Mom's Apple Pie

So, I was on a tour Monday… and there was a David’s shop close by, so I had to go. I picked this up because it smelled so good. At first kinda reminded me of those fall scents from Yankee Candles that are so awesome you wish they were edible. And it is so much better as tea.

Haven’t green tea or apple pie in a while. It has a really good apple cinnamon flavour which I could totally see being pie or a galette even. Anyway, it is a really good seasonal tea. (And now I need to make a pie)

Hmm, this is interesting. I’m not ready to rate it yet, but my review is mostly positive!

First of all, this tea smells GREAT! The flavor is like if you mixed spiced apple cider half and half with some weak green tea. I feel like this is probably a Dragonwell type base, which is not my favorite type of green tea, and I think whatever it is could stand to be a little more assertive. I think if I steeped this a little stronger next time I will like it even more! Also I bet it’d be super good sweetened with brown sugar or maybe buckwheat honey!

Thanks teamore for this swap sample! I was really glad to try this one :)

I got this made as a lat while I was at the store this afternoon, and sipped it while I read my book and waited for my fiancé to finish grocery shopping. As with many of David’s teas, I found it smelled fantastic, but left a lot to be desired. It almost smelled as though it would be better iced, or maybe even as a bubble tea, but having it hot just wasn’t cutting it for me. Don’t get me wrong—I finished it no problem, but it definitely lacked anything in the way of substance. I was not at all tempted to get a sample bag of this, even though I imagine I could probably play around with it a bit. There are other teas on my mind right now though, so I think I’ll be ok. I also imagine (horror of horrors) that this tea would probably be better straight, because that might help the tartness/freshness of the apple stand out more. I found that as a lat, the milk just muted whatever little flavour there was.
I did, however, replenish my supply of Sugar and Spice, because I find that tea to be flavourful and warming and perfect for a cold winter’s day. Oh, and I also tasted their new maple agave, which was so delicious I could have just drank it from the bottle! I didn’t pick any up though, as I find my love affair with rock sugar is sufficing for now.

Gorgeous, light fall weather outside. Blazing sunshine, a touch of crispness to the breeze, and leaves swirling about your feet as you walk. It’s one of those days where I’m just happy to be alive.

I have two favorite pies in this world. The first is pumpkin and the second (and tied with the first) is apple. I love apple pie.. the sweet apples, cinnamon, flaky crust. Mmmm! A big slice sounds just perfect for this evening.

This tea smells like an incredibly tart bunch of apples. I immediately thought of Jolly Ranchers and became worried that it would just be apple Jolly Rancher candies. Beyond the apples there is an unmistakable buttery pie crust. How in the world did DavidsTea create this incredibly accurate apple pie scent? At this point I’m hoping that all of this wonderful scent translates to the taste.

Sipping… like most of DavidsTeas blends, the brewed tea is not quite as strong as the scent. I mostly taste watery applesauce with cinnamon. There is a little bit of that pie crust flavor at the end of the sip. This tea leaves a bit of an artificial aftertaste in my mouth, but I’m enjoying the apple pie flavor too much to really care. Could the flavors be stronger? Yes, absolutely.. but is this a good apple tea? Yes!

Finally finished up this tea from last year! I really need to finish up my older teas, I’m making that my goal before I do big tea order (I’m thinking Lupicia).

/waves fist! Curse you Mom’s apple pie! I still remember have that perfect cup once and never again! The last of this tea I get a bit of bitter apple.
Regardless, this still was fun trying to get that perfect cup.

Sipdown at work!

I’m going to start bringing more of the teas I don’t drink often at home to work. That way it’s a choice between them and the crappy tea bags they supply at the office, so I’ll clear out some of my stash.

This one’s actually quite good; better than I remember. It smells so wonderful while steeping too. My one beef though is that because of the scent, I expect it to be as strong and sweet as cider, which of course it isn’t and shouldn’t be because it’s tea. It does have a great bakey apple-cinnamon thing going on though. Sometimes I like to pour a little cider in, if I have it. It adds a nice natural sweetness and of course some appleyness as well!

I’m not the biggest green tea fan (other than matcha of course) but this is a really solid blend. Oddly enough, I’ve been wanting to get rid of this one for a while, but now that it’s gone I’m sad to see it go.

Decided to make a real autumn taste testing night of it with my teas from Lariel, whee. Was nervous about this one—I like baked apple flavor in tea, but tart-fresh fruity apple in tea for some reason I hate (I don’t know why as I LOVE me a nice raw tart upstate apple). So I was crossing my fingers this was truly a pie apple flavor, not raw apple. And it is! There are pie spices and a cooked 20oz apple sort of flavor—it might be unconventional to say this, but it’s bitter-sweet instead of tart fruity-sweet (kind of similar to clove or unsweet cinnamon, which for all I know is in this, not sure), and I much prefer the former. As is often the case, the smell of the apple is stronger than the taste—the front of the sip tastes pretty weak, watery almost, then you realize it’s kind of like literal unsweetened fruit juice, subtle, and deepens and lingers at the end of the swallow. This is pretty good and a little like the Utopia Tea Berkshire Apple and Fig I tried recently, where the spices here give depth in a way similar to the fig jamminess of the latter. As it cools, the bitter spiciness comes forward and the apple takes a step back. I don’t taste much green tea, but it might be contributing to that specific sweet-bitter baked tart apple flavor. This is a nice fall tea. I have a feeling it would be fantastic cold steeped.

i really enjoy this tea. and i think it could even stand up the whole year, through all the seasons. it’s slightly tart, and slightly cinnamon, and sweet to the nose. it has an interesting dichotomy where i find it both refreshing and hearty at the same time. mmmm

Got this in a care package from my friend. It’s good! Surprisingly appley, comforting. Doesn’t resteep well, but it’s decent.

I had one of the perfect teapot packages of this lying around and since I just got a brand new teapot I decided to brew this up.

This did not taste like any pie my mom has ever made but what it did taste like was the caramel apple lollipops my grandmother used to give me as a kid. Except someone had already eaten all the awesome chewy caramel so I was left, a little disappointed, with just the tart apple lollipop remains.

I could not find the cinnamon. Although I did pick up some of the vegetal green base. Not really the best compliment to the candy apple taste that dominated this cup.

Not a horrible cup of tea but not the best either. I will finish the teapot but be glad this is another sipdown!

ETA: Inspired by so many of you wonderful steepsterers (steepsterites?), I have started a blog. My first post is about this tea. If you are bored, feel free to check it out at http://droppingthelbswithtea.wordpress.com/. I am not the best writer, nor do I know how often I will be able to update the blog (especially coming up to exams) but it seemed like fun so I figured I would give it a try.