Simpson & Vail

Thanks Cheri for the sample!
I must admit, the first and only time I’ve ever had Creme Brulee was on my cruise last month, so I’m not the perfect judge of accuracy here! I can say that this was caramelly and sort of creamy and vanilla-y. I’m not getting much custard from this, but I’m satisfied with what I am getting. I nice sweet dessert tea.

Backlog
I cold brewed this yesterday and took it with me to Disney. This is delicious, roasty, honey, sweet, cold brewed this was fabulous and refreshing and still yummy when it got hot from the Florida heat. This is on my repurchase list. My favorite of the samples I received from Sampson & Vail.

Backlog
This is what I was afraid that the Nepal Green tea would be like. This is pure astringency. Wasn’t a fan, and didn’t finish.

Backlog
I had this cold brewed yesterday. I must admit, the mention of dryness in the description scared me a bit. But this wasn’t that bad. Sort of vegetal, and only slightly dry, almost like a wetter kind if dry if that makes since. The dryness will still keep me for restocking, but I wouldn’t turn a cup down.

Backlog
This was the tea that made me realize I should really taste my tea before I sweeten it. I cold brewed this and took it to class yesterday. This is not a tea you should sweeten. Trust me. It’s got a savoryness to it that really clashes with any added sweetener. As such it wasn’t drinkable. Since I ruined it I’m not going rate it. It’s a shame, since a savory type tea might have been interesting.

I had this cold steeped in my fridge, and decided to put it in a mason jar with some ice and frozen berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and blueberries).

Before adding the berries, this was refreshing, light, and slightly fruity. I can’t really tell what kind of fruit, but it was fruity. There’s also a slight floral note to it, that I assume comes from the base tea.

With the frozen berries this was more flavorful, and the fruitiness more present. All and all this is an alright tea, something I would drink if offered, but wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

My picture of this in my mason jar: http://instagram.com/p/qNTH55Q04c/

A sample of this tea came my way for review, and while I did enjoy it I found it quite surprising. The black base is very light, and so the peppermint and floral notes take the forefront. It’s an undercover black tea, and a nice way to enjoy the flavor of an herbal with a kick of caffeine.

You can see the full review at:
http://wordsabouttea.blogspot.com/2014/07/holiday-blend-by-simpson-vail.html

Backlog from last night.

Of the samples Simpson & Vail sent me, I went for this one first. This definitely is a light gentle green tea. I got lots of fruitiness from this one. The fruit was distinct enough that I double checked that this wasn’t a flavored tea. As far as I can see it’s not, which is impressive. There’s also a bit of a floral note in it.

Second steeping brought forth some astringency. The fruit was still there, but mellowed out a bit. The floral note is more noticeable at this point though.

Third steeping is much more astringent. I’m not really a fan of astringency so this was the end of this session.

Sipdown! (36 | 313)

The first of my S&V holiday sampler to be finished off… I would really like to sip down some of my holiday teas, as I have quite a few.

This one is quite pleasant, and possibly my favorite candy cane blend to date. The peppermint flavor is nicely bright and refreshing, and the very slight sweetness from the stevia helps sell the candy cane element. I’m not a fan of stevia, but it seems well done here in that it’s very restrained and just adds a hint of sweetness. The green rooibos base is very subtle, just adding a mellow grassy, slightly woody note.

It really does taste like a candy cane, with less sugar of course. A lot of other candy cane teas I’ve had try to be more desserty with white chocolate and such, and I much prefer this simpler approach. This might have to go on the list for this year’s holiday season!

Simpson & Vail Advent Calendar – Day 1

(originally written November 1st)

Continuing my November tea advent-ures with the first tea from the Simpson & Vail calendar! I’ve just recently tried my first couple of teas from S&V and really enjoyed them, so I’m very happy to have bought their advent box.

I was also excited to see this blend lying on top when I opened the box, as I’m always looking for more caffeine-free options for the evenings and candy cane is such a festive flavor! It looks as though they’ve stopped putting the cornflowers in, as my packet just looks like plain green rooibos.

Wow, the dry aroma hits you like a ton of bricks! SUPER candy cane scent, good for opening the sinuses. ;) These packets seem to be the perfect amount of tea for a 16-ounce pot.

Happily, the steeped tisane is not as strong on the peppermint flavor. I find it just strong enough! The candy cane is still very present, but it doesn’t overwhelm me and make me feel like I’m eating an Altoid. There’s a bit of creaminess to me, perhaps a hint of vanilla? This blend does have stevia (boo), but luckily it’s not too much. And I suppose it makes sense to sweeten a tea that’s based on candy… I can just barely taste the green rooibos base, and it adds a mild grassy herbal note.

This is definitely a very good start to the Simpson & Vail calendar! Which is very encouraging after the perfumey mess that was the Tea Revv tea for Day 1…

I’m definitely adding this one to the list to pick up the next time I order from Simpson & Vail. A great option for a sweet nighttime herbal blend!

SIPDOWN! (101)

This tea was given to me by TeaBrat. She added it to a swap just out of the kindness of her heart. :) Overall, I find it pretty good, and caffeine-free options are always nice in the evening. I did a shorter steep this time around so the peppermint flavor would be a bit less intense. My only issue with this blend is the stevia – it adds a weird faux sugar aftertaste that I don’t like. I wish they would leave that out and allow people to sweeten it themselves if they choose to. I think a little bit of vanilla would be helpful too, just to give it that sweetness that candy canes obviously have.

I’m happy that I got the chance to try this blend, but it’s not something I would restock. But I’m not the biggest mint fan either, especially peppermint. :P

Edit: I hope I’m not annoying anyone with all of these sipdown notes… I realize they don’t have much substance! Don’t worry, I’ll go back to writing meaningful tasting notes soon.

I got this sample from TeaBrat in our recent swap. I don’t have a lot of experience with green rooibos, so we shall see! There are also a few white and red flower petals in this blend. It smells very strongly of peppermint with a slight sweetness. Candy cane indeed! I brewed for 5 minutes.

The brewed tea has a lovely aroma. The peppermint has grown milder and I pick up on a sweet vanilla note. However, when I taste this plain, I pretty much just get a mild peppermint tea. In a lot of other notes, people mentioned sweetness from stevia but I didn’t get that at all. I’m not sure what green rooibos tastes like but clearly it’s very neutral because I don’t really pick up on any other taste besides peppermint. When I add sugar, it helps to bring out that vanilla sweetness. This is quite tasty with milk and sugar, but kind of unremarkable on its own.

Made this today iced, and it’s really tasty and refreshing with the cool mint coming through in the background. Phew! Thought I’d ruined it with a touch of oversteeping.

Try #1 got botched by BCAA showing up to jump my (now-former) car, so now I’m drinking try #2. Dunno what I did this time around (as opposed to last time), however I’m getting chocolate juiciness with a hint of mint. It’s really delicious today!

Another tea from Miss B! After the butterbeer disappointment I decided to try this one because in the words of Dumbledore, “I think I could be safe with a nice toffee” (I’m still watching Harry Potter). I tried this plain first and I could strongly taste the tea base along with a subtle buttery, slightly nutty taste. While I wouldn’t exactly say toffee, I did find it pleasant. I decided to resteep and try with sweetener to see if it brought the toffee taste out a little more. Unfortunately, all that accomplished was to hide the base tea. So, I added some milk and it became nicely and predictably creamier. I prefer this plain though. It was a good tea, but nothing that leaves a lasting impression.

This tea reminds me a little of Della Terra’s Eight Candles with a punchier base tea, and a little bitterness provided by both the base and the chocolate notes. I think it’s because the vanilla in the caramel reminds me of those waxy air freshener vanilla candles, a scent and flavour which may come off as coconut to others.

Having said that this is a pleasant dessert tea with a base that is robust enough to welcome cream or milk. The tea smells to me of vanilla candles with hints of chocolate over a breast base tea.

I over steeped this tea slightly so the base is more dominant than I may of liked it. It seems that around 2 min 30 s is a sweet spot for this tea and I left it for 1 min more, because of this the bases flavours are the first notes apparent to me. It is a nice dense rugged tea that is breast and malty with light vegetal and floral notes, a cocoa note and a sharper red berry note. It is slightly tannic and astringent. While I appreciate a robust base I do think the base could be a little sweeter.

Once the base notes dissipate a little bittersweet cocoa is apparent as well as a vanilla caramel. The caramel doesn’t quite seem creamy enough, so when hot it seems a little waxy to me.

Thanks JustJames for the sample!

I just have time for a quick review of this tea before my meeting that starts in 3 minutes. I drank this while finishing my presentation for said meeting, which completed 15 minutes ago because I live in the land of procrastination where I rule as queen. Anyway, at first sniff I was like “Holy mint monkeys!”, but the taste was much more tame. It was pretty much exactly as you’d expect? Chocolate, mint, tea. It left a funny taste in my mouth, but that could have been adrenaline from trying to beat my deadline. I’d have to say in the rankings of chocolate mint tea, it’d have to go:
1. Read my lips- DT
2. Chocolate mint- H&S
3. Chocolate mint- S&V

This was my first S&V tea though! Thanks Miss B for putting it in the grab bag!

Oooooh, I just love this! It’s not complex, or subtle, but the name says it all: English Toffee . It doesn’t even need sweetener, although I’m sure adding some would make it even better. MissB, thank you for sending! :)

SSTTB: Pick #6

I think prior to this I’ve only had two Simpson & Veil teas; the rootbeer one and then a strawberry cupcake sorta one. You can tell neither really left an impression. I really wanted to keep exploring the company though, so I took advantage of the large bag of this one to make a cold brew of it!

Dry I didn’t smell a lot, but I do really enjoy green rooibos so I figured that if all else failed I’d just have a nice cold brew of green rooibos to sip on at work and it’d be another blend tried. But this definitely packed a powerful punch of flavour! It tasted exactly like a candy cane: not just mint but also a creaminess to it and a weighty vanilla flavour. There also seemed to be a smooth white chocolate vibe to this.

It was insanely refreshing and smooth to drink and I absolutely enjoyed chugging drinking it on break today. It was the perfect pick me up from a long, drawn out work day. Seriously, it feels like this week has been dragging on forever (but maybe that’s just because I’m super excited for Barcraft and seeing Tyrell again).

I feel this one has left a really positive impression with me and I think it was a needed push to not give up on Simpson & Veil just yet. Totally not ready to make an order with them or anything, but I’m feeling encouraged to look out for samples in swaps and such. And if I ever do feel like I have enough to justify an order I’m sure this’ll probably be included.

From T&C TTB: uh. Yeah.
Inject it into my veins.
Wait no.
I can’t taste it that way.

This is the second dessert tea I’ve tried from Simpson and Vail and the results were very similar. It’s a good tea But… be careful not to use too much tea as it’s potent, be careful not to oversteep, be careful not to oversweeten, and the second steep is much better than the first. Those few notes aside it is a very good dessert tea that tastes quite alot like it’s namesake. I don’t know what sort of base S&V use but it’s very temperamental, so if your first cup isn’t very good try for another with a little different preparation.

I actually quite like this one. Nice rich sweet chocolate. Not sure about caramel but this is a really nice chocolate tea.