Vanilla Frosted Carrot Cake (Limited Edition)

Good tea. Very comforting in this scary weather! Southern Indiana got hit with an ice/snow storm…but I’m at work today. Luckily my coworker with a Jeep gave me a ride. We do a lot of work for the funeral industry, so even though I’m just a graphic artist the show must go on! I’m hoping it doesn’t get much worse because I have to work on Saturday and Sunday, too. What is up with adulthood ruining snow for me? I used to love snow so much! :(

had this cold.

We had friends visiting all weekend and it was great, but we basically ate out for every meal or ordered in and all my dishes are dirty and there’s lot to clean up.

I’m going to drink this instead. :) I’m allowed to relax. People tire me out. Tea doesn’t. A dash of sugar and a splash of milk don’t hurt either!

Ok so I tried this last night hot steep but I found it to be rather strong in terms of black tea base. It was nice but I just wanted a little push from it, something extra. So I saved a lot from the same batch and put it into a flask to try it iced.

The black tea is no longer the strongest factor in this tea once it’s iced. Instead the cinnamon, ginger style spiciness is significantly increased and is much more like carrot cake now than it was last night. Again the vanilla is subtle and only in the after taste but it really is more carrot cake like now so it’s more forgiveable.

I still have a decent amount of this tea left so I will probably use it as an iced tea from now on.

Sipdown! Very similar impression to my first taste of it (which, although logged moments ago, was actually in early January). It’s one I might pick up the smallest size of… or request another sample of, just for curiousity.

I probably shouldn’t rate this one just yet, seeing as I’m sick and all, and fairly certain I’m sure I am not getting the full taste and subtleties of this tea. I can perceive a nice bit of spice, and a smooth base, but that’s about it right now. Not to say it is bad, because it is good, but my buds are off from being sick, and I’m just not getting much from the tea now. But I have a whole ounce (yay!) to devour, and I can tell from what I can taste now with reduced taste buds that I will really like this one when I can taste it properly. :)

If I had one tea to pick that I’ve disliked more than any other tea in the world… (this is something I shouldn’t do but for the sake of this review, I’m going to do it)… the winner/loser would be David’s Tea… Carrot Cake. (shiver)

Bleh…made my skin crawl! Like cat fur in the mouth bleh!!!

The reason I decided to try (with fear and trembling) Butiki’s Vanilla Frosted Carrot Cake Tea was one thing… Stacy!

She’s ‘I Love Lucy’,‘Whacky Tea Sorceress’, Tea Airbender Blender’ who comes up with the most innovative ideas without resorting to tanks of spray-on chemical flavors.

Stacy, how’d you do it again?!

First there are orangy chunks of real carrot in the brew basket then creamy icing vanilla supported by a soft bready tea base. The spice is subtle, more so than the carrot cake I make. (I’ll probably add a few ‘true’ cinnamon chips to see how that tastes later)

Unlike my previous awful experience with carrot cake tea, Butiki’s tea is flavorful, mild and smooth. The tea is quite gentle for a vanilla iced carrot cake.

I’m always one to play around with tea so I think that if you like more spiciness or are used walnuts in your carrot cake, it wouldn’t overpower the tea if you added a little in the brew basket. Stacy would do this in a heartbeat.

I’m a believer Stacy! Carrot Cake Tea is possible! You did the impossible and did it well. I’ll drink all of my tea with a smile!

For those of you who don’t know, I am a carrot cake fiend! A few weeks back, my mom offered me a piece of Cheesecake Factory carrot cake and despite being super full I said yes and happily ate away. Unfortunately, I was SO full that I got to the point where I literally could not eat anymore so I did what any sane person would do…I took a one hour break and then finished the slice.

Obviously that meant when I saw Butiki had a carrot cake tea, I jumped on it. Alas, Stacy ran out of the ingredients to fill my order. Luckily I have steepster and all its wonderful patrons who were more than willing to help me out. Roswell Strange sent some of this my way (although it is trapped at home in Toronto), but this particular cup is courtesy of Cavocorax.

When I brewed it up, I actually got really worried because its smell reminded be of the Tiger Assam I tried and did not love. I feared that I would taste black tea and not my beloved carrot cake flavors. My first sip put all that worrying to rest. I get carrot and a faint bit of sweet vanilla. I only wish the flavors were stronger and there was a bit more carrot cake spice. Carrot cake is sooo flavorful and this falls a tad short. I am actually wondering how this would differ is Stacy attempted the cream cheese icing as opposed to vanilla frosting? Nonetheless, I am glad I got to try this and happy I have more of it lying around. So thank you Cavocorax (and also Roswell Strange) for sharing this tea with me :)

Oh joy! It is in my grasp!

I was so excited to get my Butiki order today, I stalked my mailman, and when he didn’t ring the door, I thought, that package better be in the mailbox! And, to my relief, it was! Along with the Lupicia newsletter and an issue of Tea Time magazine, which my mother surprised me with! Yay!

I had a really hard time deciding which tea to try, but decided to go with this one, since I had basically waited until this one was on the website before placing my order. It was especially hard because the box smelled like the sample of Foxy Roxy’s Banana Walnut Treat that Stacy sent me. Yum!

Anyway, I steeped this one up as recommended, and decided to only make 8 oz. of tea, so as to not drink up the little 1 oz. bag too fast. I gotta savor it!

Oh, the dry leaf smells like carrot and spice, and not chemical, like the DavidsTea carrot cake oolong tea. I gave that one away because of that.

Once steeped, the first thing that hits you is the carrot. Bam! And then you taste some nice subtle spice. Mmmmm. I made the first cup with a splash of soy milk and a little white sugar, which is how I typically roll when it comes to black tea. It was good, but I was a little distracted, making pumpkin cookies. ;) So, I resteeped, and added a little brown sugar instead of white. Definitely preferable. The brown sugar helped it become more bake-y. Be careful though, because it can overpower the subtle flavors in the tea. So, I didn’t feel like I had enough to savor, so I resteeped again. Yum. I think this is a winner! Let me go drink some more and find out! ;)

Yes! My little Butiki order finally came in! The Della Terra and Red Leaf orders arrived a week ago but I’ve been looking forward to this one especially. I was extremely excited about the Leafhopper magnet, guys. My roommates don’t seem to understand my enthusiasm but they will. Soon.

For me, the vanilla frosting is the most prominent, after the carrot bread flavour. This is a very convincing carrot cake; the lingering aftertaste of vanilla and carrot bread is spot on. The light sprinkle of spices remind me somewhat of the amazing Pumpkin Milkshake blend, which I’m off to make a cup of right now!