Simpson & Vail

This tea smelled really bitter in the steeper. Yet the flavor of the tea is beautifully put together, a smooth blend of almond cookie with the base. I can see why this one is so popular. This is a much better approach to the flavor than just dumping in almond extract. The taste is subtler, but a lot more rewarding.

I used a heaping teaspoon because I thought I might need a little extra when I smelled the bag and didn’t get any almond. This may not have been necessary after all, but it doesn’t taste overleafed. I guess I’ll test it with a little less next time.

So one effect of transferring all the S&V teas from their paper bags into tins is that now I can smell the actual tea when I sniff the tins, instead of the waxy-fruity scent they all picked up from traveling together in the same box. This one has an intense cream cheese frosting smell that I did not notice before, so the name “Strawberry Cupcake” now makes a lot more sense.

I don’t normally add cream to tea, but I did this time, as something about the flavor just seems to call for it, and I do think it’s an improvement on the first time I drank the tea, and just had it straight.

My first Simpson & Vail order arrived! Even though I got home late, I was too excited to go to sleep without trying something, especially since I was hit by a wave of delicious smells as soon as I opened the box.

Now I understand AllanK’s warning about the huge bags. I think these are coffee bags, really? I think I’ll follow his example and start transferring these to tins, because among other things, I don’t want all these great smells to go wafting away through the paper bags.

So, first up, strawberry cupcake. My first impression while sipping this was that it actually tasted much more like chocolate, but after awhile the strawberry started coming through, and it became a chocolate-covered strawberry experience.

Which is really a pretty brilliant idea for a dessert tea. Looking forward to trying everything else in the box!

Bought this as a one ounce sample with my last order. Did not brew it in the East Frisian manner of brewing. Simply brewed it up and added sugar to it. It is a fairly tasty tea. It is also hard to describe. It’s not really malty. It’s a little bit spicy but not in the way puerh gets from storage taste. It’s a little bit sweet. It’s a fairly hardy brew and strong. Sorry I can’t come up with a better description.

Brewed this one time with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper for 3 min.

Finally got around to buying some of this after sampling it a while ago. This is a fairly good herbal tea. I can taste the sweetness of the orange, the sour or the cranberry and the tang of the ginger. I’m not entirely sure I can taste the holy basil. Picked this this afternoon because it’s caffeine free. This is a good tea as far as a herbal tea goes. I would always rather be drinking puerh but I really have to try to cut out the caffeine as early as possible.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 5 minutes.

Requested a free sample of this with my order. Simpson and Vail is very good with requests for free samples. Tulsi is supposed to be very healthy. I get a nice melange of flavors with this tea. The orange and cranberry are fairly prominent. But I can also taste the tulsi. All the ingredients in this are organic too. So you can be fairly sure there were no pesticides used on this tea.

I brewed this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 5 min.

Once and a while I still buy a flavored black tea. This one has papaya pieces and raspberry pieces. The taste of the two ingredients meld well into a single sweet note. This is a very sweet tea. I added sugar because this sort of tea should be really sweet. It is quite good as flavored teas go. I can’t really taste the black tea base behind all the flavorings but it is good.

I brewed this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 min.

So this is a desert tea that I am having at 5:35 am. It’s not like I can have it for desert or I will still be up at 5 am not having woken up at 5 am. There is a fair amount of chocolate flavor in this tea and there are some notes of caramel, slightly burnt caramel. I added honey to this tea because this one screams out for sweetener. This is not quite as good as I remember it from several years ago when I first bought it but it is good.

I brewed this one time in a Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper witih 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 min.

Bought this not remembering I had bought it before. It is pretty good. A nice blend of rooibos and cacao, all the ingredients organic I think. I taste the cacao slightly more than the green rooibos.

I steeped this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 5 minutes.

This is a flavorful blend of cacao and cinnamon with green rooibos. The chocolate and cinnamon notes are really strong. The rooibos a little bit in the background. This is an excellent tea to drink at this hour when I can’t have what I really want because of the caffeine.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 5 min.

A sample from Miss B! This was my early evening cup last night, and I was expecting a fairly mild flavour. I’ve not found a hazelnut tea that particularly struck me before, but this one was quite an eye opener. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 4 minutes in boiling water. I added a splash of milk, because it brewed up pretty dark.

It’s quite a straightforward tea in many ways. The flavour is fairly simple and one-note, and it’s definitely not the kind of tea where there’s a lot going on and you really have to think about what you’re tasting. This tea, basically, is exactly what it promises to be; hazelnut on a smooth, mellow black base. It’s rich and nutty to taste, and it is specifically hazelnut that I can taste, rather than just generic “nut”. The hazelnut flavour emerges mostly in the mid-sip, and then there’s the slight bitterness of hazelnut skin in the aftertaste. It didn’t strike me as a particularly sweet tea, and the base wasn’t malty, so there’s nothing to conflict with the richness of the hazelnut and the slightly savoury vibe that can have. I did find that the flavour seemed to strengthen as the tea cooled, which was a pleasant surprise. Possibly this one would make a good cold brew, although I don’t have enough leaf at the moment to try that out. I enjoyed this one a lot more than I anticipated, though, and so it would be a possible future purchase for me. Maybe one day I’ll get to test my cold brew theory with this tea! In the meantime, I shall enjoy a second hot cup before I have to say goodbye. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to try this one, because I’m not sure I would have picked it out of my own accord.

A sample from Miss B! I pulled out the Simpson and Vail blends first because I’ve experienced a degree of flavour loss in the past with their flavoured blends. These samples are stored in plastic ziploc bags, but they’re not really air tight and I didn’t want to leave them longer than I had to. I should have got around to starting these samples much sooner, but stuff happened and life got in the way, and somehow I just never got round to it. I’m on a more even keel now, so better late than never!

Having said that, I have had quite a day. This week I’ve worked six days, which I never enjoy because I get so tired, but which are essential during open day season and usually at least reasonably fun. I work in a University Admissions department, so my role is pretty much focused on being welcoming and answering queries on entry requirements, course content, and the like. One girl didn’t like what she was being told, and had A TANTRUM on the floor, kicking and screaming, crying and shouting. She was 18, so should have known better, but obviously used to getting her own way. Honestly, I was embarrassed for her. Also annoyed, when one of the academics came up to me later and told me that she’d wanted her to “go home happy, with a smile on her face”, and so had told her that her low grades would be acceptable after all. Helpful, right? That doesn’t make us look unprofessional at all. All I can say is, I’m glad today is over.

Now I’m home, I really wanted a comfort tea. Chai is that to me, especially during the colder months. Chocolate is good, too, obviously. Hence, this one called to me quite strongly. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it approximately 4 minutes in boiling water. I added a decent slug of milk, so it’s kind of a proper chai, without as much fuss.

It’s really delicious. The chocolate and the spices are pretty much perfectly balanced, so that both can be tasted and neither is overpowering. The chocolate comes across as a dark, cocoa-y kind of flavour, perfectly suited to the warmth of the cinnamon and ginger, slight dankness of clove, and the beauty that is cardamon. The black tea base is smooth and a little sweet and malty, and the overall combination strikes me as a really great one. I’m enjoying my cup, now that I can finally start to relax a little.

Good morning my Steepsterites! Hope you all are having a great one so far. I’m so happy today is Friday. I’m ready for this weekend and my “bachlorette” party (more like a gathering at a pottery shop to drink wine and paint bowls!). Should be a good time!

Last night I enjoyed several mugs of this delicious apple cinnamon coffeecake flavored tea. The tea tastes exactly like the name. Another winner from Simpson & Vail. I’m really enjoying their teas!

http://www.cuppageek.com/index.php/2015/10/23/apple-cinnamon-coffeecake-from-simpson-vail/

Happy Friday sipping all!

Bought this herb for allergy seasons, spring & fall for me. It works quite well for coughing, as the native Americans knew. It is an ingredient in may commercial cough syrups, but this tea works just as well, plus it is comforting. My father used to mix bourbon, honey & lemon. I do the same, then add it to this tea.

Bought a one ounce sample of this tea with my order from Simpson and Vail last week. This is really good. I wish I had bought more. This is a very light colored oolong. The first steep was extremely light colored. It is not roasted. There is a nice light floral taste. The main notes that come to mind when I drink this are honey and nectarines. There is no vegetal taste and certainly no roasted taste. This is a green oolong. It has beautiful green rolled leaves. This is easily as good as just about anything else I have drank from more expensive vendors. It is one of Simpson and Vail’s more expensive offerings at around $7 an ounce. That still is not at all a bad price for an oolong with such a quality taste. Many other companies would easily get $20 an ounce for something like this. I only brewed this four times but the leaves would have gone for more. I stopped at four steeps because I am always watching my caffeine. This was good tea.

I brewed this four times in a 180ml teapot with 7g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse then steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, and 20 sec.

Brewed this as an iced tea today. It has a very strong taste of the rooibos and the sweet taste of mango and papaya. However, the rooibos is a little too strong for me. Still, it makes a refreshing, caffeine free iced tea. Bought this with my order the other day not realizing I already had it. It was already in my cupboard, ah well.

Brewed this in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker with 5 tsp leaf and 2 tbl rock sugar for 5 minutes in boiling water then poured it over ice.

Ok, here’s my re-written post. Apparently my iPhone refreshes pages whenever it comes back from the lock screen. :/

Hey, this one didn’t get chocolate-ified in shipping! Yay!

Now, as far as this being a creme brulee tea goes, I’m not sure they hit the nail on the head. However, it is a great first-thing-in-the-morning treat. I’m getting notes of vanilla, dairy, maple, lightly toasted caramel without the butter, and something that took me a minute to recognize. It was hookah tobacco! Not hookah smoke, just the super-sweet, almost fruity scent of the tobacco itself. I wasn’t expecting that at all, but it’s plain as day to me. So, basically, this is very interesting and tasty… but I wouldn’t call it creme brulee.

I also want to mention that the caffeine content is very nice if you’re dragging your feet.

EDIT: I have contacted S&V and they are replacing my entire order – this time double-bagging and ziplocking. I feel a little sad that they had to do this, but I’m glad I contacted them. Thank you, Nichole and TeaBrat for encouraging me to say something. I have trouble standing up for myself sometimes.
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I am facing a tea tragedy. Violet teas are one of my absolute favorites. I basically convinced myself to place my most recent order on the fact that Simpson & Vail makes a violet tea.

However, S&V sent their teas to me in rolled up paper bags, like the ones you get coffee beans in. They were by NO means airtight. I knew when I received the box that they had poorly packaged my order because I could smell it through the cardboard. Sadly, one tea in particular, Strawberry Cupcake, had contaminated basically the whole box. It absolutely reeked of Tootsie Roll chocolate.

So, I can tell this is good underneath it all! The black tea base isn’t too bitter or astringent. The violet is mild, but very much present. It doesn’t taste like I’m drinking soap or old lady perfume. And the little purple flowers mixed in are just lovely. But! There’s also a very distracting and unwanted chocolate taste. Thus, my tea tragedy. :(

Rating based on what I could taste beyond the contamination.

I never met a fruit tissane I didn’t like, so that should give you a baseline. In short: smells lovely, tastes ….not so much. OVERWHELMING cherry, making it taste like cough syrup. Yuck.

Giving this the same rating I gave S&V’s violet tea because, well…it tastes the same. The violet overpowers the rose completely, and if there weren’t big pink rose petals in the dry mix, I’d think I was just drinking violet tea. I like violet, but I was hoping for something a little different, you know?

That said, it is visually a very pretty tea with all those rose petals. They just can’t compete with the strong violet flavor.