Winterfylleth Brew

I wasn’t sure about this one at first. It smells strongly of cinnamon and apples. Sort of like an apple crisp. Brewed, it tastes like dull cinnamon with some apples. Slightly sweet. There is a weird taste on my tongue with the aftertaste. I want to say astringent but it is more bitter (?). I was expecting a bit more punch with this one. I was hoping for strong, spicey cinnamon, and tart apples. I would have liked there to be more sweetness as well. I am going to play around with the brewing parameters a bit. And add some rock sugar, maybe honey or maple syrup, next time. I think the rock sugar will help to bring out more of the apple. There is less bitterness as the tea cools quite a bit.

A long steeping time may help with the cinnamon as well. We will see…

Having this tea again for breakfast. Apple cinnamon tea wasn’t the greatest pairing with breakfast, but then my breakfast was kind of weird. I felt like grazing, so breakfast was crackers, havarti cheese, cranberry stilton cheese, and scone with homemade blubarb jam, with a side of korean radish salad.

Still impressed how this tea is pretty good, the apple flavor is really well done! I heard from my husband that his family is having difficulty selecting christmas gifts for me. I suggested again my amazon list, as well as a list of Tea of the Month clubs, with Handmade tea now on that list. Fingers Crossed!

This has black tea in it? For some reason I thought this was an herbal blend, LOL.
What I’m tasting is a bowl of apple cinnamon flavored instant oatmeal. Yup, that’s pretty much it. It’s a very gentle cup, with a little bit of a dry mouth, a slight pucker of tart apple, & it’s actually kind of nice.
Thanks Lala, & that, my friends, is another sipdown.

Thanks Lala for the sample! All your recent reviews made me curious, so I made a cup of this up this morning. The idea of another kind of “oatmeal” like tea, but with Fuji Apples definitely piqued my interest.

This steeped up pretty light, but I guess that makes sense given a large part of the leaf was apple chunks. Taste wise, it’s pretty decent. Definitely a strong, juicy apple taste and just enough cinnamon that I kind of get the oatmeal comparison. This is very smooth though, with no bitterness or astringency. But I wish this was a bit more flavourful.

Additional notes: I’ll be enjoying some holiday themed teas the next few days.. this one, David’s Santa’s Secret, Verdant’s Earl of Anxi… probably more. I’ll have to think of a tea to have for Kwanzaa… any ideas? I hope everyone has an enjoyable Christmas and Kwanzaa! Wishing the best for all of you lovely tea people!

Apples! that’s what I taste. Apple! I should have known. I read the ingredients of this tea before I asked moraiwe for it in a swap, but I had completely forgotten them by the time I brewed it this morning.

I smelled it and kept thinking it smells so familiar, what is that smell? It’s an extremely natural apple flavor. I hardly detect the cinnamon. I really should be able to recognize the smell of apple. . don’t know what was up with me then :)

Thanks for sharing this yummy tea with me moraiwe (^.^)

Ever made apple pie bread?

It’s pretty much an apple quick bread with a cinnamon streusal ribbon running through it. It’s freaking good, and I try not to make it because I can down the whole thing in about 48 hours.

This tea is that bread.

It’s super sweet apple with a cinnamon sugar like note running through it. The base is malty and just a touch…buttery almost.

The base is fickle, though. Quickly bitter and astringent if not coddled. I’ve found 2:45-3 min at about 200 to be a sweet spot for this one.

While cleaning out my tea cupboard I found this stashed in the back of the shelf unopened. So I opened it and brewed a cup.

It’s nice. Very light and cinnamony. It smells like it should be spicy and full of “Christmas” spices, but only cinnamon really comes through.

I got zero apple flavor at all, which isn’t terribly surprising since I don’t think bits of fruit add much to how a tea tastes.

I thought I’d remember who I got this sample from in a long ago trade, but I don’t. :/

It smells like cinnamon and yams. After reading the description I can see how the yam scent is a little apple like. When I sip it, I just get light flavors of tea. Damn you head cold!!!! If I blow my nose and then sip really quickly after, I kind of get a little flavor. This tea will have to be revisited when I’m better.

I really dislike the black base in this one. It’s finicky. At 100C too bitter to drink, at 90 it’s drinkable, but not enjoyable (at least not for me). 85C and 2.5 minute steep – I’ve lost all the apple which is the only good part of this.
I’ve drank it several times and never found steep parameters that makes this enjoyable. It’s too bad because I think the apple component is really good and I didn’t get any cinnamon – suppose to be, but I’m happy not to have it.
This is a HUGE miss for me.