Pecans are fantastic! I saw a recipe the other day that used maple syrup to candy them, and I’m thinking, based on this tea, that that would be a pretty darn good idea.
This tea balances maple and pecan right from the smell of the dry leaf. I kind of feel like I should find a way to infuse it into syrup and serve it on pancakes or waffles (gluten free, of course). But then, that would mean I couldn’t drink it and that would be sad.
Steep notes: 1.5 tsp. leaf, 8 oz. water, sugar as an additive.
The liquor brews up a much darker color (a light brown) than the green (strawberry) oolong I had earlier, so yay for roasted oolongs! I’ve had a nilgiri black before and loved it, so I’m thinking this bodes well for a nilgiri oolong? (The two could be unrelated though – I don’t know very much about nilgiri teas in general.)
The sip starts with heavy pecan overtones, that then fades into a maple flavor towards the end. The maple flavor is interesting, because it’s not that straight sweetness you’d expect – it’s like maple with all the sugar removed. The base on this one works beautifully with both the maple and pecan, though! It has a nice texture and everything.
As it cools the pecan starts to let it’s astringent qualities be known, so I went ahead and added some raw cane sugar to help with that. The mouthfeel also thins out a bit, but now with the sugar I definitely feel like I’m drinking a pie so I don’t mind at all!
I like this one! So glad I have an ounce of it to play with!
