Potato Pancakes & Applesauce (Holiday Series: Hanukkah)

Lovely aroma – sweet, cinnamon-coated apples. Wonderfully unique tea.

Got this as a sample. I mostly only notice the applesauce flavor. But there is a more subtle flavor that is hard for me to describe. I assume this is the “potato pancake”. It almost adds a salty? flavor to this tea? If that makes sense? It’s good, but I probably won’t order more.

Hanukkah is coming early to my house because I’m having this tea tonight!

I repeat, sometimes incessantly, how amazingly beautiful Stacy’s blends are, and this is no exception. The apple and potato chunks with the long green tea leaves…lovely. Just lovely.

The smell in the bag is one of apple cinnamon, and delicious. Brewed, I mostly get the cinnamon, with the thick mouthfeel from the potato, but I’m afraid I’m not getting that much apple. I’m getting a very mild brew. That might just be me underleafing, or not getting enough apple bits in my teaspoon. I will note that as the water hit the apple, it just swelled up nice and juicy like. Yum! You know I am eating them after my steeps.

I’m gonna root through the bag and see if I can get another apple chunk or two and try my resteep with that and see how that works.

EDIT: Second steep is yielding more apple. Might have been hotter water that did that.

I asked Stacy for this sample out of curiosity. I thought there was no way tea could actually taste like potato pancakes with applesauce. Guess what! It really does taste like most scrumptious, slightly crunchy potato pancakes with a bit of an applesauce. And now I HAVE to make them!

Thanks so much for the sample Stacy~ Wow, what a great experience ordering from this company was.

As for this tea, I have no problems with it. This tea is amazing, the potato rounds off the apples perfectly, the base is great, and eating the bits out of the infuser is delicious. This is defiantly going on the shopping list. I need more. MOAR.

I think my tastebuds are on vacation today. This is the third Butiki tea I’ve had today that barely tasted of anything (the last was Traditional Plum Pudding – I didn’t make a note for it). I get a hint of cinnamon and apple from this, but just a hint. And no potato.

I’m going to hold off rating this and Plum Pudding until another day to give them a fair shot.

Thank you for this tea Shelley_Lorrane!

I didn’t know what to make of this flavor combination, but was intrigued enough to want to try it. I’m not aware of any dish where apples and potatoes cross paths, so it strikes me as a curious marriage. It’s like an odd couple that don’t seem right for each other and you wonder what on earth they are doing together until you spend some time with them and then it dawns on you how strangely perfect of a match they are. I get this tea now. I don’t think it is something I will want to keep stocked in my cupboard, but I get it now.

I can easily pick out the applesauce. It isn’t a fresh apple taste, it’s a cooked apple taste. I think I can taste a touch of cinnamon. I have never had potato pancakes, but I can definitely taste the creamy starchiness of the potatoes. I’m not tasting the green tea base at all and that’s okay. It’s pretty good without sugar, but it’s nice with it too. I could really go either way on the sugar part. Overall I’d rate it as interesting.

I used 2 tsp of leaf in 500mL hot water and a splash of almond milk. Unfortunately overleafing it didn’t really help.

I’m not sure what potato pancakes were supposed to taste like, but I don’t get any pastry or potato flavours. I do taste some great apple and cinnamon notes, however. I actually think this is a nice apple cinnamon tea. I think the flavours have all faded quite a bit. After an hour of steeping it still isn’t very strong and the almond milk (which is already thin and non-intrusive) drowns out the tea quite a lot. I bet this blend would have been fantastic in its prime.

Let me start by saying potato pancakes and applesauce sounds delicious! It’s nothing something I have ever tried or seen but the dynamics of potato + apple is an interesting one.
Albeit rather late on my list since Hanukkah has come and gone but this was a wonderful find in the return of EU TTB Round 3.

Upon steeping this I admit that the cubes of potato were intriguing enough for me to bite into, and it was dry and crumbly but oddly pleasant. The blend as a whole had a gentle yet floral and sweet apple scent. It was also exactly as pictured, but with Butiki it’s a safe bet in terms of quality ingredients.

After the advised 4 minute steep my tea is now a light tan colour and bares an amazing scent mixture of cinnamon, apple and toasted bread or pancakes. Even without knowing the name of this blend that is what I would have thought.

The flavour is warming, savoury yet sweet and very delicious. The white tea dominates with a dry yet generally light floral base with rich cinnamon notes and a soft touch of apple in the after taste. The combination of the dry white, cinnamon and apple gives a toasted bread or pancake like affair, which pretty much matches the scent. The flowers add some sweetness along with the apple and that adds a cream/butter flavour. So on the whole I suppose it does taste like what I imagine potato pancakes and applesauce to taste like. All while keeping in mind that this blend is soft and of medium strength, so nothing offensive or truly dislikeable.

I say this is another blend that Butiki has managed to carry off well. Not a favourite but something I would certainly drink again.

I found this little sample in my sample box. I never had it, stupid me.
So first and last time with this tea.
It is an organic green tea Huangshan Mao Feng embellished with pieces of apples cut in thin slices and potato cubes.

Let’s say it is extremely subtile . nice, buttered – subtle but very mellow , it is rather focused on the apple. The potato gives a little body to the overall architecture of this tea. The base is very noticeable.

I liked it. I prefered the first steep.

Thank you Stacy & Butiki Teas for her creativity and the sample.

Pics of my session with Potato Pancakes & Applesauce are available here : http://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2014/12/12/potato-pancakes-applesauce-butiki-teas/