Hot Toboggan (organic)

I picked this one up in the good old days, and by that I mean the time when people thought coming home with ten different samples from DavidsTea was ridiculous! If only they knew then… Anyways, I remember being told that this one was supposed to taste like a caramel apple, and although I found it ok, I don’t remember it being a favourite by far. I had it earmarked to do a quick comparison to DT’s Mom’s Apple Pie, so figured tonight was as good a night as any! Sadly, neither of these is a sipdown; there’s still one cup left of this one, and lots of the other.

It’s funny, I took a sniff of this one, and could have sworn it was Mom’s Apple Pie! That’s how it smells, like warmed cinnamon apples with a bit of crust. And really, flavourwise, it tastes rather like the aroma. A bit heavy on the crust (which is probably the… almonds??), but definitely like apple pie. I’m not getting any caramel, so wouldn’t call it caramel apple, but the light cinnamon and fruitiness combined with a really distinct buttery crust flavour is 100% apple pie. The only problem is that it’s kind of weak. I suppose the tea is over 6 months old, but it has been stored properly, so maybe my leaf/water ratio is just a bit off, or maybe it needed that extra three minutes that I so cautiously didn’t give it. On second thought, I see the package directions indicate using 1.25 tsp, and I used a generous 1.5, so maybe it’s just meant to be on the weak side. This is nice though, and the aroma is very soothing.

ETA: Third infusion a day and a half later is heavy on cinnamon aroma (but not flavour), and mostly tastes nutty. Not bad. This one’s growing on me, but I probably won’t ever see it again since it’s online exclusive, and I don’t want 50g of it!

Making a little more progress towards drinking up my oldest tea samples, here. I don’t recall whether there was always so little green tea in this one, but I swear the entire 1.5 tsp of tea I used today was strictly lemongrass, apple chunks, and nut chunks. No tea leaves in sight. Nor any tea flavour; it’s all light apple/slightly lemongrassy lemon, and nutty. With a light pinch of cinnamon to round out the flavours. Decent flavour, but certainly nothing like caramel apple to me, and either 5 minutes isn’t long enough, or 1.5 tsp isn’t enough tea, because this is a lighter cup of tea than I would like. Oh well! Only enough left now for a very small cup. Not sad that this one’s gone (or is an online exclusive, I don’t recall).

OK. I officially give up. I followed the steeping directions to the T(ea), and to no avail.

First impressions – This tea smells ok dry, very similar to Mom’s Apple Pie. It smells better once steeped, but still not unique or interesting. Also, I was super excited to be getting a kukicha blend, but… come on. There is simply nowhere near enough kukicha in this tea.

Flavour – Weak. Mild apple cinnamon flavor, not a hint of caramel, and this bitterness that I cannot seem to rid myself of no matter how I steep it.

Loveability – Unfortunately, this is a definate pass for me. Darn, I was really hoping for a flavoured kukicha to call my very own…

I remade this tea today for a tea tasting with a couple of friends.

Why is steeping this to perfection so bloody hard?? We all agreed that this time it was understeeped. I tasted like hot water with lemon (where did that come from?). And we all agreed that it has so much potential and that it deserves another chance to show us how awesome it really is. I am certain that the third time’s a charm!