Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Pistachio Ice Cream has an Organic Mao Jian base with generous amounts of roasted pistachios and a dash of lotus stamens. The sweet roasted pistachio flavor is immediately noticed followed by prominent notes of heavy cream. Light notes of vanilla can also be distinguished. Add some sugar to turn this smooth full-bodied tea into a dessert treat that resembles pistachio ice cream.
Ingredients: Organic Green Tea, Pistachios (roasted, unsalted), Lotus Stamens, Natural Flavoring (vegan)
Recommended Brew Time: 2 minutes 30 seconds
Recommended Amount: 1 level teaspoon of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 180 F
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s been a long while since I sampled Pistachio Ice Cream from Butiki Teas but this fine tea was featured in the Amoda Sampler that I split with my SororiTea Sister Anne. I am happy to have some back in my tea stash!
Normally, when a tea has an oily like top coat I am not too fond of it, but this is so pretty because it literally sparkles like diamonds, or glitter on the top of my cup, and does not take away from the experience of taste of this tea at all. Even with the slight “oily like” top coat the cup is clear to the bottom and such a BEAUTIFUL golden color!
The flavor profile of this tea is lavish, creamy, indulgent, but not excessively sweet, unless you wish to add sweetener, but its not really needed, and just oh so good! The aroma is enticing with that distinct pistachio smell that translates perfectly into the sip.
The aftertaste falls more on the nutty side rather than creamy, but the vanilla does help pull the sweetness through just a little on the palate in the aftertaste.
The lingering result however is the fresh green tea aftertaste which is light but distinct, grassy, nutty, and even a bit buttery.
I love this tea.
Potato Pancakes and Applesauce from Butiki Teas
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.
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 F
Learn more about this tea here. (scroll down in green tea section to find this specific tea)
Taster’s Review:
Potato Pancakes and Applesauce form Butiki Teas brings back memories of my childhood. My grandmother would make us kids potato cakes often and I loved them. I have since tried to recreate them myself but I can never get that really yummy dark fried coating on them the way my grandmother could. Perhaps it is because she cooked in a very well aged cast iron skillet. Or maybe it was that she used lard or something I do not use myself. Whatever the case, this tea brings back those fond memories of days gone by and leaves me with a happy and content feeling.
The potatoes and apple pieces in this tea are plentiful to say the least! I kept thinking I needed to shake my bag up to get the bits mixed in but after finally dumping the entire package into a bowl I realized, there really is just that much apple and potato pieces in here! What a delight because often in tea blends with bits and pieces you find far too few of those special morsels and have to elect to only have a piece or two, here or there, in your steep. Not here, here you get so many bits and pieces of organic goodness you won’t be let down!
The taste of this tea is so real to its namesake that you can taste the starch coming off of the potatoes! The apple chunks are so yummy with the right amount of sweet cinnamon upon them. This is not a highly concentrated cinnamon tea however, the cinnamon is quite subtle in the background. The apple pieces taste more like bits from a caramel apple.
I will confess, I ate all the bits and pieces – more like chunks – right out of the steeping basket after my second steep and they were still bursting with flavors!
As I write this review, my cup is empty, and I am tempted to go for another round of steeps with this tea. I want to keep sipping it all day long but I do fear running out of it far too soon if I do so! I have to restrain myself from this one and allow it to at least have a home with me for a week perhaps, maybe two.
This is a definite reorder!
I love the use of Organic Huangshan Mao Feng, I feel that it really compliments this blend with its sweet and buttery nature and its already obvious potato note.
You can also order Huangshan Mao Feng in its unblended from on the Butiki Teas website.
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!
Date Nut Muffin Rooibos from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Product Description:
Here’s our caffeine-free African rooibos, blended with sweet, dried dates, walnuts and natural flavors, including a touch of natural butter flavor (just a little pat on your muffin)–and yes, this tea is still 100% vegan.
Taster’s Review:
This one scared me when I first opened the pouch, because the aroma of the dry leaf isn’t all that great. But once the tisane is brewed, the smell becomes quite delicious. It smells like freshly baked muffins!
I taste the date, I taste the walnut. I can even taste a cake-y kind of flavor with a hint of butter. So far, so good. This tisane delivers what the name of it says it will. And I can see where the rooibos melds with the other flavors to help build the muffin flavor.
Unfortunately, as I’ve said before, I’m not wild about rooibos. However, when flavored/blended, more often than not, I can enjoy the tisane even though it’s rooibos. Sadly, though, this happens to be one of those times when I can’t get past that rooibos flavor. It’s just not working for me here.
Yes, 52Teas is still my favorite tea company, and I’m really glad that I got to try this blend. This tisane DOES have all the flavors it suggests in its title, so it is what it says it is. So if the idea of a Date Nut Muffin in a teacup appeals to you, then I hope you’ll try it for yourself (and if you do like it, please comment here, I’d love to have some positive remarks about this tea here!)
That being said, I can’t say I liked something if I didn’t, and I’m just not digging it. I guess they all can’t be winners… and more often than not, 52Teas’ blends are winners with me. This one just isn’t a win for me. (Sorry Frank!)
Choco*Late from American Tea Room
Tea Type: Rooibos
Where To Buy: American Tea Room
Product Description:
This sumptuous, caffeine-free, fat-free blend of organic cacao husks, organic vanilla beans and organic rooibos is sure to be an instant American Tea Room classic.
If the color and aroma of our Choco-Laté blend doesn’t evoke chocolate, then nothing does. Rich brown cacao husks, dark flecks of vanilla bean and umber-colored rooibos present a beguilingly sweet dark chocolate aroma that’s backed with the naturally sweet, woody scent of antioxidant-rich rooibos. The deep garnet brew has a seductive aroma akin to European sipping chocolate. Its smooth flavor is a perfect balance of chocolate, vanilla and rooibos that appeals to chocolate lovers and rooibos lovers alike. The lingering, cacao-rich aftertaste is enough to satiate even the most ardent chocoholic.
Drink Choco-Laté on its own as a naturally sweet, fat-free snack or dessert, or dress it up with agave nectar and rice milk for a healthy tea latte. It’s a natural pairing for chocolate, but if you’re trying to be good, sip it alongside fresh fruit instead. Delicious!
Tasters Review:
There has been quite the amount of chatter about this one on Steepster – an online tea community that both Anne and I belong to.
83 is the LOWEST rating for this one here so far on Steepster and there are at least 14 ratings so far. It’s also the #1 Rated Tea on that website! Needless to say – I have been wanting to try this since it was brought to my attention. And recently I was lucky enough to receive a sample of it from American Tea Room!
The aroma is that of a semi-sweet chocolate but certainly not over the top intensely scented. By that I mean it doesn’t smack you in the face when you open the package. You can see the many ‘husks’ within the ‘mix’. The aroma post-infusion seems to be 33.3%-33.3%-33.3% across the board – Semi-Sweet Chocolate and Cocoa combined with Rooibos and with Vanilla.
The taste is VERY smooth and chocolaty with a little woodsy aftertaste. It certainly is one of the better tasting chocolate-type attempts I have had and it works very well with the rooibos.
I think I am in the middle of everyone else’s ratings. Where I wouldn’t give it a perfect 100 I certainly wouldn’t go below the lowest score of 83, either. My fear was, after reading the other reviews on Steepster, that this one was pumped up too much and I would be disappointed but that is far from the truth! This is very good! It does deserve the ratings as I have found it hard to find a sweet, smooth, chocolaty flavored Rooibos that the Rooibos isn’t still overpowering the rest of the mix. The ingredients live in harmony with each other on this one and it’s lovely.
A fellow Steepster recommended tripling the amount of the dry and then infusing. I am going to try this very soon! I also want to point out that this is vegan according to a online friend of mine! A perfect chocolate treat without the dairy!