Leaf Type: Honeybush
Tisane Description:
A champagne cider cocktail for the day after the holiday party. Apple is the undercurrent of this fantastic flavour combination that really does taste like champagne. Add in spiced apples, hints of orange and a touch of natural sweetness and you get this incredibly unique tea.
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Taster’s Review:
This Champagne Cider Honeybush Blend from Butiki Teas is really delicious. Of course, I certainly didn’t doubt that it would be, given the success that I’ve had with Butiki Teas’ blends. Stacy at Butiki Teas knows what she’s doing – she’s brilliant!
I don’t know that I’m tasting a lot of champagne here, but I can definitely smell the champagne in both the dry leaf and the brewed tisane. The flavor of the champagne is a little more difficult to discern, but I do pick up on the champagne-like taste when I slurp to aerate the liquid as I take a sip.
But I do taste the fruit! The orange, which can sometimes be an overly-prominent flavor in a tea or tisane, is instead a subtle note here. The apple is sweet and equally matched with the level of orange flavor. These fruit notes are softer flavors to mimic a “mulled” champagne cider.
And then we have the spices. The spices are also on the subtle side. I taste the notes of cinnamon and clove, but neither is overpowering the cup. Everything stays nicely balanced, even the cinnamon which can often be a selfish spice and take over. It doesn’t do that here, it stays gently warm … softly spiced.
I’m not typically all that excited about tisanes. That is to say, I’d rather drink a camellia sinensis tea than an herbal tisane like this honeybush blend. But, I do like this quite a bit. Butiki Teas really knocked this one out of the park!