Potato Pancakes & Applesauce (Holiday Series: Hanukkah)

I originally suggested this flavor to Stacy when her “create your own flavor” contest was going on. I was thinking of unique flavors to replicate in tea. Chanukah was coming up, and there seemed to be an endless amount of Christmas teas coming out, but no Chanukah ones. So, I suggested this flavor based on one of my favorite Chanukah foods. I thought Stacy would laugh and say, “What a terrible idea!” but I think she was actually intrigued by the challenge.. and so this flavor is born.

(Thanks to Stacy for sending a sample of this my way, btw.)

The smell of the tea is definitely a nice applesauce base. When it’s brewed, without sweetener, you get this nice soft apple flavor with some very faint cream and potato notes. It’s a perfectly nice flavor all on its own and it doesn’t really NEED anything, but… just for kicks I’m going to add salt because I want to bring out those potato notes.

And adding salt definitely changes the taste of the tea. Those apple notes are pretty much gone and it turns into more of a broth soup type taste. How crazy! It’s a transforming tea.

The best part of the tea is that after it’s steeped, you have these real chunks of potato and apple in your steeper basket that you can eat, which I did. 

All in all this is a very interesting tea that is unlike anything I’ve ever tried. The flavors can be subtle, but make for really interesting combination. So glad I suggested it!

mmmm! I woke up in a rotten mood. I’m off work today and heavily relying on good tea to snap me out of this funk.
I didn’t check the temp of the water, but I think it was a little cool. I’m getting heavier cinnamon than I remember. Apple and vegetal green tea. The smell is all potato though.
Murderous rage is fading.

Oh man. I really thought i’d broken my steepster when this tasting note didn’t want to open for like 3 mins. Good thing i’m incredibly distracted at the moment haha. This is technically my second time drinking this, though when the girls were over all i had time to do was add that i’d had it with no actual rating or tasting note.

kittenna was nice enough to leave me back a small sample so that i could have some more at my leisure and that time is NOW! mostly so that I can get to 298 teas so when my two teas show up tomorrow i stay under 300 (and yes Dinosara, i’m totally going to drink all of those tea bags tomorrow so they won’t be hanging over my head….all 100 of them! heh)

Anyway..i digress. So this tea. i am IN.LOVE. with the applesauce going on here…as in the apple, and cinnamon. SOOOOOOOO good. It’s like someone took the applesauce from the fridge and liquified it even more. The apple is in a great balance with the cinnamon.

That being said…potato? uh…well there are chunks of potato…but the flavour isn’t really there. not that i want it to be because i am loving this apple cinnamon.

Yay, new tea!

I have to agree with everyone that the chunks of potato in here are just so cool! I threw an extra couple in my infuser, and after I give this a second infusion sometime later, I plan to eat them. Haha.

Anyhow, the tea! Steeped, it smells lightly cinnamony, and a bit like cider. Given the name and ingredients, this is pretty expected. (Ok hiccups, you can go away anytime now…) It reminds me most of DavidsTea’s Hot Toboggan and/or Mom’s Apple Pie, so that’s kind of the flavour I’m expecting, although hopefully it will be better as I wasn’t overly fond of either of those. And….. WOOOAAAH! Total apple cinnamon potato pancake, here! I’m definitely tasting raw potato, which is likely because I put extra potato chunks in my infuser :D, and light cinnamon. Very pancakey! The texture is definitely also changed by the potato, which I’m finding interesting – it’s very full-bodied and smooth. The only thing I’m missing here is being able to taste the green tea, which is odd as there was a good amount in there as well.

Overall, this is an intriguing blend that is quite true to the name, in my opinion, but not quuuiiitte my cup of tea. That said, I don’t actually think I’m a big fan of apple-cinnamon, which is funny because I have at least 5 apple-cinnamon teas, if not more. So not a re-purchase, but I will still drink this all up! And hey, with potato chunks it has a huge novelty factor!

ETA: Re-steep for an accidental 6 minutes was pancakey and a bit cinnamony… and the green tea came out! Yay! Tasty :)

I’m not sure about this one. I wasn’t getting much of anything straight up – so I chose sweet (over savory) and added a bit of sweetener – now I have apple sauce. Not getting anything even vaguely resembling potato pancakes.
We are back to apple cinnamon tea. That’s all I’m getting, just generic apple cinnamon that’s available from pretty much every vendor out there.
This wasn’t special for me.

Thanks TheTeaFairy for letting me try this.

Full Review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 18th but here are the snippits:
(GET THIS TEA!)

Potato Pancakes and Applesauce form Butiki Teas brings back memories of my childhood. My grandmother would make us kids potato cakes often and I loved them. I have since tried to recreate them myself but I can never get that really yummy dark fried coating on them the way my grandmother could. Perhaps it is because she cooked in a very well aged cast iron skillet. Or maybe it was that she used lard or something I do not use myself. Whatever the case, this tea brings back those fond memories of days gone by and leaves me with a happy and content feeling.

I will confess, I ate all the bits and pieces – more like chunks – right out of the steeping basket after my second steep and they were still bursting with flavors!

I love the use of Organic Huangshan Mao Feng, I feel that it really compliments this blend with its sweet and buttery nature and its already obvious potato note.

The taste of this tea is so real to its namesake that you can taste the starch coming off of the potatoes! The apple chunks are so yummy with the right amount of sweet cinnamon upon them. This is not a highly concentrated cinnamon tea however, the cinnamon is quite subtle in the background. The apple pieces taste more like bits from a caramel apple.

Oh my! Where has this tea been all my life! First I have to say that I love potatoes. I actually love them so much that when people ask me what I want for my birthday or for Christmas, I inevitably say “a sack of potatoes”. I am always delighted when I actually do get them. So when my Butiki order came in today, I decided to try this first. It especially sounded comforting because I have a cold. I’m so glad I tried this first. Sipping it is just one scrumptious mouthfull after another of potato, appley, cinnamony, and buttery goodness! I have a feeling I’m going to be working my way through the ounce I got of this VERY quickly! :-)

So Maple Pecan was my breakfast tea (quite literally), Pumpkin Creme Brûlée was my hello you need to eat lunch now you silly girl tea and this was my before, during and after dinner tea (apple chicken sausages, perogies, veggie pancakes- like potato pancakes and peas).

When I opened the bag it smelled very familiar and it tastes very familiar as well. My first thought was sweet white wine, then upon tasting, sparkling cider, then hard cider, sparkling white grape juice, champagne and back to wine! It’s not apple juice nor apple cider it’s not as strong and full and autumnal, it’s light and very refined and conjures up holiday memories of drinking non-alcoholic bubbly.

There are potato and buttery notes for sure, strongest in the first steep but in the second it was competing with the food which brought out its sweetness, it really was acting as the applesauce to my potato pancakes, but right now I’m lost in this effervescent mystery drink on the third, no the fourth steep! The flavor keeps on going and I’m loving it! Thanks Stacy!

Holy Crap this tastes JUST like potato pancakes with applesauce! I don’t know why I would expect differently, heh. Butiki Teas are always pretty authentic! I’ve just never tasted anything like this before! Amazing!

Thank you Kaylee for this swap sample :D

I had a sample of this from a swap and it is freaking delicious. I love the taste of the potato, because it tastes buttery and savory but not weird like I expected. Then towards the end of the sip I taste the apple, then the cinnamon. It’s like a meal in a cup, you get every layer of the flavor at its best, no compromising any part of it.

On the Butiki website it says add salt to bring out the potato or sugar to bring out the applesauce. I’m going to have to try it both ways and report back. This time I drank it straight because I drink 99% of my tea straight.