Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Fusion Teas
Product Description:
Close your eyes and smell the aroma of this fantastic Honeybush tea. It will instantly take you back to all the celebrations you have had while enjoying a piece of decadent chocolate cake. Honeybush is the perfect pair with this type of flavor. The simple refreshing taste of the honeybush stands aside to let the chocolate chips and caramel cream pieces take center stage. The rose petals offer a very light floral taste that is also a decorative touch. Impress your guests or simply enjoy this with your sweetheart.
Taster’s Review:
Does anyone remember the Bill Cosby routine when he talked about having to fix his kids breakfast one morning, and he fed them all chocolate cake? Every time I think of chocolate cake, I always hear that song in my head: “Dad is great, give us chocolate cake.” As I brewed this tisane, I was singing that song! (Fortunately, nobody was around)
This tisane tastes delightful. Chocolate and caramel … oh my! The honeybush base is sweet and slightly nutty, which seems to play to the cake-y flavor. The caramel seems to be more of a background flavor, but it adds a nice sweetness and interesting dimension of rich, creamy flavor. I can even taste a very subtle hint of rose.
Because honeybush tends to be a somewhat thinner bodied tisane, I find myself really appreciating the addition of the caramel and rose. They add interest and depth to what otherwise might be a rather thin-tasting cuppa.
But when it comes right down to the subject of chocolate cake – what really matters is the chocolate. Am I right? And I am loving the chocolate-y taste in this tisane. It is sweet and decadent. To get the most chocolate out of this tisane, I recommend steeping it for a minimum of eight minutes (longer if you can). Honeybush lacks the tannins of tea leaves so it won’t get bitter, no matter how long you brew it. And the longer it steeps, the more chocolate-y it becomes! Let it steep for 10 – 12 minutes and you have some serious chocolate-y deliciousness in a teacup!
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Green Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Product Description:
Here’s our buttery sweet Chinese sencha blended with real dried pineapples and natural flavors including the essence of moist, yellow cake, pineapples, brown sugar and maraschino cherries. Don’t miss out, this one is going to go FAST!
Taster’s Review:
Oh yum! Yummy yum yum!
I loved 52Teas Pineapple Upside-Down Cake flavored Honeybush, so I was pretty confident that I’d also like this. But, I didn’t think I’d like it better than that honeybush blend!
The buttery essence of the Chinese Sencha melds so well with the yellow cake flavoring, giving this tea more of that cake-y taste. This really tastes like Pineapple Upside-Down Cake!
The green tea base tastes sweet and fresh. There are big chunks of pineapple in the blend, and the flavor of the pineapple is that of a cooked, slightly caramelized pineapple. Sweet and juicy. The brown sugar is caramelized as well, giving this a very bake-y kind of taste.
The maraschino cherry taste is what really puts this one over the top for me. I can smell the cherry essence just before I take a sip, and then I taste the cherry flavor. It’s a very “inner-child” kind of satisfaction this flavor delivers, kind of like the sensation I’d experience when I’d eat the cherry off the top of a sundae. Those cherries always made everything just a little more special, and that is what the cherry essence does for this tea.
An absolutely delicious interpretation of a classic comfort food, this tea is one I’d highly recommend to anyone with a sweet tooth. This one is sure to satisfy!
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Company Description:
Our caffeine-free African Honeybush (I know this is two Honeybush blends in a row, but I couldn’t resist), blended with dried pineapple and just a touch of freeze dried cherries and natural flavors. We’ve included the natural essences of cake, pineapple, brown sugar and even a hint of maraschino cherry to top it all off.
This was the tea of the week for the week of April 19, and as I am writing this, there are 15 pouches left of this fabulous flavor. As someone who has tried many of their flavors, I can attest that this is a company that does honeybush blends right! This tea is absolutely decadent and delicious – a perfect substitution for dessert!
Taster’s Review:
Pineapple upside-down cake is more than just a dessert; for me it’s like comfort food. That yummy, caramelized crust of brown sugar, pineapple slices and cherries. The rich, buttery cake. A slice of pineapple upside-down cake is a little bit like a slice of paradise!
Yes, I love pineapple upside-down cake, but, it is something that I don’t prepare very often (read this as saying: I never prepare it) because I cook for a rather finicky group (aka my family) and I can just imagine their reaction if I did make it: “Pineapple upside-down cake? Why did you make that? Why couldn’t you just make a *normal* cake?” This reaction would be complete with a whine in their voice. Then, I would be left with the cake to eat all by myself (now that I’ve typed that out and read it to myself … I’m thinking maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to actually make an upside- down cake sometime soon.)
In the meantime, I can indulge my taste buds in this dessert in a teacup from 52Teas. And they nailed it with this blend! The dry tea smells quite delicious – I can smell the pineapple and I can even smell the buttery cake. My mouth started watering when I first opened the pouch! I could hardly wait for the eight minutes to pass while it steeped! I wanted my pineapple upside-down cake!
YUM! This tea is so good! The buttery cake-like flavor is very dominant, it really tastes like liquefied cake – so rich and decadent! The pineapple is sweet, and there is just a hint of cherry. But what really brings this tea all together for me is the caramel-y taste of the brown sugar. This tastes just the way I remember pineapple upside-down cake tasting! (Yes, it has been that long since I’ve had pineapple upside-down cake that I have to qualify the last remark as “the way I remember”)
The honeybush base is perfect for these flavors. It is sweet and honey-like, with a pleasant nutty taste, but it is not overly assertive in the blend and does not interfere with the buttery cake-y, pineapple-y, caramel-y, kiss-of-cherry flavors.
After my initial sip, I chose to add just a sprinkling of raw sugar to bring out some of the finer details of this tea. It does have it’s own sweetness so just a little bit goes a long way here. Next time, I might add a little bit of muscovado sugar to bring out some of the more molasses-y caramel notes. That being said, if you are one who prefers not to add any sweetener of any kind to your tea, this tea is still quite delicious without the addition. This is truly a lovely way to indulge in the comfort of pineapple upside-down cake!