Birthday Cake Blend

I finally used the Simpson & Vail gift card my mother-in-law gave me for the holidays last year, and my purchases arrived today! It’s too late in the day for caffeine, so I’m starting my tasting with a caffeine-free blend.

This smells incredibly buttery and rich, with lovely vanilla cake notes. It basically smells like vanilla buttercream. I find the brewed cup a smidge thin, but still tasty—I like that the green rooibos is pretty nondescript, so the cake flavors come through. It’s especially nice as it cools.

It definitely reminds me of Bird & Blend’s birthday cake tea. With that one, I found myself waaay overleafing it to really bring out the creamy vanilla cake flavors, so I’ll probably try that here, too.

Still, a nice cuppa when you want dessert-y vibes!

It was my excitement over my S&V order that led my friend to order the holiday assortment that she brought over a few days ago and shared samples with me. Naturally I sent samples home with her from my order!

Ashman and I had this last night, and wow, is it fragrant! It smells like rich vanilla cake. I didn’t tell Ashman what it was and his reaction was funny. He said tobacco at first, then said it was specifically his father’s pipe tobacco, unlit, or walking into The Tinder Box at the mall. (Anybody on here old enough to remember that shop?)

I told him his dad must have smoked vanilla tobacco and he said that was probably the case. I was always partial to the smell of cherry pipe tobacco!

This resteeped like a champ and we combined the two for a really big pot of tea. I am pretty sure this is definite re-order for both my house and for my friend, because she texted me that this blend was AWESOME and she was going to try Lavender Lace before bed. When I texted this morning, she said she kept resteeping Birthday Blend and never got around to Lavender Lace.

I also sent a sampler to a friend several weeks ago for her birthday, and this was the tea she specifically mentioned and described in her thank you note.

Sipdown! (38 | 353)

Yay, my last S&V pouch to finish from my order last year! I still have several tins, but those are all long term cupboard teas that I’m not looking to sip down.

This one is a really nice cake tea – the flavoring is cakey and buttery with a buttercream sweetness, just like a frosted vanilla cake. It’s also nice that it’s on a green rooibos base, so the flavors can really shine (plus no caffeine for a nighttime treat).

I don’t think I would order a tin of it, just because I don’t tend to reach for desserty teas. But would recommend it for cake lovers! Definitely one of the better birthday cake blends I’ve had.