Warm Maple Cream

I normally won’t brew anything caffeinated after 6 pm, but since this is a houjicha/white mixed base, I’m hoping it won’t carrying enough oomph to ruin my sleep schedule. It sounded like the perfect companion to the slice of tiramisu I got for dessert for my Festivus Feast tonight (I ordered a big ol’ Garlic Roasted Chicken pizza, topped with lots of veggies and basil! It was delicious and I have leftovers for days! The kitty got a salmon dinner wet food.)

My whole kitchen picked up the aroma of warm maple as this steeped. I smell maple and a wonderful, warm cardamom aroma wafting off my new “Merry Everything” mug I was gifted with some edible goodies from my workplace (I can’t help but think I’m the reason they gave everyone “Merry Everything” mugs as I’m fairly certain I’m the only employee that doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but honestly finally feeling that little bit of inclusion after all these years really touched me!)

The base is surprisingly not as full/roasty as I was expecting, so perhaps it is much ligher in houjicha than I thought, or maybe this spoonful just didn’t have a very good distribution. Mostly I just taste maple and cardamom, which is a lovely flavor combination (I still miss the Coconut French Toast with Cardamom Maple Syrup tea, and don’t know how I miss getting it into the advent teabox vote every single year…) There is a very mellow woody/nutty flavor in the background. Warm and pleasing, and it does pair nicely this with sticky, sweet tiramisu. Man, I haven’t had a slice of tiramisu in years, it feels so indulgent!

Another 52Teas blend I hadn’t yet opened. This one has such a unique aroma. The maple mixed with the spices was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. It’s a green and white tea blend, and neither of those ever have much flavor for me, but this one did. I didn’t taste the spices as much as I smelled them, but it had a nice maple flavor.

Hello, oatmeal I had for breakfast this morning. I like to doctor up my oatmeal with spices and brown sugar (sometimes) and this is reminiscent of those notes. More brown sugar than maple, in my opinion, although yeah, the maple is very subtle. I think I might have crushed a maple candy and sprinkled a bit on my oatmeal. The houjicha base isn’t as toasty as others I’ve had in the past. Tastes more white tea than houjicha to me.

Overall, I like this! My mug is telling me that I need to start drinking more tea again.

My afternoon/evening cuppa. I’ve been thinking maple a lot lately but haven’t been drawn to maple black tea as I had been overdosing on that combination not too long ago.

The woodiness of houjicha soothed by the white is an awesome carrier for the flavour mix.

Regardless, my results are always delicious. So there’s that. I must be doing something right.

I swear I wrote a tea note for this guy ages ago. Eh.

I don’t love this as much as some but I did enjoy it while it lasted. Hojicha and I are just not very close, although it’s alright on occassion. It has a decent second steep too, which is a boon in a flavoured tea.

This was also a good self-reminder that I’m still looking for my ideal Maple tea to replace my old flame, Butiki’s Maple Pecan Oolong. I miss that tea so much; it replaced ice cream for me, folks! I think I just need a base that’s a little darker (coughNiligriFrostOolongcough)

I sure wish I had an entire pouch of this. Wow, this is delicious. Thank you to CrowKettle for the share.

This is amazing plain. So much maple, smooth creamy notes with a lovely white tea base. It is both flavourful and smooth. It reminds me of maple brown sugar oatmeal.

With a splash of soy milk this is even thicker and creamier. The maple and oat flavours come through even more. A little bit of molasses and spices.

52Teas has really blended the perfect breakfast blend of maple, smooth white tea, and creamy sweet flavours. It also resteeps really well and takes milk if you want a richer morning drink.

Additional notes: This is still amazingly flavored and note to self: DO A THIRD STEEP. It’s a very comforting cup (or three).