Pineapple Upside Down Cake

this may be headed for my swap list in short order. I had a cup of this to since i hadn’t had any in a really long time and couldn’t actually manage to finish the cup. I’m not sure if it’s the result of being slightly sick or because i’ve just grown out of it but i’ll give it one more shot before it goes on the chopping block. I know there are tons of others out there who would love it way more than i do today heh

I am STILL steeping this tea! I am SHOCKED at how many re-steeps I have got from it! I lost track lol I think probably 6 steeps now! I have worked several hours on one project and this is the tea I keep resteeping! YUM still great flavor from it.

After much talk/begging/bullying from a friend I broke down and started watching Doctor Who. I don’t need one more thing to potentially suck hours of my life away, but I told my friend I’d give the show a fair shot. In turn she is going to read Jane Eyre or The Brothers Karamazov, two of my favorite classic novels. I guess we’ll each broaden our horizons.

Before settling into the show I made a big mug of this tea. It’s very cake-y tonight. There’s still pineapple but not as much as usual. I am getting toward the bottom of my bag, so that might have something to do with it. At any rate, this is a wonderful dessert tea and perfect for curling up under a blanket while watching tv.

I’ve accepted that this is just a really good cake tea without much fruit to it, so that what I was wanting when I grabbed it this afternoon to make a mug – although this has lots of larger fruit chunks in it that my sample from Janelle didn’t have (that one had no extra stuff in it other than black leaf) so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t maybe secretly hoping for just a bit more pineapple from this cup…

Parameters were 1 1/2 tsp, for the 10 oz. mug of boiling water steeped for four minutes. The steeped smell is just the regular brown sugar heavy cake smell this normally has.

Taste wise it’s the same; perhaps the best cake tea I’ve ever had and very rich with deep, caramelized brown sugar notes. Sadly not even a touch of fruit taste – but that’s ok, I’ve accepted that’s not something I’m gonna get from this one. It’s amazing regardless, just with a poorly fitting name. No milk in this cup, but still super creamy regardless.

Yum!

I’ve been thinking about this tea for days. Every time I open my tin that has all my black Della Terra teas, I can smell this tea.

Sooo good! Had a small pot of this tea with some caramel waffle cookies, and they paired amazing together!
The yellow cakey flavor with pineapple is super yummy!

Only a couple days till Animal Crossing for the Nintendo 3DS!

After dumping the previous tea, but still wanting something sweet, I pulled this one out. I haven’t had it hot in ages. This was my cold brew favorite over the summer. Happily, this tea still makes me smile. I’m sipping on this while seasoning my little tea yellow yixing teapot that has the orchid on it:
http://tastybrewtea.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-obsession-with-yixing-ware-continues.html

I’ll be using it for my taiwanese black teas. I know it’s recommended to brew them in glassware as they are pretty mild, but that teapot is so darn cute and delicate and just reminds me of what taiwanese tea would look like if it were a teapot, so I’m doing it!

My first order just arrived! I decided to go with this because I was oh so curious about this cake note everyone keeps talking about.

The dry leaf smells like… DT’s Red Velvet Cake. If you haven’t smelled that before, it is basically extra sweet, warm sugary cake with a a vat of frosting dumped on it. But almost to the point that it just smells like a sugary toothache. So, not a good thing after all.

This also tastes very similar. There is no pineapple to be had, unfortunately. I can at least taste the base in this blend more, and Pineapple Upside Down Cake lacks the oily film that DT’s has. It has a tiny bit of a film on top, but not nearly as much, most likely because there aren’t any sprinkles or white chocolate chips in here.

The aroma of the steeped tea is very tantalizing, though. The gooey sweetness has filled my entire bedroom. As a matter of fact, a while ago, I was trying to read an academic article for a paper while this was cooling, and I couldn’t for the life of me concentrate because it smelled so freakishly good. I had to drop what I was doing, come on Steepster, and talk about this.

PS: While I was brewing this up, my roommate asked me how/why the kitchen smelled like pancakes.

After a traveling ordeal which ended 60 hours later with us getting home (at least I am thankful for that), we are without luggage. ALL that’s important to us is in those suitcases. power cords, medications, three weeks forth of clothing…

anyway, I am home and I am alive, for which I am thankful. But I am cold, starving and exhausted. Can’t go anywhere until we chip away three weeks worth of snow that’s now frozen. Somehow have to make it to work tomorrow on whatever fumes I have left in me. Not in my car, in ME!.

So I made a pot of this. It’s gotta be good if you reach for it after weeks of deprivation, right? :) I sweetened it. Got nothing else I can put inside (unless curdled cream is your fancy) but it is so good. It raises my blood sugar enough that I don’t feel I’m going to pass out from exhaustion anymore.

Now I have to deal with more pressing problems. Happy 2014 everyone!

EDIT: I am not sure this is going to work but this is a shot of pearson this morning. There are THOUSANDS of unclaimed luggage. all the cancelled flights’ luggage being sent back, plus all the passengers who made it somehow, their luggage. there is not enough staff to deal with it all and some aircraft is frozen so the bags cannot be obtained. anyway, for your entertainment… hope it works.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151811545351927&set=a.10151180632941927.450131.582971926&type=1&theater

Drinking my last cup of this and I’m a little sad to see it go. I was pretty blown away by this tea when I first got it. It’s got such a great cake flavor. I do get the hint of pineapple that others find lacking, which makes this a great “tea copy” of the real thing. I feel like I’ve grown away from these super sweet dessert teas to more natural flavored ones, but occasionally, it’s nice to go back. This tea also has the most penetrating aroma ever, and in a good way! Maybe Della Terra should get into the candle business!

Overall, I’m not positive that I will buy more of this, mostly because there are so many teas out there to try, and I’m only one person! Ha! The other reason is that I really like this tea, but it doesn’t blow me away anymore. It sure is interesting to see how our taste buds evolve.

Mmmmmm. Just getting pretty much a caramel flavour here, but man is it delicious. Sometimes I wish that there was actually some pineapple here, and then I remember that it seems I’m not actually terribly fond of pineapple in teas, as it turns out, so best it stays this way, haha.

ETA: Nom nom nom, delicious infusion #2. Tea is really hitting the spot for me today.