Carrot Cake Rooibos

Now that I’ve decided I don’t hate rooibos after all I thought it was time to try this blend because carrot cake is one of my favorite desserts. This was steeped for around 8 minutes at 208 F.

First off, this smells amazing in the cup as I am sitting here, it’s like maple heaven! With my first sip I’m getting the traditional carrot cake spices like cinnamon and maple. I am picking up on a touch of clove and ginger as well as a slight raisin element. I added soymilk to mine which definitely has upped the creaminess factor. I did not feel this needed sugar at all. The base of this tea is a honeybush/rooibos blend which works well here, I think. The aftertaste here is very “clove” which I don’t mind at all.

I did not pick up on a lot of carrot or coconut but no matter, this is pretty yummy. I would definitely drink often this as a dessert tea, as it’s a bit one the sweeter side even without added sugar. It is certainly a bonus that this tea has no sour aromas that I so often associate with rooibos.

I think I’ve discovered a new favorite vendor for herbal blends. Not a dud in the bunch so far with Fusion Tea Room, I’m excited to try the others I got!

From last night – Been a while since we had this one. Good solid rooibos without being too rooibos, you know. The spices give it a nice zing and mellow out the rooibos. Good stuff.

My first selection from Tea Sipper’s Here’s Hoping Traveling Tea Box!

It truly has carrot cake qualities. The spice, the gentle sweetness, even some cake-ness! I drank my cup in a flash. My husband found this one to be excellent, too. Not only have I never had a carrot cake tea, but I’ve never sampled a tea from Fusion Teas yet, so this was a double treat I most likely would not have had if it wasn’t for the traveling tea box. So glad to be a part of it!

Here is a picture I took of everything in the box as it was sent to me. There are so many teas I couldn’t even fit them in the photo!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackiemania/8599265002/

!!!

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – February Tea #2: A tea with a name that begins with a Periodic Table abbreviation

An interesting prompt to align with the Periodic table!  I went with Ca/Calcium!  Also for Carrot Cake!  This one gets bonus sipdown points for being a three ounce package.  Nice.  I did enjoy this one and I would buy it again… I think I have a newer sample around yet.  Great ingredients here – though the nuts and coconut should be really ruining this cup now, the flavor isn’t too bad, though a little muted. I don’t know what the compromise should be…less flavor or bad coconut? Pleasant steeps anyway. It’s interesting there are only 33 steepster results for ‘carrot cake’.
2022 sipdowns: 15

I just checked Fusionteas.com and they have a 15% sale until Valentine’s Day but possibly only on dessert teas? Carrot Cake is on the list!

While listening to Queen’s “Bo.Raps.” (don’t know why I feel compelled to mention) I am sipping on a lovely cup of this. Because my stomach is on the fritz and I am having some digestion issues I think I will try and drink more Rooibos and Honeybush for the rest of the day. This is a goodie!

Wow, Uniquity, thanks for the sample! This is good. It’s nutty and spicy and desserty. It’s got a weird hint of sourness, but it may be because I literally steeped it for 45 mins while I had dinner. I think it could use a bit of vanilla to smooth out the flavors and make it feel even more dessert like. A bit of rock sugar makes it special.

There is that woodiness that often accompanies a rooibos, but I’m really getting used to it. I pretty take it for granted, which allows me to enjoy the flavors on top. I glad I tried this tonight instead of the chai I was considering. :)
It would make a good liquid for cake or pudding or something. Or a cocktail. I’m sleepy. Good night Steepster!

I was waffling over making another cup of tea last night as it was midnight, but I was still yelling at my microeconomics homework, claiming it had calculus when it did not. So this being a rooibos, it made sense.

I honestly do not know why I even made this. Carrot cake is the only cake I would ever turn down, except in cases where I really want cake then it doesn’t matter. I’m not sure why I thought carrot cake tea might be better.

It. Was. Not.

First I knew we were going to be having problems because the smell of red rooibos was overpoweringly medicinal in this one. And now I can’t remember if I was doing well with dessert rooiboses or not…I think I was. So I had thought I’d be fine.

And then I took a sip. And it was just too much grossness for me. It first tasted like it’d be good but I don’t know where we went wrong. I could only take that sip and then I made a mad dash for the sink.

That one that comes up with a green rooibos base sounds like something I could do, this one will be returning to a tea box as it is not for me.

Tried this last night while watching A Little Princess (I’ve been on a holiday season “feel-good classic movies from my youth” bender before bedtime). This was quite enjoyable—it really does have a sweet carrot flavor (it takes a while to emerge; it built up enough to be quite noticeable around the middle of the cup), and you even somehow get cream cheese icing (!). It does taste rather sweet especially by the end of the cup. But I was pretty impressed; carrot cake seems a hard thing to pull off, and somewhat unusual.

I got this amazing sample from the generous Dexter3657 – thank you!!

So, I’m not sure I get carrot cake, but I certainly get a spicy sweet dessert tea that tastes as wonderful as it smells. I was tempted to add a little sweetener to this to see if I could pull out more carrot cake flavour, but decided not to, as it already has a sweet taste to it. Besides, I really love the spiciness of this one, and don’t want to take away from it by adding sugar.

I will definitely be putting this tea on a ‘must purchase’ list.

Tea #23 from the ‘Here’s Hoping’ teabox.

Backlogging.

I had to try this tea just because of the name. I figured I would not be a fan since it’s rooibos based, but it was actually pretty good. Lots of spices mixed in with the carrot, walnut and raisins. Very tasty. I love the sweetness (which I assume is from the maple brittle) because it was just the right amount of sweet for the tea. Not too much, but no need to add sugar. Every now and then the rooibos flavor was stronger than I would have liked, but all in all a great herbal blend!