Butter Brew

The amount of butter beer copycats out there is pretty astounding. That being said not many get it right. And it makes it even more difficult for the tea community because you basically have to use flavoring in order to achieve the desired flavor. Thus far nothing has come close to the creaminess and wizarding deliciousness that is the butter beer of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal. This does a decent job of adding that bit of butterscotch flavor but it just still lacks the all-around fullness.

AJRimmer Advent Day 20

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! This is my first day home since the holiday craziness, so I have about a week’s worth of tea notes to catch up on. Not going to rate these since I’m writing notes mostly from memory.

This one didn’t stand out for me; it was a fairly brisk, astringent black tea with a bit of a caramel note; probably would have been better as a latte.

Sipdown Theme: Jan 2023: Malty Tea (In Progress)

Bought a sample bag (20g) I believe from Bird and Blend a few months ago after trying their Halloween count down box. I don’t remember at the time if i had this tea plan, or with oatly anymore. I remember liking it a lot though.

Prep: Western (no additives)
Tasting Note: Dry leaf out of the bag is sooo deliciously fragrant, it makes me wonder if this was the true reason I liked it so much the first time. Once steeped the room fills with that delicous creamy caramel smell.
I am now sipping it and it is astringent on its own. There is a maltiness, and caramel flavor but it unfortunately feel as overwhelmed by the bases astringency. Too bad. I didn’t pay extreme close attention to my steep time, I could of went over my time by a minute or two. I am going to give this a splash of oatly and hope for the best.

I think I need one closely monitored infusion on this one to decide what i want to do with this on next: restock or not, keep or share?

I’m confused as to why this tea was so wildly popular that it consistently sold out, won tea elections, and finally made it to the permanent collection due to the popular demand, because it is one of the most unexciting Bird & Blend teas I’ve tried.

The dry leaf smells amazing in the package, but the butterscotch just doesn’t hold up in the brewed tea for me at all. Brewed hot and plain, it just tastes like a standard strong, astringent, malty breakfast tea, with maybe a hint of generic caramel-like sweetness in the background. I tried it as a tea soda as well, hoping the carbonation would create a sort of “butterscotch soda” flavor, but it continued to just… not taste butterscotch-y.

The tea does do a lot better with added sweetener. Prepared as a latte with sweetened vanilla almond milk, it did have more of a caramel-like flavor, but it still didn’t stand out as exemplorary compared to other caramel-esque teas I’ve had. A coldbrew with some added cane sugar syrup finally elevated it to the “butterscotch soda” I was looking for, and is probably my favorite way of drinking it of all the methods I tried, and how I will finish off the 50g bag.

Would not order more of this, though.

I thought this was decent and comparable to the bold caramel teas from TeaGschwendner and August Uncommon Teas. My mom loved it on a whole other level though – the smooth, buttery caramel toffee flavour on top of a builder’s blend (with Assam) is a winning combo, especially for a decadent morning wake-up cup.

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #156 overall / Tea #27 for April
An Ode to Tea, B is for Butter Brew (gifted by AJRimmer & Tori, used AJRimmer sample)
Monday 04/19 — Bird & Blend Butter Brew hot & plain with a splash of milk. Didn’t really taste much other than the black tea & milk tbh.
#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge

This was my afternoon cup today. It’s not super cold hehre right now, around 27, but a littel foggy and dreary. So I decided t go though the teas I did drink from my advent calendars in December, and came up with this one.

I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it. Darned nose can’t smell anything so I really have no idea about the taste. A bit bitter at the end of the sip. I drank half the cup, then poured it out and re-steeped. It wasn’t bitter, but now a little astringent. It’s a shame. In the past I’ve enjoyed caramel teas like Mrs Patmore’s pudding tea and Marco Polo. Maybe it’s time to start adding honey to my tea.

AJRimmer Advent Day 18

I haven’t tried this one before! It does smell very butterscotchy. I steeped it and then walked away until my cup had cooled. There is a slight tang and astringency at the start of the sip. That changes into an almost bread like flavor and then the finish is all buttery with hints of caramel. I kinda want to try this hot with a sweetener!

This tea was accompanied by a note that mentioned a very dedicated process of creating a homemade butterbeer beverage that made me smile. Now I kind of want to go looking for butter pecan ice cream and try it!

Adventaggedon Day 15 – Tea 4/6

I can’t actually remember if I’ve had this tea before; I’m thinking no? If I have, it wasn’t memorable. I was excited to see it this morning though because it was cool I was getting another Harry Potter inspired tea from my non-Harry Potter themed advent!

This was a polarizing tea in my advent group this morning – a lot of people were sad it wasn’t super strongly flavoured and said it reminded them of a majority black tea. I feel like I have kind of the opposite impression? To me, especially from the dry leaf aroma, is was very obviously flavoured but just in a way that exaggerated a lot of the natural flavours of the black tea. If I had to guess, I’d say that there was probably either a butter or a biscuit flavouring added to the tea – possibly both? Or, at least, something similar. There was a bit of almost butterscotch-y sweetness but it was definitely very tempered next to the lush creamy and bready flavours and thick malty top notes. I actually appreciate the blend a lot because it was so incredibly thick and buttery without being overly sweet/sugared.

I added in a splash of milk with my morning cuppa, and I was ultimately very impressed and pleased with this interpretation of a Butter Beer profile. It was like the Breakfast Blend version of a butter beer!

Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CI1bJQzAPNj/

Bird & Blend Advent Day 15 (15-December 2020)

This one smells caramel-y dry and steeped. I wouldn’t say buttery, like the name, but caramel is still tasty, so here’s hoping.

This is just a half decent black base with some bitterness while it’s still quite hot. I think this is the Assam tea base against the 100°C water. I should’ve checked the ingredients before adding water instead of just the steeping parameters.

I’m going to let this cool some more to see if some caramel flavours come out. Yeah, nothing changed as it cooled, sadly. I still drank the cup, but the sachets I saved for a re-steep may just be tossed.