Brandied Apricot Upside Down Cake Honeybush

I was excited to try this blend because I love apricots, and the idea of a brandied apricot upside down cake sounds positively drool worthy. But after reviewing the tasting notes on here, I was a little worried that my expectations might go unmet because while the ratings are not really LOW on this one, they aren’t exceptionally high either. That suggests to me that this might be average tasting, but, not super-duper (I have no idea why I felt the need to say super-duper there).

But you know, this isn’t bad at all. In fact, it’s actually quite yummy. For those of you who have tried this already, I suggest trying it again… while I realize I’m not you and don’t have your taste buds, I think that often people try the teas from 52Teas in an excited hurry as soon as they get them and don’t allow the blends to cure for a while. I think that this might have benefited from the curing time.

Because I’m liking what I taste. It’s not exceptional, but, it’s really really good. The apricot is sweet, and taste as though fresh apricots have been simmered in brandy and then caramelized in butter and brown sugar before being put into a baking pan and topped with cake batter. I taste all of the notes as suggested in the name: I taste the brandy, I taste the apricot, I taste the cake. I taste the caramelized brown sugar. I taste notes of butter. I even taste the faintest nutty note from the honeybush. And all of these flavors come together in a way that does not taste fake or overdone, it’s all very smooth and deliciously desserty.

I like this one quite a bit.

Methinks my packet needs to cure a little more. I’m not quite getting everything I should. Brandy? yep. Definitely. Apricot? mayyybe. Cake? nope, not even a smidge. Floral? yessir! Caramelized brown sugar? ehhh, not really.
Wait… floral? that isn’t in the description. Where did that come from?!?
Anyhow, I added some sugar and that made it a little more brandy like, while the rosey floral subsided.
Hopefully when it sits for awhile I can suss out some cakey notes

When I was little, I used to get these biscuits that had fruit in the centre. I don’t remember them exactly, but they were kind of flower-shaped, like these:
http://www.123rf.com/photo_7427430_sweet-cookies-with-fruit-butter.html

But I remember them being in a tin with other butter cookies, so these might be more accurate:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jam-filled-butter-cookies/

Anyway, that’s what this tea smells like to me. And that really surprises me, because to be honest, usually when people describe getting a kind of cakey fragrance and/or flavour from tea, I kind of roll my eyes, because I just know that my palate isn’t sophisticated enough to pick up such nuances. But I swear, it’s really here.

I’m not so sure about the brandy, but I believe it’s here, too. My only exposure to brandy was when I was really little. Parents, don’t cringe, but my father used to put a bit on a q-tip and use it to alleviate toothaches. It was weird, because that was the only reason this massive bottle of brandy was in the house, as neither one of my parents ever touched alcohol. Anyway, it’s not like I remember what it smells like or know what brandied fruit would smell like. That said, there is something here besides the smell of apricots that brought brandy to mind, but part of that could just be the power of suggestion and the process of elimination: “I smell the apricots, and I smell the cakey bits, so what’s that other thing? It must be brandy, because that’s all that’s left.”

I was really good this time. I always open a packet of tea and stick my nose in, and then wonder why the brewed fragrance/flavour isn’t as in-your-face as I’d like. Duh? This time, I actually held my breath (I’m nothing if not a study in extremes) until I’d put the tea in the infuser and closed the pouch again, making sure to only sniff the dry leaf in the infuser and then the brewed tea. I believe it really made a big difference re: my expectations and produced a happier result than usual.

The unsweetened tea is okay, but pretty unremarkable. No matter how much I try, I can’t get “dessert” from unsweetened tea. “Oh, it’s sweetened naturally by the fruit in it” just doesn’t cut it for me. So I took a few sips to be good, and then I was like okay, time to play. I decided to sweeten it with (vegan) ’nog.

…

…

Sorry. It happened again. A concoction so good, I just don’t have words. Suffice it to say that this addition didn’t overwhelm the tea; rather, it enhanced it in all the right ways and turned this into what I consider to be truly a dessert tea. My rating’s not really accurate, since I’m not always going to have ‘nog around. But since I know that works, it shouldn’t be hard to yummify the tea with other stuff, like vanilla soy milk and sugar or something.

So good. So, so good.

Tea amount: 1 tsp/~4.75g
Water amount: 6oz/~175mL
Additives: A “splash” of vegan (Silk soy) ’nog

Ok, from this tea, I was hoping for a delicious apricot-flavoured honeybush. Wish granted! That’s pretty much what this tastes like to me. Brandy? Possibly, but I don’t know what it tastes like. Upside-down cake? I don’t know, I’m not really getting any cakey flavours. Just sweet apricot, and honeybush. The honeybush is a liiiittle bit strong here IMO, but it is so much more bearable than rooibos.

Delicious delicious. Unfortunately less true to the name than some people liked, but I feel it will serve the purpose I bought it for!]

ETA: Second infusion is mildy fruity water. Surprisingly tasty, actually, but pales in comparison to the other teas I have brewed up, so I probably won’t finish the cup.

I don’t know what this tea’s namesake cake tastes like, nor have I ever tried brandy, but I’m definitely getting apricots. As a hot tea the honeybush itself is the strongest flavor, with a hint of apricot mixed in. As it cools the apricot really starts to shine, particularly in the aftertaste.

I hate to be a bummer down in bumsville, but this tea is not what I was hoping for at all. I’m not getting a lot of brandy, though the apricot flavor does mix well with the honeybush. I guess it’s a bit cakey but I’m not really getting caramelized brown sugar either. I did feel that the flavors came to life a bit more when I added some turbinado sugar and a bit of soymilk.

Not terrible at all but it just didn’t live up to my hopes and dreams…. :)

My first tea shipment from 52-teas has arrived! It includes:
Brandied Apricot Upside Down Cake Honeybush
Coconut Cream Pie (Black)
Gooey Butter Cake (black)
Malted ChocoMate

I’m not a big drinker of flavored teas. I’m also not an eater of desserts. So why did I buy these? LOL, I don’t know! It was the brandied apricot upside down cake that caught my eye, I’ll admit. The photo (of the actual dessert) looked so awesome, plus I have a history with brandied apricots.

When I was 15 I had a great babysitting job every Saturday night, & they
always stocked lots of food & encouraged me to eat & enjoy. After a few weeks I noticed this crock on the counter full of wonderful smelling juicy apricots, which I later realized were brandied apricots. I ate a few every week, they were so damn good, sometimes I ate more than a few!

This tea does not taste like those amazing apricots, but it’s a nice diversion. The dry smell is tart & tobacco-like. It brews into a pretty reddish brown. Unsweetened it is so-so. Add a little stevia & it’s pleasant: kind of like yellow cake with apricot preserves spread over the top. I’m sure it would be decadent with heavy cream & real sugar, but those aren’t on my menu. I might try it next time with vanilla almond milk, or coconut milk, but for now, it’s enough. I’m not a big fan of honeybush, but this will be a nice late afternoon tea, for when I want more tea but need to lay off the caffeine.

I used 1.75 tablespoons of dry leaf for 375ml of water.

Cakey apricot flavour on the aftertaste.

Thanks to Kitenna for sharing this with me!

Thank you Indigobloom!

I’m glad for the chance to try this, though I’m going to side with the “meh” side. It’s nice enough but not quite what I expected. I have to say as it cools off the apricot comes out even more and I like it more. It just not quite cake like.

My 52Teas order just came in today and this tea was first on my list to try. It smelled very dessert-like and I was glad that Frank included lots of little apricot chunks in the mix. The tea tasted quite nice but it needed more booze – I couldn’t taste any brandy flavouring which is a shame for something that is the first word of this tea’s name. Otherwise I quite liked it – it had a sweet cakey flavour mixed with fruity apricot notes both of which blended well with the honeybush base. It’s enjoyable even if the lack of brandy was a bit of a let down.