Honey Gingerbread Pancakes

Holy moly, I had a tablespoon of this left. I had it after supper. I was not wowed. I recall this wasn’t one of my faves from A Quarter 2 Tea. It was heavy on the tannins without any sweetness. I didn’t get any ginger from it either. It is quite old, so not too surprising.

It’s been snowing for around 36 hours so far and is expected to continue to snow through Friday. We’ve gotten 7 inches so far and may have another 10. Trying to be positive. So … Good tea drinking weather!

I continue to find A Quarter to Tea teas that I’ve squirrelled away and am just getting to now.

The leaf is scrolled loveliness.

An enjoyable cup but nothing even remotely resembling its name.

Edit—this is a longtime all day tea. I am currently appreciating steep six or seven and it continues to be pleasant. Oddly enough, ginger notes come up in later steeps.

A lot better with a liberal dosage of milk. The sprinkles make me think dessert but the strong cinnamon and ginger flavours are almost medicinal (which is exactly what I want right now).

Sipdown (71)

Sipdown! Definitely not a favourite, though it’s not bad. A spiced black, but I find myself wanting more base tea to balance it out – there’s too much spice. It’s also not quiiiiite gingerbready enough for me. This tea would probably be better with a splash of milk and hint of sweetener.

Sipdown (216)!

So, this was the free sample that Lauren added into my most recent order – it’s not something I would have picked for myself because I’m not a huge ginger fan but that said I took a sniff of the dry leaf and it didn’t smell so bad. Definitely kind of Ginger Snap like with some molasses and honey tones to it.

Queue up one teacup of steeped tea later…

I’m not in love with this, but I know that’s just because I don’t like ginger much unless it’s tempered with fruit notes and the ginger is actually quite strong. It definitely has a bit of a spicy, throat tickling kick to it as well. That said, the honey notes in the background marry with the spice really well and it has a nice brown sugar and molasses quality to it as well. I definitely get the name, and think the vision here was REALLY well captured. It just totally boils down to this being something that’s just not my jam overall.

Beautifully executed for what it is though!

350mL/180 *F water/however much leaf was in the sample sized package (2 tsp?)

The looseleaf is gorgeous! The little balled leaves look like fern fiddleheads. And, there are pretty little silver sprinkles and little chocolate chips. It also smells delicious! I can smell sweetness, maple, and cinnamon.

Steep 1: 2.5 minutes
Spices, strong flavour of honey and tea, flavours of pastries and maple, brown sugar. The tea flavour was a bit too strong for me, I will do my next steep for less time.

Steep 2: 1.5 minutes
Minerals, black tea (ceylon? something strong like a typical breakfast tea), malt, sweet, cinnamon

This is a nice tea for those who like brisk breakfast teas, but I personally find it a tiny bit tannic. However, try this as a latte/soy milk latte! It is absolutely fantastic! This is a really solid blend, and I like the flavours and look of it. Make sure you pay attention to steep time/temperature to avoid oversteeping.

Made this as a latte tonight and the end result is just a ginger milk tea. Definitely not what I was hoping for :(

Visually, this tea is stunning! It looks like little balls of two toned silken yarn with little brown sprinkle stars, the occasional silver bead and tan mini chips dispersed with chips of cinnamon bark breaking the mix up into sections. I hope it’s as delicious as it looks! The scent of cinnamon dominates this mix, as it does a few other AQ2T samples that I have. After it is steeped, the leaves unfurl, the sprinkles melt away and it looks like a mass of brown leaves in my steeper. There are little bits of the silver sprinkles drifting in my tea like glitter. It is starting to smell less like cinnamon and more like gingerbread. The first few sips compete with bites of my snack. I’m noticing how well rounded this tea is. Smooth without any bite and a mellow cooked ginger dominating the flavor. I’m not really getting honey or pancake, so I’m adding a little sugar to see if it brings them out. So far the sugar seems to bring the cinnamon back out. There is a sweetness in the aftertaste that is more prominent now too. I think I can pick out honey notes, but the pancake part (like most pastry notes in teas) is still eluding me. This is a really well done tea that I’d like to have again sometime. I really missed trying new teas!

I had an upset stomach this morning, so I immediately thought of ginger. And the only caffeinated tea I’ve got today that has ginger in it (I think?) is this one.
And, you know, it did the trick! I am feeling much better, and my stomach has not been upset since I had this cup of tea.
So, all is well. An unexpected benefit!

High-five to rosehips for the sample!

Let’s start with appearance: this is a pretty tea. It’s got little men/flowers and those shiny spheres that people sometimes put on cupcakes. It comes in golden/dark curls* that unfurl when you toss it in the water, which I like to watch.

*(Does the tea curl on its own, or is there some poor unfortunate soul in Asia somewhere curling it up? Please tell me it curls on its own.)

When the tea has finished steeping, the stars/men have dissolved, and the silver balls have mostly dissolved. I think the silver balls are all show and no go.

That said, this tea tastes like beer. It’s got a malty/stout thing going on. With cinnamon in it. I tried a chocolate dessert stout once that was a bit like this. And I liked it okay, but I’m more of a fruity witbier type of girl.

Same goes for this tea. It looked so cool that my hopes soared, but the flavor itself wasn’t the tops.