Mom's Apple Pie

Last sample from Queen of Tarts. One thing’s for certain, this definitely smells like apple pie. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was. It perfectly captures the sweet yet sharp apple and buttery pastry. It’s right there in the scent. I wasn’t sure about the green base here, but it really works. It’s slightly vegetal and fresh tasting, and is itself partially reminiscent of tart, sour apple. The green tea combines beautifully with a sweet sugariness, and a hint of cinnamon, to make me think of the finished baked product. Sweet sugary baked apple flavour, and the sense of buttery, rich pastry. I don’t know exactly how all of this manages to be there, but it is. It really, absolutely is. I think this is probably as close as you can get to drinking apple pie. It’s just perfect, and really captures the essence of the real thing. Amazing!

I feel like I finally got this tea tonight. I tried it on multiple occasions before and could not get over the bitterness of the green tea base. The apple notes were always there, but it just seemed like a weird apple note. Tonight, I gave it a much lower brewing temperature and good short steep time (only 2 minutes). What this resulted in was a nice, delicate green tea with strong apple and cinnamon notes. The dreaded astringency I had been battling completely disappeared. Now that I understand this tea a little more, I am far more impressed with it and would even go so far as to say I can seem myself drinking this far more often.

Thank you so much for the sample Raritea!!
This is an interesting tea. I can certainly taste the apple, and cinnamon, but it reminds me a little too much of Forever Nuts, which I was not all that fond of. It must be my association with FN, but I swear I taste beets in here to! I am slowly going crazy…

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @80C, steeped two minutes.

I like this one. I remember liking it a few yeas ago, too. The apple flavour tends to the Granny Smith end, and it can get a bit Jolly Rancher-ish. I might steep this one minute next time. Nice nibble of cinnamon. I can’t taste much green tea. Soothing. I used to drink a lot of Celestial Seasonings Apple Cinnamon when I was in university. This reminds me a lot of it, and of the happiness of fall studies.

I still enjoy this one. Steeped at 80 degrees for 3 and 4 minutes. A nice mid afternoon cuppa. Like apple cider. Not getting much baked taste today but still very much enjoyable.

This is another sample sent to my by Aisling of Tea. I was rather surprised that it was a green tea rather than a black tea base. Somehow, a black tea base just makes more sense to me. I’m not sure if it would change how I feel about the tea any, but it seems to make more sense. Maybe it is just more conventional, and I’m being dull and boring. That well could be the answer too.

Anyhoo, the tea. The smell is amazing. Out of this world delicious. I get apples, I get cinnamon, it is divine. But on the sip I mostly get cinnamon (light) and green tea. I catch a whiff of apple, but no flavor really screams “apple!” to me. Luckily the green tea is not overly vegetal, that would just taste wrong. I’m definitely glad I got to try a sample of it.

My son goes skating on Wednesday mornings and it was a rush to get out of the house today. I made this one on my way out the door thinking I would take the tea bag out when we got to the rink. Well I forgot. When I got back to the car I realized my mistake and was worried that it would be oversteeped. Well I can report that after 2 hours in the mug the tea was still good. Less apple and lots of cinnamon but still delicious. No bitterness at all. And the tea was still fairly warm too. It was a nice surprise and helped me recover (mentally) from the fall I had on the ice. 2 year olds will take you down with them when falling. Bruised knee and sore back later at least I didn’t land on him.

Hard apple cider. That’s what this tastes like to me, down to the fizziness. Yummy! The resteep tastes the same as the first but weaker no matter how long you steep.

I have fickle tastes where DavidsTea is concerned. This one falls squarely in the “like” camp. I’m not picking up on anything pie-like, though, so “apple pie” seems like quite the misnomer.

I was fully prepared to be underwhelmed by this one from the fall collection, too, but it turns out I’m quite the fan! This is really tasty. It smells just like apple cider but I was pleasantly surprised to realize that the taste is more than that. Like LiberTEAS pointed out in her note, it’s not just cinnamon-apple; they do get a comforting pastry flavour in there. As a side note, there is something unique about DT’s cinnamon teas and they all remind me of Pumpkin Chai since it was one of the first teas I had from them. I remember smelling Mamma Mia and thinking of Pumpkin Chai, weirding out the salesperson. I don’t know anything about cinnamon, but I wonder if they use a specific type.

This is yummy!!! Wonderful apple flavor and a strong cinnamon spice. I like that this doesn’t just taste like apple and cinnamon, it has that pastry flavor to it too. And I can taste the light, crisp taste of the green tea. Sweet, nicely spiced, and very delicious. This one is a winner all the way.