Dessert by Deb

I recently got in a massive Dessert By Deb order so I’ve been slowly sampling my way through it! This was actually the first thing I tried since it was a sweltering hot day when I got my tea mail in, and it sounded like it would be very bright and refreshing! Truthfully I’m actually a little bit surprised I liked it as much as I did.

Gunpowder is a pretty coarse and astringent green tea so I didn’t have high hopes for it as the base here, and though I do think other green teas would have been nicer it still tasted pretty good! The lemon is natural and bright, though I am highly skeptical that this isn’t flavoured because it doesn’t taste the way lemon pieces or lime pieces do when steeped out; it’s too lively/naturally sweet.

Most impressively, however, is the balance of lavender! We all know that Deb loves her lavender teas – often times to a detriment because the lavender can come off aggressively soapy/perfume-y or sometimes a little savory and brothy. This is a strong lavender but it doesn’t eclipse the other flavours in the blend and it’s neither like drinking perfume or stock. So, a win in my books!

I’m having some issues with insomnia at night – really not ideal when I’m already sleep deprived – so I’m trying to drink non-caffeinated teas in the evening. It’s not like I don’t have a giant stash of them to use up or anything.

Picked this one out, as I couldn’t even remember what I’d previously thought of it. Turns out, it’s fairly unremarkable and not pear-y at all, at least to me, but it’s also not objectionable – there isn’t too much turmeric in here. Not exactly high praise, but it wasn’t a bad choice for the evening.

Steepster seems slow on new tasting notes today, so here is another one. (I am now 11 days behind on catching up on reading tasting notes!)

From Tiffany :) Thank you very much! This tea IS delicious and it’s the right sort of sweetener… not artificial. However, if a tea is mostly just sweet, I feel like naming a tea, it can really be any name that is sweet. I’m not sure what a Maple Butter Shortbread would taste like other than sweet. So it works! The rooibos really doesn’t seem to get through my basket infuser which is great – though the second steep seems like mostly vanilla and rooibos. (I usually use a T-Sac for rooibos but with the other ingredients, I just threw it in the basket infuser.) I guess most of the sweetness went into the first steep. It’s a tasty dessert tea, for sure, when you are looking for a SWEET TEA just not sure how much the name of the tea matters here. Very glad there isn’t any stevia anyway! Also grateful that I get to try these Dessert By Deb teas. :D
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4-5 min

Was craving blueberry tea earlier today and this was the first one in my stash that I came across. The black tea used here is a little more tannic and astringent, but I think it works well since the blueberry has that round, deep sort of jammy sweetness that’s a little more like blueberry pie filling versus actual blueberry. Having something to cut through that is actually pretty beneficial. The almond is present, though more raw and almost a little pasty tasting. All of that is accompanied by a really distinct homebaked bread flavour. Hot out of the oven bread, too! It’s warm and inviting with a surprising level of nuance and depth to the different flavours. I could do with a bit less of that “raw” almond taste, but overall I like this blend a fair bit!

Iced with salted caramel cold foam Sipdown (214)

The cold foam drowns out the rooibos and highlights the caramel making this so much better.

Iced and with salted caramel cold foam this was bomb. So good! Rich caramel flavour. Just awesome!

Made this as a latte and if not for coconut whipped cream and caramel drizzle, I don’t think I would have loved this. I blame the rooibos, which is so unnecessary and really takes away from the flavour.

I should probably just avoid buying blends I’m unlikely to enjoy. This would fall into that category – it’s a rooibos with peppermint. Why did I think I should buy this?? (or, maybe it’s a subscription box tea?)

Anyhow, I didn’t like this. Shocking. Nothing wrong with it aside from the aforementioned ingredients that I do not like.

Sipped this tea during a zoom meeting that required a little emotional support! This had a large chunk of star anise in it, so it was very chai-y and tasty. It does make me worry that other cups will be quite variable though.

It definitely has a sweet buttercream flavor. I can’t say I get much caramel specifically, so I would consider this more of a Buttercream Chai. Overall, it’s not bad, I just wish I got more caramel flavor

Sipdown!
Preparation: Latte
Tasting Note: Still a solid latte but not jaw dropping. I think with the full fat oatly it tastes more buttery but there isn’t much maple.

Preparation: Western (no additional additives)
Tasting note: The first time I tried this tea, I had it as a latte and it did not have very distinct flavors. This time I decided to forego the addition of oatmilk. The black and rooibos tea base goes well here, I think that both balance each other out. I can taste a maple-y sweetness that isn’t overpowering. Without milk this tea is more focused on the caramel-maple-vanilla notes which is nice. I do get the sense that it is a cookie but more of caramel-maple cookie than I would say short bread. I enjoy this tea much more straight than I did with oatmilk which is good.

I think that ever since I had Nadeshiko by Camellia-Sinensis I am not as excited by many flavored vanilla teas that I have encountered since and I don’t think that this tea has changed that. So in short, I like this tea but it doesn’t amaze me, so I don’t think I would buy it again for that reason.

Made this as an iced latte and it tastes like a less delicious version of ginger creme brulee. The ginger is real strong and burnet but then I don’t get much else. The weird heavy sweet note a lot of Deb’s teas have that stop the flavour from being rounded out properly. Overall, not a favourite in the least.

So I had made a really fun tournament bracket for all my chai teas to face off and then I woke up having an upset stomach today. :p Basically I will be going through some non-caffeinated stuff for the next few days, I think.

Preparation: Western + oatmilk
Tasting note: Plain the tea what pretty powerfully rooibos flavored, it had a sweetness and some vanilla notes. Like usual, I added oatmilk pretty quickly. This helped mellow out the rooibos and made it much more creamy like a flan. There was a slight caramel note, not in a candy like way just in a richness from the rooibos that I sort of get the feeling of this creamy, caramel custard. I think I would try it was a latte to see if it felt close to the caramel taste.

I think this was a nice herbal tea, the rooibos on it’s own was pretty potent but I could scale back on how much I use and the steeping time.

In a “pie” mode this weekend, last night for dinner I had a cornish pasty and an apple meringue pie. This morning when I looked over my sipdown themes from the discussion forum, I saw “pie flavored tea.” So here I am, more pie.

Preparation: Latte
Tasting Note: So I added a little amount of honey and oatmilk (oatly) to this tea. I am not an avid chai drinker but I wanted to try some different blends to see what spices I like which ones I am not so keen on. So with this blend the cardamom is the strongest flavor which is really nice. Cinnamom is more in the background here and the coconut provides a creamy sweetness that I can still slightly detect. Overall, I really like this blend it is simple and slightly sweet and warming. I think this could be a contender in a chai-off tournament for my cupboard.

So I just started watching some episodes of the The Great Canadian Baking Show on youtube this past week. Which to my delight, I found out Dan Levy is one of the hosts. Hoping to find a way to watch more soon. :)

Preparation: Western (unsweetened)

Tasting notes: This is pretty much tastes like a Strawberry-Raspberry Genmaicha which is really good. There is some candied/jammy strawberry notes and some tart raspberry notes from the fruit pieces. The toasty rice comes through nicely for me after steeping three minutes, not immensely so but it’s there. It’s been awhile since I have had a flavored green tea so it’s not unwelcome. I know that I could steep for 4 minutes to get stronger rice notes and raspberry, but I am concerned I would be pushing the green a little past it’s prime. I like that I can have this tea plain without any additives, it’s a nice change of pace.

Sipdown 8/33

Made the last of this as a cold brew. Surprisingly, I prefer it hot. Cold brewed, the lychee flavor becomes lost.

Sipdown 7/32

Made an intensely strong cup of this so that I could sip it down. It’s fine. As with all of Deb’s lavender blends- the lavender here is strong.

First Tasting note on Steepster:

I had about 2-3 Dessert by Deb teas before trying this one and think that this is one of the stronger ones. I started out having this one straight and the puffed rice note- toasty and sweet- was the first thing I got. I looked on Deb’s website and she recommended having it as a latte and I agree that this is much better that way. I added a tiny bit of honey and a tiny bit of brown sugar to the tea before adding warmed full fat oatly. I think that now it tastes like caramel covered popcorn, which is absolutely ok with me.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – March 2023 Tea #8 – March 25 – The end of American Chocolate week

Second tea I will be sipping today because chocolate.  My actual chocolate stash is running quite low at this point (I consider chocolate a staple, along with Cheez-its.) Nothing new to add about this tea though.

Another one from Tiffany :) – thanks so much! This one reminds me almost of Butiki’s Three Friends but without that distinct unique base that Butiki had and heavy on the orange – I guess it also reminds me of Angry Tea Room’s Creamsicle blend if chocolate and a bit of black tea was added. So this is channeling some of my favorite teas! It’s a bright orange with only a hint of chocolate, until the dregs of the cup. Very tasty but I would love a bit more black tea and slightly less rooibos. The perfect amount of sweetness, but I’d really love some of that “biscuit” flavor that is mentioned in the name. I’m glad I have some of this in the cupboard – it will make sipping down Three Friends a bit less terrible. Also drank this with a couple Dove dark chocolates.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

From the swap with Tiffany :). Thank you very much!! I thought I would love this one and I DOOOOO. It’s as I imagined it would be. Chocolate and the right amount of tart. It’s kind of like the tartness of a dark chocolate, which is why dark chocolate is my favorite – it has that tang. The right amount of hibiscus here. I could probably wish for more berries… the description only mentions elderberries and currants. And supposedly there should be cream here, per the name, but cream would be a bit weird with hibiscus. Vanilla is also listed in the ingredients, but I’m not sure what type…not seeing any evidence of the tiny vanilla bean pieces in the mug that I love to see. That’s a supreme cup of tea when you see vanilla beans in a mug. I love the second murky steep. This one is a winner imo. I guess I like this the most according to existing Steepster ratings so far!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 50 minutes after boiling (oops) // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep