Caramel Vanilla Assam

OMG… DRINK ALL THIS TEA!!!!!

This is another amazing tea from Butiki. The leaves are phenomenally huge. (Picture after steeping: http://s1165.photobucket.com/user/dagony/media/Tea%20Stash/IMG_1976_zps47b28c20.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1)

Soft, creamy caramel that perfectly complements the tea without covering it up. This is only my second tea that can satisfy my need for dessert without being dessert. I tried it with a little sugar and it seems to overwhelm the tea while bringing out the caramel even more. Not bad, but completely unnecessary. And I did not care for it with milk. Again, not a bad taste but it seems to muddy up the tea flavor.

This is the perfect tea for today. It’s far too cold to be spring and I’m trying not to eat anything since we are going out to the Brazilian grill tonight with friends and I want room for meat! This should keep me feeling warm and not hungry yet not fill me up.

http://s1165.photobucket.com/user/dagony/media/Tea%20Stash/IMG_1977_zpsd6c0e3e4.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

My only complaint – it’s hard to measure 2 teaspoons when the leaves don’t fit in the spoon! I probably got more than 2 teaspoons in my cup. I’m on the second steep and it’s still good.

hello friends I am here (honestly all the problems loading things on here have made me sad, so I want to either read all your notes – which I can’t, or none at all. BOO.)

Too much work and too much drama. My boyfriend and I had been taking a break, well that break is completely broken up now as I found out he had been seeing someone else, VIA REDDIT (I peruse my friends’ comments and there it was), and he tells me she lives across the country and it’s nothing but SERIOUSLY the way he wrote about her was extremely disturbing when he didn’t talk to me for those 2 months and it was very betraying and yeah I absolutely lost it on Tuesday.

Which was when I drank this tea because I didn’t go to work and my manager is great and covered for me and I’m actually going to give her one of the teas from my Butiki order as a thank you. If I can just decide which one to part with.

This one is not it. This was actually not at all what I expected. For some reason I was thinking like cloying, stick to everything caramel. It’s more like the caramel sauce from Baked/Baked Explorations I’m not sure which book they first put this recipe in but oh my god it’s not your average caramel. And it’s just like the one in this tea, and I didn’t even add anything to this cup.

Actually I just saw that caramel doesn’t even have butter in it, this one is buttery caramel, with just the right hint of vanilla. I think it would be like the sweet/salty Baked brownies minus the sea salt. The Assam adds just a little cocoa flavor to me, so this isn’t full on brownies but just reminiscent of them.

And like them, everything just blends so well together that you expect nothing was mixed and measured, it all tasted this way from the start.

Next time, I add sugar and see if it gets even more like those brownies.

Fun fact: my grandma once paid me $20 to make her another batch of the brownies after we had them at Christmas or Thanksgiving. I’m not sure what the point is since I’m pretty sure sometimes when you’re older grandparents just look for whatever way they can to give you money since toys no longer work, so it’s not really a testament to how good they are, but seriously look that recipe up if you like sweet and salty combos (and in their first cookbook they did just a regular chocolate brownie but the caramel chocolate one is AMAZING).

I am going to murder my tastebuds. They’re making everything taste different now.
So when I first got this tea, I adored it. It’s one of the few teas that I ordered a most likely absurd amount (at least in terms of everything else I had in my cupboard) so that I could have it because I loved it so much. Because of the cost I had intended to make it only for special occasions/as a treat sort of thing. But I have so much tea and it doesn’t stay good forever so I resolved to drink it more often.

But the last time I made this, it wasn’t as amazing as I remembered it. Still good, but not the blow your mind tea drinking experience I remember. I chalked it up to something I did or my mood and moved on.

I made it today and it’s very different from what I remember. And not exactly pleasantly. This brew is kinda bitter and blah tasting straight. Like, I still get the caramel and vanilla scents that I recognize. And the taste is kinda vaguely caramel/vanilla. But where I used to not have to add any sweetener to make the intended flavors come out, this time I had to use far more than I had expected.

I think my tastebuds are changing, because I heard that they do that (like my allergies that came up suddenly and supposedly will go away just as suddenly….can’t wait for that). But this is going too far. /cries/ The thought actually crossed my mind that I should just sell off the unopened 1oz bag that I had gotten last time this was on sale to refill my tin when it emptied enough. Which months ago would’ve been blasphemy. sigh

Thank you to Stacy for including this is my last order. I was craving a dessert tea this afternoon, so I had a feeling this would hit the spot.

For an assam this is a bit on the mild side and not pungent like some I’ve had. The caramel/vanilla flavor is delicate and sweet, and this is an easy tea to sip on plain. I had mine with soymilk and sugar just because I needed an extra boost. The aroma is so nice just sitting here wafting up from my cup. I enjoyed trying this and hopefully it will kill my after lunch sugar cravings.

Thanks again Stacy!

This tea is stunning, it takes caramel teas to a whole new level. Thank you JustJames for picking another winner to send to me.

I love caramel and make it from scratch every year after our annual trip to the apple orchard. We come home, make caramel apples, and I spend the next few days doing a marathon run of applesauce making so I have plenty put up for the winter. I’m going to have to find a way to break my hiatus so I can order some more of this before apple season is over.

This isn’t a tea I would have normally ordered for myself because caramel teas never live up to my high expectations. They are always too sweet, too artificial, or just completely off the mark. This tea is perfect and it is really rare that I say that about a tea. It’s sweet, but not too sweet and subtly creamy from the vanilla bean. I can still taste the Assam base, which has a roasted quality that really adds to the tea. I just love how all of the flavors blend together complementing each other as well as the base.

Every time I try another one of Stacy’s teas I’m impressed by her blending talents.

With Steepster’s recent update wonkiness, I decided to stop trying new teas and return to some comforting classics. Now that Steepster appears to be back to normal, I’m happy to return too! I apologize for my absence but, man, I’m glad all those bugs are finally gone! It was just too much for me to handle at the time.

Now I have a lot of catching up to do on everyone’s notes! Please don’t feel neglected if I haven’t gotten to you yet. And feel free to write a comment here to remind me. Ever since reaching over 100 followers, it’s been steadily harder to keep up with everyone. But I promise I do love you all. :)

ON TO THE TEA!

Assam is hit or miss for me. I haven’t quite figured out why. But some assam varieties I’ve had tasted like dirty diapers. Well, this is not that! (Thank goodness). This assam is a hit! The dry leaf aroma is vanilla-y and floral. The brewed tea aroma is strongly vanilla.

The taste sans additions is mostly vanilla and a smooth black base. The caramel comes in with the aftertaste. With a bit of Truvia added, more of the caramel buttery sweetness comes through sooner. The vanilla is still nice and strong and in the forefront, but now I get a nice side helping of caramel too.

I thought this base was going to be really assertive and require milk, so this smooth calmness is a nice surprise. I prefer this tea sweetened, although it is quite enjoyable plain too. I just have an insatiable sweet tooth. ;) I suspect most people would enjoy this tea best sans additions.

Mmmm, this is just sooo good! It is very cleverly and masterfully flavored by Stacy. The re-steep for 5.5 minutes was just as flavorful and delicious as the first. Thank you very much to JustJames for providing me with a very generous sample! This could be my new favorite vanilla black! :D

This was another tea from Stephanie’s surprise Christmas box!
I finally see what all the hype is about.
Definitely a creamy tea. The burnt sugar caramel taste is very apparent here. There is a slight note of vanilla. The pairing with the Assam was a very wise choice. I do get a tart citrus like flavor as well as a sweet raisin-esque feel! I definitely enjoyed this! Thank you!

Oh how dreammmyyyy this one is. Wow. First of all, I think the base of this tea probably has a caramel/vanilla hint to it already. But Butiki does a really nice job at enhancing the base with natural ingredients. I was able to try both this and the base by itself and I think I prefer this one unless I just steeped it absolutely perfectly. I want to call it malty but it isn’t really malty. And the vanilla caramel just adds a nice sweetness to it that pairs so well. There is just a deep lingering flavor to it I just love. This is AMAZING. Maybe it was just because I was craving caramel today, but I don’t think it was just that!

Many thanks to both TastyBrew and Lindsey for this tea. I was so excited to give this a try since Butiki does flavored blends so well. I’ve enjoyed most of the flavored teas from Butiki and I love caramel & vanilla — it seemed so perfect!

The scent of this tea is sugary sweet with a hint of a toasty black tea base. In a way, it reminds me a little bit of Lucky Charms marshmallows. I’m bracing myself because it smells very, very sweet. Sipping…first I taste the lovely black tea. It’s not bitter or too strong at all. In fact, it’s smooth and slowly turns into a very strong sweetness. It’s the nicest combination of caramel and vanilla, although I can’t seem to separate the two. It’s almost like I have a very sugary caramel between my teeth. The tea and flavoring give me the impression of a golden marshmallow. I can actually detect the roasted aspect, not just the fluffy sugar! How interesting! It’s not even supposed to be a marshmallow tea… but it works.

The finish is buttery and a little bit like a soft frosted cereal. Very nice and very rich. I’m impressed with this tea and look forward to drinking it when I’m in the mood for something sweet. This would satisfy any sugar or dessert craving quite well. Delicious!