Caramel Walnut Shortbread Rooibos

I bought some Simpson and Vail caffeine free blends for the upcoming fall and winter evening tea times with Ashman. He loves cookies and this sounded like one that woukd go nicely with desserts.

But first – does anyone else have a weird cupboard situation? For a very long time now, years even, I have noticed that lots of my teas duplicate. I tried taking one out of cupboard and it removes both. When I tried doing a rough count of tea on hand and comparing the numbers, they match pretty well. Then I noticed that some of my teas are not listed, but when I have a sipdown and go to the page and remove a tea from cupboard, the number on the cupboard page does go down by one. i have added the four new S&V teas but they do not show up in the cupboard for me even though when I go to their page, it says “added to cupboard.” Mystery.

Anyway, I made this first as a latte and it was such a hit that I wondered if we would like it plain. I was right about Ashman loving it.

Tonight we had a cookie taste off. Ashman wanted Keebler Pecan Sandies but wouldn’t buy them because they were not on sale and we were in one of the most expensive local grocery stores. Daughter went to another store today and they were on sale as well as there being a store brand, so I had her get both and we had a blind cookie tasting tonight. The store brand won! Ashman is happy because now he can have his cookies more often.

We drank this tea plain tonight. I resteeped it so we would have a huge pot. It was wonderful, nice and strong, and the shortbread flavor in the tea just complimented the shortbread style Sandies. It was excellent even without milk and sugar, and indeed would have been too much sweetness for me latte style while eating cookies, although Ashman wouldn’t have minded with his sweet tooth. The caramel is authentic tasting and the hint of walnut gives it depth.

We both loved it and I am really happy with the blends I bought to enjoy this winter. This is one I would definitely repurchase.

ETA: Now that I have logged a tasting note on this one, all my new teas now show up in my cupboard three days after I added them, but the number of teas is unchanged.
It also says that I have made no tasting notes for any of them in spite of this one being written today. Maybe it takes a long time to catch up.

Simpson & Vail Advent Calendar – Day 14

(originally written November 14th)

Ooh, another green rooibos blend from Simpson & Vail. These have been my favorites so far from the advent box, which is rather unexpected.

This one is quite pleasant as well. It’s interesting that it almost tastes like a red rooibos to me with the added flavors. The caramel is deep and almost toffee-like. It is also buttery, almost in a buttered rum sort of way. The caramel and butter together almost remind me of a dark butterscotch, which is lovely. There is a bit of walnut here as well, and I would definitely identify it as walnut over other nuts.

I would absolutely guess that this was a red rooibos from the taste! Obviously it’s not, but I think the richer flavors are tricking my tastebuds. But I really think this green rooibos tastes a bit woodier than usual.

I got two ounces of this yummy tea from tea-sipper, and I absolutely demolished them. Green rooibos is definitely the best base for herbal dessert teas since it doesn’t get in the way of the flavors. With this tea, I’d say it didn’t necessarily evoke the flavors it was meant to, but it did taste generically dessert-like and sweet. I’ve loved almost every Simpson & Vail tea I’ve received in exchanges, and I have a big order in my cart ready to go…I just have so much tea, I feel like I’m not allowed to order more. Such inner turmoil!

Another sample from tea-sipper! I love caramel-flavored teas, so I was excited to give this one a try. The scent is absolutely heavenly! Warm and sweet and nutty and buttery…it definitely suites the name. For me, the taste didn’t quite live up to the scent. I definitely get the walnut coming through strongly along with hints of caramel. But I would have loved an even stronger caramel flavor and more of the buttery shortbread flavor I was smelling. Perhaps this one needs sweetener to fully bring out its potential? Don’t get me wrong, this is a delicious tea! Just not quite the amazing flavor experience promised by the aroma.

Here’s one for the fans of dessert teas and green rooibos! I’m trying to envision the three elements here as I’m smelling the dry leaves and tasting the tea. Caramel. walnut. shortbread. (Sounds like a delicious combo as is!) It’s definitely caramely in both scent and flavor. Spot on caramel all around. There are hints to the fragrance and the flavor of something else… possibly walnut and shortbread. It is slightly nutty and buttery, but the sweet caramel takes over. But the caramel makes it a dessert tea on its own! It works pretty well considering it is only green rooibos, flowers and flavoring. The second steep the next night was just as flavorful. It doesn’t hurt I was sipping it while eating Keebler’s “shortbread” elf cookies. :D Another lovely dessert tea from S&V!
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for a full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 minute steep