Hot Apple Spice

This is pretty similar to Hot Cinnamon Spice. It’s Hot Cinnamon Spice with a twist. The predominant flavor is the hot, sweet cinnamon which reminds me of cinnamon flavored gum. The apple is there in the background both in the dry leaves and in the brewed tea but it is not very strong. The apple flavor is like that of apple cider or apple juice. It is not a fake green apple flavor. The apple flavor kind of mellows the hot cinnamon flavor to me, so the cinnamon is not quite as strong or sweet as in Hot Cinnamon Spice.
There is also a flavor in this tea that makes me think of honey for some reason, which really isn’t something I have experienced with Hot Cinnamon Spice. It must be the cinnamon and apple flavors combined.

The orange and cloves which are also supposed to be in this tea are not very noticeable at all.

The flavor of the black tea is completely lost in the sweet, spicy cinnamon flavor and apple flavor. But I would say that the tea itself is medium-bodied. It’s not a bad thing that the tea flavor itself is completely covered up, since it isn’t the point of this tea.

If you love Hot Cinnamon Spice and love apple flavor in tea, then I would definitely give this tea a try. I am not really too keen on the sweet, hot cinnamon flavor that both Hot Apple Spice and Hot Cinnamon Spice has, since I don’t like sugar in my tea. It’s nice once in a while as a change of pace, but I wouldn’t like to drink either of them on a daily basis. The sweet, spicy cinnamon flavor is just too overwhelming for that.

I prefer Hot Cinnamon Spice but not by much.

I am not a hot cinnamon fan in teas apparently. I never enjoy it when its the predominant note. I got this one for the Met Tin and it was supposed to have a variety of flavors. It tastes like their cinnamon hot spice or any of their other hot cinnamon blends, for they have many. I do get a buttery, smooth apple undertaste, but the cinnamon spice gets stronger the more sips I take. Ironically I was eating an apple when I tried this tea.

I will keep the tin as a keeper as it’s adorable but unlikely to drink any more of the tea unless I’m mixing in a pot with something else for experimentation, and next time I’ll use a larger cup to dilute a little more with the satchel
https://www.harney.com/collections/all/products/hot-apple-spice-black-tea-tin-of-20-sachets

This year I am really digging this tea. It is Hot Cinnamon Spice touched with a little mellow sweetness, and I have been moving towards it just about every morning. It’s giving me a lively little jolt, just what the doctor ordered.

Sipdown!

I’m sipping on my last cup of this while I scroll through tasting notes and catch up on what everyone has been up to. I hope you are all well! I have to say I’m happy it’s Friday, and I’m happy that I have no plans this evening. For my own sanity I’m taking the weekend off from studying, so I’m almost giddy with the thought of having a weekend full of nothing to do. Except write tea notes… and read a book just for fun… yep, that’s all the excitement I require for the next few days!

Ok, tea note… This could easily be a fall/winter staple for me. It’s a lot like Hot Cinnamon Spice but with a bit of an apple note at the end of the sip. It’s perfect for cooler weather although I’d happily drink it year round. That said, there’s nothing overly special about this tea. There are a million cinnamon teas out there, and while this one is nice I do wish the apple was more flavor forward. I think that would take this from being a run of the mill tea to something truly special.

This tastes a lot like hot cinnamon spice. The main flavor is the spicy cinnamon. I don’t really notice the apple. Really it’s pretty indistinguishable from the other blend, though I haven’t had that one in a while. Not really a tea I would drink often since it’s pretty one dimensional to me.

I picked this up the last time I was in store because I had never really tried an apple spice blend before and it smelled wonderful.
I tried it as just a normal hot tea and was not let down. It had a very warm apple cider feel, but with more spices and a stronger flavor.
I had a thought while sipping my second cup that this tea may make a wonderful ice cream!
So last night I set off on a culinary of making a no churn tea infused ice cream. That I then got to enjoy tonight (and surprise my boyfriend with some topped with homemade apple pie filling). The ice cream came out wonderful, creamy and had that same flavor I was looking for! Tasted up like the tea, and I only used 2 teaspoons worth of tea for the whole thing. While it was a little work to make it was worth it and something I now want to do with many of my other teas.

Sipdown! (24 | 371)

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge (November) – “A tea you are thankful for”

So this made its way into my sipdown teas by virtue of its age – it was one of my oldest teas, from November of 2018. But I found as I was sipping through the (mostly full) tin, I really enjoyed this tea and began looking forward to it as a sort of sweet mid-morning pick-me-up. So then it became a tea I was thankful for – thank you tea, for helping me get through the workday these past couple of weeks.

It’s weird to me that I enjoyed this tea so much. I’m the type of person who never sweetens their tea, and yet I find this essentially pre-sweetened tea that tastes just like Red Hots to be quite tasty. I will say I don’t really think I taste the apple here, so not sure how different it is from the original version? Maybe I would have to try them side-by-side to notice a difference.

Anyway, it’s a bestseller and a classic for a reason! :P