Maple Taffy

As I alluded to before, now that I’m done with my sip-through of my cupboard I feel paralyzed with indecision over what tea to drink. My tea drinking was so prescribed for 4 months, and now I have to make a choice?!?!?

Last year at this point I decided to work on a few sipdowns, which is what I shall do again. This is not a sipdown but the penultimate cup of this tea. I almost didn’t drink it but then it smelled really yummy so I couldn’t resist. I accidentally forgot to take the brew basket out after my timer went off, so it was probably in for another minute or so. Fortunately, it does not seemed harmed by the experience. Not bitter or astringent, but there is definitely more cinnamon in this cup than there was in the first. Still, a very tasty cup and still very mapley.

This sample came from my swap with Sil. I haven’t tried many maple teas, and the ones I have tried have been extremely disappointing (I’m looking at you, Maple Sugar from David’s). However, as maple is one of my very favorite flavors, I’ll always be willing to try more. This tea has small black leaves mixed with shards of cinnamon bark, yellow petals, and what look to be pieces of popcorn. Dry scent is definitely sweet, although I would call it closer to caramel than maple, with a touch of cinnamon.

The cinnamon is definitely the strongest aroma in the cup, although thankfully it smells more like the spice than the usual candy variety. I can also smell maple, which is lovely, as well as some buttery caramel notes. Taste-wise, the flavoring is fairly mild here. There’s definitely a bit of cinnamon as well as a buttery, creamy caramel-esque flavor. The maple is there as well, but it lingers in the background, supporting the other flavors. I’m sure a touch of sugar would help to bring out all of these notes, but I’m trying to stay away from the stuff at the moment! Overall, quite tasty but I could use just a touch more maple.

This is one of the teas I picked up on my outing with OMGsrsly, and it has become my main companion in the last week. There are better teas out there (and in my cupboard), but the smell always makes me swoon and loose all sense of judgment.

The cinnamon comes through stronger without milk, but at a 200F temperature it keeps its smooth toffee-popcorn butter texture. If I accidentally use boiling water I add some milk after- that ruffles out the cinnamon and astringency, while generally keeping things amazing.

Although the maple is slightly more subdued than I would like, I bear no regrets with this one, and would consider picking some up again. I do wonder if the Maple Toffee from The Whistling Kettle is the same tea; the two look identical.

Ok, ok… I did it. I forgot CrowKettle’s teas at home (I’m so sorry!) and then bought lots at Bayswater.

This one ended up in my bag somehow at the last minute. It smelled SO GOOD! And luckily it tastes good as well. Yes, there’s cinnamon in it. And popcorn. And red peppercorns (actually related to cashews). It looks really similar to the picture of the same tea from The Whistling Kettle.

Although it smells REALLY SUPER AMAZING, I think I might prefer the Steam Maple Seduction better. (I didn’t stop there today because of the rain.)

Yep, I think I do prefer the other tea. I’m not saying this isn’t good, because it’s really tasty… but I like the other one better.

So I am super confused by the popcorn in this blend because I don’t really think it adds anything. With that said, this is still a very nice maple tea. It has cinnamon in it which couples nicely with the sweet maple. I enjoy it and wouldn’t turn down a cup if offered but I don’t think I would seek it out either. If I am being honest, if I were to get any maple tea from Vancouver it would probably be Maple Seduction from Steam but this is a pleasant alternative and one I am very grateful to Sil for the chance to try. (162)

I caved and picked up 100g of this one today. Whoops. The scent is divine, gah. The taste is much lighter, but still quite tasty. I’m enjoying the cinnamon maple mixture, but overall I may slightly prefer Maple Seduction, however I don’t know if I would say they’re fully comparable just because of the very different tastes.

I think I need to steep this one longer to get a bit more flavour from it next time.

Figured i might as well hit up my two maple teas at the same time :) This one is close in sipdown range, so i’m going to force it and let another tea friend try this one out hahaha. I enjoyed this, but i’m still not convinced the popcorn had a place in this tea lol