Red Velvet Cake

i used the http://www.jaydeee.net/pickatea.php tool to help choose this tea last night.
it was great!

and then i put my roller skates on and did spins in the living room (before we refinish the floor and move the furniture back in).
did i mention i used to competitively roller skate? like what they do on ice skates on tv.
i had some pretty rad costumes.

As the last of my teas from DT’s Chocolate gift set, this one was probably the one I was most excited about… and then disappointed in. I had a chance to smell the dry tea previously in store and I knew I had to try some, but since I had been intending on doing an online order right away (I love free samples :D ) so I held off on buying it that day. Instead I found the gift pack and since it was a good deal figured why not. In the end I’m glad I did the gift pack as it was a great way to try a bunch of new teas out without getting tones of leaf, but I really wish this one had come through for me.

Dry this tea smells absolutely delicious; the sweet baked cake aromas combined with the chocolate makes for a wonderful (and powerful) blend, but I don’t get much from the black tea… a few dark notes but they’re quite hidden by the rest of the scent profile.

When steeped the liquor comes out a murky brown-rose color, certainly not red despite the addition of the beetroot powder. And between the chocolate, sprinkles and the powder it’s no surprise that the tea is murky, nor that there is some film on top… To be honest I’m really not sure about the addition of sprinkles in this tea, while it certainly gives it some visual interest (and perhaps a bit of sweetness) I feel that they don’t really add much to the tea (then again I’m not a big fan of sprinkles in general so shrugs). Scent-wise I now get a few more “cake” notes with less sweetness, and I’ve almost lost the chocolate all together, and still no sign of the black tea either.

Now, I will admit that I’ve over leafed this cup since my previous experiences with it have all found a distinct lack of flavor. But even with almost 1.5 times my normal amount it’s still disappointing. The flavor is a weak mix of nondescript cake made from a box and a touch of chocolate with not much else. I’m getting the occasional hit from the black tea now but even at that it just doesn’t stand up to the scent profile of the dry tea. The mouth feel is very light and a touch gritty on the back end of the sip (perhaps from the powder? Not sure on that one.)

Well I think it’s time to give up on this tea, I keep trying thinking maybe I’ll like it at a later date but it just doesn’t seem to be growing on me. Oh well you never know till you try, right? :)

Ive been sipping on this one all day. Thank you to ashleyef. Even through my flu I could taste the cakeyness and chocolate through it. I did not however have any white chocolate chips in my packet. I’m sure it would have added a great creaminess for that cream cheese frosting. I liked this… But will have to try it again when I’m not sick. :)

I’m one of those people who really really loves red velvet cake, and this tea smelled amazing so I was super excited to try it. I wasn’t completely disappointed!
It tastes a lot like Birthday Cake actually, which is one of my favourite dessert teas. I was a little worried about the beetroot, since it often makes teas taste weird and metallic to me. It only comes out a little in this tea though. That’s really the only bad thing about it… otherwise it’s “sweet and lightly creamy” just like the description says. I actually get strong hints of cream cheese icing which is what most reminds me of red velvet cake here… there’s not much chocolate coming through. As far as the cake teas go, this is not my favourite, but it is a satisfying dessert tea and I will happily finish my 25g bag!

New to me tea #3 from my order.

This is such a pretty leaf tea. Sprinkled with white chocolate chips & red & white sprinkles. Super cute.
It smells sweet & cake like. Om nom nom. I had my very first red velvet cupcake a few months ago. I have to say after the first couple of bites I didn’t like it, by the 4th or so I was in love! <3 And I have been craving it ever since.

I love sweets but would choose a piece of dessert (ie. cheesecake, a cupcake etc), over a chocolate bar. And usually dessert teas don’t really cut it. But let me tell you, this little gem ERMAHGERD!

It’s sweet, delicious, bakey & cakey goodness. I can’t really say it tastes like red velvet, but it’s definetly creamy icing like & cake. Straight up cake! It’s thick in my mouth. drool I wants more!!!!!!! I feel like I ate a piece of cake with icing. I must buy more of this. I will probably get one of the pretty tins if I can find them

This tea is something Little Debbie® would approve.
It is sickeningly sweet, chocolaty and dough-like. Let’s not forget the icing, because David knows better than to forget the icing.

Since I bought the collectable tin, I’ll reserve this tea as a post-workout treat. Better yet for guests, detainees of the sweet tooth war, if you will.

This review is for the Red Velvet Cake infused Milk Chocolate Bar sold by DAVIDsTEA.

https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/chocolate-bar-3

This evening I split one of these chocolate bars with my mother and sister during a Gong Fu session with Camellia Sinensis’ Lu Yu Shan Wu. One of the things I talked about in my Tea Sommelier course for the “Science of Taste” module was tea and chocolate pairings and I was excited to put that knowledge to the test. The one caveat was that I basically hated the actual tea this chocolate bar was based on. However, some Steepster users told me it was essentially just a nice milk chocolate bar so I tried it anyway.

And you know what? It basically was just milk chocolate with some tea leaf in it (I still don’t get why DAVIDsTEA does that – no one wants to bite into some tea leaf). My mother was very impressed with the quality of the milk chocolate, though less so with the price tag associated. If one was so inclined to enjoy DAVIDsTEA’s Red Velvet Cake blend $6 would buy you a lot more loose leaf than you’re getting in the chocolate itself.

However, for what it is I was happy with the experience.

So this time I used 3 tsp and a dash of milk. Eh. I don’t know what it is with some of these dessert teas. Maybe the milk subdued the flavor even with 3 tsp. With a dessert, you except some fullness in your mouth and these teas, though they certainly smell nice, are still tea and thin. As with the first cup, there’s some malt and a bit of maple and sweetness, but I get nothing that screams red velvet cake.

What I have noticed is that I need to be patient and let these cool down just a touch as you can really taste the flavors when you aren’t burning your tongue!

Hello maple. I can smell you there, even if I don’t see you in the ingredients.

Red Velvet Cake is reminding me of Birthday Cake, at least the smell. We shall see momentarily how the taste pans out. Birthday Cake was too much for me. Though in all fairness it could have been the rooibos base, since I have yet to discover a rooibos I enjoy.

I’m enjoying this one! Despite my dislike of chocolate I think this one may be kept around in my cupboard in small doses. The overwhelming sweet smell doesn’t do the tea justice. It’s a nice smooth, cup of tea. Yes sweet, but not sickeningly so.

I wanted my 100th note to be something I really love. Thank you Vanilla Beans for this extremely generous sample!!

I love it. I don’t taste a huge difference between this and Birthday Cake besides the type of tea of course, but that makes me like it even more. I love the sweet vanilly baked cake flavor that just fills your senses, and now I can have it caffeinate me!! This is going to be on my list for my first DAVIDs order in a large size. It smells amazing, and it tastes even better.

I’m finding a great love in DAVIDs dessert teas over Teavana’s, I get this artifical sugar dried pineapple flavor in every Teavana tea but I feel I can enjoy each DAVIDs tea separately as it’s own. I am so excited that I got to try this, and Vanilla Beans sent enough samples of amazing teas to get me through until my DAVIDs order!!