Dessert by Deb’s Peach Crumble Cake

Peach Crumble Cake by Dessert by Deb
Black Tea & Rooibos / Flavoured
$6.50 for 25g

Peach Crumble Cake came as part of the bimonthly subscription box from Dessert by Deb.

First Impressions

Opening my bimonthly subscription box from Dessert by Deb and finding a shiny gold pouch with a tea called Peach Crumble Cake sets a certain level of expectation in my mind. Peaches, cake, baked goods. The packaging itself is a shiny metallic gold in a resealable pouch, with a clear window across the front where you can see the dry leaf of this organic tea sample.

The Peach Crumble Cake tea looks beautiful, and has a strong peach aroma to the point that I don’t really smell the rest of the ingredients. I do smell hints of rooibos in the background, but the peach lies in the foreground. Peach Crumble Cake consists of certified organic: black tea, natural peach essence, peaches, cinnamon, Canadian maple, rooibos, brown sugar, and calendula petals. It certainly makes for a beautiful tea with the pops of bright yellow throughout.

Preparation

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Peach Crumble Cake in 212°F (100°C) water for 4 to 6 minutes.

First Taste

Peach Crumble Cake steeps to a deep golden orange. I did use a stainless steel infuser basket, and some little bits got through the fine holes (so use a fillable tea infusing bag if you wish to avoid that). There’s a strong peach aroma to it, with hints of cinnamon and rooibos in the background. The tea has a thickened mouthfeel to it, with the flavours of peach, cinnamon, and rooibos. I don’t get a lot of the black tea blend, and wish that the sugar was stronger in it – I definitely would have appreciated a stronger brown sugar and maple flavour in the profile over the rooibos in the blend (then again, full disclaimer: I am not a fan of rooibos). I do love the level of peach in this, because it does make for a nice blend that I wasn’t expecting.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Peach Crumble Cake and found that the tea was more black tea (with some astringent notes) and rooibos (medicinal) notes than peach. I would recommend Peach Crumble Cake for the initial steep, especially if you prefer that peach flavour over rooibos.

My Overall Impression

I liked Dessert by Deb’s Peach Crumble Cake. It has a great initial steep with the strong peach flavour, and I think adding some brown sugar, maple syrup and vanilla extract would make for a nice cup of tea by adding a larger punch of flavour to make it taste more like it came out of a bakery. Turning Peach Crumble Cake into a tea latte would certainly up the delightfulness of the tea; but I’m not a fan of the rooibos (unfortunately).

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New Moon Tea Co’s Holiday Collection

Holiday Collection by New Moon Tea Co
Black Tea & Honeybush / Flavoured
$48.51

New Moon Tea Co has provided me with their Holiday Collection for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

I’m always a bit of a sucker when it comes to nice packaging. New Moon Tea Co didn’t disappoint with their kraft box, lovely label across the front. It has a nice presentation that would make it great for gift giving. Inside the box are three teas nestled in a crinkle paper nest: Mint Cocoa (black tea), Honey Bush Cider (honeybush), and Winter Earl (black tea). New Moon Tea Co had gotten in touch with me after my review of Cream of Earl Grey, and asked if I wanted to try out their Winter Earl – one of their popular Earl Grey blends. The other two were a surprise.

Each tea comes in a sealed kraft paper pouch that’s resealable. Winter Earl consists of black tea, vanilla, bergamot, marigold petals, cornflower petals, and cardamom. This Earl Grey inspired tea has a strong bergamot aroma, with notes of vanilla, it’s quite inviting and reminds me of a cream of Earl Grey blend, but with a spice to it, thanks to the cardamom. Honey Bush Cider consists of honeybush, cinnamon, and apple. Honey Bush Cider reminds me a lot of cinnamon, and honeybush. The apple isn’t very strong, but I wasn’t expecting it to be. Mint Cocoa consists of black tea, peppermint and raw cacao nibs. Mint Cocoa has a strong chocolate mint aroma to it, and I find it reminds me a lot of treats during the holiday season. Each pouch consists of enough loose leaf for 15 servings of each blend.

Preparation

Steeping instructions from New Moon Tea Co doesn’t include a water temperature, but I opted to use 100°C (212°F) water for each blend as they are black tea or honeybush bases.

For Winter Earl, New Moon Tea Co recommends a steep of 3 to 4 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of 4 minutes.

For Honey Bush Cider, New Moon Tea Co recommends a steep of 5 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of 6 minutes.

For Mint Cocoa, New Moon Tea Co recommends a steep of 5 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of 5 minutes.

From left to right: Winter Earl, Honey Bush Cider, and Mint Cocoa.

First Taste

Winter Earl steeps to a deep brown. I find it has a very strong bergamot aroma, which is one of the things that I enjoy the most from an Earl Grey blend. The cardamom certainly comes out, and I find it has a nice spice note to it, with the cardamom flavour throughout. It’s almost as if parts of a masala chai blended with an Earl Grey – which is particularly enjoyable as it comes together and does have that warming quality to it from the inside out. The vanilla adds a certain level of creaminess throughout to the cup of tea.

Honey Bush Cider has a lovely golden red appearance. The aroma is primarily the honey bush base, and I can smell the cinnamon. The flavour of the tisane is a mix of honey bush, cinnamon, with the sweetness of apple throughout. It really adds something pleasant, but it wasn’t as sweet as I was expecting for a blend with ‘cider’ in its name. I think adding sweetener would really help it (or even steeping it in heated apple juice to add that spice flavour to it), I stirred in some agave syrup and it helped amp up the flavour. There’s a mild medicinal flavour to the blend, that really lingers on the tongue.

Mint Cocoa smells like mint chocolates, which is pretty much the same as the dry leaf. The flavour of the steeped black tea blend is primarily minty, with hints of the cocoa throughout. I find that the black tea comes through more, there’s a certain level of malty flavour from the Assam black tea blend. It has a bit of robustness that reminds me of a breakfast tea. The cocoa adds a bit of chocolatey flavour, but it mingles in the background and balances well with the peppermint.

From left to right: Winter Earl, Honey Bush Cider, and Mint Cocoa.

A Second Cup?

Resteeping this trio was… interesting. Winter Earl does well for one resteep (adding an additional 30 seconds for one resteep), but I found that the bergamot and vanilla was a lot more mild compared to the initial steep – so if you’re looking for a strong cup of tea, I would stick to the initial steep of Winter Earl.

Honey Bush Cider was one that I found didn’t resteep well, a lot of the initial flavours weren’t present in the first resteep. I’m not a large fan of honeybush, so I will admit that I didn’t really want to resteep it.

Mint Cocoa has a nice flavour profile, and I resteeped it once, finding that both the mint and chocolate flavours do come through on the first resteep – although also weaker than the initial steep. So one steep if you like stronger flavours.

From left to right: Winter Earl, Honey Bush Cider, and Mint Cocoa.

My Overall Impression

I loved New Moon Tea Co’s Holiday Collection. I can see why New Moon Tea Co considers Winter Earl to a favourite! It certainly has a nice bergamot flavour to it, and I love the addition of vanilla. The added petals to the blend makes it pretty to look at. I think I would have enjoyed Honey Bush Cider a lot more if I was a fan of honeybush (but alas, I am not), I think the spice level is great and makes it very seasonally appropriate. As for the third in the trio, Mint Cocoa makes me think of the mint chocolate treats that seem so prevalent during the holiday season. The flavour of the black tea reminds me of a breakfast tea, so I think Mint Cocoa would be lovely as a morning tea during the holidays. As for the trio as a gift set – the packaging is lovely and comes together as a great gift set for friends or family – especially anyone who’s a fan of loose leaf tea. All you need to add to really complete the package would be a nice big mug and an infuser.

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Dessert by Deb’s Maple Butter Shortbread

Maple Butter Shortbread by Dessert by Deb
Black Tea & Rooibos / Flavoured
$6.00 for 25g

Maple Butter Shortbread came as part of my November/December subscription box from Dessert by Deb.

First Impressions

In that familiar pale pink sealed, resealable pouch comes Maple Butter Shortbread. This is a blend from Dessert by Deb, another cookie-inspired blend that does contain rooibos. Now, I’ll preface the rest of the review with the fact that rooibos is not my favourite thing. I don’t go out of my way to seek out rooibos blends and I will not drink straight rooibos because I find it medicinal in flavour and aroma and I just don’t like it it (but if you love rooibos – that just means that there’s more available for you! Everyone wins!). The aroma of the blend is a nice blend of maple and vanilla, which reminds me of a baked good, but I do smell the rooibos blend. It does have that familiar medicinal quality. I don’t smell the black tea base, but that’s not too surprising given some of the other ingredients in the blend that can be more heavy.

Maple Butter Shortbread consists of all organic: black tea, maple syrup, Canadian maple, rooibos, vanilla, apple, palm sugar, and calendula petals. The ingredients are really pretty, and honestly it does photograph well. I quite appreciate the care in the blend. Vanilla isn’t an inexpensive ingredient to work with, and I always appreciate seeing it in a tea blend because it’s just one of those flavours/ingredients where the real deal is a lot better than artificial flavouring (yes, vanilla extract snob over here).

Preparation

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Maple Butter Shortbread in 212°F (100°C) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to follow the steeping recommendations and do an initial steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Maple Butter Shortbread steeps to a deep reddish orange (please excuse the bits of tea leaves, I was a bit haphazard when scooping the tea leaves into my infuser). It is very rooibos heavy in aroma, and I can smell the vanilla and maple – which definitely ‘screams’ this is a baked good to me. But the rooibos… It reminds me of medicine, earthy notes, slight sweetness… But mostly a medicinal quality to me. The black tea base lingers a bit in the background, but it isn’t as forward as I would have liked. The vanilla and maple are nice though, and this blend definitely has a nice amount of sweetness – also a nod to the palm sugar that’s present. It does remind me a lot of dessert, which is probably a good thing given that it’s called Maple Butter Shortbread.

A Second Cup?

I attempted a second steep of Maple Butter Shortbread, but found that the flavouring was mostly rooibos with hints of vanilla and maple. For me, personally, I wouldn’t have a second steep. If you’re a fan of rooibos, I would recommend a second steep.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Dessert by Deb’s Maple Butter Shortbread was just okay. I’m 100% confident that if I was any sort of rooibos fan/lover, I would have ranked this blend a lot higher. I’m quite open about not being the biggest fan of rooibos, and I only seem to appreciate it in blends that I can’t actually smell or taste the rooibos (which isn’t really appreciating it, is it?). So if you’re a fan of rooibos, I think you’ll like this one because it does remind me a lot of a dessert with the sweetness, the maple, and vanilla flavours. If you’re not a fan of rooibos, you might want to steer clear from this one since the rooibos is quite forward. Not for me, but I think it’d be one I would offer to someone who’s visiting and a fan of rooibos and wanting a dessert-style tea blend for sure.

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