Caramel Vanilla Cuppa Cake™

This was the freebie bag in the latest RoT catalog that landed in our box. It smells luscious—like a Yankee Candle. Flavor is not unpleasant, by any means, but not getting any caramel out of it. Saw another note that mentioned hazelnut, and indeed, that’s more accurate. The ingredient list puzzled me. I have no animosity against either blackberry leaves or carob, but wondered what they’re doing in a brew with this moniker.

Ah, well—it’s warm and sweet and I’m cranky and cold. Surely it’ll help with one symptom or the other.

(However, a disclaimer here: wasn’t paying attention to steep time; I may have gotten a bit too impatient.)

This has been on my list of things to try, so I was delighted when it showed up in the Republic of Tea mailer.
I love caramel. I love vanilla. I am helpless in the face of cake. On the surface, this tea is exactly what the doctor ordered.
In practice? Nope. It tastes oddly chemical and fake. A faint hint of a very faux vanilla and even faker caramel. A disapointment. I will pull this off the wishlist.

This was a sample from the RoT catalog. I just can’t stand to throw out perfectly good tea, so I decided to get this over with and make it this morning. I had recently subjected myself to Teavana’s Pumpkin Spice Brûlée, and when I when I smelled this tea bag I expected a similar super artifically-sweet cloying mess. I was pleasantly surprised that the flavoring was a relatively clean nutty vanilla. I still wouldn’t ever pick this up. The black tea base is pretty flavorless, but it’s maybe convinced me that vanilla + black tea isn’t always distasteful to me.

really disappointed because i wanted to like this tea, but all i get is hazelnut. and i don’t like hazelnut in the least. was not expecting that at all, since this is supposed to taste like caramel, vanilla or some approximation of cake.

i also get a plasticky note that’s hard to ignore…not sure if it’s from the sachet or the artificial flavoring, but i couldn’t even finish my cup.

what to do with the rest of this tin??

This really is like eating a piece of vanilla cake! The caramel comes in in the aftertaste like caramel frosting. The flavor here is pretty accurate, which I’m really enjoying! I will say that it’s a little artificial and definitely tastes more like an herbal than a black tea. I don’t mind these things in a tea, but I can see where all the negative reviews are coming from.

Added a splash of milk – tastes like thin coffee drink. Tastes nice with breakfast. Added milk and cinnamon on another occasion – negligible effect r/t taste. Need to remember that it’s not a coffee drink – it’s disappointing if expecting a thick and creamy drink.

Surprisingly for a bagged tea, I quite liked this one. It tasted like a cookie. I usually add sugar to black teas because of the bitterness but this one could have used much less than I actually added and still tasted like a cookie, I think. I wouldn’t want to drink this all the time but if I want to drink a cookie, this one’s pretty good for that.

Yummy! It’s not refined, but it’s kind of like junk food in a cup. I’d rate it higher, but it has no subtlety to it. However, sometimes that’s what you want. :)

This tea smells quite yummy.. it reminds me of an artificial vanilla cupcake or cookie. It’s certainly tempting, but has me worried that it might be a little too fake. I think that I might have to add milk to it even though I like trying all of my teas plain. This tea just calls for it.

Sipping… weird. This tastes almost like a scented candle. It’s like a caramel vanilla candle dunked in a weak black tea. I’m disappointed because I thought this would be rich and tasty. Yuck.. I can’t seem to sip any longer and I don’t think adding milk would bring this cup back. Down the drain it goes!

Hello Steepster! This tea came from albertocanfly in my recent tea rehoming swaps. I’m not sure why, but I’ve had a weird fascination with these Cuppa Cake teas for a while… I’m very happy I finally get to try a couple of them! (if anyone else has Blueberry Bundt or Gingerbread, I would love to swap for those too!) Republic of Teas recommends 6 ounces of water per teabag (what…?) so I used two and filled my mug up almost to the top (so about 10 or 11 ounces). Hopefully it comes out okay! It’s hard to judge the leaf itself by looking at these bags, but it looks quite broken and very dark. It smells like some kind of amazing vanilla butter pound cake with caramel sauce, yum. I let the bags steep for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Mmm, once steeped, this tea smells like pure butter… Somewhat similar to those Butter Rum Lifesavers. There’s definitely a dessert element here. I added some raw sugar to my cup because, come on, cake is sweet. ;) I’m going to use Marzipan’s excuse and say, “Hey, I’m from the South!” Midwest counts as South, right? Right?! Sorry, sometimes I get pretty distracted typing while I’m waiting for my tea to cool… :P Okay, I may have overdone it a touch on the sugar, but it’s super delicious! Just like a cake tea should be. It tastes very vanilla-y and buttery, and there is caramel but it’s more of a light caramel – like a caramel drizzle. The base tea is super mellow and mild, and there’s the teensiest bit of astringency, but it’s next to nothing. Very tasty and decadent cake tea!