Taylors of Harrogate

After reading a note from gmathis a month or so ago about the “trifecta” of Yorkshire Teas, I was feeling very motivated to try them too and so bought myself a box of each. I’m starting with this one but also trying to think of a way to justify opening all three boxes at once. How does everyone else store their teabags when they aren’t individually wrapped?

This blend is dark and fruity and does somehow capture the taste and aroma of breakfast toast. With the warm spring-like weather today, these fruity teas are really hitting the spot.

One of those drudgey, mopey weeks where “This is no fun; I need a cookie” has been on repeat in my brain. So I made one this morning, first thing. Nothing new to say about it; I’m just in awe of Yorkshire’s ability to duplicate shortbread in liquid form. Running low; this will be a reorder when stuff quits breaking at our household. (I am, or my little car is, the proud owner of a new and very pricey throttle body assembly. Say that five times fast!)

This lousy winter weather makes me snarf carbs down so quickly, I don’t realize what I’m doing until the cookie is nothing but crumbs. Biscuit Brew isn’t quite an even-steven substitute for what I’m craving, but it definitely has the cookie vibe down. This afternoon’s cup was pleasant accompanied by a sweet tea hard candy. Have you tried these? https://www.auntiekcandy.com/collections/green-tea-candy/products/balis-best-classic-iced-tea-hard-candy I’ve been gifted three varieties: the sweet tea, green tea latte, and green tea citrus, all of which are not 100% flavor accurate, but all pleasantly tea-ish.

Don’t you hate it when you ruin a perfectly good cuppa? Yorkshire has formulated this to be so stout, it needs milk for the tea-and-biscuits vibe to balance out properly. Otherwise, it’s TEA IN ALL CAPS with a little biscuit on the bottom shelf. Unfortunately, the only dairy to be had at work was a sad little creamer packet of unknown provenance. Didn’t check the contents carefully, and ended up with a cup of floating white sediment flakes. Tossed it and braved a second cup ON ITS OWN AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE.

One of you friends recommended this as a cold latte with vanilla syrup. My initial experiment left room for improvement, as the only dairy product under our roof was skim milk; however, it made me want to haul out the blender and try it as a milkshake: I think it would replicate malted milk very nicely. Unfortunately, the only ice cream under our roof is cherry lemonade. I don’t think that’ll fly! Plenty of summer left to try it.

Third entry in the Yorkshire lineup that recently hit my cabinets. I think, generally speaking, Americans are just so over-sugared, we have trouble wrapping our minds and taste buds around cookies that aren’t sweet. So if you’re expecting sugar cookies here, you’re not going to get them. Instead, the scent and flavoring reminded me a little of those baby arrowroot cookies or a less sweet version of Biscoff “airplane” cookies.

The black tea base is definitely Yorkshire strong. I let it go 4:30, and it was a teeny bit bitter on its own. Even so, I had downed the entire cup before I had the chance to add milk. Maybe tomorrow.

It happens about every year at my house: a shift from tear-your-hair-out-frantic work pace (school is underway and things normalize a bit) to oh-my-how-will-it-all-get-done personal schedule pace. Thus, as soon as I sign off here, I am going to sip this homey little decaf and calm myself with the repetitive motion of a crochet hook.

I’ve been through about half the box—had to take a long hot-weather furlough; it’s been ages since sipping something hot felt good—and it’s grown on me. Certainly a nice change from chamomile and mint tisanes. The lemon and nutmeg outweigh any vanilla flavor, but I could tip the balance with a little vanilla syrup. I’ll try that some night. But not now. I’m beat. Rest well.

It may be a sad commentary on our inability (or refusal) to eat at home often, but we have an embarrassingly large fast food condiment basket in the kitchen, and in that basket I found a nonperishable French vanilla creamer tub. I’m glad I did, because when you throw that in with a fresh cup of lemony Bedtime Brew, you get a really pleasant, cookie-like version of a London Fog.

Of Yorkshire’s three newer releases (Toast and Jam, Biscuit Brew, Bedtime Brew), I’ve decided this is the least best of the bunch (they’re all good). But even with that said, bags have been disappearing from my tin at a pretty speedy rate.

The lemony elements aren’t much different from other evening tisanes with similar ingredients—but the decaf tea base with nutmeg makes you feel like you’re drinking something with substance. It also makes you wish some graham crackers or vanilla wafers would just drop into your hand.

It groppled today. The weather guy said so. Little miniature snowy-ice-balls about the size of a baby ladybug. We also had sleet, freezing fog, freezing rain, and snow within a 12-hour period. I expect either oobleck or meatballs by midnight.

Couple the frozen weather extravaganza with being out in it for a while and I’ve got tense muscles in places I forgot I had. So a comforting rocking chair brew is the RX for the evening.

…and this one was a surprise. The front of the box touts vanilla and nutmeg as the headliners, so I was expecting something like eggnog. Then I noticed the fine print…lemon balm and lemongrass are in the mix as well. Together, the additions to a reasonably deeply flavored decaf base make an unusual but tasty nightcap. (But you need to be a nutmeg fan. I am.)

Have I previously and frequently mentioned how much I love this tea for waking up and bucking up in the summer? Yup.

Have I previously and frequently mentioned how good this is on ice?
Yup.

(Just wanted to make sure you knew. Happy Thursday.)

Hallelujah and pass the crumpets! My three-pack finally arrived via Royal Mail. One of them is going straight to a work friend who is retiring. We’re throwing her a tea party. Mismatched cups and saucers, stacked china with pretty teabags, the whole pinky-up routine. (I lament that the beverages will not be fully appreciated, as we are serving them to tea barbarians.)

However, there are two full boxes under my roof and I am rejoicing. Replete with both strength and strawberry goodness, this has turned into my buck-up tea, falling into the same support role as Queen Catherine and Paris for some of you. Perhaps I should have ordered more.

I don’t think I’ve ever snarfed up a 40-bag box of tea so quickly. The tin is looking like a long lonely tunnel with just a couple at the end. (Not to worry, some on order.)

Won’t add to what you already know, except for the fact that it makes a stellar iced tea. The “toast” part of the combo keeps it wonderfully stout (especially fridge-steeped overnight) and the rest, well…that’s my jam.

What? I haven’t written eleventy-seven notes waxing poetic about this, my new favorite go-to for a perk-up and a cheer-up all at the same time? Perhaps it was because I was too busy snarfing it up. Wheat toast with Mom’s strawberry preserves. It just makes my heart happy.

Amazon delivered a surprise today—three boxes—the trifecta of Yorkshire toast-biscuit-bedtime brews! (A little serendipity was much needed after a very glumpy week.)

After a great deal of “which one do I want to try first?” hemming and hawing, this one called my name. One bag to an 8 oz mug, 5 minutes brewed up strong and dark, and it did smell exactly like toast (dial set to 6 on the toaster) spread with my mom’s strawberry jam.

At 5 minutes, the black tea base was actually a little strong, even for my preferences, but the strawberry jam vibe came through beautifully. A little milk toned down the toast and hepped up the jam, which was fine with me.

This is going on my “top ten best strawberry brews” list.

I love this blend, it’s super comfy and cozy for me. It’s roasty and toasty with a touch of strawberry.

I usually brew this hot, and it tastes really good, especially with a little oat milk. Just a really good black tea. But this time, I cold brewed it overnight, three tagless bags in a pitcher. And it’s really different brewed that way! It’s got a strong vegetal note that reminds me of green tea. I can also pick out a malty note, not as strong as when I hot brew it, and some light bread and citrus notes. So, delicious either way! I’m told cold-brewing black tea leads to a lot less caffeine, but I don’t care either way on that either.

Sipdown! (7 | 129)

Hello again, Steepster!

For some reason I’ve been on a tea with oat creamer kick lately, so that’s mostly how I sipped through this one. The sweet creaminess really helped to bring out the biscuit notes in this too!

Not sure I would buy this again, maybe if I saw it for a reasonable price instead of trying to get it online…

Finally got around to trying this one today after loving the Toast & Jam last week.

I definitely don’t love this tea nearly as much. There is a nice buttery, biscuit-y flavor to it, but the black tea is so strong and quite tannic, and the flavoring just isn’t strong enough to stand up to it. I added a touch of oat milk and that helped smooth things out, but I also felt like it dulled the biscuit flavor a bit… I’m also tasting a tiny hint of something fruity, not sure if that’s a natural note of the black tea or something else?

I feel like this tea almost requires milk to be added to make it enjoyable, but maybe that’s just because I’m not a breakfast blend person. Maybe next time I’ll try cutting the steep a bit shorter to see if that helps with the balance of flavoring to tea.

One of those teas you cannot avoid when living in the UK for any extended amount of time. I got it in a food hall. People often seem to rave about this one but I wasn’t terribly impressed, like aye, it’s a decent tea. It kinda reminds me of the teas that get sold as “english blend” back in the Netherlands, but altogether it did not strike me as particularly special. WIll drink again, will not buy for myself.

Sipdown! (9 | 138)

Yay, another sipdown! It’s been a good week for those. (We won’t talk about how I’m still in the red for the year though, AND have more tea on the way…)

Really enjoyed this tea warm with oat milk and sweetener, or as an iced milk tea. It definitely does taste like toast with jam, and to me the jam is somewhere between strawberry and raspberry. One of my favorite jams is actually the Four Fruits from Bonne Maman, so a mix of red fruits is right up my alley, ha ha.

This is a bit of a pain to get ahold of here in the States, so not sure I would bother trying to restock it, but enjoyed it while it lasted!