It’s hard to resist a tea named Vanilla Cupcake, especially on a day when you just need something cute and sweet to brighten your day. This tea smells surprisingly fruity alongside the vanilla cake flavors, reminding me of fruitcake or banana bread. In a world of frosting-flavored, cake-themed tea blends, the amount of fruit flavors and fruity ingredients makes this blend stand apart.
The orange and papaya coupled with the vanilla, make this feel more like an orange-glazed sponge cake. Yum! The banana chips add their own full-flavored sweetness, but there is distinctly less of the traditional “frosting” taste, so if you want the extra creaminess, you should add a splash of milk to give the blend that dessert-like twist.
Because this is a decaf rooibos blend, it would be a perfect choice to brew up for a girl’s tea party. Who wouldn’t want a sip of a tea called vanilla cupcake? You could even serve it with real cupcakes and make a day of it!
In addition to all the fruit pieces in the tea, the leaves have at least two types of flower petals which makes the blend especially pretty to the eye. The bright and varied colors seem especially festive if you imagine this tea blend not just as a vanilla cupcake, but maybe as a “birthday cake” cupcake. This is a great blend for any day that needs a celebration.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Roobios
Where to Buy: True Tea Club
Description:
This Vanilla Cupcake Rooibos provides an exotic and smooth rooibos which provides a velvet-mouth feel. A dash of Banana chips amplifies this infusion into a heavenly status.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Product Review: Matcha Cupcake from Whole Foods Market Bakery
Product Information:
Where to Buy: Whole Foods
Note: this cupcake is a specialty of the Bakery inside the Mills Plain Whole Foods Market in Vancouver, Washington. I don’t know if they offer anything similar to it in other Whole Foods Markets.
Taster’s Review:
OK, so this is a very local review, because the Matcha cupcake is a specialty of the Mills Plain Whole Foods Market in Vancouver, Washington. (Sorry about those folks who don’t live close enough to make the jaunt.) But I felt like this yummy cupcake deserved some praise.
I stopped by the bakery at my local Whole Foods because my oldest daughter and I have developed quite a fondness for Macarons, so I decided to pick up a yummy Macaron for each of us on my most recent visit. While I was there drooling over the bakery case, I noticed this sign: Stella’s Matcha Cake. And I’m like … WHAT?
So I start browsing the case and I see the Matcha cupcakes. Mmm! I’m glad that they are cupcakes and not large layer cakes because … well, because I’m the only person in my household that would have been willing to try it. I mean, the rest of my family might have tried it, but probably not. I suspect that they would have looked at the green frosting and thought: “That’s weird.” Which means: “I’m not going to try it.”
And I’m really glad I got the opportunity to try this because it’s totally YUM! The cake itself doesn’t taste like it’s got Matcha in it, it tastes like a yellow cake. Moist and flavorful and not too sweet. It has been “tunneled” so that they could fill the cake with the Matcha frosting that tops the cake. The Matcha used in this frosting is Townshend’s Tea Matcha, which is one that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to review, but hope to do so sometime soon.
For now, I must be content with trying it in Stella’s Magical Matcha frosting. No, it’s not actually called that (at least I don’t think it is). But I am calling it that, because this is amazingly good. It’s sweet (most frosting is!) but I like that I’m not overwhelmed by the ratio of sugar and shortening. It doesn’t taste like one of those cloyingly sweet frostings that you’d find in your typical grocery bakery that is more concerned with quantity than quality. You can tell that some love and care went into this frosting.
I like that I can taste this and taste the Matcha, that the sugary sweetness doesn’t overpower the lovely vegetal notes of the Matcha. It’s nicely balanced. I think I can even taste more of the natural cacao notes of the Matcha when used to make a frosting. I also taste a hint – just a hint! – of a citrus-y note to this frosting, like maybe a drop or two of lemon juice was added? I don’t know, but it adds a nice contrast to the sweeter flavors.
This is really good!
So, if you happen to be anywhere near Vancouver, Washington, it’s certainly worth the trip to visit our Whole Foods market on Mills Plain and try one of these divine treats! You’ll be happy you did!
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.
Strawberry Cupcake Black Tea from Simpson and Vail
Tea Type:
Black Tea
Where To Buy:
Simpson & Vail
Product Description:
Tasters Review:
I first tried this when I was in MAJOR need of some comfort food and let me tell you this sure did do the trick!
This flavored black tea has a strong black tea base. Followed by a strong Strawberry flavor. There’s also a dark chocolate flavor in there that is just as sturdy as the strawberry! There is a crusty type taste doing the jive in the middle of the sip. This has a slight bitter taste in parts of the sip but in a good way where it contributes to the overall flavor of this flavored black tea. As it cools it does seem to get a bit creamier…like frosting.
Comfort…in a cup…in more ways than one! YUM!
Red Velvet Cupcake Rooibos from Simpson & Vail
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where To Buy: Simpson & Vail
Tisane Description:
A cup of this brewing “tea” imparts a heavenly aroma of chocolatey goodness. The aroma is truly awesome. And the taste? This “tea” strikes the perfect balance of chocolate, rooibos and cupcake. So brew a cup, sit back and relax, knowing that the goodness in the cup is also good for your waistline!
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
When served fresh-out-of-the-teapot-hot, I find this to be a little too rooibos-y for my liking. I tasted hints of chocolate and another indistinguishable sort of sweetness, but, really, what I tasted was rooibos – that nutty, woody, sweet taste of rooibos.
As the tea cools in my cup slightly (for just a couple of minutes!), I find that the chocolate-y notes begin to develop and they come together with the rooibos notes nicely, although, I can’t say that this tastes so much like any red velvet cupcake that I’ve tasted. I haven’t tried a lot of red velvet cupcakes, as they don’t tend to be my favorite cupcake (when I want chocolate, I want CHOCOLATE, not a hint of chocolate that’s been swathed in a red velvet-y color, although there are times when I love red velvet, I like the slight tang of the red velvet combined with the creamy, sweet-tangy frosting). But, of the red velvet cupcakes that I have tried, I can’t say that this tisane that is in my cup tastes much like any of those.
That’s not to say that it isn’t a tasty cup of tea. It is. When it’s really hot, I am not a big fan of it, but, after a few minutes of cooling time, the chocolate flavors pick up a bit and it becomes a nice, slightly chocolate, rooibos tisane. I taste a very subtle note of coconut as well as an ever so slight raspberry taste here, but these flavors are pretty inconspicuous and difficult to discern unless you really tune in to the tea.
Pleasant, but I must say that Simpson & Vail does have better dessert teas. Right off the bat, I would recommend their Cinnamon Chocolate Brownie. That one is amazing!