Blume

Iced Latte!

Made this a few days ago and I just ended up downing it super quickly. That caramel note with the hint of salt is so scrumptious, and something about this iced latte version of it specifically was giving me a strong sense of deja vu. So smooth, though! I’m glad I ended up restocking not too long ago.

This blend is definitely cementing itself as my favourite Blume product.

I ended up making this on Monday as an iced latte, using some oat milk. At first I found it a bit weak with the amount of powder I’d used, so I did end up doubling my initial 2tsp amount and whisking that into my already made latte. It wasn’t as easy to whisk it when it already had milk and ice, so it was a touch clumpier than ideal but fuck did it taste good. Such a nice caramel flavour with the thickness of the oatmilk really complimenting it and the perfect pop of salnity. I finsihed this so fast and I spent most of the morning mentally debating making another…

So this is definitely becoming my favourite Blume powder!

I made it up into a coconut milk latte to drink while cooking supper and I definitely finished it off so fast. Very rich with a superb caramel flavour that almost has a slight savory quality. Not just from the salinity of the pink salt, but more like if you added miso to it. That might sound weird, but miso caramel is absolutely PHENOMENAL. The juxtaposition of the umami with the rich sweetness makes the flavour pop so much. There’s no miso in this powder, but something in it is definitely giving me that same flavour experience and I’m not mad about it.

Iced Latte!

My experience with the Blume powders has been very hit or miss, but when I saw this one I knew I would have to try it. It’s probably the closest thing that Blume has done to a straight decadent profile, though it does still have some functional/wellness ingredients like the maca and schisandra. Not gonna lie, the schisandra weirded me out a little bit because it often has such as sour taste and I didn’t think that would work with salted caramel – but I wanted to try it anyway.

When I opened up the bag of this I practically started drooling right away. It smells super rich and intense with a very gooey golden caramel note – and, like, true caramel. Not just generic sweet. There’s almost a savory kind of undertone to the aroma, and a little bit of an oat-y quality that gives off some slight baked good vibes. All in all, it smells divine though…

I will eventually taste this straight but every part of me today just wanted an iced latte to cool down and indulge with. There’s definitely a distinct salinity to the cup so I definitely wouldn’t recommend this for someone who doesn’t really want salt when they see a salted caramel profile – you’re not gonna miss it when you sip. However, it’s balanced by a nice golden and rich true caramel flavour with a lovely depth and density to it. I get a little bit of thick starchy quality of the oat milk powder which helps with richness/texture and giving the caramel the body it definitely needs and deserves, and the date and carob really support the sweetness without coming off cloying.

All in all, I am deeply impressed by this one! To me, a sign of a really good tea is immediately wanting another cup right after finishing and that’s a feeling I’ve been fighting all day. My favourite Blume flavour yet!

Iced Oat Milk Latte!

This powdered Chai blend really shines with this type of preparation – but that, of course, makes sense given you’re taking a blend with oat milk in it already and just doubling down on that. It’s a nice balance of creaminess (taste and body) and spice though with a natural sweetness from the very prominent cinnamon in the blend. Secondary spices, like clove, follow. I feel like sometimes people are scared to add clove to Chai blends in a noticeable way (like with anise), but I think it just adds so much more depth to the profile here.

Iced Latte!

So I made this iced latte using oat milk and then I only realized afterwards that adding oat milk to an oat milk based blend makes it really challenging to figure out exactly how distinct the taste of the oat is in the powder itself versus the milk. Like, it tasted a lot like oat milk which I think is ultimately a good thing but I just don’t know how much of that came from me.

As for the spice part of this Chai powder…

I definitely got a lot of cinnamon, ginger, and clove which is of course a really classic combination. However, I also got a lot of nutmeg and that’s certainly less common and honestly much more interesting to me. It gives this a more cozy or Autumnal feel but I know that’s just conditioning from various seasonal flavour marketing across food/bev companies. I also really liked the molasses-y undertone. Quite yummy and adds a nice depth of flavour to this profile.

Steeped as an oat milk latte and, let me just say, Blume is not playing around when they called this a Chili Turmeric Blend! It is very spicy, y’all! At first it really just tasted like a pretty standard Golden Milk style turmeric latte, and I thought it was alright – not too earthy/bitter so even though I don’t much like turmeric I found it nice. Then that heat hit and it was a lot. I’m a spice baby, so it was very rough for me – but if you are not a spice baby then I think this would probably actually be really good.

(And, not gonna lie, a little masochistic part of me did want to finish the whole latte.)

#mugtober

Today’s challenge theme was green/matcha – lots of options to riff on there. Green the colour, green tea, fruits that are green, and so forth. I went with matcha though because I had this as my first tea of the day and I thought I could use the little energy bump.

I’m not really a fan of this Blume powder when had straight, but to be fair that’s not the way it’s intended to be drank. It’s a pretty solid latte, though! Very, very buttery and fatty from the powdered coconut in the mix. It definitely has that rich, creamy sweetness of coconut but there’s also something that really just makes me think of coconut oil too. Not necessarily in a bad way. It’s almost like the matcha equivalent of a bullet coffee.

The matcha itself is smooth and umami with a fresh, grassyness to it. I despite the taste of moringa, but it’s well masked in this tea. Just sort of subtly amps up the veg of the matcha and some of those umami flavours. Milk, especially, helps mask it.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nBVrTC7fTY

Alright, a few pros with this blend and a few more cons – but before that I just need to describe the jarring way this “latte mix” looks when you open a bag! It is very, very clumpy and there are visible white chunks strewn throughout. This is the coconut milk powder, but at a glance it looks like little bits of butter or lard, and it reminded me of making pastry dough. Well, if the flour was green. It’s very weird looking, though!

So, the big pro that I’ll give this blend is that is has moringa in it but not only can you not taste it at all (it is HARD to mask the taste of moringa – it is strong and unpleasant) but you also can’t tell texturally. I was very impressed by that. However, it goes a bit awry after that. The coconut in this is creamy and fatty, but too fatty! I made this as an oatmilk latte, but in all honestly it felt like I was drinking a mug of melted butter. A little buttery taste or a creamy mouthfeel can all be nice things, but a straight mug of fatty and greasy feeling matcha latte?? It’s unpleasantly rich and buttery.

So just… a weird drink, and a weird experience.