Tag: Black Tea

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Dessert by Deb’s Rhubarb Sugar Pie

Rhubarb Sugar Pie by Dessert by Deb
Rooibos & Black Tea / Flavoured
$6.00 for 25g

First Impressions

Rhubarb Sugar Pie came as a tea sample in my Dessert by Deb subscription box. What drew me to it first was the bright magenta metallic pouch – followed by the fact that there were pieces inside that were also brightly magenta in colour. This is a rooibos and and black tea blend, when I first opened the pouch I found that it has a very mild aroma. I can smell the maple and the apple, and it reminds me of (apple) pie, for sure.

Rhubarb Sugar Pie consists of organic: fair trade rooibos, black tea, vanilla, apple, maple, hibiscus, brown sugar and beetroot powder. When I asked Deb about those brightly coloured pieces, turns out that it’s the apple that has been dusted with beet root powder (how clever is that?).

Preparation

At the time of writing, I wasn’t able to find the blend on the Dessert by Deb website, but her other black teas and rooibos blends are steeped in 212°F (100°C) water for 4 to 6 minutes, so I opted to follow those instructions for Rhubarb Sugar Pie and did an initial steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Rhubarb Sugar Pie steeps to a bright reddish pink colour, thanks to the hibiscus and the beet root powder. It has a pleasant aroma and I can make out the molasses notes from the brown sugar, and something that’s a bit fruity (likely the apple?). It is sweeter than I expected, has some strong brown sugar/molasses flavours, as well as apple. I can taste the maple and vanilla, which lends itself nice to making me think of baked goods, especially when coupled with the brown sugar. I don’t taste either the rooibos or black tea base – which is either good or bad? I wouldn’t have minded a stronger black tea base, but I wouldn’t have wanted to taste the rooibos either.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Rhubarb Sugar Pie and found the colour to be really light compared to the initial steep, and the flavour wasn’t as strong with lighter brown sugar notes – I really enjoyed that molasses flavour.

My Overall Impression

I liked Dessert by Deb’s Rhubarb Sugar Pie. I’m always a sucker for a nice rooibos blend when I cannot actually taste the rooibos, and Rhubarb Sugar Pie ticks that box for me. It’s got a pleasant flavour that really does remind me of a pie. It’s not as tart as I expecting with a name like Rhubarb Sugar Pie, but it’s got some great flavours that do remind me of baked goods (the brown sugar, vanilla, apple). I had this one both hot and iced and think it does better iced, so would highly recommend having it that way since it’s still iced tea season as its not pumpkin spice season (yet).

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Dessert by Deb’s Lemon Sugar Cookie

Lemon Sugar Cookie by Dessert by Deb
Black Tea & Rooibos / Flavoured
$16.00 for 75g

Lemon Sugar Cookie is an exclusive blend for Dessert by Deb subscription subscribers and is available for purchase by subscribers only at this time.

First Impressions

Lemon Sugar Cookie is a black tea and rooibos blend that came to me as part of my subscription box. This blend is a subscriber exclusive, hence the labeling of The Tea Society Club. I find the exclusivity of tea blends to be a really neat treat for being a member. The blend comes in a pale pink pouch with a familiar and colourful label.

Lemon Sugar Cookie consists of organic: black tea, fair trade rooibos, lemon peel, vanilla, Canadian maple, and brown sugar. When I ripped open the packaging, the first thing I noticed was the citrus notes. The lemon is really bright and inviting and honestly smells like fresh lemon zest. The maple notes and brown sugar are blending well together in terms of fragrance, and it reminds me of baking. I can smell the rooibos base more than the black tea, which is unfortunate for me because rooibos just isn’t my favourite ingredient (to drink straight up). The vanilla is something I find that kind of lingers in the background, but it’s definitely present!

Preparation

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Lemon Sugar Cookie in 100°C (212°F) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 5 minutes, just going for middle of the road with the steeping time.

First Taste

Lemon Sugar Cookie steeps to nice golden orange. The aroma is a blend of lemon and vanilla. There’s some molasses notes that I find as well when smelling the tea. The flavour is interesting. I can taste the lemon, the sweetness from the brown sugar and maple notes, and I can taste the rooibos. It does have that medicinal quality that I don’t particularly like when it comes to rooibos, but the sweetness from the Canadian maple and brown sugar do a lot to overcome that it and to hide it, so I’m not offended by the flavour of the rooibos (who knew?). The blend steeps really smoothly, and I find that the vanilla notes really pop at the tail end of each sip.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Lemon Sugar Cookie once, adding an additional 30 seconds for the second steep with the same leaves. I found that rooibos base was really flavour forward, so if you’re a fan of rooibos, I would continue steeping the leaves knowing that a lot of the sweetness is gone. If you’re not a fan of rooibos, I’d stick to just the initial steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked Dessert by Deb’s Lemon Sugar Cookie. I found the flavour of the initial steep to be great – I found lemon, molasses-notes, a creamy quality from the vanilla, and enough sweetness to off-set the medicinal notes from rooibos. The blend of ingredients was really great to make me think of a lemon cookie and I think it’s a great representation of the name in the ingredients. I would have liked the black tea base to be more forward and easier to find in the flavour, but the brown sugar and Canadian maple do a great job of hiding things with that high level of sweetness (which I greatly enjoyed!).

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Oteas’s Black Tea with Turmeric

Black Tea with Turmeric by Oteas
Black Tea / Flavoured
$7.49 for 33.75g (15 sachets)

Oteas has provided me with Black Tea with Turmeric for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

This is my first time getting to experience the new plastic-free packaging from Oteas. I noticed that the box is a bit shorter than the previous boxes, and doesn’t have plastic shrink wrap over the box. The cardstock box is recyclable, the inner liner and the tea sachets are all made from plant-based materials and are compostable in home composts – so nothing fancy is required! I think that’s really neat and shows a huge commitment to being environmentally friendly by using green-friendly materials.

Now onto the tea itself – it does come portioned out into tea sachets with a string and tag, I did open it up to get a better look at the tea itself. Black Tea with Turmeric contains just two ingredients: black tea and turmeric powder. Both ingredients are very visible in the tea itself. I mostly smell the turmeric, I can’t really smell the black tea base because the turmeric is such a strong ingredient.

Side note about turmeric – if you often use a plastic gravity tea infuser or steep in anything made of plastic, turmeric will stain it yellow. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it – it will stain. So to get away from that, steep in something ceramic or use a stainless steel infuser – much easier to clean and keep your teaware stain-free!

Preparation

Oteas recommends steeping Black Tea with Turmeric using 100°C (212°F) water for 5 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial step for 6 minutes at the recommended temperature.

First Taste

Black Tea with Turmeric steeps to a deep reddish orange – not nearly as yellow as one might expect, but I think the black tea base as a lot to do with that. I can definitely smell the turmeric. There’s a nice smoothness to the tea, with a strong turmeric flavour that gives it a bit of tang and mouthfeel that lends itself to a pucker. No astringency or bitterness noted, I did find that there was a nice malty flavour from the black tea base, which does shine through the strong turmeric flavour.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Black Tea with Turmeric. I found that it didn’t resteep very well as the turmeric wasn’t as strong. So if you’re a fan of the turmeric, stick to the initial steep (6 minutes over 5 minutes, for sure!). If you’re a fan of a black tea with milder turmeric flavours, keep resteeping!

My Overall Impression

I liked Oteas’s Black Tea with Turmeric. I love the environmentally friendly recyclable and compostable packaging, I think it’s a great direction for any company in this day and age to go, especially for something that is single use. The initial steep of Black Tea with Turmeric was definitely a favourite over the resteep, because the turmeric is just that much more strong and enjoyable – so it really depends on what you like in your tea (I really wished that the turmeric had more of a presence in the second steep!).

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