Strawberry Shortcake

Majorly over-infused but at least I sipped it down :)
See previous notes :)

…Damn, I think I ‘overcooked’ this tea. I though, based on how it looked in the container Lena sent me, that it was a black tea so I set the water temperature accordingly. Only when I bother to look at the tea’s Steepster entry did I realize that it was actually a white tea. Ooops.

It definitely has that bitter tang you get from oversteeping unfortunately. I’m still getting some tantalizing notes of strawberries and cake (yes, cake!) which makes me all the more annoyed that I pretty much wrecked this cup. Oh well, at least I have more so I can make it again properly.

I just spent a couple of hours wrapping presents in front of a fire and drinking tea, so I’m riding on a post-holiday-activity high right now and need to SIMMA DOWN NAH before I trot off to bed. I figure that cranking out a few more teas from my backlog notes is just a good of a wind down activity as any, so here we go!

Lena and I swapped teas recently [well, she sent me teas in a timely manner; mine just got put in the mail yesterday, sorry Lena!] and this is the first one that I tried because it smelled so good and I thought strawberry shortcake sounded appetizing. Halfway through steeping, I thought to read her log, and I became a little scared that I wasn’t going to like this.

I found myself surprised in a very good way. The strawberries were definitely present in my cup. Distinctly strawberry, too, not unidentified-slightly-tart-fruit-taste which usually indicates the presence of hibiscus. And even more surprisingly, I could taste the little sponge cake, too, specifically the little yellow cups you can buy in a grocery store that come in a cellophane package on a plastic tray. Yes, it’s that specific to me. And even more surprisingly, I got a little hint of cream in the taste.

As a small disclaimer, this did not happen as blatantly as I am making it sound. It is a light, subtle kind of tea, but just strong enough for me to be able to pick out all the flavors. Drinking it quickly would not help with this tea because I mainly was able to get the flavors when I held it in my mouth and swished it around a bit. The strawberries lingered in the aftertaste with that kind of sweet tartness they tend to leave. Also, it is very possible I hit a sweet spot with the water temperature and steep time. I am going to have to try this again to see if I can duplicate the experience.

The tea was also so light that I didn’t go for a second steep. I might experiment later on, but something tells me it wouldn’t hold up well.

Really, this tea was firing on all cylinders. Afterward, I felt like I had just downed a very light, but very good strawberry shortcake. I’m not sure that I’ve ever had a tea that’s supposed to taste like a food item ever replicate it so closely. So thanks, Lena! This made for a very nice cup indeed.

Ok, take two.

Smell of leaves dry…amazing.
Smell of leaves wet…still pretty fantastic.
The tea steeps up all nice and dark…still smellin’ fab.

The taste is just not there! I can taste the angel food cake and bavarian cream flavors just fine…but that’s it. NO STRAWBERRY! And I see big ole hunks of strawberry floating around! If this tea was labled as “White Angel Food Cake” it would be spot on and I would be fairly impressed. Also, this go round, I steeped the heck out of it. Like 10+ minutes while I walked around the office making sure everyone knew it was Friday. Which it is. Which means that I will have a box full of tea at the foot of my door when I get home from work. Which is SWEET!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend full of tasty teas!

For tonight’s dessert, I dug into my sample of this.

The dry leaves smell delicious, like those of all The NecessiTeas flavored teas I’ve tried. There’s strawberry, and something cookie-like about the smell. After steeping, the smell opens up to something more sponge-cake and cream scented. It really does smell just like a strawberry shortcake. Enough to make your mouth start watering if you have a sweet tooth as I do.

The liquor is a clear, golden yellow. The taste is lovely. Subtle, as others have said, but it definitely tastes just like it smells and I’m giving it high marks for that. There’s a sweetness to the strawberry, like the juice of a ripe, fresh berry. The cream and cake tastes are in the background, just like they would be in an actual cake. Even the tea is there, though it’s taking the role of the canvas on which the rest of the flavors are painted. There isn’t even a hint of the bitterness that troubled those of their flavored green teas I’ve sampled the past few nights.

I’m going to steep even longer next time and see what happens. The main improvements I’ll be looking for in steeping longer are for the tea to come more to the forefront and for the flavors to deepen a bit. If I can get those to happen, I’ll put this on my shopping list with all due haste.

Steep Information:
Amount: 4 tsp
Water: 750ml filtered water, 185°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: just like a freshly made strawberry shortcake
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet, strawberry
Flavor: I would have believed it a black tea with hints of strawberry
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: strawberry
Liquor: translucent orange brown

The smell was divine, the tea was surprisingly full for a white tea. This was a swap from LENA who had the teas each labeled and i adorable tiny Tupperware, she included amazing notes for each tea!

I failed to read the Steepster notes first and am surprised everyone else tasted cake and not berry.

If it tasted as amazing as it smelled I’d get it again, but alas the taste is pretty standard.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/08/thenecessiteas-loose-leaf-white-tea.html

I got in a beautiful package of teas from Lena today. She even typed me notes on her thoughts of each tea it was a really nice surprise (Thanks Lena you ROCK). In the samples was this one and I’ve been dying to try it and she mentioned she was curious of what my thoughts would be on this one.

First off I have to say I am majorly over steeping it as per all of yall’s reviews I decided to follow suit. The first taste that hits me is angel food while I don’t really taste any strawberry at all! Hmmm I wonder what’s up with that? I like it and it leaves me with a sweet cakey taste I miss the strawberries though I want my strawberries with my angel food cake you know what I mean?? It still tastes good though! Thanks again Lena!! :)

I don’t know about this one. I felt it was pretty loud for a white tea. The dry leaf smelled amazing and after steep it was about the same. There is definitely no lack of flavor but I just didn’t think it really tasted like strawberry shortcake. All and all I didn’t feel the flavors were well balanced, the vanilla stuck out the most and lingers long after the sip but even though the strawberry was visibly there it didn’t taste like it. I am however happy I had the chance to try it.

After this cooled off I got a bit more of a tart strawberry sweet flavor. The flavors also tied in with each other a bit better. Bumped up a few points.

I enjoyed this very much. I got the strawberry aroma and the taste, although I was not feeling the cake, which is fine with me. I was pleased and I will remember this tea if I feel a need to buy strawberry tea—you never know. I generally think that The NecessiTeas does a very good job with flavored teas.

2.25g/6oz. Since I’m flavoring everything (namely matcha) lately I decided to flavor this. 1 teaspoon of spiced rum creamer added. The creamer does not cover the strawberry, although it does cover up the white tea taste quite a bit. It tastes like a steamer now. Allbeit a LOVELY steamer. There’s a wonderful, slightly syrupy, strawberry texture and the creamer brings out the shortcake component of this tea. The only thing I don’t like about this tea is that the leaves look like they’ve been put thru a spice mill which not only lead me to believe that the quality isn’t very good, but the leaves get caught in the cover of my teapot when I pour it.