Dessert by Deb

Sil said this one should be called coconut cake and when I brewed it up it was a lot of that sort of lotion-y coconut smell. So I was worried. Thankfully, it is creamy but not lotion-y. Plus, it’s not ALL coconut. I means it’s a lot of coconut but with a generic berry flavor underneath and at the end of the sip. Honestly, I am getting a super thick and coconut cream mouth feel as if someone put a whackload of coconut whipped cream on top of some macerated berries. But like the ratio is like 2:1 or maybe even 3:1 coconut whipped cream: berries. Nothing says cake to me though. Also, I am getting the slightest bit of green tea base but not as much as I worried there would be given this is a green tea but was steeped for 5 minutes at 200F, per Dessert by Deb’s steeping recommendations.

So I’d say this one is good but not great and not one I need more of. With that said, this is a sipdown of the sample that came in my July order with Sil and Roswell Strange but I got another sample of it with the Fall teas that arrived yesterday.

Latte Sipdown (gone before it was even added so no number change)

My new Dessert by Deb order arrived with all the tasty sounding fall teas. This is one of the ones I’m splitting with Sil and it smelled so good while I was dividing it that I decided to use my half to make a latte.

This was a little underleafed compared to usual and at first it came off a bit thin. However, the more I drink the better it gets. It’s good but I don’t know if it’s s’mores. I think this is more fireside coconut than anything. Smokey, creamy, coconut, and a touch of sweet maple/chocolate.

Since it’s not quite s’mores, I don’t think I need more. Based on the name and smell, I was actually worried I’d be immediately placing another order for copious amounts of this so I’m glad it didn’t completely deliver.

Sample from variaTEA. This one was alright, but not over the top amazing. I didn’t find it too sweet, but I wasn’t really getting caramel appl from this. Instead it just really felt more like a cinnamon bun tea….but not the delicious one from steapshope :(

had this one a few days ago when steepster was acting up, so hard to remember much beyond the fact that i DID enjoy this one.

i feel like this should just be called coconut cake. The berry is really really faint in this one, more there in a “tang” that comes through than in actual flavour. It’s not a BAD tea, but it’s not berry shortcake. Just mostly coconut cake.

Sipdown!

I think the coconut and the honey are my biggest issues with this tea. When these two ingredients are at their strongest they dominate the blend. The latter in particular accentuates the rooibos in a way I do not enjoy and that makes me think of honey cough drops (also, why not just use the less medicinal, sweeter honeybush instead of rooibos + honey?). Bee pollen, which I generally like, also adds a sweet floral quality that exacerbates the medicinal quality for me today.

There are moments when this blend works. The aftertaste is creamy, with hints of vanilla, and the cup smells pleasantly buttery. It’s not a terrible latte or cold brew either! I’m just not terribly into coconut as a sub/filler ingredient at this point, and I’ve never been fond of rooibos/black tea blends (I don’t get it), or teas with added sweeteners. This blend has brown sugar, maple syrup, and honey and it’s quite sweet but also thinner than I’d like a “toffee” tea.

I was hoping to have more success with this blend than Sil or VariaTEA had but this wasn’t really the case. I don’t remember either of them mentioning this, but the dry leaf smell of this tea is really off to me – it’s chocolate-y, sure, but also it kind of smells like feet!?

Thankfully it doesn’t really taste like feet (well, maybe just a TINY bit). It also doesn’t taste that good either though – kind of not properly chocolate-y and not properly berry either, and definitely not creamy. I just think that chocolate and hibiscus really aren’t meant to go together and forcing them to coexist just makes for lesser versions of both flavours.

I’m almost through my pouch of this, from my group order with VariaTEA and Sil, already – it’s quickly become an Autumn favourite of mine, in particular for later in the evening when I want something rich and cozy but also sweet and spicy with that kind of warmth that you feel deep in your chest that softens you from the inside out. It’s rare that I fall for a ginger tea so hard, but the mild maple notes and mixed red berry flavours with that tickle-y ginger really have captured me.

I’ve had mixed success with Dessert By Deb so far, though I did just order a bag of each of the new teas from her most recent “Fall-ish” collection. This is the only one I’ve found so far though that I’d order again – and in fact, I did order it again. Can’t wait for my new bag of it to arrive!

Oooh, now this was good!

I have a weird relationship with ginger – I don’t love the flavour on its own but when you mix it with a sweet/juicier fruit note it kind of comes alive to me and sparks feels of joy that straight ginger simply does not. That’s what happened here, I think. It’s a pretty strong, and spicy ginger flavour with heat that crawls down your throat. However, it’s also sweet and juicy with red berry notes and a slight presence of brown sugar. I understand the crisp comparison and, while I think the ginger could be just a touch more muted and a more pastry/buttery element introduced to better convey the flavour, it’s captured for me in this infusion! The flavours feel dynamic to me, and well balanced.

This is my favourite Dessert by Deb blend I’ve tried so far!

Sample from variaTEA. While I appreciate the share this one is not for me. I’d expect to get a creamy, chocolate berry tea…and instead this was an off putting weird berry thing. I don’t Mind hibby , but Something about how this one blends together just doesn’t work. Tons of chocolate chunks but no chocolate in the tea. Just sour berry tang. Blech.

I’ve been off of mint for a while now, but can honestly say I was ok with it in this cup. I love a good mint chip ice cream, so I can get behind this tea. Accurate, nice balance of both mint and chocolate. Maybe it’s the vanilla rounding things out that pulled it all together?

I like this one if i overleaf it…though i still prefer the necessiteas version

Tried this one not to start and really enjoyed it this morning. Stupid busy so not much to say yet but i love my orange teas….I think I prefer the chocolate orange one from yesterday but this is a really enjoyable cup too. The coconut doesn’t overwhelm which is nice, just makes it creamier.

Blech. This one might be coming back to you variaTEA. Just. Nope. I mean it was al ost drinkable but then I’d take a sip and be like WHAT is this? Yes there’s a bit of creaminess to it…and I can imagine butter toffe on some sips but overall it’s just rooibosy, coconut cream something,

Sipdown on this one. A little sad to see if go, but I have another chocolate orange coming to me (right variaTEA??) lol I’d pick this up again for sure though. While it’s a little less subdued than the smell would have you believe, it’s still enjoyable.

This one smells amaaaaaazing! Sadly the taste doesn’t quite translate as intensely as I want it to, but it’s still a good tea. I think as far as chocolate orange goes, now that butiki is gone I’m going to have to go with necessiteas version except it’s never in stock! So this might be a decent replacement for when I really want that orange chocolate flavour. I’m ok with the room so in this, though why it can’t just be a black tea, I don’t know lol. Need to try this with a little sugar to see how that changes things.