Simpson & Vail

Thanks jessiwrites for this delightful sample.

Yet another awesome black tea. The flavours are delicate, yet clear and not overwhelming. The strawberry is slightly fake, but not offensively. I’m thoroughly enjoying this.

A sample from MissB!
I had tried this at some point before, I actually possessed a quantity, but I wasn’t really enamoured. In fact I was disappointed.

I seemed to enjoy it more this time around, a light toffee flavor. I think my tastebuds have been honed a bit so I no longer like fakely extreme flavoured teas, and I can appreciate the more subtle ones.

I don’t think I got much taste out of this the first time, but round two was pretty good. I wouldn’t purchase it but it was a nice treat.

Thanks MissB!

My amazing “tea mule” Tastybrew sent this to me, along with two other S&V teas, one being the one I know I love, Almond Sugar Cookie.
I took a chance on this one, as some others I’ve tried have left me with a feeling of “meh”.

Sadly this one didn’t work out… So far. I brewed it at work with boiling water and no doubt oversteeped it, and it tasted like slightly flavoured hot cardboard, kind of like some of their other samples did. BUT, I hear there’s a better way to bring out the flavours of these S&V teas, 180 degrees for a couple minutes I think it was, so I plan to try that and withhold my rating for now.

Either way, thank you, Tastybrew!!!

No 6 from the TTB-A
The boys & I drank a pot of this with breakfast, & it was tasty, but just not my thing I guess.
My main passion in tea is straight full leaf varieties. They contain so much flavor, so many nuances, that I’m generally very satisfied with them. Once in awhile I head off on a tangent of flavored teas, momentarily enamored with the idea of decadent desserts, but I think perhaps I’m reaching my point of saturation, where flavored teas are concerned. Artificial flavors make my tongue hurt. I absolutely can’t bring myself to drink anything that contains glitter, little silver balls, or other crazy decorative things. Most flavored teas, even the ones with natural flavoring, require some stevia to really bring the flavors out, & sitting here, with a TTB full of dessert teas mainly just makes me want a big mug of ASSAM or YUNNAN of OOLONG or PUEHR. Something that really actually tastes like it’s suppose to.

My apologies to anybody who might be offended by my tea bigotry.

I did my usual S&V brewing method, which is pour the water over the leaves and completely forget I made it. Then I added some honey. Then I took it a step further. I left it on the counter and drove my son to school. When I came back it was pretty much cold. I added some cream at that point. Woah. Yum. Burnt sugar caramel deliciousness. S&V tea flavors really pop once they cool off a bit. This will definitely be reordered.

Trying to remember the teas I had yesterday. The wine has my head a little fuzzy…

I made this one in the afternoon when I wasn’t really sure what sounded good. This ended up being a good choice. I brewed it at 180 for about 2.5 and then let it cool for about 5 minutes before I drank any. Both the chocolate and caramel are present and accounted for as is a nice strong black base. This is good dessert tea and no additions are necessary at all. Not sure I’ll have to keep this around all the time, but I can see reordering this from time to time.

Another Sipdown from Sil’s Super Sampler of Teas!!

I used all of this making a 16 teapotful, to share with one of my students. It was a sweet a tasty treat, reminding me somewhat of the oatmeal raisin cookie tea I tried last week, only I like this one better. The only negative was as it cooled it got a little of chalky mouthfeel & an artificial edge to it. But otherwise, it was a tasty treat! Thank Sil!

Jackie T gave me some good steeping advice for the S&V teas so I tried this one again. Man am I glad I did. This tea is ridiculous. So yummy. The cookie is spot on. No additions necessary this time around. I used about 1.5tsp per cup and steeped at 180 for 3 minutes. Resteeped for about 5 or 6 and still tasted great. Definite keeper. And the first time I made this I really didn’t like it much!

Also had this in the morning.

Literally went through the same exact process as the apple cinnamon coffeecake, but was surprised because I had heard this was super tasty on its own. Once it was fully tweaked I liked it. I think I like Cookie from Lupicia better, but this is pretty good.

Finally finished off my small bag of this. I made the Bean some apple cinnamon oatmeal this morning and didn’t want any for myself but was craving something similar. I made this with honey and cream. I kind of think all the S&V teas need it. If you’re drinking it straight, you can tweak the leaf and temp and duration, but it takes some work to get it just right. With cream and honey, you just let is sit till you remember that you’d made it. Enjoying this a lot. Probably won’t ever reorder, but would never turn it down if offered.

ETA: As with all S&V teas, once this one cooled it was delicious. It may go on the reorder list if I ever want to purchase something else from S&V.

I wasn’t having any luck with tea this morning. Made several cups that just weren’t working for me. I decided to give this one another try at a much lower temp (180) to see if this one improves like the almond sugar cookie. It definitely improved it and I enjoyed it a lot. It tastes nearly identical to the sugar cookie but substituting apple for the almond. I prefer the almond but can see craving this one from time to time.

Had this in the morning but Steepster was pissing me off so I couldn’t post about it.

I was quite annoyed at this tea at first. It smelled amazing. I couldn’t wait to taste it. But it tasted like hot water with an essence of cinnamon. So put the leaves back in. Let it go another minute. Then it tasted like hot bitter water. I looked around to see what I could tweak it with and added some honey and frothed milk. A little better. Then I added some brown sugar. That did it. It tasted great. The cinnamon cake-y flavor dominated for sure. A hint of apple. As the tea cooled it got much more flavorful as well. Next time I’ll let it cool a lot more before adding any tweaks to see how it is.

I am doing this.

Decided to try and sip down a bunch of samples sent to me pre-baby as they’ve been sitting in my house for over a year.

This one first, as I had enough left for one cup, sent to me from Kitenna ages ago!

I didn’t enjoy this when I originally tried it, I found it disappointing.

Not much has changed, really. I still find it weak, flavorless, not at ALL full bodied.
The flavour is a mere suggestion of cinnamon and chocolate, not subtle in a good way. This is one watery-ass cuppa tea.

I dunno if that’s considered good fancy tea reviewer lingo, but I went there. It barely even smells like it should.

It’s making my teeth hurt and my tongue feel fuzzy.

After a few sips I decided to add some 10% cream. Not because I usually do that, but because the milk hasn’t been opened yet and I was too lazy to pull open the plastic thingy. Even delicious cream couldn’t bring out any flavours in this guy.

I’d call this nothing more than an “ok” cup of tea. And I will allow for the fact that I’ve had these remnants for a long time….but remember I didn’t care for it when it was fresh anyway. One down, millions to go!

Another tasty sample from Kittenna! Thanks!

I definitely oversteeped this one so I will try it at work tomorrow before judging it. I wanted to do 3 min but got distracted and it was definitely more than 5 minutes…. It was a cinnamon tea with a hint of chocolate. And it was not very full bodied at all, pretty weak aside from the cinnamon.

I am reserving my rating until after my second try, but so far I’m disappointed because it doesn’t taste nearly as delicious as it smells.

Stay tuned!

I don’t know what it is, but I cannot enjoy these Simpson & Vail teas I got. After Strawberry Cupcake, I’ve just been afraid to break into the others and it’s evident why with this one.

I don’t know what I can do differently! I steep for 3 minutes, I use 200 degree water. They just taste watery and have an unpleasant aftertaste.

This one at least is more tolerable than the strawberry one. But I don’t think it really tastes like apple cinnamon cake or anything. Maybe a bit cinnamon but i don’t understand what it is about either the flavoring they use or the base tea.

It smells nicely like almonds dry, I get more of cookie scent brewed.

The flavour is nice, and sweet. Almondy, without tasting like marzipan.

tea #2 of my iceday sipdown
I received a sample from kasumi, I used a little too much water for the amount of leaves I had. dry this smells berry like, a mix of them.
I over steeped it a lil too much and I could smell the astringency and that’s basically all I could taste.
so boo on this one, so rating for now on this one either.

Nooooo!! Steepster ate my note. Grrr!!!

OK now that I am done venting…
This tea is different, I’ll give it that! and definitely reminiscent of what I recall gooseberries tasting like. A little like marmalade, or maybe green grape jelly. I’m also getting a slight bubblegum note.
Overall, I’m unsure if I like it. I certainly don’t hate it though!
Methinks I just need to find the sweet spot.
Kittennas point about this being perfumey is spot on, though less so as the cup cooled. Perhaps I should make some iced when the weather warms up. just for a change!

I need to play around with the settings here. It was fruity, jammish and vaguely reminiscent of what I recall gooseberries tasting like… a little tart and slightly sweet, almost like a green grape, but also a little bubble-gummy to.
I’m certainly not in love with it… nor do I hate it… Methinks I just need to find the sweet spot :)
Might go really well iced.

This is probably better with sugar. I just really don’t want any right now. So it was probably a bad choice but I’ve been meh about trying it so I finally decided to.

I’m really not a fan so far of any of the S&V teas I’ve had. Followed the recommendations, this tastes barely like strawberry. Definitely no cake or frosting or anything like that. Not very sweet, not very tasty. As it cools the tea itself gets really astringent too.

Definitely not one to drink without additions I guess.

Mmmm, youngest and I wanted a pot of tea with geometry this morning. She said she was open to any lapsang, so I picked this one. This was a sample from Hesper June, who sent us a big care package of lots of kinds of Lapsang to try.

The dry tea had a rich smell of thick cut bacon, cooked to a turn, well done and crispy. The tea is smooth and sweet. I took no additions, daughter took hers with milk and sugar as usual, and we both enjoyed it!

Thank you, Hesper June!