Crème de la Berry Green Tea

S&V Advent Day 8! The base turned out a bit harsh for me, even steeped properly. I taste the fruitiness that reminds me of dried strawberries. Nothing tastes like chocolate or cream. It’s just a pretty basic strawberry green tea. I left it in the fridge overnight and thought it tasted better in the morning. Still not special, but serviceable.

Advent Day 8

Meh. Didn’t get any chocolate out of this, I get a pretty strong artificial cream flavor (which is interesting since I only see strawberry flavor in the ingredients). The strawberry is pretty artificial.

Simpson & Vail Advent Calendar: Day 8

Uhh… are you SURE there’s cacao in this, S&V? I taste none of it. It’s just an astringent, grassy base and the barest whisper of a flat, artificial strawberry. Not delicious, unfortunately. :(

Simpson & Vail Advent Calendar – Day 12

(originally written November 12th)

Haven’t been doing much in the way of tea today. I had one at work. But then I saw a note from ashmanra that mentioned potato soup, so once I left work I had to head to to store and pick up the ingredients to make my own. With shredded sharp cheddar and bacon on top, of course! (I made way too much soup! At least I don’t have to worry about work lunches for the week!)

Anyway, the tea. This is a strawberry cream green tea with cacao nibs.

It’s not bad, but not remarkable either. The green tea base doesn’t have a lot of flavor – just a bit of grass and dried leaves. I can taste the strawberry, though it’s not strong. I’m not sure I’m really getting much in the way of cream or cocoa.

Mostly just a rather generic strawberry green tea that’s not all that flavorful. Meh.

Thanks for this, Tamarindel! This one reminds me of spring somehow. A lovely green tea with strawberry and chocolate. Since there is also a creamy scented element, the blend probably reminds me of a chocolate covered strawberry cream candy (and the green tea could look like grass in an Easter basket!). Yum! I don’t see too many cocoa nibs within the blend, but the taste of cocoa is there. Both strawberry flavoring and strawberry pieces represent the strawberry. I think they work very well with the green tea that is both refreshing and showcases the chocolate and strawberry. A delicious, sweet tasting cup. It’s almost the green tea version of S&V’s strawberry cupcake blend!
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 32 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 25 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

Cold steeped this one too, but ughhh, that was not a good idea. The chocolate notes, which I couldn’t taste at all when I steeped at 180F, are now very strong but also very bitter. The hay notes are still there, and the astringency is somehow stronger than ever. I do get some of the strawberry, but it is overwhelmed by everything else happening in the glass. Welp, experiment concluded. This is NOT the way to prepare this tea.