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I’ve actually never had Black Forest Cake now that I think about it but I know that it’s cherry and chocolate and I’m a fan of both those things so I figured I’d like this. I was worried when I scooped the tea out because it was a lot of fruit pieces, especially apple. In fact, the apple chunks even stuck to the spoon. There wasn’t a lot of black tea at all and my hesitation grew when the tea brewed up quite lightly. See photo here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CC9ubDXgT1s/?igshid=6dke1jjc8s8d

Tasting it though, it’s pretty good. I don’t think it screams cherry exactly but it’s definitely got that red fruit flavor. That’s what hits you first and initially I thought that’s all there was until I realized the aftertaste was all chocolate. The more I drink, the more the flavours blend together and the more it becomes what I believe would be Black Forest cake. It’s sweet but not one note. All in all, a pretty good start to my pudtea journey.

Also sorta funny story about pudtea…I messaged Roswell Strange about placing an order because I saw it on Instagram and all their teas sounded like my kind of teas. In theory I think I was asking her to talk me out of it but we’re enablers so I knew that wouldn’t happen. Not only did she support me buying ALL their flavours (except one which wasn’t in sample size but she said she’d send me a sample) but it turns out she’d already bought them a day or two earlier. I guess sometimes we really are still tea twins!

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Finished this off plain and was quite good while still hot. I wrote this note a lot closer to when I drank it but apparently steepster never published it. I recall saying that I usually made this as a latte but plain allowed the “sweet” vanilla to come through a lot more clearly. I would definitely revisit this if I were ordering or shopping at The Tea Haus again but since I no longer live in London anymore, I don’t think that’ll be happening anytime soon.

We threw my sister and brother-in-law a (socially distanced) surprise baby shower on Sunday. The downpour of rain came just prior to it starting and essentially just caused everything to get soaked and had to be shifted into the garage. That was a let down slightly but overall it came together and was a fun time.

My sister’s friend hosted and was awesome at planning games and keeping things entertaining. One of her games was a chugging contest where everyone got squeeze bottles of iced tea and whoever finished their bottle first won a trophy. Before we started, I jokingly turned to my sister and was like “I got this…I could drink tea for a living”. Turned out I did have it because I finished well before everyone else and only spilled some on my shirt. Unfortunately my sister’s friend didn’t look my way until another person got called the winner. It was fun nonetheless though and the iced tea wasn’t bad either. It was a sugary peach tea and if I had to guess, I’d say it was Pure Leaf but I don’t really drink enough bottled tea to really know.

Peppermint and floral are the two main flavours. Some brown sugar notes but this doesn’t scream Creme brulee to me.

Made this as a teapop and it’s not good. It’s waaaaaaayyyyy too tart when initially made as a concentrate and then topped with (strawberry) Perrier.

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Nope. Not for me.

It’s sort of citrus but a lot of wood and herbal and not for me.

Hopefully I get a caffeine boost from it at least.

Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing! Always fun to try new things.

Added to my mixed berry smoothie. Something was a little bitter in this one and I don’t know if it’s the matcha or the smoothie or me. Oh well.

This was one I was looking at in my second order but ultimately decided not to buy. So, when I opened the box and this was one of the samples, I was pretty happy to get a chance to try it.

Now having tried it, I’m happy I didn’t buy it. It’s not bad but I don’t think it’s a cream puff either. I get a lot of maple and some coconut cream mixed with green tea. So it’s like maple matcha coconut cream. I am dozing off so I’m hoping the matcha will be a pick me up but other than that, this isn’t doing much for me.

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Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing this and all other Floragold teas. This one is not one I’d have ever gotten for myself because jasmine green teas are common and just not my thing. This is fine. Smooth enough and I can also get that sort of grape/muscatel vibe from the jasmine that RS got. If you are into jasmine greens and this is available, it’s fine but if you’re not, this is like all others.

Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing this with me! Today I paired it with tiny donuts from a shop called Darling Donuts in Hamilton. They’re cute and come in fun flavoured like salted caramel popcorn. Alas they’re cake donuts and not my favourite. I don’t think I’ll be revisiting it.

Unfortunately the same can be said for this tea. It’s not my favourite. It smelled so strongly of caramel but was basically just nut and a meh black base. In fairness to the tea, I’ve been holding onto it for over a year so it could be age. I just found it disappointing since the smell made promises that taste didn’t deliver on.