Apple Pie a la mode

Dear Frank,

When I received an email that announced 52teas had come up with an Apple Pie Tea Blend, I had to have it. You don’t understand, I was literally going to the website everyday and checking on the stock to make sure that the supply wouldn’t vanish before I had a chance to purchase a pack. I was hesitant, but I finally caved when you had Phil’s little promotion. Great marketing on your part!

As a kid I grew up eating apple pie, I love apple pie. I had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Apple pies are my dessert of choice when I go out to a restaurant. I just can’t resist. Ice cream is good, tiramisu is okay, but I just can’t resist a slice of homemade apple pie. If I were trapped on an island with only one dessert, you can guess what that would be.

Okay, don’t kill the messenger. I had this tea twice before I made a review and also let two other people try it. I was really surprised by this tea. Let’s start with the basics. The dry tea leaves are the standard ceylon base with little rectangle pieces of apple pieces. There aren’t nearly as many as there are in the Coconut Cream Pie blend. So day one, the tea had a strong cinnamon smell (person 2 + 3 said the same thing). Strange enough, I smelled a bit of nutmeg. I must be crazy. Anyways, it does smell like apple pie, but not the typical apple pie. I think the presence of the cinnamon was too strong. On day two, I think I had a bit more apple pieces so the cinnamon smell weakened and it resembled more like apple pie (the smell). Now let’s move onto the taste, the most important aspect. Seriously, I don’t know what happened. I was expecting an amazing, miraculous first sip, but I was disappointed. Not just disappointed, beyond disappointed. It does not taste anything remotely close to apple pie. I was practically drinking water! No bitterness, very smooth, a little sweetened plain water. I think the sweetened taste was from the brown sugar. There wasn’t a strong apple pie presence or barely any at all. I mean if you tried really really hard, you could grab a microscopic taste of that apple pie. It was like hidden, very hidden. My friends had the same thought. I mean, I guess they weren’t lying when they said that the tea tastes like apple pie, because it kind of does. But it was more like I was eating the crumbs instead of having an enormous slice of savory apple pie. Bleh, I’m not having any luck with 52teas, yet the blends they come up with are just so captivating. I guess I’m going to be stuck on an island without my apple pie, but at least I can continue sipping on my delicious Pina Colada.

Sincerely,

Ricky

Thanks to LiberTEAs for another opportunity! :)

My parents live next to a Greek Man who makes pies. He’s had a local restaurant here for decades! He’s famous for his pies. His Apple Pie is one of THOSE pies! One of the pies people will travel for! This smells like that pie – a bit mellower in scent than the actual pie – but it still reminds me of it. I can smell the Apples, Cinnamon, Vanilla, and Brown Sugar scents and it’s yummy to my tummy.

When I sip it I can taste the Cinnamon first, then apple, then a vanilla finish. The taste of the tea doesn’t really taste like the actual PIE part…you know the crust part…but more like the apple filling.

This is decent.

I can taste the cinnamon more and more but it’s still pretty darn close to what I think it should taste like when going for an Apple Pie type tasting tea.

YAY!

Yum! This morning, I decided I wanted some apple pie! I went a little overboard on the latte part – I don’t think I used too much milk, so maybe I warmed it up a bit too much because, it got FROTHY… fast!

Despite my misadventures with the frothed milk, this is one yummy cup of tea. Here is a link to my review of it on TRB:

http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=11307

I think I like it best with the latte (just don’t overdo it like I did!) because it really brings out the sweet cinnamon notes.

Edited to add: For the second infusion, my milk frothed perfectly (I did have the first batch just a little too hot, I suppose!) and as is true with most teas, the second infusion is much tastier than the first. Loving it!

I have a ton of homework left for tonight (blah) and a whole gallon of milk that expires today, so I decided to whip up some black tea. I also bought sugar for the first time! Yay! Sugar!

I’m not a /huge/ fan of apple cinnamon flavored things (although I do like apple pie), so I wasn’t expecting to like this very much. To me, it tastes like sweet (well, I added sugar and milk) apple-flavored black tea, with a generous side of creamy graham cracker and spice. I’m not tasting any vanilla, but the milk I added does give it a nice creamy feel. It’s pretty good, but just not my thing. It did, however, exceed my expectations, as I was expecting to hate it. I’m sure people who like apple flavored things will love this tea. My rating is more of a personal preference thing, and not a reflection of whether or not this tea tastes like it should/good. Thank you Ricky for the sample :)

Edit: There’s almost a coffee-with-vanilla-creamer-ish taste to my cooled down cup…an interesting development!

Inspired(!) by Ricky, I went and brewed up a pot of this. I can definitely SMELL apple pie in the unsteeped leaves, they have the familiar black tea base and then what smells like cinnamon and vanilla to represent the “a la mode” and a faint odor of apples and sweetness which is probably the hint of brown sugar. This smells fantastic; both before steeping and as a brewed tea.

The brewing (hot with no additives) tastes like black tea with a hint, just ever so slightly, of apple. The predominant flavors are the cinnamon and vanilla with a sweetness from the brown sugar. All of the flavors are there, albeit very little in the case of the apple, they just need to be married a little differently.

I feel that a shorter brew time (to cut the amount of time to brew the black tea) and adding a little sweetener and milk will help bring this together to make apple pie a la mode.

Will try and repost!

Mucha thanks to Ricky for sharing this tea with me! blows a kiss ;D

I’ve been eyeing this particular 52Teas blend for awhile, being a big fan of apple pie. The interior of British-Columbia is orchard country so in the summer and fall there’s always a good supply of fresh, tasty apples for baking and my dad can bake the best pies completely from scratch.

This tea doesn’t quite make me think of those pies, the crust component is missing for one thing. The apple flavour is nice, but it could stand to be a touch stronger. The sweet vanilla and spice notes are what really completes this tea though. I’m drinking it plain this time, but I can’t wait to see how it’ll taste with some milk and/or honey.

I’ve recently returned from a 2-day tea hiatus. I wanted to stop drinking tea to see if my crippling stomach aches would stop. They did. But, I also suffered nasty caffeine withdrawal, which gave me crippling headaches. So, I have 2 options: 1. Drink tea, be healthier, but have stomach aches or 2. Don’t drink tea, be lethargic, and have headaches.

This tasting note shows which option I chose.

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tsp
Additives: none
Water: filtered boiling
Tool: Cast Iron Teapot with Mesh basket strainer
Steep Time: a little over 4, 9 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: cinnamon, apple, vanilla, MilitiaJim also gets caramel
Steeped Tea Smell: cinnamon, apple, vanilla, MilitiaJim also gets caramel
Flavor:
4 min: light, watery, cinnamon, vanilla
9 min: bitter black, cinnamon, vanilla, hint of apple
Body: 4-Light, 9-Medium
Aftertaste: 4-sweet apple 9-bitter black tea
Liquor: 4-translucent light reddish-burnt orange 9-darker reddish-brown

I think I need a steep in between what I did, however I was distracted by dinner.

The smell delivers on the pie. I assume “a la mode” = vanilla (assuming target was vanilla bean ice cream but I am not getting creamy or dairy so no vanilla bean ice cream).

The taste on the first steep was very weak, but held promise of being a light, but not too subtle, spiced black. The second steep went off the deep end because I forgot to watch it and it turned out very bitter keeping me from appreciating it.

I am going to give this tea another shot some other time as I think it has promise.

Post-Steep Additives: German rock sugar-brought in more the sweetness I expect from pie, I also like sugar

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/52teas-loose-leaf-black-tea-apple-pie.html

YUMMY. Love this as an iced tea. I’m thinking hot tea drinkers will enjoy it even more.

Thanks so much Ricky. This looks black tea with I assume to be pieces of cinnamon. The dry leaf smells like black tea with abit of cinnamon and vanilla. The smell I’s the same way. The taste I’s vanilla with abit of cinnamon and the black tea,The apple was barely there. This I’s a pretty good tea just wish the apple was stronger.

If anyone has anything on my shopping list,wih list and would be willing to trade for abit or something please let me know.

Goodness gracious, I do love this. It tastes like apple pie and creamy ice cream, with added tea. It’s warm, comforting, sweet, and oh so delicious in the evening. It goes down so smoothly and deliciously. I think it’s time for me to brew another cup.

This tea is nothing short of a sweet tasty miracle in a cup. Well, almost.

I would highly recommend it. I love the smell, love the taste. You will too.