Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
With a century-old history, abundant rainfall and sunlight, Yunnan owns a reputation as “South of the Colorful Clouds”. She feeds her people and the land they live on with her own stream. This time TeaVivre brings you Pu-erh lovers the ZhenMu LingYa, within which the passion of Yunnan Pu-erh people you can feel. This Ripened Puerh Cake Tea ZhenMu LingYa uses fresh leaves of Mengku arbor tree as material. The tea workers have years of experience in making Pu-erh tea. With their hands and professional experience, they made the fresh tea leaves into this beautiful ripened Pu-erh cake. Using the Mengku arbor tree of high quality as material, this ZhenMu LingYa has the pure and mellow flavor of ripened tea. You could see the golden pekoe covering on the dry leaves. As the cake was suppressed just fine in tension, you could enjoy breaking the cake.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Like I do with most Pu-erh … I put off trying this Mengku Arbor Tree Ripened Puerh Cake Tea ZhenMu LingYa 2007 from Teavivre for a little while, but, I’m glad to be sipping on it today.
I brewed a chunk of this cake in my gaiwan, and I managed quite a few infusions from one small chunk. The first infusion was earthy (most Pu-erh teas are!) but I liked that the earthy notes were subdued. The flavor is deep, rich and mellow. Really smooth without any astringency. The sweetness is reminiscent of molasses!
My second infusion was a little more earthy than the first, but it was still very sweet and smooth. By the third infusion, I found that the earthiness had really subsided to the point where I really found myself enjoying this Pu-erh. Sure, I liked the first and second infusions just fine, but, my palate was much fonder of the third infusion!
The fourth infusion produced a slightly smoother taste – the taste was still very smooth in the first three infusions, but here I notice that the flavors tend to meld and become more unified. It becomes a very smooth drinking kind of tea, with lovely sweet notes, hints of earth, and a sweet, caramel-y, molasses-y kind of taste all coming together in a seamless flavor. It was really nice and mellow – the kind of cup that you like to enjoy after a meal.
I could have very easily taken this tea through even more infusions … although it was getting late. My personal tea time had come to an end before this tea was ready to quit! A really enjoyable Pu-erh … not my favorite, perhaps, but, certainly one I’d be happy to enjoy again!
King Cake Cuppa Black Tea from Cuppa Crew Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Cuppa Crew Tea Company
Tea Description:
To celebrate Mardi Gras this year, we’ve developed a blend reminiscent of a gorgeous King Cake. Hints of vanilla cream and cinnamon make for a truly delectable cup that’ll take you away to beautiful N’awlins.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
Tasty! I don’t know that I’m necessarily tasting “cake” from this King Cake Cuppa Black Tea from Cuppa Crew Tea Company, but, it’s still darned tasty!
The cinnamon note is what comes through strongest here, although, I wouldn’t say that it’s a STRONG cinnamon-y tea. The cinnamon is a well-defined flavor without tasting of cinnamon candy (no red-hots here). This is more like the cinnamon taste you might get if you were to bite into a snicker-doodle cookie. Warm, sweet, true cinnamon taste. (Or, if you really want to get technical about it – true cassia taste.)
The vanilla offers a smooth creamy taste that compliments the cinnamon very well. The two together work very harmoniously … the vanilla softens the cinnamon, and the cinnamon keeps the vanilla cream from tasting too sweet or cloying.
The black tea base is not particularly strong here, but it does offer a pleasantly brisk background of flavor for the notes of cinnamon and vanilla cream. I think that if the black tea were perhaps a blend with Assam and possibly a Fujian black tea … this might taste a lot more like cake … or at the very least, like the aforementioned snicker-doodle cookie!
Regardless, this is a very tasty blend … one that I wouldn’t mind drinking again.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake from Della Terra Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas
Tea Description:
Pineapple, check. Brown sugar, check. Creamy butter, check. Delicious cake, check. What do we get… Pineapple Upside Down Cake. This tea starts off with a delicious tea base, and finishes off with a rich pineapple, brown sugar and creamy cake taste. Absolutely one of our owners personal favorites!
Ingredients: Black tea, pineapple bits and flavor, cream flavor, cherry bits*
Allergens: contains dairy.
Suggested brewing tips
Serving Size: 1 level tsp./6oz serving
Water Temp: 210°F
Steep Time: 2-3 minutes
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I really can’t believe I have not reviewed Pineapple Upside Down Cake from Della Terra Teas yet! I absolutely love this tea. It is one of my top five favorites from Della Terra and let me tell you it is darn difficult to come up with a top five because they are all so very good! This tea is also one of my stash perma teas too. I always have to have some on hand.
It is so yummy, so sweetly perfect. When I first tried this tea, back when it was first released by Della Terra Teas, I remember being worried it would be too pineapple flavored. Not that I mind a pineapple tea but I really was not looking for a tropical flavor in Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I was not disappointed! I wanted a cakey tasting tea and oh boy this is it! This tastes more like cake flavored tea than any tea I have tasted that was supposed to taste like cake. The pineapple is juicy and sweet but not so overpowering that it takes on too much of a tropical flavor. There is a honeyed note or a syrup like note to it that reminds me of the drippings from sugared pineapple. The aroma is mouthwatering!
This is a very sweet tea so don’t fault it for that but it also is not cloying and does not have a lingering sickly sweetness in the mouth. Another thing to love about this tea is the number of steeps you can get out of it. I was able to get six steeps from this leaf before it began to lose any flavor!
I am always impressed with Della Terra Teas and I am even more impressed by their customer service and amazing deals they offer on their Facebook page.
Red Velvet Cake Mate from 52Teas
Tisane Description:
Leaf Type: Yerba Maté
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
Our Malted ChocoMate has been one of our most popular blends over the years, well, at least it WAS until this! Here’s roasted yerba mate blended with organic cacao nibs and organic flavors. It’s chocolate and cream cheese frosting and cake in a cup. I thought about adding some red food coloring, but I think you will agree that even if it isn’t red, it’s delicious.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
YUM! To be honest, I wasn’t really … looking that forward to trying this Red Velvet Cake Mate from 52Teas. And I love chocolate!
Here’s the thing … in addition to being a chocoholic and a tea addict, I have a thing for cupcakes. I go nuts over cupcakes. I see a cupcake bakery and I beg my husband to stop just so I can see what flavors they have … and for me, the more outrageous the flavor, the better. (Kind of that way with tea flavors too) I don’t get so excited over cake … oh sure, I won’t turn my nose up at cake … but a cupcake? I love it. I turn into a kid when it comes to cupcakes.
The problem: it seems that every cupcake bakery has a red velvet offering. It’s become the “Earl Grey” of the cupcake world … everyone has one. Not that I knock Earl Grey, I love it as you’re probably aware! And I actually like red velvet cake (and cupcakes) … but, if given a choice between red velvet cake and a chocolate cake … I’d choose chocolate because red velvet seems to me to be like … a lighter version of chocolate. That is, it’s like a chocolate cupcake, but with less chocolate. And if you’ve read my articles for very long, you know that I am a strong supporter of the more chocolate = better concept. And if more chocolate = better, then less chocolate = worse. Simple logic.
So, I guess I was thinking … OK, so this is going to be a “light” chocolate Yerba Maté and I’m going to have to write my article complaining about a lack of chocolate. There are few things that make me more disappointed in a chocolate tea than a lack of chocolate.
Fortunately, Frank of 52Teas apparently does not subscribe to this idea that red velvet cake is a lighter version of chocolate cake, because this is nice and chocolate-y. (However, more chocolate WOULD be better … because more chocolate = better.) And I can taste the tangy cream cheese frosting note. It is sweet and delicious, and I love the roasted flavor of the Yerba Maté … I love that it doesn’t have that strong vegetative note, that the roasted flavor accentuates the earthy tones which complements the chocolate notes very nicely. And then the overtone of creamy, tangy frosting just … it’s the icing on the cake! (haha, I made a punny! Oh gawd I’m a nerd. Please don’t tell my husband I admitted that.)
This is totally yummy. It is rich, chocolate-y, toasty, and tangy! Absolutely scrumptious. Unfortunately, it is also sold out. So, if you want some, you should let Frank know! Contact him via this contact form or, you could tweet him, or visit his facebook page. Please tell him you heard about this tea from me!
Strawberry Cupcake from Simpson and Vail
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Tea Description:
When you sip this delectable brew the strawberry taste first hits your tastebuds followed by the rich, creamy, chocolate “cake” taste. Some of our staff like this blend with agave or sugar, but I find it’s delicious (and less caloric) as is! The aroma is as enticing as the taste – sweet, baked strawberry cupcakes. Yum! The cup leaves a lingering creamy taste of fresh fruit that makes it hard to resist another and another and another sip!
Ingredients: Indian black tea, strawberry pieces, strawberry leaf and strawberry cupcake flavoring.
Brew tea at 212ºF – steep for 3 minutes.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Strawberry Cupcake from Simpson and Vail is one of the freshest tasting strawberry teas I have ever sampled. As a dessert tea however I do wish it were a little fuller in the mouthfeel. That is not to say it is thin or watery but I do think that somehow the ripe fresh juiciness almost hurts the thickness in the mouthfeel. I know that does not sound like too bad of a thing now does it? Because it does taste so amazingly fresh almost as if biting into an actual strawberry! I guess I was just anticipating by the decedent aroma and darker colored cup that it would be richer.
Seriously though, I can’t even get past how bursting with juiciness this tea is to focus on the chocolate flavor, or the cakey bakey goodness in the cup.
The after taste of this tea is almost like a fruit flavored beer. There is this flavor of very light delicate hops and a slight wheat essence in the background and it lingers on the palate.
I really rather like this since a lot of teas have a wine like flavor, or even mixed drink type flavor, this is one of the few that have this beer type flavor!
The chocolate in this tea is good, perhaps not outstanding, as I have had better chocolate flavors in tea, but on the other hand it does not turn me off, and a lot of teas with chocolate flavoring do. I would give this chocolate flavor an 8 out of 10 which by my standards is really excellent.
I have been surprised by this tea and am thankful to my Steepster friend who shared it with me. Yup this goes on the wish list and I will order it sometime in the future.