Simpson & Vail

Simpson & Vail describes Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake as having a lightly toasted flavor with the delicious taste of apples and cinnamon and I can’t really say it any better than that. The flavorings are subtle and should appeal to those who don’t like a lot of spice. I found it to be quite enjoyable, but had to play around with steeping times for this and some of the other flavored blacks that I ordered from Simpson & Vail. At 3 minutes, I find them to be ever so slightly bitter, but at 2 minutes, a bit weak- I think 2 minutes and 50 seconds does it perfectly for me with this one. I think this is a very nice dessert tea, especially for this time of year.

Delicious Earl Grey. I preferred it at just under the recommended 3 min. steeping time. At 2 min. and 50 seconds, I avoided any bitterness but got plenty of flavor. I gather that people have strong opinions about Earl Greys-some like the Bergamot to being very strong and others like it more subtle. To me this one is just right, but that’s just me. At this point, this one is a favorite, but I haven’t tested that many. Just as with trying to find the perfect pumpkin spice, I also see myself trying many more Earl Grey teas, just out of curiosity.

I am finishing off the last of the 1 oz. sample of this. It is thoroughly enjoyable and I would get some more, so on the shopping list it goes. Hopefully I remember the next time there is something to order from S&V!

Happy Thanksgiving, Steepster!

I am feeling quite tired this week, my neighbors seem to have gone away and their music is playing loudly every morning at 5 am, I think they forgot to turn off their alarm or something. so annoying. Someone was banging loudly on their door and rang the doorbell to complain but I really think they’re not there.

Anyway I made a nice, strong pot of this tea this morning. It’s so lovely with some soymilk. Yummm, I would definitely get this one again! Caramel and peppery! I only had a small size of it so it’s going on my Simpson & Vail Shopping list!

Tea of the morning here… such a nice Saturday morning I am having! This was steeped for 4 minutes in the Beehouse teapot. This is a really nice morning tea, it provides a good amount of heft but is also rich and caramel-y with some of the characteristic “peppery” notes that you often find in black Yunnan teas. I am drinking mine in a big mug with some soymilk and later I will be going to the Asian Art Museum to check out some Chinese calligraphy!

Backlogging from yesterday morning.
Its getting to be a tradition for me to make a large pot of this for Hubby and I share on Sunday Mornings.
He actually requests it.
In fact yesterday morning he rolled over and said “Babe, you gonna make tea or what”
Ha! only a tea drinking addict wife would think those were the sweetest words in the world from her Hubby:)
See my previous notes for more on this tea.

Having a pot of this with the hubby on this cold morning.
We both are enjoying it and also being to chat over our tea mugs.
Its been awhile since we had a slightly relaxed morning.
Ahh, tea and loved ones…is there really anything better?

This is not an official review for this tea.
More of an excuse to pop in to say hello and let you all know I am indeed alive.
We recently lost a friend suddenly.
He was 50 years old and died of a massive heart attack.
It has left us aghast, but he needs his crop harvested and other various jobs that he did, we have to take up the slack.
Anyway, I realized how busy we had really become (and sleep deprived) yesterday when, I had been drinking a large mug of this tea and it was 3/4 gone before I realized that apparently I had become distracted in the making process and added at least triple the amount needed for the one cup of tea I made for myself.
Probably my reaction would have been quite laughable if someone were there to see it.
It was rather bitter and strong at that percentage.
I cant believe I drank most of it before even noticing!
But, it did wake me up and I was able to rush about and finish what I needed too.
It was then that I decided that I should not be doing any tea reviews till I get some more sleep and my taste buds return:)
Take care, My Dear Steepsters!
I shall return soon, I hope.
(I broke down awhile ago and bought some Red Leaf Flavored Matcha, so I will be reviewing that soon I hope…stay tuned to see what flavor I bought;)

I’m busy at work on organizing and researching things for my novel for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) entry this year. I needed something with a little kick to keep me awake and focused. So I reached for this. Dry the leaf smells malty. But I wasn’t going to get my hopes up that it would be awesome due to my run in with another of their blends this morning.

BUT I was wrong this is very malty with just a hint of bitter which leads me to think there is Darjeeling in this as well as perhaps Assam and Ceylon teas. It sure is doing what it can to keep me awake on this weird weather day (it poured here for 5 minutes and now nothing and the sun is coming back out). This might be one to consider keeping on a regular basis.

One thing I find that Simpson & Vail is really good at is creating teas with one extra flavoring ingredient and making them delicious (one fine example: their hazelnut tea). This is shown in this coconut blend. When I look at the dry leaf, the coconut is a fresh bright white, and when I drink the tea, I can taste that fresh coconut! It’s delicious. I drink it sweetened with no milk, but I bet it would taste really decadent with some coconut milk in it. This tea is highly fragrant and I recommend that if you purchase it you get it out of the paper bag and into a tin right away before it makes all your other teas smell like coconut. Just a word from the wise. ;-)

I had this last night, and unfortunately I can barely remember what happened five minutes ago, let along a whole 15 hours ago. But I do remember some things about this tea. It was delicious. I did sweeten it, which brought out the sugary creaminess that was layered over the medium bodied black tea flavor. I loved this and will have it again.

Now this, I like. I have never had any other East Frisian so I can’t compare the quality of this to other companies.

I didn’t do it quite like the traditional method. I skipped the sugar but I did add the cream, though not in the same manner. First I tasted before adding cream. A nice malty tea but nothing super special. Add the cream and – Wow! What a change! Just a little bit of cream and this becomes excellent. Now I’ll have to go back and do it with the sugar just to see if it becomes even better!

Oh, and I should mention that this was a nice surprise sample included with my order. Whoever did the choosing did good. This was right up my alley. :)

Smells of peppermint. A pretty blend. The red and green does indeed look holiday-ey.

I don’t get any vanilla, though. Thankfully, I also get no rooibos. :) I was a bit nervous about ordering this because of the rooibos inclusion. While I like this, it won’t be a reorder. If I could taste the vanilla and peppermint both, I might. This is a decent black tea base.

Okay. Upon another tasting, I can smell a generic fruit smell. I still taste nothing fruity. Still a nice basic tea with a bit of maltiness but I’m going to lower my rating a bit to reflect that I’m not tasting any of the flavors in the description.

Hm. Reading the other reviews and refreshing my memory about the description of this tea, I think I’ll hold off on a final verdict here. Tried this tonight. No fruit smell of any kind to the dry leaf. I did see small flowers in this so I assume I got the correct tea. :) A smell of malt and a hint of earth maybe. Steeped is about the same smell. It is a nice color of amber and the taste is smooth and relatively mellow. A nice overall cup, but again, not even the barest hint of fruit of any kind. Maybe it’s me, though I’m not sick (that I know of) and other things today and this evening have tasted as I expected them to. I will try this again tomorrow and see if I can find what others are tasting!

I am thrilled with the idea of a red velvet tea. The Republic of Tea developed their own red velvet blend a long time ago and I remember being so excited to buy a tin. That tea wasn’t too strong on red velvet flavor and left me hunting for a new red velvet blend.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered this tea on Steepster. Thanks to momo I was able to sample this tea. Thank you!

This tea smells like rooibos and creamy chocolate. Sipping.. it’s really, really yummy. I taste the nicest blend of rooibos and chocolate. The chocolate mixes so well with the rooibos. It’s almost a bit like baking chocolate in the way that it leaves your tongue a little dry. The raspberry notes are at the end of the sip. They add a nice tartness to the woody, milk chocolate. Yes, this definitely beats any other red velvet tea I’ve tried in the past. I only wish that there could be more of that distinctive crumbly, moist red velvet cake flavor.

This tea isn’t super sweet, but still manages to satisfy my sweet tooth for the night. It’s not my perfect red velvet tea, but it’s an awfully good chocolate rooibos tea.

Very noticeable grape scent from the steeped tea. Seems lightly sweet though there is no sweetener in the blend and I added none. I know that true currants do not come from grapes but the grape smell and taste is so distinct as to make me wonder if dried currants were used in this blend because I think most dried currants do come from grapes – Black Corinth grapes.

A very enjoyable blend. I may have to keep this one on hand.

Thanks to Jim at Simpson & Vail, for sending me a free sample of this tea.

It’s amazing that the dry leaf smells just like chocolate and the tea while it’s brewing is really sweet and malty smelling!

Unfortunately the tea itself was not really to my liking – it is pungent and bitter and required a lot of soymilk to mellow it out. I definitely prefer a more mellow assam – sorry S & V. :(

Both the loose “leaf” and the liquor have a scent that’s mostly rooibos with a hint of some kind of generic sweetness. The taste is a bit more interesting; I’m not sure I’d call it similar to red velvet cake, but it’s definitely cake-y and I can taste the hint of cacao and raspberry, and there’s a nice even balance between the base and the flavoring. I’m not in love with it, but it’s the best dessert rooibos I’ve tried (although to be frank, I don’t think rooibos and sweet tastes are really made for each other).

Well i’m all out of the Kasmir Rose blend by Simpson and Vail so today I added some of my own cardamom to this and the taste is pretty similar. Who would have thought that roses and cardamom would be such a good combination? yum

Second rose-y tea of the day in honor of Valentine’s Day. This is a solid black tea with a subtle rose and sweetness. It isn’t the most overpowering Rose Congou I’ve had but it is good and relaxing.

It’s definitely been a weird day because I went back to the doctor and I need to stay at home for another 4 weeks due to my broken arm. My anxiety levels have shot through the roof because I cannot really afford this. At least I don’t have to buy more tea anytime soon. :-/

Tea of the afternoon here – I did jivamukti yoga this morning and am going to restorative yoga tonight. Pretty impressive for someone with a fractured finger but I did have to modify some of the standing poses.

Anyway this is a really nice rose congou but I’ve had it for a while and haven’t been drinking it fast enough (story of my life). I think it has lost a bit of the rose flavor. Someday I should try this as an iced tea.

Rose Congou… ahh

This is a great afternoon tea, I must say. The smell of the roses is very soothing and relaxing. I steeped it for 4 minutes and got a dark cuppa, which is very smooth and a tad bit malty. The rose is present but not overpowering, at all. I am glad I got a 4 oz. tin of this, I think it will be a new favorite. :)