My weakness is mystery bundles. There is just something irresistible about being surprised by mail that isn’t bills. I’m also a sucker for a sale. So when my Steeped tea lady, Nicole, told me my order qualified for a Mystery bundle of $100 worth of tea for just $20, you best believe I snatched it up! This was one of nearly a dozen teas inside!
This delightful morning blend is literally the flavors of an entire breakfast in one cup. My cousin is big on the butter in coffee trend, and as much as I’m willing to try new things, I just can’t imagine butter in my tea. Fortunately Steeped’s french toast Oolong is so tasty on its own, that it helps me continue to resist.
The scent transforms from its smorgasbord of tropical dry ingredients to a fresh-bread smelling wet leaf to the buttery, smoky rose-gold infusion.
There are layers of flavor as well. When the tea is hot, there are strong notes of maple syrup, and as it cools, more of the acidic citrus blood orange creeps out.
The after taste is spot-on, french toast-y (Kudos to the food scientists who made this happen!). It tastes of malt, with a sweet acid.
Surprisingly this is one tea that I actually preferred without sugar, even though it’s not sweet. Studies have shown that giving in to your cravings in the morning can lead to fewer cravings throughout the day. this is perfect if you already eat a sensible healthy breakfast but crave excitement. This will definitely be used to hold me over until brunch. Or until my next mystery box 😉
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Loose Leaf Oolong with dried fruits
Where to Buy: Steeped Tea
Description:
Breakfast in bed is served in this buttery mouth-watering tea.
Ingredients: Oolong tea, pineapple bits (pineapple, sugar, citric acid [acidifier]), coconut chips, lemon wedges, cranberries (cranberries, sugar, sunflower oil [anti-caking agent]), orange peels, rose buds, pomegranate blossoms, vanilla bits, prickly pear blossoms, natural flavors.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Apple Cinnamon French Toast Black Tea from Simpson & Vail Tea #VeganMoFo2016
This isn’t just a tea review post of Apple Cinnamon French Toast Black Tea from Simpson & Vail Tea this is a post with several goodies within including a tea review, a tea recipe with variations, and some lovely photos! So sit back and scroll away!
As I opened the sample bag of Apple Cinnamon French Toast Black Tea from Simpson & Vail Tea I seriously couldn’t BELIEVE the aroma! Not only was the scent spot-on it was powerful and incredible! I wanted to dive into a cup at first sniff but I had to hold off until now. Apple Cinnamon French Toast Black Tea from Simpson & Vail Tea was totally worth the wait.
Apples and Cinnamons with a bready aroma topped with a heavy and potent maple syrup flavor all wrapped up into one that is what this Apple Cinnamon French Toast Black Tea from Simpson & Vail Tea not only smells like but tastes like! The black tea base is of medium strength but the other flavors are intense and I LOVE it in this flavored black!
If you have ever had Maple Water and enjoyed it – you might get a kick out of this tea! Lucky for me I certainly did enjoy Apple Cinnamon French Toast Black Tea from Simpson & Vail Tea. But I want to say the word ‘enjoy’ is a drastic understatement! This tea is down right scrumptious!
As promised we have a recipe using this tea for you but I can’t take credit for it – it was listed on S&V’s website but I thought it was so interesting and unique that I wanted to share it here, too! Check out the information below in the ‘Here’s The Scoop’ section. Because I don’t eat eggs/dairy I hope to try this with an egg substitute and almond milk or other non-dairy milk in the future but I am sure there are several ways to use this tea in recipes if you are clever and wanting to tinker in the kitchen! Until then…I think I will pour myself another cup of this glorious Apple Cinnamon French Toast Black Tea from Simpson & Vail Tea!
Apple Cinnamon French Toast Tea Crepes
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
½ tsp salt
3 eggs (or vegan egg substitute)
2 tsp. Apple Cinnamon French Toast Tea 1 cup milk (or Milk Alternative)
2 Tbsp melted butter (or vegan butter)
In a small pot, heat the milk on the stove until very hot. Remove from the stove, add the tea, cover and steep for 4 minutes. Strain out the tea leaves.
Blend all ingredients with a whisk or in a blender until smooth. Pour 2-3 Tbsp at a time in a hot oiled frying pan and swirl until evenly distributed. Cook until lightly browned then flip and cook the other side.
Spread with your favorite jam or preserve, roll it up and enjoy.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description:
Apple and cinnamon goodness with a hint of maple flavor. The aroma is pure lazy Sunday morning. Breakfast on the griddle, hot tea in your hand, your favorite book waiting to be read. The sweet apple and the heady cinnamon flavors dance on your tongue, while the rich maple taste offers the base note in this amber colored cup.
Ingredients: black teas, apple pieces, organic cinnamon pieces and apple cinnamon french toast flavoring.
Brew tea at 212º – steep for 3 minutes.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
French Toast Dianhong Black Flowering Tea from Liquid Proust Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black/Flowering
Where to Buy: Liquid Proust Teas
Tea Description:
As my first batch of French Toast Dian Hong, I decided to go lightly on the flavoring because the natural cocoa taste from the tea is pleasant enough to keep the flavoring at a low amount. This tea proves to pull out different taste from different steeps from my experience and I am hoping you find the same to be true.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Some of my favourite tea companies are the ones where you really get a feel for the owners as people; a hand picked sample, signed note added in to my order, and online interactions on sites such as Steepster are all touches that win me over quite a lot as a consumer; and something really cool about Liquid Proust Teas, a retailer which opened quite recently, is that I kind of got a feel for the owner, Andrew, before the company was even hatched since, first and foremost, he was a Steepster member himself and is a consumer as well as a seller too.
Recently, I did a swap with him and he generously included a few of his own blends. Personally, I thought this seemed the most interesting of what he sent me. A few other companies such as 52Teas, both under new and old management, have attempted French Toast teas but I’ve yet to be wowed by one and I think Andrew’s approach here is quite a bit different than the ones they’ve taken so I’m definitely excited!
I brewed this ‘Grandpa Style’ because that’s my typical approach with blooming/flowering teas. I knew that there was a possibility that it would get bitter because that’s a risk you always take when brewing Grandpa Style but this was unwaveringly smooth and silky. The entire time I spent drinking this (a few hours in total) there wasn’t even the slightest hint of bitterness OR astringency. I’m incredibly impressed by that.
The flavour was very fluffy and sweet, but reserved enough to not be cloying or make me feel like I was drinking syrup straight from the bottle. The rich notes of custard, cream, vanilla, cocoa, and, yes, egg hardly waned at all throughout the session. There were also lighter notes of cinnamon that I thought did fade towards the end of my session, and some pretty pronounced malt notes from the tea itself along with more muted floral notes. I likely could have continued to drink this for another hour or possibly longer with very little flavour deterioration. More than that, if it had not have been midnight I would have continued to drink this which is certainly high praise from me given that I dislike resteeping in general (drink as many teas as possible in one day is my philosophy).
My only criticism would be that the “toast” part of “French toast” was lacking; I’d have liked stronger bread notes contributed from the base tea to complete the illusion; but that’s just me getting hyper critical of one of the better flavoured teas I’ve had all month. If Andrew’s other teas are as tasty as this one I’m in for a real treat!
