Maple Black Tea by Tastea Treats
Black Tea / Flavoured
$9.00 for 100g
I took part in a Secret Santa tea exchange on Instagram in December 2019. I received this tea as part of the gift from my Secret Santa, a review was not requested.
First Impressions
Maple Black Tea came in a shiny black sealed (and resealable!) pouch. The label on the front provided me with details of the tea blend. The tea leaves themselves are clearly black tea with bright yellow flower petals. There’s a sweet maple aroma to it, with a mingling of floral notes. The sweetness to it and notable maple notes makes Maple Black Tea really inviting to this Canadian tea lover.
This black tea blend consists of: black tea, calendula and sunflower petals, natural flavours (organic compliant), and real maple syrup. I think it’s important to note that there’s a huge difference between ‘syrup’ (e.g. “pancake syrup”) and real maple syrup (and even ‘imitation’ maple syrup). Just in terms of the complexity of flavours and the richness in maple flavour of the real liquid gold.
Preparation
Tastea Treats recommends steeping Maple Black Tea in freshly boiled water (100°C/212°F) for 3 to 7 minutes. I opted to fall into the middle at 5 minutes for my initial steep.
First Taste
Maple Black Tea steeps to a clear orange colour. I did note that some very tiny fragments made their way through my stainless steep infuser (for those who really do care about not ingesting tea leaves – I don’t know why – a filter bag would help you out with that). The texture of the tea is thick – it just has an obvious thicken mouthfeel to it, despite being quite smooth. There’s a nice sweetness to it – the maple flavour is pronounced, but it’s not as sweet as I was expecting. There’s a pleasant flavour to the black tea base that has mild astringency that reminds me of a breakfast tea blend – but not so much that I find it off-putting in the slightest.
A Second Cup?
I attempted to resteep Maple Black Tea, but found that the maple flavours were mostly gone by the second steep, but the black tea base is still pretty pleasant. I’d recommend resteeping if you enjoy a mostly straight black tea.
My Overall Impression
I liked Tastea Treats’s Maple Black Tea. I enjoyed the maple flavours, but was surprised at how it wasn’t as sweet as I was expecting. For those who are as much of a sweet tooth as I am, I would recommend sweetening with some (real) maple syrup, to amplify the maple flavour. I think this is definitely a nice dessert tea, and could pair well with afternoon tea or with a maple glaze donut.
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