Sipdown (213)!
Made this one iced at DT today; I actually had brought it with the plan to drink it hot on shift but the store was so hot today that all I could bring myself to make was iced teas. It was actually really tasty though! At first I found it almost unpleasantly brisk, but after a couple sips I settled into the flavour and really appreciated the nuances of each element.
I expected a richer blackberry, but instead this is fairly mellow and creeps in the background a bit; it’s sweet but not overly and is very natural. I’d describe it primarily as the taste of a blackberry that’s just not quite ripe yet, but right on the cusp. What was surprisingly strong to me was the maple which was present in the top of the sip alongside the brisker, bold malty black base. The finish was vanilla and dry cinnamon. Overall the drink was just a hint astringent.
A pump of agave probably wouldn’t have hurt to brighten it up/draw out the blackberry but I generally try to avoid sweetener where I can and this wasn’t bad. Just throwing the idea out there for anyone who might find this not quite sweet enough.
Overall though I think this does do a really nice, solid job of recreating the taste of waffles with maple syrup and blackberries – just in a way where the tea itself isn’t lost in the flavours. It took a while, but I ended up finishing it off quite enamored with it.
Thanks VariaTEA!
Yay! I’m glad you liked this one.