52Teas recently did a whimsical and tasty set of Harry Potter inspired tea flavors. One of these blends is Cauldron Cake Genmaicha. I love the toasty puffed rice and warming green tea of genmaicha and 52Teas is the master of fun genmaicha flavors. Throw in a Wizarding World twist and I couldn’t wait to try this tea.
Cauldron Cake Genmaicha is inspired by a chocolatey, frosted cupcake. Alongside the familiar starchy rice flavors there are smooth cacao nibs, nutty cacao shells, and creamy white chocolate chips. A dash of sprinkles makes the loose leaf look even cuter. This tea looks very festive prior to brewing, with a wide variety of shapes and colors, and smelling like a sweet cake dessert.
This blend reminds me a bit of the honeybush-based blend Rocky Road. Both blends have cacao nibs, cacao shells, and white chocolate chips. However, 52Teas has been able to fit even more vanilla frosting flavors into the Cauldron Cake Genmaicha blend. The extra creaminess comes off as marshmallowy when paired with the puffed rice and roasty green tea.
I tend to drink my genmaicha teas without any milk or sugar, but this might be a fun latte to try in the future. Just be sure to top it off with a little whipped cream and sprinkles for the full effect.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: green genmaicha
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
Our fifth and final new tea for Harry Potter Month 2018! When I was going through my ideas for Harry Potter inspired teas, this one was at the top of the list because CAKE! Originally, I had considered doing this one as a black tea, however, I already had two black teas planned for the month so I decided to rethink the blend and create this as a Genmaicha blend instead.
Now, I haven’t ever had a Cauldron Cake, but the Harry Potter Wiki describes them as a mass-produced cake from Qizilbash Quality Confectionery in Pakistan. I confess that I’m not at all familiar with confections from Pakistan either. So when I went about creating this tea, I decided that a cauldron cake is probably a lot like a cupcake – only probably a bit more rounded at the bottom like a cauldron.
So I did my best to go with that kind of inspiration: a chocolate cupcake … err … cauldron cake with a cream filling and perhaps a light coating of chocolate ganache over it and then garnished with colorful sprinkles. And here we have our organic, Matcha infused Genmaicha blended with cake essence, cacao nibs, cacao shells, vanilla bean, white chocolate chips (vegan, of course) and sprinkles (also vegan, nut-free & gluten-free!)
It’s quite yummy and I believe that Honeyduke’s would be happy to serve this tea to their patrons!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Strawberry Shortcake from The NecessiTeas . . . .
There’s something about strawberry shortcake that makes me think of summer, or at least makes me think of flowery tea parties. Maybe it’s just the fact that strawberries are at their height in the summer, or the fact that strawberry shortcake is often served with everyone getting their own little cake on a doily or saucer. Either way, drinking Strawberry Shortcake tea from the Necessiteas felt like the right thing to do on a beautiful summer day.
This tea smells decadent even in the dry leaf, with lots of strawberry and vanilla fragrance. The scent is supremely sweet, almost like strawberry Starburst candies. The blend brews up gold in color, and continues to be berry-sweet and incredibly fragrant.
In taste, the most forward tastes are strawberries and cream, with a bit of the earthy white tea to balance all the dessert-flavors. There are yellow cake notes at the back of each sip, reminding me of birthday cake ice cream. These cake flavors combine with the white tea, bringing an almost buttery, savory feel to the tea that gets creamier as the brew cools.
Three things go into strawberry shortcake: berries, cake, and cream, and this blend has all three essential elements in tea form. This is a must-try blend for any dessert-tea fans, or for any fun summery, strawberry occasions in your schedule.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
Description: Angel food cake perfectly combines with a light layer of sweet cream and juicy strawberries to create this guilt-free dessert. Enjoy hot or poured over ice.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Jelly and Ice Cream from Teapigs. . . . .
I recently tried a cheeky box set of tea samples from Teapigs, and their packaging and labels were so cute and irresistible. One flavor that wasn’t available in the box set was a blend made in honor of the Teapigs 10th anniversary in 2016. It was meant as a limited edition blend, but it made such a hit that you can still place fresh orders for the blend today.
Jelly and Ice Cream was such an unusual flavor name and profile, I just had to check it out. This is an herbal blend, made with lots of fruit pieces and natural flavoring. The dry leaf smells both fruity and nutty, almost like sugary cereal, and brings to mind sticking your nose into a box of Crunch Berries. The blend brews up as a rich, amber-pink color and tastes much like its scent, only smoother and sweeter. The great news is that even though the tea is pink, there’s no sour hibiscus petals, so fruity-tea lovers of the world can rejoice that this blend isn’t overpowered by hibiscus tartness.
The flavors are just balanced enough to give me a full taste of both the jam-like raspberries and strawberries, and the sweet-cake tones of vanilla, cream, and biscuits. Despite the dessert-like name, there’s something bright and breakfast-oriented about this blend, like toast with jam, or fruity cereal in milk. This blend entices me to make it part of my balanced breakfast! Besides, it makes me feel whimsical and like a kid eating dessert-first.
Not being British, I’m not sure if this tea is based on a type of dessert in real life, but no matter what side of the pond you’re on, it’s hard to argue against flavors like jelly and ice cream and cake.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Teapigs
Description:
In 2006 the Iphone didn’t exist, the Kardashians were not a (big) thing, nobody #HASHTAGGED anything, people asked directions, smoking in pubs happened, Lance Armstrong was liked, Desperate Housewives ruled our lives, Woolworth’s pick’n’mix ruled our kids lives, avocado’s were not cool and teapigs was launched. We celebrate 10 years of great quality tea with this blend of strawberry jelly & ice cream. Grab a mug and raise a Birthday toast to teapigs!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Ginger Spiced Pear Cake from A Quarter to Tea. . . .
If you’re looking for some tea to go with your post-holiday fruitcake, or just some tea that tastes a bit like holiday fruitcake, brew up a cup of Ginger Spiced Pear Cake from A Quarter to Tea.
This black tea smells sweet in the dry left and in the brew. The taste of the blend is not too sweet, mainly driven by the appropriately clean and tart breakfast black tea base. There is a hint of juicy pear with each sip, and a touch of ginger heat behind the pear. The ginger is not too spicy, mainly adding a little herbal flavor and sweetness to make the tea feel festive. I don’t taste any buttery cake or pastry flavors, just pear and ginger.
It’s possible that my small sample wasn’t at peak freshness or maybe I just needed a bigger serving of tea leaves to get the flavor intensity I was looking for. I’ll have to keep an eye out for this blend in the future and give it another try.
This is a gently flavored blend, but very drinkable. There are not many pear teas on my shelf, so this was a nice brew to have in my mug.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White/Black
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Description:
Sweet pastry with pear, spicy ginger, and cinnamon and clove accents.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Carve off a Slice of Frosted Carrot Cake from A Quarter to Tea. . . . . .
In my experience I’ve found that people either love or hate carrot cake. As for me, with my enormous sweet tooth, I’ll enjoy a slice of carrot cake any day, but that’s not always the case for others. What? Carrots? Cake? Who’s sneaking vegetables into my dessert? I can understand the dichotomy.
Whether you love carrot cake or not, it’s hard to resist trying a tea flavor as bold and unusual as Frosted Carrot Cake from A Quarter to Tea. From the beginning, these tea leaves have a lot going on. This is a genmai cha-based blend, so sencha green tea and gold puffs of toasted rice are available in abundance. Beside the rice there are actual carrot pieces in the blend, as well as raisins, and dried pineapple. Ginger and cinnamon balance out this ingredients list and bring their usual baked-good-charms to the flavor palette.
The most impressive part of this blend is the vanilla frosting element, which actually tastes a bit tart and tangy like real cream cheese. This isn’t just plain-old vanilla flavoring, the specific carrot-cake cream cheese frosting is alive and well in this cup of tea.
This is a green tea, so mind your temperatures and steeps times, no matter how delicious the cake aspects smell, take out the teabag after a few minutes to avoid any bitter undertones. The frosting notes get more prominent as the tea cools.
Believe it or not, this tea does taste like carrot cake, even without sugar or milk, the fruits and veggies in the tea leaves bring enough natural starchiness and sweetness to make this blend feel full and decadent.
If you love carrot cake, you’ll love this tea. If carrot cake isn’t your style, give this brew a chance in the name of good fun, you might be surprised by how tasty carrot cake and tea can be.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Description:
A cup of well-spiced carrot cake accented with raisins and pineapple for sweetness and a sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!