and give it a chance. Unfortunately, I taste the root beer, rum, garbage, and sweet plastic that others have noted. None of these are things I like to drink. I don’t know. I am telling myself I’ll give this another try, but I could only get through a couple tentative sips. The smell is really potent.

Couldn’t quite figure out what I wanted to drink today… Sweet? Tart? Dark? Spicy? Fruity? Nothing seemed quite right. In the end it came down to three teas and “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.” This one won. It’s a good tea, dark but with some nice sweet fig notes to break it up, I’ll be sad to see it gone.

In other news my partner leaves for a conference tomorrow… I’m on my own for 3 days, how much trouble do you think I can get into in that amount of time?!? ;) Unfortunately it’s supposed to snow all week so, probably not much :(

I was steeling myself for a less than pleasant taste experience after reading some of the reviews on Steepster of this tea. I was pleasantly surprised—I really liked it. The dry tea does have a somewhat offputting smell, but not so like garbage or rotten fruit like some other people have described. It was more of a heavy, earthy-fruity smell that I wasn’t expecting.

The tea itself was delicious—a nice black tea base that played well with the fig and cinnamon and orange. I definitely got figs and cinnamon, and every once in a while got a bit of orange. None of the flavors were inappropriately overwhelming—everyone got along. I’d definitely buy it, I only had one small sample from an earlier DavidsTea order. Maybe next holiday season I will.

Steeped small packet in 12 oz water for five minutes at 205 degrees.