Apple Strudel

Sorry for the lack of posts but I have been unwell and unable to stomach any tea. Nothing serious, just a bug that has been going around.

This tea was part of my monthly club package that I have yet to try. The base is Rooibos and quite thick but large chunks of fruit and cinnamon bark are clearly noticeable. Smell wise it’s sweet apple, raisins and cinnamon with a baked pastry aroma, not sure where that is coming from but it smells delicious. It’s been a long time since I had any sort of sweet pastry. :(

Once steeped the tea is red brown in colour with a delicious sweet, sticky apple strudel pasty. Much nicer than the raw form and I didn’t think that was possible.

In flavour I can taste light and sweet with notes of apple, raisin, cinnamon and subtle hints of pastry. I think the pastry is present mostly because of a sweet almost buttery flavour that I cannot work out. The ingredients list things that I cannot detect at all such as orange, lemon and hibiscus.

My husband is a fan too, says it really does taste like apple strudel (and he rarely ever likes sweet teas). Another hit, not one of my favourites but a nice treat from time to time when I crave apple.

Surprised I had yet to crack this in my cupboard, considering I’ve got another Apple Strudel tea (Tea Gschwendner) that I love.

Brewing this is a bit tricky, or at least it was for me. The apple pieces were all stuck together, and they basically clung to the rooibos. I decided to make two cups at once so that I could get one teaspoon of apple pieces and one of the rest of the ingredients.

Steeped (and I steeped it too long) there’s definitely an apple strudel feel and taste. Having said that, the apples are tasting like there’s a chemical base (odd, considering I can see the apple pieces), and the rooibos is mighty strong. I’m finding I have issues with some red rooibos, and unfortunately this is one of them.

Really enjoyed a cup of this before bed last night. The scent is amazing — it’s like freshly warmed apple strudel, just as its name promises, and the flavour comes out surprisingly well in the taste as well.

There’s a lot of apple in here — so much that the rooibos is sticking to it, and it comes out of the packet in clumps rather than smooth, free flowing loose tea. I actually quite like that about it — it’s not like the clumps are huge, and they look a bit like crumble topping. Funny how my mind works. Anyway, the taste here is pretty much dead-on apple strudel. There’s even that slightly gelatinous taste to the apples, like they’re in a thick, sugary sauce. I can taste something that reminds me of pastry, too, although I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that’s making me think that way. The spicing is perfect. Subtle enough that the apple shines through, and is the real star, but still easily tasteable. The rooibos here is a pretty good match too, I think. It has just the right herbally/woody aspect to offset the sweet, tart apple.

I love this, in short. So much that I think I’m going to have another cup tonight, rather than moving on to another rooibos/herbal tea. This is going to make a wonderful addition to my bedtime rotation this winter! Great stuff, Bluebird!

I had a cup of this last night since I was craving the flavor even though my taste buds are not working well with the cold I have. Seem to be a little better every day, but I’m done with it already!

I happily sipped away on this with the little I could taste… It hit the spot. Warm, sweet, cinnamony (I know, it’s not a word). This one may make my list of things to order at some point… Thanks MissB for the introduction.

Sip Down & Backlog

After visiting the fair and enduring the exceptionally hot day on Tuesday (September 24), I needed an iced tea for the evening. I didn’t want to drink anything with caffeine since I was drinking tea after 21:00…This created a perfect cup with a nuttiness from the rooibos base and a mildly puckering sweet apple finish!

B&B Advent Tea #6

I enjoyed this rooibos-forward blend. Some nice dried fruit sweetness, a little bit of acidity from the fruit too. Lots of tasty warming cinnamon and a sweet rooibos base. I think rooibos pairs very well here. Unfortunately I did not get any strudel flavour. I would have liked some buttery pastry and vanilla icing notes.

Sweetness: 6/10
Sourness: 2/10
Bitterness: 0/10
Flavour Potency: 7/10

I saw rooibos and cinnamon and thought this would make a good tea latte, so that’s what I did. Alas, I didn’t see the lemon and hibiscus listed until it was too late, and now I have a delicious, evening-appropriate apple and cinnamon tea latte with a weird curdled sourness lingering at the end of the sip. Oops. Up until the weird sourness though, it’s tasty! Definitely cinnamon heavy, but the apple is noticeable too and I could be imagining it but I’m getting a sort of brown sugar note as well which really helps it lean into the whole strudel vibe. The rooibos base works well with the flavour profile, too. It’s not too woodsy, but it adds a nice honeyed sweetness which helps to create the ‘pastry’ image. I’m kicking myself for making it into a latte, though. It is nice, but I bet it would be even more delicious without that darn sourness which just won’t leave me alone.

Sample Drink down.

It was a good tea. Not something I would reach for. It is naturally sweet from the apples and rooibos. The rooibos is strong with this one. Lots of apples.

Not my cup of tea but its good for someone who like rooibos

Single teabag sampler that came in my last order! I’m surprised I finally got one I haven’t tried before — it seems the last five or six orders all the freebie bags have been teas I’ve already had, so I drank them without mention (as reviewing teas more than once just isn’t my M.O.) So it was nice to finally get a new-to-me blend.

The dry leaf aroma does make me think of an apple pastry… It smells sweet and cinnamonly and appley. As it steeps, I’m getting a strong warm honey note, as well as the sweet cinnamon apple.

It does taste like an apple pastry, though I do wish the apple note were popping out just a bit more (but I also love apple tea!) It’s a sweet cinnamon apple flavor, and there is something doughy about it, I believe coming from the rooibos; a sort of nutty/honey flavor that is aiding this flavor profile very well. I like to leave my herbals soaking while I sip, and I feel the sweet cinnamon is really popping the longer the tea steeps and the more it cools.

I like this! I think there are other apple cinnamon teas I like more, but if I end up with another freebie bag of this sometime, I will be happy about it.

Martin Advent Day 23
This one smells so good! So fun to get to try another tea from my wishlist. It tastes like the same lovely base as their rhubarb + custard tea. Now that it’s cold, I get an authentic baked apple flavor. Sometimes there’s a bit of a weird flavor, but the majority is nice. I certainly wouldn’t mind having more of this to experiment with! I don’t get any pastry flavor, but the baked apple is quite lovely.