Pudtea

Cold Brew Sipdown (213)

X is for…an eXtra cup of Summer Berry Pudding

I tried some of my brother-in-law’s beer and it tasted almost like teriyaki sauce. Thankfully I had a cold brew ready to go to wash it down with. This is strong into the hibiscus berry flavour and a touch herbal. I am okay saying goodbye to this one because it was never a favourite. That said, it’s better than the teriyaki beer so yay for that.

S is for…Summer Berry Pudding

I cold brewed this and it was just a lot of berry hibiscus. Sort of like Bear Trap by DAVIDsTEA but not as good in my opinion.

This tea seems popular based on the reviews but for me, it was all tart hibiscus. Thankfully I have more to try and maybe it was just an off cup…

When I bought this tea, I didn’t realize it had candy cane pieces in it. Luckily they were really big and easy to remove. I won’t leave a numerical rating since I didn’t experience this tea as intended. All that being said, the flavor is pretty similar to other holiday mint teas. It’s a nice balance between the rooibos and the mint. The resteep ended up murky and weird, but the first one was quite pleasant. Definitely more mint than candy cane, but I like mint.

I remember not enjoying my first cup of this, but I forgot to take notes, so here I go trying it again, this time as a cold brew. It’s very sour and off-putting. Rooibos fruit blends so often end up being weird like this. These flavors just don’t work together. There’s no hint of cheesecake. I only taste gross, artificial berry. I don’t want another cup.

The spices definitely dominate the flavor here. Cinnamon and maybe clove. Nothing at all crumbly. Not really even apple, just that dominating spice. It’s not like it tastes bad (except sometimes it’s randomly bitter) but it’s not really true to its name, which is a shame. Pretty one dimensional, but I won’t mind finishing my bag.

Sipdown (1361)!

I’m a bit sad about this sipdown since I think this was one of the nicer of the blends from Pudtea, but it was a very delicious cup so I’m not too sad about it. Warming cinnamon, sweet baked apple, and fudge – good levels of sweetness and a thick and round feeling liquor. Really nothing to be unhappy with in this blend, in my opinion.

Gonna nudge my rating up slightly from the 79 I have it at right now.

A is for… Apple Crumble!

Really enjoyed this cup a lot – the prominent flavour at the start of each sip is a sweet red hot cinnamon, much like the Valentine’s Day cinnamon heart candies. It’s matched with a sort of sweet caramelized sugar/fudge type of note that is a little more subtle and then that slides into more of a sweet baked apple – really “apple pie” like in that latter half of the sip once you get past the initial strong cinnamon candy note. It’s a really nice blend and I very much like the apple flavour that comes through! Sweet and spicy deliciousness!

Happy belated Canadian Turkey Day, Steepster friends! :)

I had this one on Thanksgiving, with a special “treat yourself” breakfast I ordered in for myself – blueberry pancakes with English cream! Very rich/decadent, but it was the only thing I did special for the holiday so I gave myself a pass.

I couldn’t remember if I’d had this tea or not – it tasted familiar. Looks like I haven’t though. I enjoyed it, one of the better teas from Pudtea IMO. The apple was light to medium bodied, and a bit more of a baked apple than a fresh apple flavour which does make sense for a “crumble” profile. There’s fudge in this blend, which carries through into the steeped tea in the form of both oiliness and sweetness and while the oily mouthfeel would probably have usually bothered me I didn’t mind it as much with my already very rich/sticky breakfast.

The one thing in the blend that kind of through me for a loop was that it has a very “red hot” cinnamon flavour in the undertone – like Valentine’s Day candies. I didn’t expect it, and it did break the illusion of a baked apple/pastry profile for me. I feel like it was meant to be the more warm and buttery soft cinnamon that’s in so many pastries but that the wrong type was used, resulting in the blend being unbalanced. I got used to it, but the blend would be better served without it IMO.

I’m so glad I ordered from Pudtea when I did because it looks like their website is totally gone now. This tea wasn’t great at room temperature, but it was pretty nice cold. Tart berry flavor and a little bit of a desserty something extra. I was surprised by how tasty it was, while also being not drastically different from other tart fruit teas. I guess this one gets the balance just right. Wouldn’t say that anything about it screams pudding though. Really just a fruit tea.

Latte Sipdown (288)

This tea has such a strong rooibos flavor that I hoped a latte would help soften the rooibos and bring out the vanilla.

I pulled this out since today’s september sipdown is about dessert teas. With that in mind, I topped this latte with whipped cream and caramel and chocolate syrup. It was an alright drink. The chocolate pulled out some vanilla fudge notes which were nice but overall it was still a lot of rooibos flavor.

Fun to try but not a tea I will be looking for again.

If I didn’t know better, I would think this is a rooibos with vanilla…because that’s what it tastes like. So that’s disappointing.

Didn’t like this sample from variaTEA. I DO love ginger, I didn’t like the mess of this tea. So much so that I didn’t want to finish it, which doesn’t happen often. The base tea wasn’t great….it didn’t really come across like gingerbread… can’t win them all ;)

I’ve never had banoffee so no idea what it should taste like but this was the most caramel creamy deliciousness ever. Over the top, but I’d have more lol

Sample from VariaTEA. I wasn’t a fan of this one, and it’s likely because i dislike black forest cake haha. The cherry “tang” that was present in the cup was really jarring for me, and there wasn’t enough chocolate coming through. Glad to try it as always though

Sample from VariaTEA. This one wasn’t bad. It sort of reminded me of brownies, but the caramel side was lacking for me. Chocolately “brownie” feeling came through but not the caramel. Still though, it was a nice first tea from Pudtea to try out. Thanks!

Cold Brew Sipdown (1406)!

Pretty light/mild as a cold brew – but I think I like it more than way than steeped up hot. It’s got a little more of a nutty streusel vibe going on, with notes of almond and brown sugar/pastry, and I found that tasty. Ginger is still present, but weaker than the almond notes. Doesn’t really read as “gingerbread” because of that – I’d expect more ginger and probably more body overall. Kind of a fun “Christmas in June” type of send off, though!

Steeped long and strong this morning with a splash of cream added in during the steeping process and the result!? Still more thin than I’d like and missing the all important molasses note of a good gingerbread, but it’s infinitely more enjoyable this way and is actually on the way to resembling a gingerbread cookie…

Also a nice winter profile to help get me hyped up for advent season!! I’m simultaneously so excited for it, but also waaayyy in denial that we’re already almost in December. That part feels fake.

I’m pretty sure that VariaTEA enjoyed this one, so even though I’m not a massive ginger fan I was feeling pretty good going into this cup. However, it was mostly just a cup of “nope” for me – drinkable, but honestly far too much straight ginger, without any sweetness or pastry type of notes to offset the flavour and make me think Gingerbread of just ginger.

Gonna need to play with the rest of the sample, I think…

Sipdown (1525)!

Not a great tea, but happy to have finished it off. It’s a bit tastier hot than it was cold brewed simply because it has less of that earthy beet-type of note, but it’s still a pretty mineral rooibos and just thin hibiscus instead of actual blueberry.

Cold Brew!

…nnnoooppeee. This doesn’t work.

It’s not really that it tastes bad but is also certainly doesn’t taste good and it’s just so terribly far away from tasting like a cheesecake. It’s not creamy even a little bit and it lacks either that “tang” from the cheesecake or even a graham type of crust. The blueberry is really just hibiscus trying to taste fruity and it’s just tart and acrid with an underlying earthiness that feels out of place. The rooibos comes through strongly but is more mineral and woody that sweet/nutty and it feels detached from whatever is happening from the hibiscus.

Like… I’m drinking it and I’ll finish the sample just for the education/to not be wasteful. I’m not really have a good time with it though.

Cold Brew!

I feel like I possibly like this one even less than last time I had it. It’s just so far away from being anything like a blueberry cheesecake. There was zero creaminess in this cup, and aside from that the blueberry notes were awful too! It tasted like a muted/flat/stale sort of berry mixed with earthy beets and an incredibly mineral forward tasting rooibos base. Nothing came together, and the blend needed either more sweetness for the blueberry or acidity to make the flavours pop – just something to make it feel less dull and sad.

Sipping away at a mug of this now and I have some mixed feelings.

I really, really wanted a good Blueberry Cheesecake tea and I’m just not getting anything from the flavour that makes me think of cheesecake aside from the very forward nutty (hazelnut) flavours of the rooibos base though could pass a bit as the crumb of a nice cheesecake. The blueberry flavour is a really nice somewhat baked/jammy blueberry compote type of note though and doesn’t have too much hibiscus at all. We all know I’m a sucker for a nice blueberry tea!

Plus, I just really enjoy the rooibos that Pudtea is using in their blends – I think it tastes excellent and I really enjoy it with this fruity profile. So, I’m let down by the absence of Cheesecake but the blend itself is still pretty good!

Edit: Just adding that, as it cools, there is a slight creaminess that’s coming out that could conceivably be a mild cheesecake flavour.

Cold Brew!

I’m surprised to see that I rated this highly in the passed and I think I’m gonna have to really lower my 81 rating to something else because this was super underwhelming to me. I wouldn’t go as far to say unpleasant, but it was so strongly rooibos forward with very little else other than a shrill raspberry tinted with sharp hibiscus. Very, very unsweet and kind of plain tasting – and those flavours which were present felt like they were pulling me in two different directions and even though it was a “gentle pull” it was still divisive.