Salted Caramel

I stole a sample of this from the traveling tea box. I figured if I liked it I could just go buy some.
I wont be buying it, it’s not terrible, but it came out incredibly astringent after a 3 minute steep.

After being told I couldn’t use the kid’s tumbler (which I freaking LOVE) for the iced tea promo (boo!) I decided that since I had to pay full price for a cup anyway, I may as well try one of the new teas. This was…all right. I had it iced, since that’s what I’m in the mood for and I’m not so sure about hot teas in the kid’s tumbler. It was over steeped and bitter (due to the gentleman making the tea losing the timer and then setting it for a regular steep time when he found it a full minute later while my tea was already steeping), but what I could taste around the bitterness was good. I have some at home, so I’m going to try it with my own steeping preferences before I rate. But what I got was a creamy smooth caramel, so yay! Hopefully it’s not just a bitter tea.

Thanks Sil! Mmmm this smells so sweet. The flavor is delicious. It’s creamy, smooth, buttery, and rich. I’m glad I got the chance to try this but I don’t think I’d ever buy a whole pouch of it. Too rich for me :] But I still really enjoyed it as an after work treat with some butter toffee scones :]

Thanks to Lariel for this sample. Just enough for one cup of tea.

And apparently I totally missed my 300th tasting note because this one is #307. Oh well.

I didn’t particularly enjoy the smell of this tea so I didn’t have very high hopes for it, despite all the good reviews. However, upon tasting it (while it was cooled off, I didn’t drink any while it was warm), it’s quite tasty and very burnt-caramel. I’m not sure I pick up on any salt though. I’ve never really had a ‘salty’ tea so I’m not sure what to look for besides the obvious in this.

I put off trying this toffee scented tea for the longest time. It smelled yummy, it just wasn’t something I particularly wanted to drink- especially in the context of all my other teas.

I finally got around to trying it today, along with sending out the majority of my parcels. In both cases (tea trying and parcels) I don’t know why I put it off for so long! Parcel sending is easy and this tea is tasty.

This teas has an imbedded natural sweetness that reminds me of Glitter & Gold and makes me feel reluctant to add anything else to it. It ends on a reminiscently salty note with a tad bit of astringency. It tastes exactly like salted caramel and is truly only missing the texture.Now I want some plain toffee. I really noticed the black tea on the first few sips when it was still hot.

The only downside is the flavour and scent are somewhat strong for me at times and makes me slightly lightheaded but I can overlook that.

Now, on to my last fifteen page essay of the semester. Maybe that will be easier than I thought too. Fingers crossed!

I don’t think I’ve been so excited about tea since Frank announced the coconut cheesecake blend – which, incidentally, was my gateway tea way back when.

Salted caramel is absolutely one of my favorite dessert flavors ever. And both Teavana and David’s tea have blends for it this year! I got my boyfriend to spring for a perfect tea mug for both of us, then tacked this tea on (while he tacked the Organic Breakfast for himself). And then I waited for this sucker to ship from Canada down to Georgia.

My first cup was this morning, and I’ll be honest – I wasn’t impressed. I steeped it for about 4.5 minutes and added a splash of milk, but even before I added the leaf the dry smell was kind of off putting to me. Almost like musty and toffee mixed together. Even once I steeped it, that smell kind of remained. The milk made it creamy and perfectly drinkable, but – eh. Also, I got none of the salt. So I was unimpressed that first go around.

But obviously I wouldn’t give up that easily. So tonight I tried extending the steeping time with the hope that maybe that smell would transform into caramel with time. The steeped smell is a little more caramel and a little less toffee, so that’s good. And I think there’s a little salt in the sip, which is better. But plain – I’m getting some astringency that I’m not liking. We’ll see what the milk does…

The milk definitely makes it smoother – but there’s still that weird note in the background. I’m wondering if it’s the coconut or vanilla? I do get hints of caramel but nothing that makes me think of actual salted caramel. Darn.

It’s good, but not amazing. Sigh. Has anyone tried the Teavana blend? I would love to know how it compares…

Of all the teas that I watched come out, this one was for sure the one that I was the most excited to try. It did not let me down! Salted caramel squares are one of my favourite treats, and this has exactly the same flavour, only less guilt! I get mostly toffee and a smooth on the first sip, and then a delicious salt caramel after taste like warm caramel pouring down my throat.
Also held up well to a second steep, which made for a more pleasant afternoon of fighting with my timetable…

This was today’s tea in the advent calendar. I was a bit apprehensive and worried it would actually taste salty. It smells fantastic! The taste is rich and buttery without being too sweet. The caramel and the black tea base go really well together! It tastes exactly like caramel toffee- with an interesting twist. The twist being the salt. It didn’t taste salty to me, but the salt helps cut the sweetness. Overall I found this tea absolutely delightful!

Was out late Halloween partying last night. My Husband was Dresden (he’s geeky and cute) and I was a gothic lolita doll with a petticoat that made my butt impossible to get through doorways and sit down. Ate too much candy and my sweet tooth is still going, hoping this Salted Caramel tea will hit the spot!

DRY: Looks like all the fun bits of this tea settled onto the bottom of my package! Smells salty, caramelly toffee!

STEEPED: Bold, coffee like, but toffee sweet aroma. Little bit of film on the top of the tea and black debris on the bottom that my Steeper didn’t pick up.

TASTE: Strong, deep, bold black tea taste. Small caramel aftertaste. I get faint salt taste end of sip. Not astringent, but bitterness starting to emerge. Not picking up the coconut.
Sweetened, the caramel comes out a bit more.

COMMENTS: Hmmm, I was hoping this would taste like how it smells, but not enough caramel, salt or creamyness for me to fully enjoy this tea, but I am a flavor freak. The black tea is rich, so I think a coffee drinker would enjoy this tea.

A lovely autumn night and the full moon is still shining bright casting its soothing glow over all. Much like the taste and scent of this tea. The sweet concoction of toffee, caramel and sweet coconut is balanced nicely by the sea salt. It can also be said that the sea salt enhances these sweet flavors. The nice perk of these candy based teas is that they are guilt-free and allow people to give into their beloved sweet temptations. Way to seduce the tea-drinker’s further, eh? The scent alone is enough to be a magnetic draw, it’s like being in the kitchen while these treats are being made. Wonderful.

I have had this one a couple times now and really really like it. It is definitely one that I will purchase again ( and there has not been many that fall into that category),

I was eating a piece of rich chocolate cake and needed a nice black tea to accompany it… boy, did I make the right choice with this one!

I’m not going to rate it, since the magic in my mouth of both chocolate cake + Salted Caramel tea was pretty delicious, but didn’t really give me a good taste of the unadulterated tea. However, the combination of the two was a match made in heaven, with the creamy astringency of the tea cutting through the richness of the cake. Like both drinking and eating a caramilk bar. Yes, it’s just as awesome as it sounds!

So, if you ever need something to pair with that rich, velvety slice of chocolate-ganache-delight look no further than this tea, your taste buds with thank you. And probably have a party in your mouth. Where everyone is eating cake. And drinking tea. Caramel tea.

I do quite enjoy this tea, but I find the flavor to be a little weak. It’s tasty, I like the bit of sweetness and really like that the salt keeps it from being overly sweet… but I wish there was a bit more actual caramel flavor. It’s tasty, though. I just don’t think I’d buy it.

Advent Calendar Day 4! Excitement! Three Weeks til Xmastimes!

Ugh. Ok so Salted Caramel story: I looooove Salted Caramels. A lot. Last year President’s Choice had boxes of them, and when I initially tried them I was like bleh, but then I couldn’t stop eating them, and then I was like yum. So yeah, they are something I will devour if we left alone in a room together.

When this tea first came out hubby and I were about to get married and looking for thank you gifts for our famjams. I added some onto an online order of something for his grandma, because I HAD to try this one. And I have never been so disappointed in a tea. It isn’t salty! I do not understand, and it smells better than it tastes. I’ve had 50 grams that I’ve been trying to drink down/get rid of every since.

So this morning when I opened the day 4 door, I actually delayed having my cup of this because I just wasn’t excited. I enjoyed a travel mug of chocolate chili chai on the way to school instead. Nomnom. And then when I got home I had a latte, knowing full well that the flavour just doesn’t live up to my expectations.

And it still doesn’t. I think I’ve managed to manipulate it enough times that I find it mildly pleasing, but like my mom said to me today when she tried it, it just doesn’t taste like salted caramels. I even tried to oversteep it to bring out the flavor. Nothing. So I look forward to something better tomorrow.

HOWEVER I have been drinking the Skinny all night now that I have some again (first time in a year) and it is AMAZING! Totally makes up for this. And that is my story. The end.

I have been in a bad mood all week. I’ve been chained to my computer bogged down by an excessive load of school work. This law paper I am writing is pure torture; a looming deadline never helps. Naturally, I run to the tea cupboard for respite from stress and chaos. I reach for Salted Caramel because I know this tea never fails to turn my frown upside down. The smell of the dry leaf is divine: ooey gooey sweet salty and chewy fleur de sel caramels with a boozy undertone. A salty caramel liqour. The aroma of the brew is molten caramel without the inebriation from the dry leaf. This is one of those teas that taste just like it smells. It smell and taste reminds me of a Heath Bar. First sip you get the creamy feel and taste of caramel, you can taste a bit of malt from the black tea. The aftertaste is interesting and unique. Once the tea hits the back of your throat, you can taste a miniscule sprinkle of sea salt. Very unique this tea. I would be surprised if this tea doesn’t bring a smile to anyone’s face.

How could anyone not like this??

It is a combination of some of the very best things in life. I knew instantly I had met my match. Creamy salted caramel with chocolate tones and a just-strong-enough black tea base. Once again, a delightful blend from David’s.

Mmmmmm…salted caramel. I have been dying to try this one ever since I found out about it. Alas, I had to wait a little bit after my move to first make some money at my new job, and second order online because I don’t have a Davids Tea handy anymore.

The dry scent is amazing. It’s a rich caramel scent with hints of salt. When brewed, it reminded me a bit of Creme Caramel Rooibos but with a deeper scent, which make sense since this is a black tea. Just the same as Fantasy Island, I steeped this for 4 minutes then added a teaspoon of rock came sugar, no milk.

See, I’m trying to test the theory that the reason I feel the need to add milk to my black teas is because I steep them for too long. My theory was proven with Fantasy Island, but not so much with Salted Caramel. My first cup as described above wasn’t as great as the scent would have me believe. It tasted like a “smokier” version of Creme Caramel Rooibos. No, smokey is the wrong word. More “tea-ish”? I couldn’t get any sense of the salt in there either.

I made a second mug at 5 minutes and put both sugar and milk. Much better. It was smoother, and that rich caramel flavour was more well-rounded against the black tea. Still no salt, but maybe we’re not supposed to really notice it. The more I got through the mug, the more I liked it. I think this one will be a keeper.

Had a to-go cup of this at the DavidsTea in Chelsea this weekend, so I didn’t get to sniff the dry leaf. It tasted amazing though.

Didn’t get any salt, per se, but I could definitely taste the caramel. This tea was smooth, creamy and a tiny bit malty. Just overall yumminess. The caramel was strongest at the end of each sip; in fact it lingered after the sip was complete. A lingering flavor of delicious creamy caramel. I think the aftertaste was the best part, by far.

I like it. I drink this one straight with a bit of agave, or with agave and a bit of milk. Not bad at all. I’d like if the caramel was a little more pervasive in the flavour of the steeped tea, but overall it’s a good cup.

So the smell of the dry notes is… well… offputting. It smells like honey, but artificial honey. I am definetly not gettting caramel from it.
Once steeped it smells the same. I added extra salt to it, as there didn’t appear to be any/very little in the leaves I steeped. So I can’t give this an accurate numeral rating right now.
I didn’t get even the slightest hint of caramel. Maybe my extra salt was over powering it, but it definetly wasn’t there.