I decided to stick with Simpson & Vail teas this week and went with this blend for breakfast today.
The dried leaves were very dark, almost to the point of being black. Some stems, but mostly broken and a few whole leaves. Almost no fannings. Some golden tips.
I steeped 13 grams of dried leaves in 20 ounces of boiling water for 4 minutes. I went with the larger amount of leaves because of my experience with a similar tea from S&V earlier this week (East Frisian Blend).
The tea brews into a dark brown liquor. The flavor has a bit of malt and a bit of hay together. Slightly astringent, but that could also be related to the amount of dried leaves I used when brewing (a bit more than usual).
Overall, it was good, but not one of my favorites. I expected more flavors, I think. I prefer some of the other S&V blends over this one.
Flavors: Astringent, Hay, Malt
