Simpson & Vail

Trrryyyiiinggg to sip this now down, but I have a fair bit left, and I’m not overly fond of it anymore. It’s pretty good for what it’s supposed to be – gingery, a nice bit of pear, and some floral notes – but that’s apparently not a flavour combination I really feel like most of the time, so I end up randomly making it in a travel mug from time to time. Still a lot left…

Still quite tasty and withstands being in a travel mug. A bit of floral pear, but not overly, and a nice ginger bite that deepens with longer infusions.

Tasted rather floral when I had this on the weekend, and until I realized what it was, I was kind of confused. Delicious once I put things together though (sometimes I can’t remember which teas I’ve brewed up in my five mugs, or even if I can, sometimes I can’t tell which tea is in which mug. Thought this was Lupicia’s ‘Fantasy’ for about half an hour.) Anyways, drank most of this en route to a Maple Syrup Festival on Saturday. Bad decision (drinking the tea, I mean), as we then ended up sitting for 45 minutes or so in traffic, inching along slowly while my tummy was filled with tea… haha.

Tasty morning tea. Got a piece of ginger in the infuser this morning, and definitely can taste it (though it’s certainly not overpowering!) I guess it may just be a bit hit or miss, as I don’t think there are a lot of ginger pieces in here.

Also, it got an extra minute this morning and is not suffering at all for it, which is great!

When I opened the bag of this tea, I was greeted with the most amazing pear smell. I had been expecting ginger to predominate (given that S&V has a pear black, and ginger is first in the name here), however given that one of my “quests” is to find a great pear tea, it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest if this was more pear than ginger!

The aroma of the brewed cup is true to the dry tea… and crazily enough, so is the flavour!! (I say crazily enough because how often does the flavour actually match the aroma?! Not nearly enough, IMO.) Ohhhhh man, this one is good, guys! If you like sweet pears? BUY THIS TEA!! The tea leaves a lingering pear-flavoured sweetness in your mouth which is absolutely divine. I’ve gotta admit that my hopes have been far exceeded here, and the likelihood of me placing another order from S&V in the far-too-near future are rising. I’ll admit that it’s a little on the perfumey side, but then again, so are pears. The perfuminess does remind me a little bit of the Violet tea I just drank, so perhaps it’s a flavouring component.

Oh… and there’s no discernible ginger here. So if you’re looking for ginger pear, I suggest you either add your own, or buy a different tea.

ETA: Prior to the second infusion, I sniffed the infuser basket and definitely smelled ginger, which also was noticeable in the brewed tea alongside the pear. My guess is that a) the strong pear flavouring masks the ginger in the first infusion and b) perhaps the ginger needs a bit more time to infuse into the cup?? Either way, this second infusion, in half the water, was quite pleasant!

Backlog from sometime in January.

Blech, I just can’t drink this one. It’s too powerful in the florals dep’t, and I’m just not a fan of that. I believe I dumped most of this mug down the drain because I have way too much tea to drink to spend time forcing something down my throat that I don’t care for. It shall be rehomed to keychange, who hopefully will enjoy it more than I did!

So apparently I’m the first person to review this tea!

Anyhow, the aroma is very…. interesting. It smells almost soapy, but not, just more in the sense that the aroma is one that one would more likely associate with bath products as opposed to tea. Flavourwise it’s flowery and sweet (not sugary, though), and I suppose, “spring-y” as the description mentions. Quite an interesting aroma. My lack of palate training is definitely hurting me here! The black tea base is fairly unassuming, strong enough to back the violet flavour well, but not interfering with the flavouring. There’s also very little astringency at the recommended infusion time of 3 minutes.

Overall, probably not a tea I’d re-purchase, but certainly one that has helped to satiate my curiousity as to what “violet flavour” tastes/smells like!

ETA: Second infusion is pretty similar.

Sipdown! 974.

Gee, this one sure stuck around a while for me. 2 years old, by my spreadsheet. I wasn’t overly fond of it though, and am pretty happy to see it gone. I let my roommate and her boyfriend make a pot of it the other night (A whole pot!! It used up so much tea! Joy!) and they seemed to like it; when I brought it out tonight, I decided to have a farewell travel mug’s worth, and let her have the rest (probably enough for another pot). It’s along the lines of Bayswater’s Creme Brûlée, but had a funky something going on for me that put me off it (and tasted nothing like creme brûlée, perhaps a touch like burnt (not caramelized) sugar).

Eh, this one was tasty enough when I drank it yesterday, but definitely not as good as Apple Cinnamon Coffeecake. A good, sweet, dessert-treat tea, but nothing like creme brulee, IMO.

Wow, does this tea ever smell potent! It’s rich, strong, caramelly goodness to the max! Almost too intense! Brewed up, it still smells much the same. The aroma is coming off as a bit artificial to me, to be honest, but hopefully that converts to delicious flavours?

Hmm. Well, there’s definitely no shortage of flavour here! However, I’m having a difficult time relating it to creme brulee. The predominant flavour (and aroma) is intense caramelized sugar, which is backed by what is oddly coming off to me as a bit of a cardboardy flavour (which I actually think is the custard). I realize that sounds unappetizing, but that’s how it’s coming off to me. How custard and cardboard are alike, I’m not sure, but I can imagine I’m tasting either when I take a sip! Consequently, I’m not sure whether I love this tea or just like it, but this is certainly enjoyable! And at 3 minutes, there’s a minimum of astringency, which is quite nice.

I suppose I shall see how this does in my travel mug, but I’m excited for another caramelly flavoured black. This is not as good as 52teas’ Cashew Turtle, but the abundance of flavour will probably make it a treat to discover in my mug in the morning (because by the time I get to drinking my teas, I can never remember what’s in each mug!)

Not tasting the flavours as much in this tonight, for whatever reason, but I’m digging the base. It’s just… malty and complex and just barely astringent, which is really working for me right now.

Although on that note… I really should stop drinking caffeinated teas so late at night, or at least, in the quantities I’ve been having. I’ve generally been a pretty good sleeper in recent years, with only a few nights of insomnia, but last night was kind of rough – I just couldn’t fall asleep, despite definitely being tired. I blame having a matcha latte and loads of other caffeinated teas right before bed, which I thought didn’t affect me, but perhaps I overdid it…

Thought this was a sipdown. Somehow I always forget how light tea is; there are probably two cups left in the bag. Sigh. But it was fairly tasty, though I oversteeped it a bit. Love the chocolate cinnamon combination here, it really works well.

Yay, my S&V order finally arrived today!!! Naturally, I had to immediately get started on trying the new teas! I picked this one to start, as we were heading out shopping, so I had to travel mug it and thought it would hold up.

The dry tea smells a bit cinnamony and chocolatey, and a bit… cakey, which I suppose could be brownie. Brewed up, I recall it being ok although somewhat astringent while hot, but once it had cooled to lukewarm and sat for about 3 hours, I liked it a lot more! I will have to properly review a first infusion in the future. My mom tasted a sip and did not like it at all (thankfully we had made up Butiki’s Strawberry Oolong (which she adores!) in her mug). She doesn’t like chocolate in teas, apparently.

I’ve just brewed up the second infusion in half the water (3 min, boiling) and it smells much like a cinnamony baked good. Not really any discernible chocolate, but it’s pretty tasty! A bit astringent (so maybe 2:30 would have been preferable), but it tastes very much to me like the inside of a cinnamon bun, where there’s cinnamon in/on the bun part but not really any stickiness or icing.

I think this will work nicely as a morning thermos tea for me! That seems to be the best use of flavoured blacks for me, while the more delicate teas are best drank in the evening from a mug :)

Yup! This smells and tastes like Candy Cane! I’m super excited S&V made this with a GREEN Rooibos Base…I don’t think I have had a Candy Cane Flavored GREEN Rooibos before so that’s cool!

There is that lovely candy cane flavor with a sweet green rooibos but there is also a hint of stevia in there and S&V did the Stevia RIGHT :) Not by over doing it! YAY! The Red and White Cornflower petals are more for show, I think…but I am cool with that.

This is tasty! I’m partial because I am a MINT freak but I love this!

We had this today with Christmas brunch. It went very well with the food. A basic, solid black. No astringency with a weighty body. I picked up this one since I had really enjoyed the Golden Yunnan from Republic of Tea during my last vacation.

Overall, I think I prefer the Golden Yunnan teas. They seem to be maltier to my taste. I have been using Kally Tea’s Royal Golden Yunnan as my breakfast tea at work (and I’ll need to review it before it’s all gone…) and while this Yunnan is good, I don’t think I’d choose it over a Golden. I probably won’t replace this when it runs out but it has been a nice tea to have around.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas day!

Backlog and sipdown – see other tasting notes :)

Amy Oh and Nicole had me curious about this one so I got it! Glad I did! It’s way different than I was expecting but that is what I like most about it. The various black teas used in the base make up a flavor of its own and it does have notes of grape and/or currant as others as well as the product description noted. There is a bit of smoke but more notably the peppery black tea popping thru. And there are fruity/floral notes, too! This is very different but quite good, indeed!

I’m stoked to be drinking one of Mr. Vail’s original blends (one of the first 15, even!) I’m also really excited they made mention of both English and Irish Breakfasts in the product description as well as mentioning the black tea blended base is made up of teas from India, China, Sri Lanka, and Formosa. With all this in mind I can’t help but think of what America is made of…immigrants – we all are! People from all over the world make up America so it puts a smile on my face that all of this also goes into this American Breakfast Blend of a tea.

I can taste the English and Irish Breakfast comparisons, here, but I can pick up on the floral notes, sweet-woodsy notes, a bit of smoke, and even hints of citrus – naturally speaking.

This is super tasty! Much of what I look for in a Breakfast/Black Tea with a little extra somethin’-somethin’!

WOW!!!! This is marvy! I was thinking it was going to be like a chai but the spices are there but mesh differently to make sure it’s more of a gingerbread than a chai, I guess. I’m not sure how but it does! And I’m glad it does! It has a bready/cookie type taste with all the right spices! This stands by it’s name and description from S&V and I really like this! YUMMO!

YUMMY! This is the Assam I have been searching for this week! YAY!
This is fairly malty but well rounded from start to finish! It’s a nice straight-up naturally-juicy black tea. It has a good amount of strength but isn’t the slightest bit bitter. I really like this Assam! It’s lovely!

Dry – this has a bit of a sour fruit type aroma tied in with a softer darjeeling and/or multi-black tea blended base.

Once infused – the liquor smells more like a slightly fruity – non-sour-fruit aroma paired with a croissanty-type darjeeling type scent.It infuses to a nice-even medium brown color.

Interesting.

My first sip made me say that exact word. Interesting. It’s far different taste-wise from what the aroma lead me to believe. It has a completely even flavor from start to finish along side an incredible creamy texture and smoothness on the tongue. It has that little bit of darjeeling type flavor you would expect but it’s much more complex than that. As it cools just a tad I think the darjeeling-likeness is more towards the end of the sip on to the aftertaste. In the middle of the sip I’m picking up something similar to a non-fizzy beer or ale – not sure if I would consider it to be a wheat type taste and/or texture or “hops” but it’s very interesting regardless and ENJOYED.

It also has a lovely croissant comparison to it popping in and out while I sip. I do like that.

I have to say this is unlike ANY tea I have ever tried. I’m really enjoying it and am even more curious about S&V’s other 3 Nepal Teas which I do have on tap to try!

This is a conversation piece, a darned-tasty tea, and a very interesting brew! WOW! Awesome!

SIPDOWN and BACKLOG on this one, too! BUT…I can see placing an order for more of this in my future…I really adore it. For that reason…I’m upping the rating!

You know when you get really pissed about something and you want to lash out and stay pissed but also want to act on something or have a partner in your rage? For example…when I get pissed I sometimes BLAST really HARD Music. Well, what kind of tea does one drink to accompany something like that? I don’t mean one that will mellow you out or calm you down…I mean a ‘Misery Loves Company’ sort of tea?

Perhaps I will start a thread about this. You know…one that is like that HARD music to aid your rage? Anyways…enough of the mini-rant for now…

This is the first of the new-to-me teas from my friends at S&V and I’m super excited!

This smells like a very warming, spicy, potpourri type aroma. The black tea is of medium to medium-strong in strength.

The spices are great in this. They are a chai type spicy but also a bit of potpourri type spicy, too, with floral notes of sorts. In addition the French Vanilla is a neat touch. It’s not over powering but it would well here. A touch more would be welcomed but I do like it the way it is.

I’m so blessed to have tried this tea – as well as the others I have on tap! I will never take tea(s) for granted.

HOLY MOLY this is liquid Candy Cane. Another sample from the ever generous Nicole I have to say, that i totally don’t mind this tea but man you only want to drink a little at a time because it really is like liquid candy cane. heh I enjoyed this one and it certainly put me in the holiday mood. The scent is 100% candy cane and the taste is no different :)

Thanks again Nicole!