Dessert by Deb

TTB Review #42: First of all, let’s take a moment to appreciate how freaking PRETTY this tea is! The little blue and red specks in this blend make me smile. Smells…minty and sweet, but with a disappointing lack of blueberry. Fortunately there is a taste of blueberry when drinking, though still quite mild. I would have preferred a stronger blueberry note. But overall I’m pleased, especially since my previous experiences with Deb’s creations haven’t been too great.

TTB Review #29: I really wanted to like this one, I always have such high hopes for dessert teas, but sadly this one just missed the mark for me. I don’t taste coconut or marshmallow or really anything sweet. There’s an odd flavor that I can’t place (lapsang? souchong?). Overall I didn’t find this one enjoyable but I did finish my cup.

TTB Review #10:This one was a bit of a wild ride. Upon first smelling the blend and initially pouring the hot water, I was greeted with an almost overpowering sweet aroma that was very true to the name of this tea. It was very much like smelling a piece of fresh, moist blueberry lavender cake. However, after letting it steep for a while and actually taking a sip, the lavender really took the reigns and mostly covered all of the other flavors. It almost tasted medicinal, or what I would imagine it’s like to drink water with lavender essential oils. Then, as I continued drinking, I started to kind of like it? So yeah, bit of a rollercoaster ride here, but would I ride again? Maybe. I do think it would do well to satisfy a sweet craving.

Sipped on this one over the weekend. I find the concept of this tea so strange and all over the place; I don’t know how one even starts to think about a triple pairing like this. In theory in sounds good though; like a spiced breakfast banana bread kind of vibe? Like, loosely I guess. In practice it really just tastes like ginger. Maayyybbbee gingerbread, with the sort of molasses-y dark brown sweetness that FAINTLY creeps in. No banana though, and not anything that makes me think waffles. I could really give or take the “waffle” element, but it’s a shame that I didn’t taste any banana at all because it’s that unique idea of a banana and gingerbread combo that makes this interesting in the first place.

Sipdown 16

Just okay. A touch of cinnamon and nondescript fruitiness.

Working on sipping through a 25g bag. This is okay. Cinnamon sugar and berries.

Sipdown! (33 | 33)

Trying to sip down the rest of my Dessert by Deb teas, since they’re not my favorites and I tend to forget about the ones in tins. I think this was from the last subscription box of 2021?

It’s fine, but mostly I just taste some mellow cinnamon on a generic and tannic base. I don’t get much in the way of fruitiness, even though this has plum flavoring. Maybe a hint of a dark berry note, like elderberry or dried blueberry, or even raisin? But even that is very subtle.

It’s fine, but I’m glad it’s gone, as I have much tastier cinnamon dessert teas in my cupboard.

Geek Steep S2E29 – Weird Al

When we were picking our three songs for this episode, the one I was most set on choosing was Amish Paradise. It has what is probably the best opening line of ANY Weird Al Song.

As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain, I take a look at my wife and realize she’s very plain.

I also knew exactly what tea I was going to pick and why. The only option in my mind was to drink something that tasted like churned butter, which is exactly what this tea reminds me of. It’s a little toasty but mostly just tastes like it’s slathered in butter. I though it was so fitting, and also so hilarious with the context of the song.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOfZLb33uCg

Sipdown! (30 | 30)

This has potential, but the base ruins it for me. It’s too metallic and tannic and works against the creamier banana and cocoa flavors. And if I steep it less, I don’t get as much of the chocolate notes. I didn’t see any chocolate pieces in my package? Not that I mind, chocolate tends to make tea oily and gross.

Anyway, the banana flavor is nice but that’s about it.

If Mint mated with a citrusy blueberry this would be the result. I can tell this is going to be good for me because it has elderberries. Though I would probably have to infuse it far longer than I want to, to truly get the benefits. The liquor is a purplish, dark amber. Kind of pretty actually. The main flavor is mint and then the blueberries come in. Then the mint. Then slight elderberry. Then the mint. Maybe brown sugar if I look for it enough. But mainly spearmint. If there is black tea, it’s lost on me. An interesting blend.

Well… that didn’t turn out well. I’ve already tried to steep this two different times. One was a larger steep for family members. That failed. The next was just a single serving for my sister-in-law. I couldn’t tell whether she enjoyed it or not….

As a dessert, this sounds amazing. I love blueberry and I love lavender. The dry aroma is very pleasant. Mainly lavender with hints of blueberry. The steeping tea does not smell good. Kind of like I just threw a plain bath bomb into the water. I love that there are real blueberries in the blend and not just flavoring.
The flavoring leans mostly toward lavender and then the hibiscus hits and that’s all you can think of. Taste something else and go back to it again so you can forget the hibiscus.

Daughter (8) double thumbs up. Didn’t taste vanilla or elderberries but thought I tasted mochi… no I mean boba. Yeah I can see the boba.

Tasting with children. Daughter (8) says: Smells like gingerbread. And has a bit of wine. (No I do not give this child wine) It’s really good. I taste the ginger.

Dry aroma: The ginger is very strong with this one. The dark side will instantly be repelled by its strength. Slight berry and citrus notes as well.
Wet leaves while infusing: High in ginger. Also reminds me of the ginger they give you at Asian restaurants.
Flavor: Tangy and zingy! Mix this with other medicinal herbs and you’ve got yourself a potent feel better drink. The berry plays lightly in the back while the ginger punches your tongue. Overall interesting but mainly a bit too weird for my taste.

So Marika loved this tea so much that she named it one of her top teas of 2022 on our most recent Geek Steep episode – because of that I knew I had to prioritize tasting it, to see if I agreed…

What I will say is that, aesthetically, I think this is one of Deb’s best blends. The contrast of the green tea with those bright red fruit pieces and the florals is breathtaking, and I kind of want to just stare at it all day. It also smells really good. Very raspberry forward but bright, fresh and floral! Mouth watering.

In terms of taste… I think I’m whelmed!? Not over or under. The combination of sweet raspberry and really juicy, floral lychee works spectacularly. What I love is that it’s not really dense and thick enough to be jammy or so sweet as to read as candy, but it’s definitely got some kind of extra “oomph” to it – and both flavours really pop on the more medium bodied grassy base.

The macaron comparison loses me though. Just like the Mango Passionfruit Eclair, this doesn’t taste like a baked good. It’s too fresh! Too lively! Lacking those creamy, buttery, or maillard notes that would sell the comparison or, in this case, the sweet subtle nuttiness that most macarons have due to the almond flour. I hate that just tacking on an evocative pastry to the end of a fruity blend seems to be a trend that Deb is leaning into. It’s just so unnecessary when the tea would be a perfectly delicious blend as just a fruit tea, instead of setting up an expectation of baked notes. Boo.

Sipdown! (8 | 8)

So this is a nice enough blend, but I feel like it doesn’t live up to my expectations. First off, I don’t really taste the oolong. Maybe it affects the texture a bit, but not much. And then the green tea is just a Chinese sencha that tastes like dry grass, and there’s not enough genmai. The banana flavor is nice enough, but there’s not really enough of it either.

I like the idea, but I don’t think the oolong is adding anything, and it doesn’t necessarily make sense for the concept anyway. More genmai and more banana would be nice.

I enjoyed this blend, I didn’t quite get any lemon, but the lavender definitely there. As a huge lavender fan, I enjoyed this blend but I think it was best with a bit of lemon added.

Has this one earlier in the week.

My brain basically adamantly refuses to accept this as an eclair inspired tea. There’s just, like, zero qualities to the blend that make me think pastry in any way. However, mango and passionfruit? Definitely a big check mark there! As frustrated as the misname kind of makes me, at first taste this might be one of my favourite blends from Deb. Yes, it is a bit on the lighter side but both mango and passionfruit are pretty distinct in taste and the gummy-like sweet candy quality really works super well with that more tangy tropical vibe.

Plus, it just feels different from her others teas and I appreciate that a lot given some of the repetitiveness her fruity blends often end up falling into.

I really enjoyed this blend, I agree that sometimes Deb’s blends steep weaker but I strictly cold brewed this blend and it turned out perfectly. It tastes just like a peach ring and it was a delicious treat for a weekend away! I don’t always love hot peach teas so I decided to cold brew it and it’s definitely the way to go with this blend, definitely grabbing more. Thank you Vallhallow for sending this lovely blend my way!

Advent Calendar from Kaylee: Day 22

I shared a pot of this one with my mom just before Christmas, and she enjoyed it — she’s usually pretty ambivalent about tea. It’s heavy on the spices, particularly the ginger and allspice. It definitely doesn’t scream “cookie” to me and I’m not getting much almond, but it’s still a robust and flavorful wintery blend.

Backlogged tasting notes.

This was the other tea I brought with me to drink during Hanukkah, earlier this December. The “pie” element of the blend really confuses me – I don’t get what’s supposed to make it pie like, and as far as I know “Blueberry Mint Pie” is definitely not a thing. But the ingredients list seemed intriguing so I went for it anyway.

We made this as a large Western pot, and I actually liked it quite a bit. It doesn’t really resemble a pie to me, or really any kind of baked item. It’s not the right blueberry for that; too tart and juicy. I think a more apt description would be, like, a Blueberry Mojito!? Refreshing with top note tartness and tang from the hibiscus and a more syrupy sweet blueberry mid note complimented by almost menthol cooling peppermint. I actually like it a lot but I feel the name is all over the place…

Inkling Advent Day 23. This is an interesting tea. It combines a bright candy strawberry with a slightly grassy green tea. Nothing about it is cakey, but the strawberry is tasty and even better with some milk added. Then it gets a strawberry and cream sort of vibe, which is fun, though the green tea does stick through a bit more than I would prefer.

I really enjoyed this blend, it reminded me more of maple twist bread than pancakes but it was super yummy. I’m loving all the new teas I’m trying… I got overwhelmed by the advents so I sort of started ignoring them for a bit because I have more than ten days to catch up on and I decided to finish them in January.