No. 25 Morning Light

As I mentioned in my previous note, I visited Steven Smith Teamaker in Portland today … my husband was surprisingly affable earlier this week when I asked him if he would take me to Portland to visit not one but TWO tea shops. He usually grumbles (loudly) when I make such a request, and these grumbles are usually followed by comments such as “you have enough tea” or “you don’t need more tea” or “you’re going to spend more money on tea?” … something like that. Basically stating that he isn’t going to take me shopping for more tea.

But, this week, I think he may have had some residual guilt over spending a lot of money on his Christmas gift (an early gift) – a new PS3 because his old one went kaput – so, he was, as I said, surprisingly agreeable to taking me where ever I wanted to go. And I wanted to go to Steven Smith because they had a new holiday blend – this blend – that I had to try!

First of all, this is a bagged (or should I say sacheted?) tea. It wasn’t made available in loose leaf, and if I had any complaint about the blend at all that would be it. But even as a sacheted tea, it’s amazing. I like that it’s a silky sachet and not a paper bag, because … well, I don’t taste the paper bag in the finished product.

This is incredibly yummy. The black tea blend is rich and smooth … even a tad creamy tasting. Nutty, malty, sweet, and comforting. Some astringency, yes. And then you have the touch of Douglas Fir needles … and this adds a hint of refreshing, exhilarating, pine and mint taste. It’s so crisp and wintery, and yes, very Christmas-y.

I love this and am so glad that my hubby took me to get it. He’s a keeper.

Order from Steven Smith arrived yesterday – yay!

This was part of the holiday two pack I got. I love the tins but I wish this came in loose leaf form instead of the sachets.

I steeped it up at 5 minutes per Steven Smith recommendations and am sipping on it plain. This is a hefty blend that combines an assam, a darjeeling and a ceylon along with douglas fir needles. The overall effect is really delightful and interesting. I feel like there is some smokiness and also a lot of comforting warmth. The herby taste of the fir tree is making me want to go out and buy a bunch of douglas fir tea.

As far as the tea blend itself, the assam and ceylon seem to predominate. I’m not getting a lot of darjeeling in the mix. It has a slight tinge of bitternes in the finish, I think from the assam. Overall it is very unique and enjoyable, especially for the holidays. I wish they had this available year around!

I tried adding two other Smith teas to the database last night but they haven’t “shown up” yet. Hopefully they will in a few days.

Ugh, been outta commission due to work and then the last couple days when I’ve had free time to finally backlog Steepster’s been wonky. I’ve tried a ton of good teas the past month but logging has passed me by. :/ Will try to make note here and there the ones I remember being restockable.

The pine in here is lighter than I was expecting (I’m a fiend for those evergreen and rosemary-ish notes) but gives a little mysterious oomph that makes this good as a first-thing tea on a winter morning. The tea itself is nicely morning-y TEA flavor sturdy but not bitter or drying; I found the smoothness rather remarkable given the bases. Along with Bon Bon which I got obsessed with over Christmas, this is a definite “would restock” from SST (which is nice—I’ve been underwhelmed by the more notorious Steepster faves I’ve tried like Lord Bergamot and the Assam). Alas, it’s seasonal only. But bonus, like some of my favorite low fuss (read: no finicky temps needed) Harneys it’s bag-only and good for the holiday season when I’m mostly likely to be out of town and in need of decent bagged tea.

Morning Light for this Sunday morning. I love how convenient tea bags are and this is an excellent sachet tea bag. Makes it easy for me to enjoy tea at church. Sad to see this sample gone. Thank you again, LiberTEAS for sharing.

Backlogging

Yesterday, I made a trip out to Smith HQ with my mother. Usually, I end up with a pot of Darjeeling, and she goes for the Lord Bergamot. This time we did TWO pots of Morning Light – a Douglas Fir tips-‘n-rosemary-laden black tea blend out for the holidays. I’ve had fir tipped teas before, and had an earlier variation of this a year prior.

This years was better by a longshot. The rosemary adds a spicy tickle to the woodsy mintiness already in play. Very relaxing and tasty.

We went through two pots of the stuff in about an hour.

Sipdown (1397)!

I haven’t tried a lot of blends from Steven Smith, so thank you Cameron B. for passing this along so I could try it! I saw the bits of rosemary in the in the leaf and was immediately excited and intrigued – I really hoped they would add a nice pine note to the blend. I didn’t clue in until just now, reading the Steepster page for the tea, that it’s meant to be a Christmas blend – so with that context the natural pine flavour of the rosemary makes a lot of sense!

This was absolutely delicious though – very smooth cup and while it was full bodied and thick in mouthfeel the flavour was gentle and delicate. I did get the subtle flavour of pine from the rosemary weaving throughout the sip and that made me very happy, but I also tasted a hint of vanilla, cinnamon, and a bit of a tarry fruit note in the undertone – it was super light so I wasn’t entirely sure if it was natural from the black tea used or if it was just a very gentle touch of flavouring, but I see now that it’s an added black currant flavour and that makes a lot of sense to me.

Overall, this is just well balanced and delightful! I don’t know if it’s the type of tea that I would want a full tin of, because it’s pretty soft overall and I can’t foresee it being something I would naturally gravitate towards heavily – but much respect and appreciate for the craft that went into this blend. Definitely comes across!

I had not heard of this tea maker but a friend had commented on their Facebook page and that led to a conversation which led to her dropping off a surprise tea package for the holidays. Love my tea friends!
I really enjoyed this black tea. Generally I feel black teas need a little sweetener but I always give the tea a chance first. I added nothing to it and enjoyed this one morning before heading to work. I loved the scent of rosemary which is not a herb I would typically associate with a cup of tea.

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it! And Happy Holidays to all! ❤

This is my first tea of the day! I intended it to be this morning, but then there was an unexpected Zoom call with my husband’s family, so I had to jump in the shower and get ready for that, and then we were opening pug stockings.

So now I’m relaxing on the couch, watching Elf and drinking a pot of this tea. It’s not quite what I expected, but really good. The base tea and the cinnamon combine into a sort of creamed cinnamon honey flavor, which is reminding me of my beloved Taiwanese black teas. I start to pick up on a piney note from the rosemary about halfway through the sip, though it’s quite subtle. It’s strongest in the aftertaste, where it leaves a nice cooling sensation. As for the blackcurrant, I’m not sure I taste it specifically, but there is a sort of dark, rich, and syrupy sweetness in the background that I attribute to it. There’s also a light hay note, I wonder if there’s some Darjeeling tea in here?

Overall, it’s a rich and subtly flavored tea with a lovely sweetness to it. Looking at the description, it does have Darjeeling as well as Assam and Ceylon teas. Maybe next time I’ll try a slightly lower temperature just to see how that affects the flavor.

So far, very pleased that I bought this holiday tin set from Steven Smith!

Not sure what went wrong here, but I’m not tasting much of anything apart from the black base. Drank quickly before work, though…definitely need to re-evaluate.

um. hi. hello. hey.

I AM OBSESSED WITH THIIIIIS. this tea has everything I have ever wanted in it and I am so pleased. funnily enough this was just a last minute addition to my last order bc it felt weird just restocking one tea. ended up with the tea bags bc the loose leaf was sold out, and it’s been convenient to have around. HOWEVER I noticed yesterday that the loose leaf was bag in stock and promptly ordered three bags. so. much. for. my. budgeeeetttttt. and dammit, I did so good not getting anything from the Bitterleaf salllllle (but I did cave earlier and got a vampire-witch-cat tea pet bc I could not resist. it is so wonderful. and Percy was a vampire for Halloween!! how perfect!!)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4SLkY6Akxx/
^^^I would not lie to you, I still put her in that cape for treat time! it is the best thing!!

ANYWAY, this is no dian hong, but it IS a very beautiful ROSEMARY-Y/assam-y/piney/black curranty/slightly cinnamony experience. it’s winter in a cup. /chefs kiss/