Hey there Teacups! I’m back today with a Stateside Steeps post and this time around I’m going to be reviewing Frank Community Farm’s – Apple Spice tisane. As you’ll all know I recently their Tulsi Cacaonut blend and absolutely loved it, which did surprise me! So of course ever since that tasting session, I’ve been excited to jump into a tasting session with this blend and see if this blend with a different base (this one is yaupon based) was going to be as good as the previous one I tried, if not better.
Steeping Instructions: Steep in hot water (200 degrees) for 5 mins
Ingredients: medium Roasted Yaupon, Cinnamon Pieces, Rooibos and Dried Apple Pieces
Tisane Tasting Notes
For this tasting session I tried this tisane two ways: hot on its own and hot with the addition of just honey. In the cup I had on its own, the medium Roasted Yaupon was definitely the star, bringing to the cup light caramel notes, a gentle sweetness and a clean finish, followed by the cinnamon which provided just enough of a warm spice and made its presence know without overshadowing everything else. The apple built on the natural sweetness provided by the yaupon base and added a nice light juciy apple note to the cup as well.
The rooibos definitely took more of a backseat than I was expecting and added a underpinning of woodiness & nuttiness. It’s definitely a light blend but it was very pleasant to drink, with quite a smooth mouth feel and would definitely be a nice light blend to slowly wake up with in the morning. For me this was well balanced and naturally sweet enough that it didn’t need honey, and I’ll definitely be drinking what I have left of this on its own. But, I wanted to try adding honey in for this tasting session just to see what an added additional sweetness would do to the blends overall flavour profile.
I only added in one teaspoon to my cup, but for me once that was added it was too sweet and because this is quite a light blend in general it really just through it off balance and took away some of this blends best qualities. I personally feel like most people will enjoy this without the addition of any sweetener added but if you are adamant that you have to add honey or sweetener of any kind I would only add half a teaspoon or less to avoid ruining what this blend has to offer.
I’ve only ever had a few blends with yaupon in them as it’s not somthing I usually reach for, but out of what I have tried this has definitely been the best so far, and it’s inspired me to look for more blends with yaupon in them and learn more about it. The flavour profile of this blend reminds me of fall and would definitely be the perfect addition to any fall morning routine. I’ll definitely add it to my repurchase list for a future date.
Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5
If you want to find out more about Frank Community Farm and purchase some of their blends to try for yourself, you can do that here. As always if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll answer them all as soon as I can.
Speak to you all again soon. Happy Steeping – Kimberley
*the tisane featured in this post was gifted to me for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and have not been paid for*
