Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake from Culinary Teas is a review that's been waiting to happen for a long time.  It's my wife's favorite tea, and is tied up with our discovery of Culinary Teas, thus having a huge impact on much of this blog.  So, for as long as Erin has been going to Mrs. Bridge's, our local teahouse, she's been getting Strawberry Shortcake, a black tea flavored with strawberries and cream.  Almost every time, she would look through the menu, deliberate, then order "the usual."  Then one day a year or so ago, they were out of Strawberry Shortcake.  And then the next time we went, they were still out.  Did they plan to re-order?  No, not enough demand.  Can we order through them?  No dice.  Thus an internet search ensued, finally leading us to Metropolitan Teas, the producers of Strawberry Shortcake.  We sent them an email, asking if we could order through them, but alas, they only sell in bulk to restaurants or teashops.  However, they kindly appended a list of retailers who sold their flavored teas.  First on the list was Culinary Teas, and the rest is history.

Strawberry Shortcake is a staple in our house, and pretty much every order from Culinary Teas includes at least some amount.  The tea is the same Ceylon blend as Peaches and Cream, flavored with strawberries (oils and actual dried fruit) as well as a good bit of cream flavoring.  The Ceylon blends perfectly with the strawberries and sweet velvety cream, especially with the addition of sugar and milk, or even half and half or actual cream.  For the most part, I agree with the traditional line that you add milk, not cream, to black tea, but the addition of cream flavoring sort of calls off all bets.  It's as if the texture was made for thick, heavy cream.

So, the usual drill for preparing black tea, full rolling boil, heaping teaspoon of tea per mug, steep for about four minutes and strain, sweeten and and add milk to taste.  The resulting mug is pretty amazing.  As I've mentioned in the past, fruit flavored teas often leave me disappointed, but this is a whole different story.  The best way I can describe the flavor is as if I had taken a quality cup of blended black tea, then dissolved homemade strawberry jam and a huge spoonful of sweet cream into it, which in all actuality, is not that far off from reality.  It's a great comfort cup and a solid go to tea.  Shockingly, we've yet to try it as an iced tea, though our recent experience with iced Peaches and Cream suggests it would be a huge success.  Score:  95 (A)