Simpson & Vail

Back to this one to do a proper, unrushed tasting.

I’ll be drinking it out of my new, very cute, tiny bubble cup from DAVIDSTea (one of my tea ware purchases from my excursion yesterday).

In the tin, this smells very floral. I get a lot of rose, a little lavender and really no rosemary at all. It’s so pretty to look at with the different colors and all the little buds and petals.

The rosemary comes out in the steeped aroma and it is the most prominent scent I get. The floral notes are present, but for the most part seem subsumed to the savory one. Though if I sit with the aroma long enough, I am able to smell a really nice rose and a lavender undercurrent that, from time to time, trades places with the rosemary.

The tea looks a reddish mahogany color in the little bubble cup.

Hot, this is much less of a single-note savory tea than I experienced when I drank it cool.
In fact, I wouldn’t say it’s savory at all contrary to my initial experience. I’d say it’s floral, with a light spice to it that presents as a cooling sensation in the sip with more rosemary in the aftertaste.

Where is the bergamot in all of this? I’m not tasting it. It’s possible it’s there among the floral mélange, but I can’t isolate it. The other S&V Earl I had was also light on the bergamot, so this isn’t surprising to me. I am beginning to suspect that bergamot is the first flavor/scent to go when an Earl ages and given that these were not removed from their original paper bag packaging, it’s possible the bergamot has flown the coop.

That said, this is a really unique flavor and I’m intrigued enough to want to try with a fresher sample. I can’t give it high marks for meeting the basic criteria of an Earl Grey because of the lack of bergamot, but I am putting it on the list to occupy one of the anterooms in the pantheon at least temporarily.

I put some of this in the Breville, and was then promptly confronted by two eager young men who wanted to get to school EARLY because it was Valentine’s Day. Exactly why they wanted/needed to be early is a mystery. It’s not like they’re old enough to date…

As a result, by the time I got to taste this it was lukewarm. I am not going to rate this or discuss its virtues and shortcomings in depth given the circumstances.

For now, let me say it wasn’t at all what I expected. I expected a sort of rosy, lavendery frou frou Earl Grey (which I actually love). The dry leaf has a very rosy fragrance with a lavender undercurrent. It’s a very pretty dry leaf, with little lavender buds, rose petals and rosemary needles strewn among the tea. I don’t smell rosemary and I don’t really smell bergamot either.

But that changed in the drink. I think it’s the rosemary that makes the difference. There’s a savory note to this that I’m tasting fairly heavily, and it is more pronounced than the floral notes which I taste as a sort of general coolness (which may also be the bergamot). I wonder whether this is a factor of the cooling process or whether it’s how this would have tasted hotter as well. The tea has a sweetness to it and the flavor has a complexity, but I don’t really taste the bergamot at all. I’m not getting anything that tastes like citrus.

Will try again and see how it fares when it is drunk hot.

This one was a sample from jessiwrites in my awesome package of samples and orders.

I’m honestly getting mostly green tea with a hint of almond. The scent of marzipan-almost almondness is pretty strong, but the taste is nearly as much. I’m not huge on either almonds or green tea, but I’m enjoying this cup.

Also, you guys! I’ve done two swaps with MirandaGou and she seems to have disappeared! I opened my inbox message with her and it’s only my messages to her – she has just vanished! I tried searching for her under “Explore” and nothing. What is happening?!

Mmmm. Thank you MissB for giving me some of this! The first cup was unremarkable, but I added a dash of millk to the second and now I am enjoying this!

I haven’t really had any Gingerbread black teas (that I know of?) but this is much better than the Rooibos I had from DT.

Thank you for letting me try it! :D I would definitely drink more of this so long as I can add a little milk to it!

(sipdown – 183)

Ok, so. Root beer teas. For sheer depth and forcefulness of flavour, DavidsTea Root Beer Float wins, hands down.

This one is definitely a black tea, that has had a dollop of root beer flavouring added. Because of this, there isn’t that extra-ness in the flavour. I think if there was some sarsaparilla or something in here, it’d be way better.

That being said, this is not a bad tea. It just pales beside other root beer teas. The black base is reasonable, and shows up under the root beer flavour. The root beer is indeed root beer, although the smell is truer than the taste. And it’s good with cream. :)

Iced. With sweetened condensed milk.

Do it. Actually, try it with any black tea you can brew very strong. I love this in the summer, even though it isn’t the most healthy. :)

It is making me crave a root beer float, though. Ohh, that would be so good with fancy root beer and coconut “frozen dessert”.

(Steeped in 8 oz, added 2 tsp sweetened condensed milk, poured over enough ice to chill it thoroughly. I use mugs for this as I’ve had too many glass things break.)

Edit: Thank you, Fjellrev!!

Thank you, oh Fjellrev. :)

This tea brewed up super pale. Maybe I didn’t use enough leaf? Probably. Hmm.

I can smell the root beer. I really really can. I can also TASTE it. I had a couple sips plain, then added 1/8 tsp sugar and a little coconut cream. Just to bring out the sweet creaminess.

Right now, I like this, although the tea could be stronger. More… tea-like. I hope the flavour stays once my senses are all back to normal.

this one is pretty good. will i reorder it? probably not. It’s a little too “something” with the chocolate taste which ruins my enjoyment of the caramel. But it’s not a bad tea, and i do like it…just not enough to rank as a perma place in my cupboard. But it’s one i’d happily swap for to try again or have a little cup of :)

soooo funny story about this one. While i was drinking it i kept muttering to myself about there being no strawberry in this.. and how can this be chocolate strawberry… chocolate coconut caramel sure..but strawberry??? then i came over to write my tasting note and realised i’d been drinking chocolate caramel..not sure why i had strawberries in my head lol

This was another tea from my swedish chef. she’s mine now..in case you weren’t aware. :) There will likely be a few more today as i try to get through some samples and try things. I like this one a bunch but for me, there was for sure a coconut taste hanging out in the background. It didn’t ruin things for me but it kept me from fully enjoying the chocolate caramel…still pretty good though!

I can see why MissB loves this one so! I too enjoy mint tea and this one is a nice caffeine free blend that is soothing and flavorful… that’s the short version ;)

Dry it smells lightly of sweet peppermint. I think this is my first green rooibos, and there are little flecks of red to make this feels like Christmas time… although it would be good anytime.

When first steeped and still hot, I tried this w/o my normal sugar, and ended up adding just a pinch with this one. I could’ve probably done w/o, but wanted to see how much it brought out the true candy cane flavor. This tea was minty, but not overdone, and very much in the candy cane flavor.. not just pure peppermint. I don’t know how to describe the difference, but somehow, unless it’s a mind thing, it seems more like the candy version of peppermint… Yum!

I really enjoyed the lingering coolness in my mouth after each sip that you would also notice after eating a peppermint candy. I don’t always get that sensation after other peppermint teas, I’m not sure the difference, but I found it enjoyable.

I can see myself reaching for this one when I want something light, without too many flavors… or too strong of flavors, sitting around thinking about Christmas with a hot mug of it in hand. I could also see this one maybe being really refreshing iced on a hot day… I might have to find out, that minty cool aftertaste just might hit the spot.

Major backlog on this one! I can’t believe I kept forgetting to make a note on this when MissB sent me one of her favorites! So sorry! Thanks for sharing and introducing me to this one! & Simpson & Vail (Hubby & I also love the cinnamon chocolate brownie!).
I might have to place an order for these for my birthday next month!

Sipdown no. 22 of 2016 (no. 233 total).

Again, not much to add to my previous notes. A floral more than citrus tea that isn’t really an Earl Grey in my estimation because the bergamot is pretty much missing, but is tasty and pleasant nevertheless.

Oh, hey. It seems I’ve hit tasting note no. 1100 with this one.

Although I did not have eggs this morning, this was a nice first cup of tea. More interesting as a tea than the Teavana of yesterday, but less Earl Grey-like. The bergamot has a floral note rather than a citrus one, much like the other Simpson and Vail Earl Greys I’ve tried.

Another of the Earl Greys I found while going through my tea collection. I haven’t tried this one before, either.

I steeped this according to the consensus of tasting notes at boiling and for three minutes.

I didn’t get much bergamot fragrance at all from the dry tea, but the try tea was in one of those S&V paper bags. It was nicely taped up still, but the reality is all the S&V dry leaf smells similar to me because of the paper bags and it all smells a little fruity in a berry sort of way. It must be because I had some berry flavored blacks in the group and the strongest aroma shared with all the others.

I don’t get a ton of bergamot after steeping either, but of course, I don’t like heavy bergamot in my Earl Grey so that’s a good thing. The liquor is clear and a cherry wood red color which must be the influence of the Ceylon.

I like the black tea blend in this one. I definitely taste the Assam, but it isn’t overpowering. I taste the darjeeling as well. It’s a very flavorful base and while I wouldn’t call it smooth, it isn’t harsh either, just has a small bit of bite.

And that’s mostly what I taste, at least this time around. I’m not sure I’d identify this as an Earl Grey if I wasn’t told it was. There is a definite floral note to the tea, but not much of a citrus one and the floral could just as easily be something other than bergamot to my tastebuds.

So I’m torn on how to rate this. On the one hand, as a tea, I quite like it. On the other, I’m not sure it lived up to my expectations of an Earl Grey. On the other hand (what other hand? how many hands do I have?), my expectations of an Earl Grey often result in my feeling that the bergamot is too strong (which this isn’t) and is sitting like a lump of tar in my stomach (which this isn’t).

So I’ll split the baby. Earl Grey points: 75. Tea tastiness points: 83. Rating: 79.

Received this in a swap from Courtney. Thanks so much. This was one of the first teas I ever put on my steepster wishlist.

The dry tea smells super delicious. Sweet and creamy, thick, foamy rootbeer. Unfortunately, the brewed tea does not live up to the deliciousness of the smell. I love root beer, I will lean towards more of an A and W rootbeer or a sasparilla vs. a Barqs, but its all good. I have also tried many a rootbeer tea.

This one is ok. It is quite flat in taste. There is none of that spark that rootbeer usually has. It seems to have some root, but not so much beer. I did add a few lumps of rock sugar, but it seemed to sweeten the tea only minimally. Maybe it needed much more. There is some thickness to the tea. It is not terribly creamy but there is a distinct vanilla taste. It is much more rootbeer-like after it cools. I do have a cup cold brewing as I type, for later today.

I have tried other S & V teas before, and the black tea base just doesn’t seem to work for me.

Thanks so much Courtney for letting me try this tea.

This was my first tasting note in the new format, and I don’t like it. Call me a grumpy, old fashioned steepsterite, but it just seemed quite complicated to write what should bave been a quick note. I also don’t like how complicated it is to try to review your note immediately after saving it. Just show it to me all at one time.

Jeez…I apparently have not had enough tea today :)

Edit: I made this as a cold brew. It brewed for about 6 hours. 1.5 tsp in 10 oz of water. I added about 1 tsp of white sugar. I also made this as a tea soda by adding about 1/2 cup of Perrier. It is ok. Better cold than hot. There is strong vanilla and a very bite-y rootbeer taste. It is quite watered down but I anticipated that due to the steeping parameters I used and adding the Perrier.

The electricians are here installing our new exterior lights and also fixing some problems with the fixtures in the kitchen and one of the bathrooms. I just looked outside and the new light is up by the front door. Yay! It’s a craftsman style lamp and so much better looking that the ones that came with the house. Plus it will have a sensor so that I won’t have to fumble with my keys in the dark if I forget to turn on the light before leaving the house. Double yay!

Since the BF is supervising all this, I thought I’d be nice to him and steep something he was bound to like. Raspberry is his favorite fruit of all time.

For this first time, I steeped at 4 minutes and less than boiling despite the directions. Next time I’ll be a good girl and play by the rules.

The smell of the dry leaf is, in a word, yum. Definitely raspberry and a really nice one. At first I thought there were flowers in the mix, but I think the small greyish things I thought were flowers are the raspberry leaves.

The steeped tea has the reddish brown color of Ceylon liquor and is very clear. There’s a mild, almost malty tea scent under the raspberry aroma, which is subtle.

The flavor. How to describe it. It’s not the juicy, fresh fruit flavor of the ATM fruit blends. It’s more of a baked goods fruit flavor, definitely there but more subtle—not jammy. Like it was woven into the fabric of the tea. At first I worried that it would taste soapy, because there’s just the slightest hint of that in the aroma, but it’s not.

I don’t think I’ve tasted a raspberry flavored black tea before. Though I like fruit blends that are bursting with juicy flavor, I also like the quieter ones like this where the fruit flavor is integrated in and made part of the tea, like banana is integrated into banana bread. There’s a lovely, cookie-like raspberry flavor in the aftertaste that has a cooling, aromatic quality.

If/when I try other raspberries I may revisit the rating but for now, this gets an excellent.

I really do love this tea, and am surprised with the lower reviews on it. It’s creamy and chocolatey (although it always could be more so), and a mild chai in return due to the creaminess. Really enjoyed this yesterday evening!

So comforting today… whatever it is about chai of late, I’m both craving and having it often. Also a bit surprised as to how much I actually have in the house…

This tastes a lot like Zen’s Masala Chai that I had last night, and today the chocolate is barely there. Still enjoying it, just more chocolate, darn it!

I’d pulled this out to share with a fellow Steepsterite, so I thought it was high time I tried it myself. ;) Very chocolatey, although the chai definitely comes first. I’d say this is my favorite chocolate chai to date, and one of my favorite chais so far – only Chandernagor from Mariage Frères tops it at this point, for me. It holds up beautifully to cream – hell, it’s better made as a proper chai than a mere tea with some cream added to it. Although I would prefer a bit more chocolate, I do really enjoy this, and am glad I have about an ounce or so to play with.

Sipdown!! (175 – which means I am not allowed to get Adagio’s The Woman, as per my deal with Cavocorax :P)

Thank you for sharing this with me Scheherazade! I was actually very interested in trying this for a while. It was probably the most intriguing of all S&V teas to me. Consequently I am glad I got the opportunity to try it in a swap because it was disappointing to me. It is not a bad tea but it’s flavor is weak and I am definitely not getting any “coffeecake”. I think I agree with Courtney that this is similar enough to Brioche that I don’t need both in my life and Brioche is far superior. Nonetheless, I am very appreciative of the chance to try the tea.

Thank you Scheherazade for the chance to try this tea. The smell is actually very comforting as steeped up the scent is reminiscent of coffeecake. My mother keeps a coffeecake around the house at all times should she feel the urge to have a slice so the smell reminds me of home.

Alas, the taste falls a bit short. There is apple in this but there is also a lot of black base that is competing too much to take center stage. It is drowning out all other flavors for me. I have one more tsp so hopefully different parameters will coax out more flavor but for now, this tea is a touch disappointing.

I had a note written, but then I clicked on “suggest a flavour” and it 1) didn’t open in a new window, and 2) lost my note.

Thank you, wheezybee, for sharing it with me. I appreciate it a lot. Not a favourite, not too different, but nice to try.

I came home to Hubby sitting on the couch with a tea he selected from the generous box from MissB. I asked him what he was drinking… he’s like, “Why?” Um… I’m curious. I smell his cup… Chocolate?!?.. I say in disbelief because he always asks where the fruit teas are when he’s looking for tea. He says, “no”. I ask again what he is drinking… I don’t think he wanted to tell me. Finally he says that the package is on the counter… Cinnamon Chocolate Brownie… ? You picked chocolate over fruit? “Um.. well, it just sounded good.”

I managed to get a sip from his cup and I think he was afraid I would steal it from him. I was nice and didn’t, but could have! Yum!

Dry leaf smells sweet and mostly black to me, but steeped.. it transforms to rich chocolaty goodness. I didn’t find the cinnamon in this cup, but that is fine with me as I’m not often fond of the mix of the two. Probably because I’ve had too many chocolate sheet cakes thinking they were like my mom’s recipe only to find them with excess cinnamon.

I told Hubby it’s like dessert in a cup… without all the extra fat and calories.

Hubby and I will have to share the amount that’s left…I’m certainly not letting him finish it all himself. I will likely give some of mine to our son who I’m afraid will steal it away, but I think he would like this one… Now, if I can just get him to try it.

Definitely liked this more as it cooled (more chocolate) but the cinnamon threw me off. I haven’t had a cinnamon brownie before, and so this was a bit of an odd combination.

Yes, I know, this isn’t a new—to-me tea, I’ve had it since one of my first forays into mass quantity buys with Dexter. Thing is, I’d obviously lost it, so maybe this is a perk of having a housesitter that moves your entire tea stash: rediscovering teas you completely forgot about.

Hm. It smells delicious (and strongly! this one is quarantined from the rest of my tea), and smells lovely brewed up as well. I do get brownie quite distinctively out of this. Cakey and gooey brownie. I’m missing the cinnamon until well after the sip, and then suddenly, I taste it.

It’s a bit off from what I was expecting, yet still a lovely cuppa.