Butterscotch Blondie

This was in my Advent calendar from Devon today and good flavoured black tea was something I have been looking to.

And today morning, which was gloomy and rainy, it was great fit to boost the mood and enjoy something sweet.

I am very surprised that my long 5 minutes steep didn’t turned this cookie-flavoured tea bitter. It was so pleasant, however I have no experience with butterscotch nor blondie again. It was toffee, it was cookie dough, brown sugar, vanilla and a little bit much of chicory root steeped — a little bitter and burnt like. But as that happens to the sweets sometimes too, I really don’t mind that.

It was so creamy. I finished it within seconds once it was drinkable.

Grabbed a mug of this while I research appliances. I had picked this up a few months ago when Target had a sale. I love the Lemon Loaf and had high expectation for this. The aroma while steeping was full of butterscotch and caramel and I still smell it while sipping. I definitely get hints of baked goods and vanilla. But I really wanted it have a stronger butterscotch taste. I would say it’s not as good as Lemon Loaf but not as bad as the Vanilla Macaron.

I kind of had a feeling I wasn’t going to like this one as soon as I opened the tea bag. WAYYYY too sweet for my tastes, plus I’ve never been a fan of butterscotch or blondies in general. But, guess you can’t knock it ’till you try it.

It does taste better than it smells, in my opinion (insofar as the taste isn’t quite as pungently sweet as the smell). All the same, I really don’t care for the taste either. Again, I’m really not big on overly sweet things, particularly when it comes to beverages, so my review is entirely biased.

From Devon Bartholomew.

This reminds me very much of Bigelow’s Salted Caramel black tea. Both have a black tea base with chicory root while Salted Caramel has rose hips and Butterscotch Blondie has cocoa peel, licorice root, cinnamon, and cardamom.

This has a very full flavor. I can taste the sweetness from the licorice root, but it really works here. I’m not sure what cocoa peel is exactly, maybe shells, but I don’t taste any sort of cocoa flavor. Neither do I taste any of the spices. It’s a rich caramel cup, and I can see the similarity to a blondie with its sugary caramelly bite, but I don’t taste the butterscotch.

Thanks again for the swap, AJRimmer!  This was intriguing despite being from Tazo… but it’s less disappointing than I expected it would be.  I’ve never had what you might call a butterscotch blondie but this is certainly a sweet tea and tastes something like butterscotch or brown sugar with a different layer of flavor from the seemingly misplaced chicory root.  Why might that be in a dessert?  The other flavors fit though.  It’s sweet, it’s black tea.  The second steep was weaker in the tea itself but still some sweetness.   I also drank some of derk’s What-Cha Four Seasons oolong but I have no idea what is going on with me and oolongs lately… they just taste like OOLONG to me and I’m tasting no specifics… so I don’t want to write a note for that one yet…
Steep #1  // 1 teabag for full mug // 18 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 4 minutes after boiling //  3 minute steep

March 25 2020 Just tried a box of OLD Stock, Produced 4/11/2028 expires 4/2020
Good Cup warm and Sweet a Tazo Original

Yesterday I was trying to sip down one of the coconut Earl Greys I had in my collection that I had grabbed looking for a “dup” for my beloved “Foggy Coconut” by 52Teas, since I can’t just reorder that whenever I need a restock. My Hawaiian Earl Grey from Tealyra had already gone the way of bad coconut, and then I discovered that my Earl Grey Bella Luna from Adagio had also gone bad. I had a harder time telling with that one because the bergamot was so strong in it, but it had a sour note that kept making me suspicious, so I carefully pulled several slivers out, ate them separately, and… yup. As soon as I realized I removed my review yesterday and trashed the bag. I would never judge a tea based on a soured ingredient. And then I hastily made a cup of this to take to work at the last second after dumping the other cup.

I remember I bought this because my local grocery had it and Roswell liked it so much; they’ve stopped carrying it since and now they only carry Lemon Loaf (and I’m okay with that, since Lemon Loaf is my favorite, I’m sure it was selling way more than the others and they made a decision based on shelf space). This certainly isn’t a bad black tea, it just doesn’t taste particularly strong in butterscotch notes to me; I get a bit of a vanilla note, and a hint of caramel, but it doesn’t read as butterscotch per say, and I think that’s because the strongest flavor is a warm, roasty chicory, with a touch of a cinnamon undertone; it’s pleasant, but rounds it out in a way that doesn’t exactly make me think of a Blondie dessert in any sort of way. So it’s a pleasant bagged black tea, and I like the flavor I’m getting from it, I just don’t particularly think it is emulating what is listed on the box, at least not to my palate.

I only have a few teabags left and am going to finish this one off soon, and admit I’m going to miss this one. I don’t have many bagged black teas I can just pick up at the store that I really enjoy, at least not as much as this one.

I didn’t love this one the first time I tried it, but this time I find it much more pleasant. The main flavors are a light butterscotch and some sweetness. It’s a bit weak compared to what I expected, but I find it pleasant. Out of the Tazo dessert flavors, I definitely prefer the lemon flavor, and the other two I find decent, but I wouldn’t seek them out again.

Crazy morning today! I’m working from home and fielding a bunch of different cross department type things, but also it’s officially a week from when the podcast I’ve been working on for the last few months officially launches!!

More details, and also a sneak peak for Steepster friends, here:
https://steepster.com/discuss/42133-geek-steep-a-new-tea-and-fandom-podcast

I’m drinking mostly bagged teas this morning – in part because of the September Sipdown prompt but also because they’re fast and easy in a very chaotic morning of managing all these different things! Plus, this is honestly the best butterscotch flavour that I’ve ever had in any tea and while I’m sometimes annoyed that this delicious flavour is on a bagged tea instead of something loose leaf, today I’m very appreciative of having such a delicious bagged option!

YUM. perfect for the morning with milk and sugar. I dont taste much butterscotch but more of a cinnamon roll flavor.