Apple Cinnamon Coffeecake

Tried this tea with double the leaves. Sadly the notes of apple, cinnamon, and coffeecake are drowned out by the black tea. What the what, black tea, stay in the background! But it didn’t. So sad. Still a good tea when steeped normally.

Simpson & Vail Advent Calendar: Day 15

I’m getting behind on my advents… I blame my long internship days without a kettle, plus the surfeit of caffeinated teas that have popped up lately. But I’ve got a home day tomorrow, and I plan to be VERY well caffeinated as I work through the backlog (which isn’t actually THAT large, but we all know how these things snowball).

Anyway, this was yesterday’s S&V tea, but I had it this morning on my commute. I really enjoy both this one and its French toast counterpart. I stocked up on the latter when I purchased the advent, but now I’m kind of wishing I’d bought some of this one, too! I think a blend of both teas would actually be lovely… you’d get the maple sweetness of the French toast blend with the pastry, cake-y notes of this one.

All to say that this blend is solid as hell! It’s true to its name and is just so tasty.

Advent Day 15

Another okay blend. Mostly getting cinnamon, not getting any apple. Slightly cakey.

October Sipdown Prompt – tea from a favorite fall cup or mug

Once again, I awoke to find a placard and a gift bag at my place at the table. This sign announced that it is October 21st is Apple Day and the gift bag from the daughter who lives with us contained this tea.

For my favorite fall cup or mug, I don’t really have any mugs that are specifically fall and I very rarely drink tea from a mug. However, I do switch to Old Country Roses for fall (especially Thanksgiving) through Easter, as I use Lady Carlyle for spring and summer tea times or parties. Everyday ware is anything blue and white by Spode, collected at bargain prices over many years, just as the china sets were absolutely stunning deals.

In Old Country Roses pattern, I have two of the breakfast cups that I purchased from eBay that are absolutely HUGE. I would love to get more as they are great for serving soups, but even on eBay they tend to run expensive and I felt fortunate to find these in good condition many years ago. So that will count as my fall cup or mug!

The tea is good, and while drinking it I felt that the apple was very subtle and the coffeecake aspect was dominant, but now that I have finished it the apple flavor is the lingering taste with cinnamon dancing over the top.

I have a bad, horribly itchy rash from a reaction to the antibiotic so my tastes are weird and off and I just don’t want my normal breakfasts right now. I had this with biscotti, then grabbed a pecan shortbread cookie and found that to be a perfect pairing for the tea, so now I have a great excuse to put shortbread cookies on the grocery list every week for a while. Fortunately, we love the cheap store brand at our grocery and the name brand are frequently BOGO.

I think this would make a good latte or be great with milk and/or sugar. It is a tad drying and brisk, which isn’t as noticeable with food.

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 15

Ooh, nice to refresh my memory on this one. I know I prefer the Apple Cinnamon French Toast to this, but can’t recall why.

Okay, this really does taste like a coffeecake – buttery, cinnamony, a bit of a walnut thing going on. However, there is little to no apple, and that’s probably why I prefer the other tea. It’s crazy how on-point the walnut is though, even though nuts are not mentioned anywhere in the description lol. Definitely giving me walnut and cinnamon coffeecake vibes!

As for Bonne Maman, today we have Cherry-Pink Peppercorn Spread. Even just eating it plain, I could only taste the peppercorn if I squinted and stood on one leg ha ha. Definitely not noticeable at all, especially if you didn’t know it was there. Maybe there’s a little tingle if I taste it with the very tip of my tongue? Otherwise, it’s a scrumptious cherry jam. Delightful!

A sweet and warming dessert tea, I highly liked this one. I had ordered a sampler (well 2 oz each) of Apple Cinnamon Coffeecake and Apple Cinnamon French Toast. Not sure yet on which I like better.

This one seems like a great complement for breakfast. Would go well if you want to add a touch of maple syrup instead of sugar if you care to sweeten as the fall flavors enhance each other. This would be particularly delicious with biscuits and jam or any dessert bread sweetened like a crumpet or mini pancake. That reminds me, I still need to keep perfecting my crumpets since I ordered the molds for them.

It’s sweet enough on its own where you don’t have to add sweetener if that is your preference. I can taste the tea true behind the flavors and it’s all natural, not overwhelming, pleasant, not bitter.

I followed the rec of brewing at 3 instead of 5 I usually do, and the taste comes through strong at 3. I’d recommend their directions on bag for this one in that case.

Shae Advent Day 13

Yay, it’s always great to see a tea from my favorite company! I’m drinking this with milk and sugar, and the flavor is really pretty bready! I get a little bit of a baked cinnamon flavor and a lot of pastry flavor. The flavor really lingers in my mouth. This one is executed pretty well!

This caught me off guard with its nutty aroma! I get it now, after thinking on it – the nuttiness I think is supposed to represent the cake flavor here. Unfortunately, I don’t taste anything else. No apple, no cinnamon. I have a pretty large bag of this one, so plenty to play around with.

Sipdown! Finished this off to make my stash look a little less out of control. I have SO MUCH to review between samples people have sent me, Sips by, and my latest Harney & Sons order. Gotta get on it!

Plenty of goodies in this blend, so I went with two teaspoons! What a lovely autumn blend during this miserable weather: apple, cinnamon, orange blossoms, and a unique toasty flavor I haven’t tasted with any other tea…. that must be the coffeecake flavor. The ingredients in the blend play nice, but how could they not? Apples and cinnamon are the classic combination. The black tea used here enhances the fruitiness of the apple, yet adds dark layers to the cinnamon and coffeecake flavor. The orange blossoms don’t add much to the flavor, as far as I can tell. The toasty flavor is actually stronger than the cinnamon. Without the toastiness, it might be an ordinary tea, but the toasty flavor brings something unique to this blend! It’s definitely an autumn blend, but I could drink this all year. This was a sample in the dessert box sampler, but I would definitely stock up on this. I stole an apple cube from the infuser and it was delicious. :D
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep