Hotcups

Hot Tea and Cold Brew Sipdown (267)

I divided the sample in half and made one as a cold brew and the other as a hot tea. The hot tea is a little bit waxy but has nice cranberry flavor. A little tart, a little sweet, and then the nuttiness of the almond comes through at the end of the sip. It’s nice enough that I wouldn’t turn down a cup if offered, though not something I’d seek out again.

The cold brew is actually sort of bland. I get less of the cranberry flavor which was what I liked in the hot tea. Instead it’s like a muted Forever Nuts with some fruit.

Iced Latte Sipdown (268)

I wanted an iced latte and this seemed like the perfect tea for it. When I got to prepping everything, I quickly realized that I didn’t quite have enough of this left so I added two spoons of DAVIDsTEA’s Stormy Nights.

It. Came. Out. Awesome!

This was fudgey and thick while still being creamy and smooth. Plus, with the Stormy Nights included, it was like what I’d imagine Mexican hot chocolate fudge to be like. I was happy.

Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing!

When making the last batch of cupcakes, my sister and I made a mistake with our buttercream frosting when we added raspberry purée that was too cold to the mixer and it caused the butter to seize and our buttercream for lumpy. I didn’t think it was that bad until I iced the cupcakes and saw all the bits but at that point it was too late to fix. However, I was mad so my sister suggested we make other cupcakes to redeem ourselves.

Today, we decided to make chocolate cream cheese frosted banana cupcakes filled with dulce de leche. The recipe was a lot less involved than the other ones we made and ended up tasting and looking much better. And we didn’t mess up the frosting so yay! The only issue with these is they are chocolate frosting and I don’t have my usual decorating stuff so with my limited options, the frosting does look slightly poop-like. Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CATWYSBA3S-/?igshid=1fkchah2zoa2s

Anyways, as per usual, I had to find the right tea to go with the cupcakes and this sample from Roswell Strange called to me. It’s very chocolate-y which is what you’d want from a tea called death by cocoa but I think next to the super rich chocolate cream cheese frosting, this is a little meh. Could be nice when you want chocolate and don’t have it though.

Sipdown (1370)!

A surprise sipdown – the amount of tea left in the tin looked deceptively larger than what there ended up being. Not mad at this sipdown though because finishing off a tin is always a really nice feeling and reclamation of space.

This was a really good chocolate black tea, and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t much love chocolate in tea. It was rich and cakey, and not a lot of other chocolate teas make me feel that type of way. However, I recently had some pretty darn good hot chocolate from this company that they kindly gifted me, so with that in mind it’s not a surprise they pulled off a chocolate tea so well.

From a #SeptemberSipdown prompt last week…

The prompt was a tea you bought on vacation, and while I have many teas that could have fit that prompt (because I am a total addict who has to buy tea EVERY time I travel) I chose this one because it’s from what is essentially my most “recent” vacation and it meant getting to highlight a small/local tea shop!!

I bought this one during my Winnipeg trip last summer, and bought it at The Forks during a day spent there w/ family after doing store visits/tours. I don’t normally gravitate towards chocolate teas, but something about this one called to me and I’m glad that it did because it’s actually one of the better chocolate black blends I’ve had. It’s simple in ingredients, but quite rich and decadent and something about it reminds me of very good chocolate cake. I like it hot and plain, but it’s also bomb AF with milk!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFNafAhguPh/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2JZ6r3gyRU&ab_channel=EasyLifeVEVO

Midafternoon cuppa.

I’m trying to drink more sweet/decadent teas in place of actually eating sweets, and this helped a lot in curbing this afternoon’s sugar cravings. It’s basically like drinking a slice of very rich, decadent chocolate cake. Not a complex tea; but a really nice take on simple chocolate flavour.

This is a tea that I picked up while I was in Winnipeg this summer – it’s from a local tea shop but I don’t know if it’s something they’re blending in house of if it’s being purchased from a catalog/wholesaler. Regardless, I steeped it up for the first time this week and I was actually surprised by how nice I found it. It’s a nice and deeply smooth chocolate note – kind of like a chocolate cake flavour? It has the denseness and rich milk chocolate note of a very good chocolate cake or brownie, but there’s weirdly almost a powdery kind of vibe to the mouthfeel that makes me think more chocolate powdered donut? I’m into it though! It’s just the right amount of chocolate for someone who isn’t really into chocolate.