Red Velvet Cupcake

OMG…Are you freaking KIDDING ME?
This smells AMAZING…BEYOND AMAZING! It’s HEAVEN in a cup! OMG!

This also reminds me of Las Vegas! I LOVE Las Vegas (and I’m not even a gambler!) I love the hot weather, the eye candy, the food, the drink, the entertainment, the melting-pot of culture and people! If I didn’t have a family and was by myself I would MOVE there!

Another reason I love this aroma and love Las Vegas is because of this place…
http://theredvelvetcafe.com/

The last time I went to Vegas (in March) we visited this place! The Vegetarian/Vegan options are wonderful! But my meat-eating DH enjoyed it a lot as well!

They are known for their Red Velvet Cake and it smelled EXACTLY like this Tisane!

These ingredients are incredible! S&V really jumped on a trendy dessert with this one! I have been seeing Red Velvet Cakes and Cupcakes in more and more places lately!

It’s cake-ier than any Rooibos I have ever had…it tastes like a cake!

The Raspberry is juicy and but NOT Tarty. It’s intensity level is perfect for this flavor!

The chocolate is like a chocolate malt fudge or German Chocolate Cake type chocolate…dark, robust.

The coconut contributes to the cakey/bakey-ness and isn’t stand-out/stand-alone coconut. It’s really yummy and necessary as it stands in this blend of flavors!

It’s RICH and Totally ROCKIN’!

I LOVE this in so many ways!

If you are afraid of Rooibos…try this one. It might change your mind. The level of Rooibos flavor is not upfront – the additional flavors are. The Rooibos is a nice sweet base tho…without being stereotypically Rooibos…if you know what I mean!

LOVE :)

Backlog:

Last night, as I sat down to watch some television with my hubby, I brewed up a pot of this to enjoy while watching. It’s pretty good, but, it leaves a little something to be desired as far as red velvet cupcaked-ness goes. I agree with TeaEqualsBliss in that it SMELLS like a red velvet cupcake, but, it doesn’t really taste like one. Especially when served piping hot.

It IS tasty, though. I like it better after it’s had a chance to cool a few minutes in the teacup, because this seems to allow time for the chocolate flavors to really come forth. When sipped fresh from the teapot hot, the chocolate flavors are quite obscure, but, after a few minutes, they come forward. The raspberry and coconut are very subtle, but they’re there. This just doesn’t taste a lot like a red velvet cupcake, at least, no red velvet cupcake that I’ve tasted. There are some cake-y-ish flavors here, but, my palate feels the flavors are a little disjointed … it doesn’t come together on my palate as red velvet cupcake.

Disclaimer: Red Velvet isn’t my favorite cupcake so it’s not one I eat a lot, so, I don’t attest to be any kind of an expert in red velvet cupcakes.

I do like this, but, it isn’t my favorite dessert tea/tisane offering from Simpson & Vail.

New order arrived today from Simpson and Vail, based on the reviews I was really looking forward to trying this one.

So I agree it is somehow “cake like” but I guess I was hoping for something more on the flavor, it’s better than the version I have from RoT, but the flavor is a bit light. Don’t get me wrong, it’s enjoyable, but mostly what I am tasting is rooibos. I think this needs a much longer steep before I can rate it properly. I know sometimes rooibos benefits from an 8 or 10 minute steep.

Stay tuned!

This was good – and for me that is saying a LOT considering it is a rooibos. The chocolate note was lovely and it did have that Red Velvet cake flavor and feel to it. I would not reorder it but I don’t care for rooibos so thats the only reason.

This smells DIVINE!
I took the lid off the pot to remove the basket and the deep, rich chocolaty smell of hot cocoa wafted up at me. If I hadn’t of known this was tea, I would have really thought it was hot cocoa.

This is one of the most amazing chocolate teas’s I’ve ever had. It’s like creamy cake. I added a little milk and it’s made the chocolate taste a little richer. There are raspberry pieces in the tea, but I can’t make out the taste of them – maybe because of the milk – so for me it’s more a chocolate cake tea than a Red Velvet cupcake. Nevertheless this is outstanding!

I also like the lined brown bag packaging the tea came in. On one hand I love nice tins, however it always brings up the already exorbitant international shipping costs. So I’m happy when vendors package simply.
The only comment I have is that the ingredients are not marked on the package and I have to go online to look for them.

But the tea? I can already see this is going to be a contender to take over the top spot in my “favorite chocolate rooibos” list, because of the cakey aspect of the tea. I will definitely need more than the 2oz I ordered!

I am thrilled with the idea of a red velvet tea. The Republic of Tea developed their own red velvet blend a long time ago and I remember being so excited to buy a tin. That tea wasn’t too strong on red velvet flavor and left me hunting for a new red velvet blend.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered this tea on Steepster. Thanks to momo I was able to sample this tea. Thank you!

This tea smells like rooibos and creamy chocolate. Sipping.. it’s really, really yummy. I taste the nicest blend of rooibos and chocolate. The chocolate mixes so well with the rooibos. It’s almost a bit like baking chocolate in the way that it leaves your tongue a little dry. The raspberry notes are at the end of the sip. They add a nice tartness to the woody, milk chocolate. Yes, this definitely beats any other red velvet tea I’ve tried in the past. I only wish that there could be more of that distinctive crumbly, moist red velvet cake flavor.

This tea isn’t super sweet, but still manages to satisfy my sweet tooth for the night. It’s not my perfect red velvet tea, but it’s an awfully good chocolate rooibos tea.

It smells like cake or chocolate. Well, maybe a little like chocolate cake. The flavour is more chocolate (and berries) than red velvet.

Both the loose “leaf” and the liquor have a scent that’s mostly rooibos with a hint of some kind of generic sweetness. The taste is a bit more interesting; I’m not sure I’d call it similar to red velvet cake, but it’s definitely cake-y and I can taste the hint of cacao and raspberry, and there’s a nice even balance between the base and the flavoring. I’m not in love with it, but it’s the best dessert rooibos I’ve tried (although to be frank, I don’t think rooibos and sweet tastes are really made for each other).

This is my first Tea from Simpson & Vail, which I found on this site actually… Love the smell, taste, and color! I picked up on the chocolate taste and creamy roobios. I didn’t taste much cake though. It is delicious none the less.