Simpson & Vail

I’m not sure if this blend has changed, but I’m getting mostly grassy, yeasty Darjeeling in my cup with a slight metallic aftertaste. There’s not a whole lot of maltyness here or astringency either. I guess I expect a more bracing cup from a ‘Scottish Blend’, but what I’m tasting is maybe a bit fruity or floral, but I certainly wouldn’t call it bracing or robust. The second steep is just a weaker version of the first steep. I might try with more leaf, but I think this blend is not for me.

While this blend is an interesting mix of black oolong and lapsang souchon, it doesn’t bring out the best of each tea, but rather mutes the taste of each. In the first steeping the oolong lends a weird tangy aftertaste and the smoky lapsang is rather weak. What seems like a possible fusion to create a sweet yet smoky blend is not very complex and what I taste is a weakly smoky fishy cup of tea. The second steep isn’t any better, just weaker. Not a fan of this blend.

I can’t say I’m usually impressed with Assam/Darjeeling blends, but this one is very drinkable. It gets interesting coppery metalic notes from the Assam and has a nice sweet, honey-floral finish. It’s not a strong, bracing breakfast tea, but still good enough to call it a daily drinker. I wouldn’t call this complex, but a blend of the best of both types of tea. It stands up well to a second steeping and is the kind of tea I’d use to introduce to folks that think all black tea is bitter. Its not the best S&V has to offer, but I’ll probably purchase this again.

The dry leaf smells like honey and orange. The first steeping is more orange, but not a strong citrusy orange, more like a muted creamsicle orange. It’s rather creamy and maybe a clove note too. If you don’t like orange you’ll probably not like this tea. It’s grown on me a bit, I like it more now than when I first tried it. The second steep, however, is much more clove and not much orange lingering. I’m not sure I’d get this again, but I’ll try to enjoy the sipdown.

I wish the hibiscus weren’t included in this. I like hibiscus, but it really takes over in this blend and doesn’t allow the other flavors any room to shine. I’m drinking this cold with lots of sugar, and it tastes okay, but I’d just say it’s a hibiscus fruit blend. Not a hint of anything Caribbean, sadly. And it’s not even a great hibiscus blend.

This tea brews up much lighter than I thought it would. The flavor isn’t sour at all. It’s sweet and unique among other fruit teas – it really is like currants! It’s nice hot or cold. I’ve been drinking this one every day.

Mixed reviews on this one hehe. I like it.

Thank you so much tea-sipper for sending me this. As many of you say, it is chocolatey but I really like the roasty toasty nutty flavor. It’s on the light side of maple but although I like maple, I don’t require very much of the taste to make things I eat or drink tasty. For example, on pancakes, I just spread a tablespoon on the top pancake lol. I wish I could say the same about butter! I can drown it in butter and be a happy camper. I’m a salty over sweet type of person so this tea was very very good to me. It is one of my favorites out of the whole wonderful package that tea-sipper sent me awhile ago. I’m going to put it on my wishlist for the future.

Hope all is well and safe with you.

The tea smells very lemony in the bag and tastes very lemony in the cup. In fact all I taste is lemon, no ginger, no underlying black tea base. As it cools, there is a faint spicy ginger note coming through, but there is so much lemon, it’s hard to distinguish the ginger. I’ll probably end up blending this with another tea to tame the lemon taste.

My first attempt at brewing this tea wasn’t so memorable, but today I must have used a bit more leaf and hit the sweet spot. After brewing for three minutes and letting it mellow while covered for several more, I get to drink smooth dark chocolate with a hint of caramel. There is just enough of a bitter chocolate aftertaste to keep this interesting, but it’s all creamy smoothness up front. If my next cup from this bag is as good as this, I may have found another yummy daily drinker!

I brewed quite a strong cup, and my first few sips tasted metallic and robust. As the tea mellowed in my cup, I got fruity and floral notes, a well rounded and interesting cup. The second steeping was smoother and not quite as flavorful, this might be a one steep tea for me. Overall I like this tea, it’s enjoyable to drink, but I’m not sure I’d buy more for daily drinking, and it’s not complex enough for a special occasion tea.

I was so excited when my S&V order arrived that I tried this tea immediately. My excuse is that it contains coconut, so I have to finish it before other older teas… The flavor is lighter than I had imagined. You get the coconut, but it’s light. The green rooibos is a nice base. It’s a decent tea, just no too strong. It does make quite a pleasant second steep. I do find myself drinking this one pretty frequently despite its lightness, so I suppose I can’t complain!

This is a solidly drinkable black tea, not complex, not astringent. I enjoyed this cup, the first steeping was stronger than the second. I got a coppery, metallic tang while it was very hot and more cinnamon notes as it cooled. As this is not a strong black tea, I might reach for it in the afternoon, for a soothing cup where I don’t expect too much and am pleasantly surprised at the drinkablility of this tea.

This is a tea I snagged a sample from in the Discovery Teabox, so thank you Skysamurai for organizing and all participants for sharing their tea! I’ve been craving apple cinnamon flavors lately, and recently restocked pretty much the one Stash tea I like, Cinnamon Apple Chamomile which I’ve been drinking a lot in the evenings.

This really does smell like an apple cinnamon pastry from the aroma; it has that overly-sweet apple filling smell that I get from those little finger danishes that have the hard sugar on top. The flavor isn’t quite as strong as I’d like, but I only saved 2.5g from the teabox and lately I’ve been brewing my blacks closer to 3g in the morning, but it is still very nice; I’m definitely getting a sweet cinnamon note, and an apple flavor that is more akin to sweet filling than tart, juicy fruit. There is a subtle warm baked bread note coming through from the black tea, as well as malt and spice. Maybe just a very, very subtle smokiness at the back of the tongue as well, in the aftertaste. It is very warm and satisfying and I’m enjoying it very much as my morning cuppa.

The dry leaf smells a bit fruity but the tea brewed up to a light and slightly sweet cup. It was more complex than I expected and the first cup in the pot had an astringent aftertaste. As it cooled down I could detect lingering cinnamon notes. I enjoyed this tea more as I drank each cup from the pot. I can’t remember if I have ever had tea from Tanzania, but I’d purchase this one again.

The tea smelled very peppery in the bag and smelled very peppery in the cup. Unfortunately this meant the tea was very peppery and I didn’t taste any fruit or blueberry notes. I might try less leaf or a cold brew , but it seemed the pepper was just a bit overwhelming in this blend.

I bought this from an S&V order recently – from the Christmas sale!   I couldn’t resist trying this.   I’m trying to find a familiar flavor profile and the “silk” in the name sold it for me.  This turns out not to be like what I was imagining, but it’s tasty anyway.  I wanted a very deep chocolate brew, but this one is lighter — the color of the brew looks like the inside of butternut squash. The flavor of the large, long, hints of gold leaves is slightly smoky.  It’s tough to describe this.  The profile of a lighter Chinese tea with hints of smoke.  I actually used bottled water in my tea kettle, so this was the best the flavor was going to get.  No chlorine tap water here.   So maybe this is just one of those teas I’m not tasting the subtlety of.  I’m sure that happens with tastebuds.  Or this is better when it isn’t steeped Western.  I like this, but I just wished for something deeper, darker.  I wish I could describe it better!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 16 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled  // 3 minute steep

A very strange tea. I’m definitely not getting baklava, I’m actually not getting any distinct flavors. Definitely doesn’t taste bad, more just blah. Glad I got to try it thanks to AJRimmer!

Thanks to tea-sipper for this one! Despite ambivalent reviews, I was still curious to finally try it. I wasn’t a big fan at first. It’s rather astringent and plain. It has kind of a strange flavor seeping through that I can’t identify. The spices are mild. Maybe a bit of clove. Certainly nothing I would identify as baklava. With milk and sugar, it tastes decent. Like many other lightly flavored black teas. The more I drink of it, the more it’s growing on me. The spices somehow seem to show up more now. It’s not a great tea, but it’s enjoyable enough to finish the quantity I have. I really wish it tasted more like its name – that would be unique and tasty.

This is my first time trying a violet tea, so I really didn’t know what to expect. As others have said before, it does have a soapy/perfumy scent to it, but it’s not unpleasant.

Considering this is my first violet tea, I had no idea what it would taste like – but I really like it! It’s not too overpowering with the scent/flavor, but enough to where it reminds you, “Hey, I’m a violet tea!” Seems like this would also be a really good cold/iced tea.
Overall I really liked this one!

I haven’t written a tasting note for this, though I’ve had it for a while. S&V actually sent me a tin of this one instead of what I ordered… so maybe that’s why it took a while, though I’ve drank it a few times. It’s a sweet blend – the most distinct flavor is the strawberry flavoring. But then there is hints of chamomile and spearmint, all on that rare green rooibos base. I can’t really taste the lemongrass, but I think this blend would be excellent with some lemon verbena. I wouldn’t say using the two teaspoons is too much… it seems like a good amount to use for this one. I like this blend, but with a few tweaks, it could be even more delicious. It’s nice to see the rare green rooibos though.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug // 8 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

I received this a long time ago from another Steepster member in a sale. Thank you to whomever it was (this might be the first time I forgot who sent me a tea.) Usually the teas from S&V have spot on flavor and this one never really tasted like chocolate SO I was questioning the age of this tea from day one. The black tea also never seemed to get very dark unless I used two teaspoons. So this isn’t really a tasting note for this tea specifically… as I had the idea to make COCOA TEA. So I brewed up some of this chai western style, and then added some delicious cocoa, also from Simpson and Vail, when the infuser came out. I would say the result is divine. Tea and cocoa. I knew I wasn’t really ruining a possible older tea, while also adding some delicious cocoa flavor. I love their sugar free cocoa, as I don’t need more sugar in my day. I added more cocoa on the resteep. I really like this idea. It’s caffeine +cocoa. The flavor was earthy and chocolatey, while still having the hints of black tea in there. (I don’t really see too many spices in this “chai”… it looks mostly like black tea.) I’m not rating this tea as it is older + it had the addition of cocoa. It’s a great way to use up this tea + some of that amazing cocoa I’ve been neglecting. I had another genius idea: making a cocoa tea with Bird & Blend’s Dark Chocolate Chili Chai…. that will be AMAZINGGGG. I can’t wait to try it.

Oh, somehow I forgot to leave a review for this one. I think in general I don’t love the tea that S&V uses for their decaf black blends. I do find this to be perfectly pleasant with or without milk, but the black base could definitely be stronger. I usually add a teaspoon of vanilla to black teas to make them more exciting, and I may do that next time, but I’m enjoying the subtle vanilla flavor this one has. If I were going to order another decaf black tea from them, I would definitely go for the decaf earl grey instead. I miss it!

I’m finally trying the last tea from my November order. This one is surprisingly sour. I wouldn’t say I can taste dragon fruit specifically. It’s kind of just generically fruity. After brewing the leaves regularly, I did a second round with them cold brewed, and I actually enjoyed that one more. Maybe because the sourness disappeared and the tasty green rooibos was allowed to shine. To me, Adagio is still the king of the fruity green rooibos blends. I would not repurchase this one.

Got this one from tea-sipper last summer, so thanks! I was working on it pretty steadily at first, but then I put it away, and sadly now it has become old ): I remember not loving it at first either since the main flavor is the tea, and it just didn’t have the light, fresh flavor that I was looking for, and I’ve never been able to spot a strong enough fruit presence. I love S&V, so I feel bad giving them a bad review, but this one is just not strong enough.