Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Potato Pancakes & Applesauce tea pairs our buttery Organic Huangshan Mao Feng with generous potato pieces and crisp apple chips. Plain, this tea is thick with potato notes up front followed by apple and cinnamon notes with some buttery notes that peak through at the end. As the tea is repeatedly sipped the buttery quality will become more apparent. The weighty body adds to both the potato and applesauce feel. Since this tea is on the lighter side, we recommend drinking this tea at a warmer temperature. For stronger potato notes we recommend adding a very small amount of salt; however, this may diminish the applesauce notes. For a sweeter applesauce, we recommend adding a tiny bit of sugar; however, this may reduce the potato notes.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! This Potato Pancakes & Applesauce Green Tea from Butiki Teas (part of their holiday series in observation of Hanukkah) has to be one of the most unique tasting teas I’ve yet to encounter! I figured it would be when I requested a sample of it with my order, however, I still find myself in AWE of how truly unusual this tea is. Unusual, yes. Unique, certainly. But it’s also really good!
I can’t say that I’ve ever tasted the combination of potato pancakes and applesauce before. I’ve had these two foods separately, but never together. Until now, that is, as I sip this tea. And I really can taste both the potato and the apple in this. Yes, that’s weird, but it’s weird in the yummiest way imaginable.
The green tea base is light and smooth. I note no bitterness or astringency here. Just a crisp taste. It doesn’t even taste overly vegetative or grassy. Really, the strongest “vegetable” note that I taste here is that of the potato, and that tastes somewhat thick and starchy. It’s not a heavy flavor though. I suppose if I wanted the potato to taste stronger, I could have added a pinch of salt like the above description suggests, however, I didn’t want to obscure the apple notes so I decided to go without salt or sweetener here and just experience this tea without additions.
There is a buttery creaminess to this as well, and this melds beautifully with the potato. The apple is delicate and sweet. The cinnamon accentuates the apple nicely without bombarding the blend with a strong cinnamon presence. The cinnamon is added at just the right amount here, because it doesn’t taste distinctly “cinnamon-y” … instead, it makes the apple taste like applesauce, which is exactly what I think Stacy at Butiki Teas was going for (since the name of the tea is Potato Pancakes & Applesauce).
I love it when I find a tea like this: one that delivers exactly what is promised in the name, even if the name seems a little crazy! And yes, the idea of a green tea that tastes of potato pancake and applesauce does sound a little crazy (maybe even more than a little crazy), but again, that’s a crazy in a very delicious way.
Well done!
Potato Pancake & Applesauce Tea from Butiki Teas
Tea Type:
Green Tea
Buy From:Butiki Teas
Product Description:
Our Potato Pancakes & Applesauce tea pairs our buttery Organic Huangshan Mao Feng with generous potato pieces and crisp apple chips. Plain, this tea is thick with potato notes up front followed by apple and cinnamon notes with some buttery notes that peak through at the end. As the tea is repeatedly sipped the buttery quality will become more apparent. The weighty body adds to both the potato and applesauce feel. Since this tea is on the lighter side, we recommend drinking this tea at a warmer temperature. For stronger potato notes we recommend adding a very small amount of salt; however, this may diminish the applesauce notes. For a sweeter applesauce, we recommend adding a tiny bit of sugar; however, this may reduce the potato notes.
Ingredients: Organic Huangshan Mao Feng, Freeze-Dried Potatoes, Organic Saigon Cinnamon, Organic Cinnamon Apple Chips (Organic Apple, Organic Cinnamon), Natural Organic Flavoring (vegan)
Recommended Brew Time: 4 minutes
Recommended Amount: 1 tablespoon of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 180 FFor more info, please visit: www.butikiteas.com
Tastes Review:
Originally this was a Hanukkah Holiday Series Tea from Butiki Teas but Potatoes and Applesause also remind me of Saint Patrick’s Day so I figured I would write about it today in preparation for a week of Irish Vegan Foods on my other Blog My Blissful Journey.
One of the main reasons I LOVE Stacy at Butiki is she ISN’T afraid to try stuff! And you know what…I’ve enjoy everything she’s tried!!!
This was a MAJOR Creative Marvel, folks! It was suggested in the forums and I was so very grabbed by it I begged Stacy to be one of the Guinea Pigs/Taste Testers!
This really DOES smell like Potato Pancakes and Applesauce! It’s awesome!
But then again…you really have to SEE to believe what she put in this flavored tea! She actually put POTATO in it! Freeze Dried, I believe! And Apple!
It really doesn’t have much of a color to it after infusing but the aroma still barrels thru nicely!
It’s a meal in a cup! And this is even before my first sip!
As I took my first sip…I can taste the juicy sweet tea base first with a lovely semi-punch applesauce flavor paired in! Following sips – it’s sweet but creamy in places…I really like it! I chalk the creaminess up to the potato. Then in other sips I can actually taste potato in the middle of the sip separate from the rest of the flavors!
It’s brothy and buttery and comforting like mashed potatoes but that applesauce is very nice. It’s not over the top by any means.
Everything about this tea makes me smile!
It’s just so out there but it makes SO MUCH SENSE at the same time! I’m so happy Stacy took on this challenge! Gosh! Wow! I can’t compare this to anything else. Ever. If I can’t compare this to anything else…I better give it a 100, right?
I mean…no one…has ever done anything like this that I know of.
I seriously can’t stop drinking this. On the first infusion – when it cools – it starts tasting more and more like applesauce!
Tasting Notes for 2nd infusion…
I’m not going to lie…I stole a potato! NomNom!
The aroma is still present and pleasing.
The taste and texture is incredibly clean. I can taste a very clean plain potato flavor now. On the end sip I can taste the apple. It’s more of a Potato and Apple and not as much as Potato Pancake and Applesauce, per say, but it’s still impressive and flavorful and unique!
Overall, tho, 2nd infusion, the major difference is less apple – more potato – certainly more Comfort Food like…like Mashed Potatoes…no butter.
Neat! Just…NEAT! I totally LOVE this tea!
Dreidels & Donuts Tea from Tealish
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tealish
Tea Description:
Who can argue the awesomeness of a holiday where you get to have fun spinning dreidels, winning chocolate coins, and eating jelly doughnuts?! With black tea, creamy chocolate, and luscious strawberries this tea is the perfect partner for those rich Hannukah treats we all love!
Taster’s Review:
NOTE: I wrote this review in Early May, but, I am scheduling it to publish just before the first day of Hanukkah, since it is a holiday/seasonal tea and probably only available during the holiday season.
This tea is so delicious!
The aroma of the dry leaf is so mouthwatering – it smells like jelly doughnuts and chocolate. YUM! Once brewed, the fragrance becomes more subdued, but I can still smell the chocolate and donuts!
The flavor is unbelievably – very much like chocolate and strawberry jelly filled donuts! I get the rich, creamy flavor of chocolate (although, yes, I would like a little more chocolate), the sweet, juicy flavor of strawberry, and even a delicious, baked cake flavor.
And let’s not forget the tea, because I taste that too! It provides a strong background of flavor – robust, malty black tea that mingles well with these tasty dessert flavors.
I’d recommend this tea to everyone – whether they celebrate Hanukkah or not! It is so YUMMY!