Vicky's Sponge Cake

Another sipdown! First cup of this yesterday was brewed hot and had milk added and it was tasty, the flavors developed as the tea cooled and there was a nice amount of raspberry but I didn’t get a lot else… Reading everyone else’s reviews I decided to cold steep the remaining leaves…. BINGO! Cold brewed in the fridge for 10 hours or so the tea developed some amazing flavors!! Suddenly I was blown away with the coconut, raspberry, cream and even the slight hint of cake. Hot I wasn’t sad to see this tea leave my cupboard, cold brew makes me rethink another sneaky order to Bluebird Tea Co. sometime in the very near future.

Sipdown (128)!

I love you all; but all the tea I’ve received from you butts lately has seriously bumped my cupboard up from where it was! Which was under 100. And more still on the way…

- Smells like fluffy raspberry angel food cake when dry
- Brewed, it was more more weak/mild in flavour than I was expecting
- Kind of a soft/less harsh raspberry with a very mild black base
- Basically zero natural raspberry tang/tartness
- Kind of just average overall; may have been better hot

Of the three Bluebird Tea Co. teas I received from Cameron B. I think this one was definitely my least favourite though in its defense I have become a fair bit snobby in regard to raspberry teas…

I must say, I’m really happy I got in on the Bluebird Tea Co. group order a while back, just because their teas are really unique and interesting (plus the shipping is $15 or something). So hooray for Steepster! Anyway, I confess, this is actually the second time I’ve made this tea. The first time, there was way too much raspberry leaf going on for me – I’m not sure if I just got a lot of it in my 1.5 teaspoons or what, but it was strong. I don’t consider raspberry leaf to be a particularly pleasant flavor, it’s one of those things that people drink for its health benefits, not for its taste. It’s kind of musty and weird. So for this cup, I picked the raspberry leaf out of the tea after measuring it out. Don’t laugh!

Steeped, it smells like raspberry jam. Hm… There’s not a lot of flavor here, which is a shame. But at least there’s not a ton of raspberry leaf going on! I can taste a bit of tart raspberry, more similar to the fresh fruit than jam. Otherwise, there’s not much going on except a light-bodied black tea base. I think this one may just not be for me, as others seem to love it…

If anyone has any suggestions on how to steep this better or make it taste more like the sponge cake that others seem to find, let me know!