Baked Apple

Mmmm. Here’s hoping this one comes back this winter. I still have a bit left in the tin and decided a cup of this would be the ticket. I used two teaspoons and have a pretty good ingredient distribution (an issue with this tea). I only have one big piece of orange left in the tin though and I seem to be saving it for a special occasion. Anyway, after a ten minute steep this yielded a powerful and sweet liquor, reminiscent of apple cider but not quite as intense. Perhaps a diluted apple cider, like one might do for children (why are children’s juices watered down, anyway?) Yum!

I can smell this tea from across the dining room table that I currently call my office. Baked apples were a frequent treat in my childhood home (core the apple, toss some butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in the hole, nuke it for however long), and this smells EXACTLY the same, down to the buttery tones.
I’m always surprised by how clear this tea winds up steeping, even though I pretty much doubled the dosage to nearly 1tbsp and steeped it for the top end of the suggestion (7 minutes).
Ooh, that’ll do. You can taste the spices almost individually. And they stay powery on your tongue in the aftertaste. Steeping this one stupid-heavy makes it very, very nice.
Me likey!

1.5 Tablespoons per 450mL water. (David’sTea recommends 2 teaspoons for 250mL water. I brew my tea pretty strong. This tisane needs the extra amount, too,)

A beautiful tisane just to look at. I’ve given serious thought to buying some just to have out in a bowl as potpourri, or in a clear jar for display.

Lovely chunks of apple and extremely fresh and fragrant cinnamon stick. A few peppercorns and four gorgeous green pods — caradmom? I brewed this completely loose, no bag or filter, as I wanted to watch it steep.

At 5 min, most of the tisane is still floating. Liquor is cloudy and pale. The aroma, my mother-in-law assures me, IS baked apples. Just like her mother made on cold days, with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nuts and raisins. This tisane has, in fact, scented the entire top floor of my house and beats even my good Pumpkin Spice Colonial Candle.

The taste? Red apples. You can even taste the peel. Red apples and sweet spices. (And no hibiscus! Yay!) Delicious. A very special tisane.

If you opt not to use a filter, you will have to sip around/through the ingredients floating on top. Just so ya know. The frugal amongst us may even scoop out the steeped tisane to mix into oatmeal later.

The smell of this tea is amazing! Cinnamon, apples…yum! Almost inspires me to start baking…almost.

Used 3 tsp for 16 oz water, which is 1 less than the company recommends. Still, I’m finding that, even though it is disturbingly pale, the taste is strong and true. Red Delicious apple and cinnamon. Tastes like a liquid apple crisp, and even has a crusty/crumbly taste to it. Yum!

David’s Tea certainly knows what they’re doing! The more I try from them, the more I love it!

David’s Tea! I am impressed.

I’ve tried three of their Holiday teas tonight, and each has been delicious and remarkable on its own merits. I wasn’t sure about ending the night with this, but now I’m glad I did! It’s perfectly sweet and cider-like. This was another tea that I loved to look at in the tin.

A bit like David’s Forever Nuts, with a nice apple-cinnamon edge to it.

Backlogging – I had this tea last night. It smells great in the bag. Once brewed it still smells great but it is a little weak. It tastes like walnuts and granny smith apples. The walnut flavor is strong and the apple flavor is weak. I will try more tea and a longer steep next time and see how it goes. I still liked it even though it was a bit weak.

2 tsp/12 oz for 8 min at boiling.

Wow, I actually finished a bag of tea! It’s been pretty unseasonably warm, but at least today was windy. I figured I should use this up before winter is totally over and it gets pushed even further back in the cupboard.

I also wanted something that would make me sleepy so I simmered all I had left of this (about 4 tsp?) in almost two cups of unsweetened vanilla almond milk with a bit of light cream in hopes of making its texture more like milk. I also added several cloves, cardamom pods, a few pieces of cinnamon bark, and a tiny dash of ginger.

Awesome! Much better than any other time I had made this tea. I always wanted to like it as the taste is nice and the smell is awesome, but the flavour wasn’t very full on its own. This way, I got lots of the nice baked apple taste but the spices were ramped up.

Mmm baked apples on a stormy day? I’m in!

The huge chunks of ingredients make this tea gorgeous to look at! And it smells just as divine.

This tea suggests using 2 tsp per cup, so I intend to try steeping it again.
The first steep of this tea, the actual color seems strangely pale. It almost seems like it should be considered a white tea instead of a green tea.
However, the flavor of the tea is bold and delicious. The spices accent the apple flavor to create an overall warmth to the tea, while the nuts add an underlying depth that complements perfectly. I’m definitely catching a fresh apple tang at the end too, which keeps this tea refreshing while keeping you toasty warm.

This tea isn’t bad, but it’s no Apple Pie (I think that’s what it was… it’s discontinued now). It just isn’t as good as I was expecting. Not bad, but not amazing.

I had such high hopes for this tea!! Cooked apples are a dessert that I cannot get enough of, and I rarely have them… so when I saw this tea, tempting me with its fragrant apple and cinnamon bits (and orange/grapefruit?? I did not expect that) I was ready for a taste of apple bliss. Except when I tasted it after what seemed like an exceptionally long time cooling and also steeping ( it retains heat for a while) for lack of a garbage receptacle where the bag could go, which could be the cause of my dislike here. Anyhow, it tasted just like Tim Horton’s Apple and Spice tea!!!! Ugh, if I wanted that, I would go to Tim’s….
I do taste the citrus though, in the finish and aftertaste. At first I disliked the bitterness but then I found it’s the only thing that sets the tea apart from Tim’s tea and I grew to not mind it, and maybe even like it… Now that I think about it, creating a unique apple tea would be rather difficult. bah!
Also, it tastes awful cold, like spiced apple juice or cider—which I am not a fan of unless it’s done really well…. so it must be drunk quickly, in that fleeting space of time where it isn’t too hot, or too cold. Don’t try this at work! Not if you’re as busy as I am ha!
I would be interested to see what it tastes like iced. It would be refreshing, I think.