Pinita Colada Carrot Cake

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #207 overall / Tea #31 for May
Thursday 5/20 - FINSHED 5/20 —pitcher 52teas pinita colada carrot cake honeybush/rooibos (drained 5/15, finished 5/20) OFF after 3 straight doubles (and a double shift Friday). cries This just tastes like rooibos(/honeybush? They both taste same to me) with a slight sweet taste. I love carrot cake and have yet to find the perfect carrot cake tea.
#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown

Backlog from January 8th:

Just a note to say I drank this, or attempted to drink it. The coconut finally turned on me. I enjoyed it while it lasted, but this one’s run its course.

Mostly coconut with hints of nutmeg and cinnamon. Nothing too special, but I enjoyed it!

The first time I tried this, I wasn’t that impressed. With a splash of milk, I got mostly the honeybush base with cinnamon, then a hint of pineapple. I wondered how this could possibly resemble carrot cake in any way.

This second time around, I made the remainder as a latte and it’s a lot better this way. The coconut came to life, plus I’m detecting a little more cinnamon, and that base is more subdued. I also cheated. Earlier today, I found some Jordan’s Skinny Mixes sugar-free whipped latte foam topping in caramel, so I added a couple pumps to this. That probably played a role in the improvement, even though I tend to not like adding sweetener, especially artificial sweetener. It seems pretty good!

In the end, it still isn’t carrot cake or pina colada but for what it is, it made a good night cap.

Additional notes: I forgot how much I like this one! Had a really long second steep and the flavors were melding so so good.

I get carrot. I get coconut. Not bad but also nothing special. For me at least. I am going to pass the rest along and hopefully others will find more to this than what I did.

I’m half way through my second pouch and I still haven’t rated this?

Brews nicely with hot water and a moderate steep time. The coconut is strong, but good in combination with the other components. The spices are nice, I taste nutmeg, cinnamon, and what I think is black pepper or walnut husks? Maybe it is from the honeybush, I’m not sure. I’m not in love with coconut like I used to be, so this isn’t my favourite.

Still, the honeybush was a good base, although rooibos would have been sweeter.

From last night!

This is one I’ll definitely need to revisit before rating because I drank it in a hurry last night since I was (poorly) multi tasking. I definitely didn’t give it the same care and attention that I like to give teas the first time I try them…

I will say, the dry leaf aroma gave me a mixed impression. The pineapple smelled really sweet, juicy and fresh but the coconut gave off quite a lotion-y aroma so that was sort of a mixed boat for me. I forgot I was steeping this, due to the aforementioned poor multitasking, so it got a steep time of well over ten minutes and because I was brewing in a smaller teacup that I’ve been using recently for first tastings it was already cold by the time I pulled out the strainer. Boo!

I very quickly drank it, and I will say that I do remember it being rather pleasant overall albeit quite strong and sweet. Much more of the “Pinita Colada” from my brief tasting than anything resembling carrots or carrot cake. Don’t recall it tasting specifically lotion like either, which is good. But like I said – proper care and attention wasn’t given. So definitely revisiting this one sooner rather than later. But as far as first impressions go, I think there’s something here.

I cold-brewed some of this last night to enjoy as iced tea today. (Yes, I realize it’s 2:13am but I’m a night owl so my days typically do not begin until around 2 pm. It’s still evening-ish for me.)

A Pinita Colada is another way of saying “virgin pina colada” – in other words, pineapple and coconut beverage – no rum. And really the reason I decided to go that route is because I felt that with the flavors of carrot cake, pineapple and coconut, that this tea had enough going on that rum wasn’t necessary and would potentially muddy up the flavors.

This tea is a little different hot versus cold. As a cold-brewed iced tea, I’m getting the tangy notes from the pineapple and the smooth flavor of coconut and a pleasant spice note from the carrot cake right up front with background notes that hint at carrot cake. Every once in a while, I get hit with a flavor that is distinctly carrot – it’s a little bit sweet and a little bit savory with that carrot note.

It makes a refreshing iced tea. Generally speaking, I prefer green tea (or white tea) for iced tea – I don’t usually go for honeybush or rooibos for iced tea but because this is the tea of the week this week, I thought I’d try it cold-brewed and I really like it. It’s sweet and tasty. If you are one who usually sweetens your iced tea before you taste it, go light on the sweetener with this because it already has a natural sweetness going on – but a teensy bit of sugar will bring out the cake-y flavors a little more.