Caramel Shortbread

Advent Calendar 2017, Day 17: Very caramely, with an undercurrent of fruit. Would add more tea to future steeps, was a little weak, as with most of these herbal infusions.

I love this tea, you have to steep for a shorter time to not get the sour notes. But at 2 minutes this tea is delicious!

Even though I was positive I wouldn’t like this tea, I finally gave in and tried it just because… And it smelled icky while steeping. I’m not a fan of caramel, so I knew it wouldn’t be great. It’s drinkable though. I’m getting a lot of flavours here. I taste the fruit in the blend, but I also taste the caramel. It has this buttery taste and its a bit sour as well. I have 2 agave in this and it’s okay but I definitely wouldn’t buy this one.

This is one of my all-time favorite teas, and I’m glad I took the risk despite all the negative reviews. I am a fan of sweet/sour combinations, and often finish the sour beers my friends order and then decide they want no part of, so maybe my taste buds are just mis-wired. Anyway, if you can’t decide between a liquid cookie and a cherry jolly rancher, you’ll probably like this tea. Otherwise, leave more for me.

The smell of the loose-leaf tea is nice, like sweet shortbread cookies. The steeped tea smells like that, but with a strong hint of something sour. It tasted like sour cherries or berries with a hint of sweetness at the end. It was a bit strange to love the smell of something so much, but it turn out sour and bitter. The nutty smell and flavor was also not to my liking. I really don’t like the fake sweet note at the end. So disappointed!

Sipdown

I really didn’t like this when I could actually taste it but since I knew I couldn’t really taste things anyways thanks to the cold I figured it was the best time to finish this off. Turns out it was infinitely better with impaired tastebuds though still not great. It was hydrating though so it did it’s job.

This was one of my samples from my David’s order. It sounded so good. I mean, I loooooove shortbread. One of my favorite things. and caramel is also a fave. And I am always looking for a caffeine free evening tea. So when I got this sample I was pretty excited.

I was disappointed. The first thing I noticed was a bit of tartness. It wasn’t a horrible tartness, like what I get with hibiscus, In fact, I kind of liked that. But then came the artificial sweetness. I rushed to grab the packet to read the ingredients. Grrrr. Yep. Stevia. Imagine my curled lip as I snarl the S word.

I don’t know why so many teas have Stevia. If I want my tea to be a bit sweeter, I have rock sugar and honey, and I know how to use them. Don’t get me wrong, as a diabetic I am happy to use stevia on occasion. but not in my tea.

I am glad I got this one as a sample, because it sounded so good I might have been tempted to order some. Now I know better. This might appeal to a lot of tea drinkers who like a sweet/sour flavor to their tea. And if a friend invited me for tea and served this one, I would be able to drink a cup to be polite, but it will never be my first choice.

I had originally tried to make a latte with this one but it did not turn out well (the milk curdled). It was the first time that happened to me so it was quite the experience and quite funny after I got over the fact that I wasted $4 of tea. So I had to go out to get some more to try plain. What a tease-does NOT taste like caramel shortbread and the cherries should have been left out in my opinion then it might have had a chance. Not a good cup of tea.

This smells SO GOOD, like salted caramel, popcorn and vanilla… but the taste is so sour and acidic. I don’t know why they put elderberries, raspberry and sour cherry in this, but the berries definitely overpower the sweet flavors for me. The weird, sour flavor actually reminds me a little of vomit (sorry to be gross). I gave it to my best friend, who likes fruity/berry/sour teas, and even he refused to drink it. It’s really vile to me.

Soooo after reading all the reviews, I decided to be little miss innovative! I went through my entire sample and picked out all the fruits that looked like sour cherries (they looked like craisins) lol. There werent many, but what was left was mostly nuts and apple pieces I think. I then added agave. YUM YUM YUM. It tastes exactly how it smells! There is a small small bite to it from the apple/fruit, but the buttery nutty yumminess is there! YAY! I steeped a small sample bag (the kind that comes with the order when you order online) in a 10-12oz mug with near-boiling water for 6 mins. Perfection !