308 Tasting Notes
Hm, I see some awful reviews but they are older now so wondering if Simpson & Vail changed it.
We had last night with the new Alien Romulus movie on Hulu with all the commercials (ack). We enjoyed the tea as something different. I did expect the peppermint to be stronger and actually added more tea to it than I usually would have a little, but it was definitely not too harsh or strong with peppermint. I didn’t find any sour taste but had ordered a tin so will see if my tastes change with it.
Unfortunately as a note the day before did Mulberry Black from New Mexico Tea company and find it delicious, but it’s not in steepster catalogue and doesn’t seem to exist anymore with the company either :(
Preparation
Hit the spot tonight! I made a smokey cheese ball for an event tomorrow and thought, cold night, don’t have wine, why not a boozy tea? went well with everything, especially strong goat cheese snacking. I haven’t been logging teas much sadly but I’ve been having fun drinking them :)
Will probably just toss this one, have given a few chances.
Something weird with the the blend that puckers as you keep sipping.
I will say Daybreak, on the other hand, is one of my favorite Decaf offerings ever and I’m about to order more of that stuff. Nightfall sounded like a good companion, but unfortunately not.
You do have to take care with the steep of this one as it’s pretty strong – and it still has that drying end touch in the throat, I don’t like high astringency type. This is all herbal and the fruit notes are great, but there is something about the mixture that can be overbearing. This time I brewed less than 1 scoop in a large mug for 4 minutes. Herbal generally encourages longer steep but not with this one, something in it is simply too drying.
Well, no idea why I rated so high the first time.
Since then, have had twice more. It is strongly in-your-face floral. Experimenting with different Earl Grey’s is fun and I’m a fan of S&V. The tea is simply pretty with the flower petals. It’s definitely strong, but I find that I don’t want a strong floral note in my Earl Grey and would prefer it to be a subtle friend to the main Grey blend instead, so don’t think I will be ordering more of this.
Preparation
It had been awhile since I dipped into this lovely tin. I forgot how good it was and ended up having two 2-cup pots. The second time I got distracted and steeped 7 minutes rather than five and think it made it ever better. It’s brisk, non-bitter, vibrant but not overpowering. A nice staple breakfast type tea to me that would be good for breakfast and early afternoon. The small bite of cranberries is fading a bit as the tea is getting older, but blends well with picturing a cool morning seeing a fog drift in over Boston. Still remains a keeper, even if I haven’t drank it recently.