Incendiare

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Incendiare drank Red Velvet Cake by DAVIDsTEA

Whoops! Looks like someone caved and got the special edition tin. I don’t even care for chocolate/Red Velvet cake, but there’s something about Red Velvet-flavoured or -scented stuff that draws me into its trap.

The dry leaf smells a lot like Birthday Cake, which right there is a mega win because I really like Birthday Cake, but wished the tea base was different. Voilà!

The liquor isn’t as red as I had expected, but at least there’s no trace of beets. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of beets, but the thought of a chocolate Borscht tea doesn’t seem right.

The flavour is very similar to Birthday Cake, except of course, we’re dealing with a black tea base instead, which is luckily not astringent at all, and that maple-y flavour that is palpable in Birthday Cake is toned down here. This smells and tastes a little more like cake. When adding milk, it even smells a bit like cake batter.

It’s quite sweet. Not as sweet as Ice Cream Cake (whew, good), but it’s sweeter than Birthday Cake. I would advise against adding additional sweeteners. I wish the black tea base came out a little more, and that it weren’t as sweet, but I’ll happily finish my tin.

2012-09-11 19:45:51 -0400

205 °F / 96 °C

5 min 0 sec

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PatchworkSheep 2012-09-11 20:06:35 -0400

Oh no, I thought I had convinced myself against this one because of the beets. But the promise of a Birthday Cake-like tea without the awful red rooibos base? Mmmm.

I can’t get past the idea of drinking steeped beets though.

PatchworkSheep 2012-09-11 20:07:08 -0400

…

Yes I can. Onto the shopping list this goes.

Incendiare 2012-09-11 20:15:17 -0400

Yeah, I was a little skeptical of it too, but I’ve had this tea thrice already and never detected any beet nuances from it. Also, I’ve seen a couple recipes online for chocolate cake that calls for beets, which apparently adds sweetness, as well as moisture (kind of like zucchini in cake, I guess) to the cake. So perhaps some of the extra sweetness I’m getting from this tea may be from the beets, as well.

Amy oh 2012-09-11 20:46:16 -0400

I wonder how this compares to the Republic of Tea version – have you ever had it?

Incendiare 2012-09-11 20:49:39 -0400

No I haven’t had it, but isn’t that one rooibos-based?

momo 2012-09-11 20:51:26 -0400

I don’t get them adding beets. Beets were used because of food rationing during WW2 to add the color, and you’re not going to get much color when you’re using black tea especially. Beets aren’t even typically used in your traditional Southern red velvet!

Incendiare 2012-09-11 21:50:14 -0400

Yeah, beets stain like crazy, but combined with the black tea base, it’s not going to make a different in colour. Nice try, DT.

momo 2012-09-11 22:47:33 -0400

The RoT one is rooibos and has it too, and it makes no difference there either. Maybe a slight tinge of color but hardly.

Kittenna 2012-09-12 03:48:52 -0400

Chocolate borscht tea… bahahahaha!

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