Campfire Blend - v106 (2011-2013)

Oooh I love the smokiness. It really does taste like the smell of a campfire, which is somehow an adventurous and yet comforting flavor. The rooibos is not at all overpowering – it just melts into the background, and the aroma of the tea is much stronger than it tastes. I really enjoy this and can see myself drinking it again and again – maybe even having some on barbecue nights!

I have had so many teas that I have yet to try. I am preparing for my first swap so I thought I would try a few of them to dictate how much I want to keep. This will be an opportunity to learn what I enjoy and pass on what I don’t.

With the weather finally cooling down, this is a perfect fall tea. It indeed smells like a campfire. The taste is interesting. I don’t know what “smoky” is but I believe that this tea is a smoky tea? It almost wraps me in memories of sitting around the campfire with the smell of pine teas surrounded by family. It took me a while and most of the population may not get this. There are different types of fires and they have distinct smells. When I reached the end of this cup, it dawned on me that this mostly reminded me of a sauna. This makes sense as usually we would swim all day, clean up in the sauna, then have family time around the fire. Definitely brought me back home (I’m a dislocated yooper).

In my opinion this is a beautiful, well crafted, thoughtful, flavorful tea. Thank you Whispering Pines!

Backlog:

As I mentioned in my full-length review of this tea – http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/05/26/campfire-blend-from-whispering-pines-tea-company/ – I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea with cedar leaves in it before, or if I have, I don’t recall it, and it’s such an unusual ingredient that I would like to think that I would have remembered it!

I like this blend. The cedar lends a very rustic sort of flavor to the cup. The chicory and cloves add to that rustic quality. Pleasant, autumnal, this tea makes me want autumn to get here quickly (as does the heat that we’ve been enduring over the past weeks).

Very flavorful, I like the rich, robust black tea base, and the rooibos lightens the cup a little bit and adds just a touch of sweet, nutty flavor.

Method: 1/2 tsp, 8 oz, 208 degrees, 5 minutes, French Press

Dry Leaf Aroma: Smells exactly like a campfire

Flavor: Luckily the flavor is more subdued. I was a little unsure if I could like a tea that smelled so strongly of a campfire. This tea definitely tastes smoky, but it’s mild enough to be pleasant. The tea was a dark amber color, and the campfire aromas wafting up from the mug were very nostalgic.

I don’t think smoky teas will ever be my faves, but I think this one has definite merits. I can see myself drinking this by the fire pit in the summer. Now I just need to buy a fire pit!

I’m pretty sure this tea tastes different to me every time I drink it. I remember drinking it and tasting smoke one time, and another I remember orange. Now I’m getting a vaguely pastry flavor. I’m not sure if that’s something that should be expected of this tea, or if it’s just getting old at this point. I didn’t see anyone else mention pastry as one of the flavors for this, and I have had it for a while now.

Sipdown!
Definitely reminiscent of sitting around a campfire in the middle of the woods. This tea doesn’t just capture the smokiness of the fire, but also the smell of the outdoors. I usually associate red rooibos as tasting ‘woodlike’, but that works really well in this tea!