When it’s raining cats and dogs out, the sky is dark, and the lightening is bright, there is nothing quite like a latte made with a warming dessert tea. Normally, that warmth comes from a spice like cinnamon or clove but this time I decided to go a different way and picked out Bonfire Coffee by Bird and Blend Tea Co., a smokey black tea with caramel and apple.
I brewed up the tea rather strongly, steeping 4 perfect teaspoons in 8 ounces of boiling water for 4 minutes. I topped the steeped tea with 8 ounces of frothed 1% milk.
The first thing I noticed when drinking the tea was the smoke from the Lapsang Souchong black tea. No surprise there given that Lapsang is always one strong tea.With that said, the milk sat atop the smokiness making for a smooth and creamy smokey flavor, as opposed to a more harsh smoke, until the end of the sip when the smoke just broke free and lingered in the aftertaste. The aftertaste is also where I most noticed the presence of a caramelized sugar/burnt caramel quality that was intermingled with the milk and Lapsang throughout the sip but came through more clearly in the aftertaste. Apple was missing in the latte but my guess it was drowned out by the more prominent flavors of the milk and the Lapsang.
It’s a nice tea but definitely not for the faint of heart. If you are not one for smoke, stay away from the Bonfire.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Bird and Blend Tea Co.
Description
Travelling tea merchants used to carry tea from east to west,all the way across Russia… well, their horses did anyway! It’s said the campfire smoke would infuse into the loose tea leaves at night creating smoked teas. Add some caramel, apple and toasted cinnamon and you get a spectacular Bonfire Night treat!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Bonfire Toffee from Bird and Blend Tea Co.
Bonfire Toffee tea from Bird and Blend should be part of everyone’s fall and winter brewing. A full bodied black tea is sweetened with the brown sugar and butter notes of caramel and toffee. The blend stops from being too sweet by the addition of crisp apple and smoky lapsang souchong.
If you aren’t into smoky teas, give this one a try. The smoke is mostly in the scent of the brew, and gets lost beneath black tea and toffee tones in the taste.
This tea feels like taking a walk in the fall. The robust black tea is wrapped around you like a wool scarf, and you can smell the pleasant char of your neighbor’s wood stove on the air. Take a bite out of a fresh apple and follow it up with something sweet, like holiday caramel candy.
I had been curious about trying Bonfire Toffee for its blend of sweet and savory, and the tea does not disappoint. Brew up a cup for your next leaf-peeper trip, or your next winter bonfire.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Bird and Blend
Description:
Traveling tea merchants used to carry tea from east to west,all the way across Russia… well, their horses did anyway! It’s said the campfire smoke would infuse into the loose tea leaves at night creating smoked teas. Add some caramel, apple and toasted cinnamon and you get a spectacular Bonfire Night treat!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Sensiblyscript’s Take on Lapsang Chai by Bluebird Tea Company. . . .
Steeping specs: One teaspoon at 212 degrees for 4 minutes in 1 cup of water.
This was an exciting idea for a tea. I’ve tried actual lapsang souchong once and couldn’t get through my mugful (maybe it was a bad idea to add milk, but I couldn’t stand it without milk either so I figured it couldn’t hurt anything). It’s not because I don’t like smoky flavors, either. I love smoked meat (I mean, BACON, right?), and I love campfires although it’s true I don’t eat them. But combining smoky tea with other strong spices that I know I like sounds like a very clever idea. I only wish I’d had it. In fact, I think I might have the rest of that sample packet of Lapsang somewhere; maybe I should go experiment with mixing it with various chais.
After steeping for four minutes I took a good whiff–it smells tantalizingly smoky. This could be either a good thing or a problem, as mentioned above. The color is amber-ish–on the light side for a chai, I think (and I do have the unfortunate tendency to judge my tea’s strength by its color! I’ve been known to waaaaay over-steep my tea just because it didn’t look dark enough to me). A few crumbs of leaf have escaped my basket, so maybe I’ll use the finer mesh next time I steep this. What’s really exciting is that although the smell is smoky, I can smell spices too! Cinnamon, ginger, and possibly clove, I think.
First taste: it’s definitely not tasting like liquid smoke here, which is good! The flavor combo is hard to describe, though. The smoky tang and the warmth from the spices hit me at approximately the same time with each sip, which means it really has a kick! It’s not a super spicy chai, though, so if you’re sensitive to spice that probably won’t be a problem (depending on just how sensitive you are, of course. Some people manage to complain of spiciness in foods that taste basically bland to me).
The smokiness combines especially well with the ginger notes for some reason. Does ginger have a smoky component normally? I don’t know. I just know that this tastes really, really good. The smoke lingers a bit after each sip, but like I said, it’s not overpowering.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Bluebird Tea Co.
Description
We like to do things a bit differently at Bluebird. Our latest infusion is a thoughtful blend of Lapsang Souchong, malty Assam + aromatic masala chai spices. A BREWtiful blend of tea + culture alike!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Perfect for Valentine’s Day! Heart Tea Goodness from Cup of Love Tea. . . .
I’ve been on a kick with flavored Lapsang Souchong’s as of late. Not sure WHY but I am. I can’t say as I have ever been on a flavored Lapsang Souchong (specifically) kick before. So this time around I want to share Heart Tea Goodness from Cup of Love Tea with you.
Cup of Love Tea is a subsidiary of Vampyre Tea Company so I was pretty darn excited to try it! Heart Tea Goodness from Cup of Love Tea contains Lapsang Souchong Black Tea, Cinnamon, Apple, Orange Peel, Hibiscus, and Coconut Tea & Pieces.
Dry – the aroma was more faint than I was expecting but once infused everything seemed to come to life! I could smell the Lapsang, the Cinnamon, and the Orange up front with hints of Apple floating in the background. The coconut was hard to pick up with the ‘old sniffer’ but it looked lovely in the dry mix! Heart Tea Goodness from Cup of Love Tea smells quite unique which makes me REALLY want to sip on it and FAST!
I listened to what my cuppa was telling me and I took a sip of this intriguing Heart Tea Goodness from Cup of Love Tea. The flavor of the Lapsang Souchong was in full force but the Apple flavors seemed to be right along side of it acting as a faithful sidekick. I could taste the cinnamon on the end sip and on into the aftertaste. Follow-up sips revealed the orange flavors which were juicy and delicious!
What was really interesting with this tea is that when it naturally cooled at room temperature for a bit I was able to taste some more fruit notes but they seemed to pop out more and become more juicy. Most notably the citrus! THEN…it seemed to end on a subtly sweet and creamy note – possibly due to the coconut slivers! I’m TOTALLY digging this Heart Tea Goodness from Cup of Love Tea!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Smoky Black Tea
Where to Buy: Cup of Love Tea
Description
Don’t let the smoky flavor full you, this China Black Tea is good for your heart! Elegant Black Tea smoked over wood logs in the Fujian Province of China, in the same centuries old process, is the base for this truly unique blend. Woody in the nose, the smoky taste is mellowed in the cup by coconut so that the finish is filled with notes of roasted cinnamon apple.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Smoking Coconut Black Tea from 52Teas. . . .
I loved everything about this warming tea. I loved seeing the big coconut pieces, the delicious coconut aroma, and of course the taste. As soon as I poured the boiling water over this tea, all I could smell was coconut.
I associate coconut with all things sunny and warm, so it was very soothing on a cold, grey, snowy winter day. I added a little raw sugar and a splash of coconut milk and just enjoyed the heck out of this cup. I never thought of combining any kind of tea with coconut(other than milk) but it really works out so well.
The caffeine in the black tea helped to wake up my fuzzy brain, and the aromatherapy of the coconut helped not only wake up my senses, but put me in a mellow, peaceful frame of mind which is so important. I felt like this tea was giving me a big, welcoming wake up hug. If you love coconut, this is a tea that you need to try. It’s the kind of tea that you mourn the last sip, you just want it to last forever.
I would say this is in my top three favorite new teas I tried in 2016. Actually, I would say it’s in my top two. It’s competing with another coconut tea, matcha with coconut. I guess I just love coconut!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for what teas are.
Tea Description: I just wanted a tea that was coconut-y and a little bit smoky. So that’s what I did.
Sometimes, that’s what my inspiration is all about. I wanted a coconut-y tea and I thought that the combination of a lightly smoky tea with the creamy, sweet coconut flavor would be really interesting.
I started with a blend of black teas – a rich, malty Assam; a smooth, medium-bodied Ceylon and a tippy, robust Yunnan. Then I added just a teensy bit of Lapsang Souchong to give it a hint of smoke. I wasn’t going for a heavily smoked tea this time around – I didn’t want an overpoweringly smoky presence – just enough smoke to add some contrast to the silky sweet coconut flavor. Then I added a bunch of huge shreds of coconut.
The result is a sublimely yummy cuppa that you’ve gotta try. Sure, it might be a little on the ‘usual’ side especially when compared to some of the teas that we’ve made in the past but it’s no less delicious. Sometimes – going with something a little more ordinary can lead to extraordinary results!
This tea is vegan, gluten-free and all organic!
organic ingredients: black teas, coconut and natural flavors.
