Creme Carmello

I received this as a prize at the tea party I went to last weekend, basically as a thank you because I spent the most money.

It smells very strongly of rooibos, but I am also getting a strong salted caramel smell.
I find the rooibos comes out at the forefront, which really isn’t my thing. and then you get the salted caramel taste.

not what I was expecting, but decent.

Won this as a prize at a vendor booth. I was sent this one and another one as part of their teazer pack. It’s alright. Pretty identical to creme caramel from Davids. I have another 30g left but it’s a bit expensive for what it js. There are other higher quality rooibuses I’d rather buy.

At first sniff: not artificial smelling sweet sugar smell. But sweet smelling.
At first steep: its typical rooibus colour and it doesn’t have that licorice smell and taste that some of Davids have so I appreciatethat.

IIt’s alright. That is all. I feel kind of been there done that with it. It more gave me an excuse to go enjoy a walk with mu doggie. Saddened by the news today about a dog being stabbed to death I was happy to get a nice walk in with my bff.

This is pretty good as a latte. It does taste a bit caramel like to me with a rooibos base. There’s an extra interesting flavoring in this that I am guessing is the calendula petals but it’s hard to say because these are the ingredients (rooibos tea, calendula petals and natural flavor). It’s a decent cuppa tea, but glad this one was a sample to try.

Tea 5/6 of the Rooibos tea collection I got from Steeped Tea. I brewed it up as a latte: 10 tsp (17 grams) of tea in 1 cup of boiling water with a little bit of vanilla agave. Steeped for about 4.5 min, then mixed with frothed milk.

When I read the ingredients in this tea as well as looked at and smelled the leaves, It really reminded me of creme brule tea from DAVIDs TEA. It’s been 2-3 years since I had that tea but I remember being unimpressed with it because it didn’t taste anything like what the name said. Thus, I was skeptical of this tea when I brewed it up. Sadly, just like Creme brule, this tea failed to deliver- I wasn’t getting much of a caramel taste at all. The tastes I was getting was a bit of vanilla sweetness from the agave, as well as milky rooibos. The ingredients listed for this tea are “Rooibos tea, hazelnut pieces, calendula petals, natural flavour”. I don’t understand why Steeped tea and David’s markets a caramel taste with this tea and creme brule; there’s nothing in those teas to create that taste.

In conclusion I will mix this with Vanilla cupcake (another rooibos blend I was disappointed with) to use it up but will not repurchase. Interesting to try, but glad I only got 25 grams (1.5 lattes) of tea.

I love dessert teas, they have all of the flavor of a well crafted dessert without any of the calories. Crème Carmello has that wonderful deep burnt sugar flavor you find in crème brûlée. It’s seriously delicious and the addition of hazelnuts only makes it better. I’ve never had hazelnut crème brûlée, I’m not even sure if it is a thing, but if it is I imagine it tastes just like this tea.

You can read the rest of the review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2014/8/26/tuesday-tea-pia-colada-and-creme-carmello-steeped-tea.html

I am loving this tea! Its smells so amazing like a nutty caramel dessert. The taste is mild and not to powerful. The color is a beautiful light amber color. I use my Steeped Tea glass tea traveler and add about a teaspoon in the removable fine mesh infuser that it comes with. (perfect for rooibos!) I just keep it in my cup and it never gets to strong or bitter. I received this tea in my consultant kit and I am loving My Steeped Tea ;)

Yummy!! I think I’ll be grabbing this when I’m craving flavoured coffee… This would make a delicious latte!