Simpson & Vail

A sample from Fjellrev!

This smells intoxicating. Candied violets! So cool! Because of the sweet smell of the dry leaf and the steeping tea, I added a couple tiny rock sugar bits to it.

Taste-wise, it’s not quite there. It’s floral (duh), green, and soapy. Boo. Violet candies are not supposed to be soapy. Well, they are, but in a good way and this is kind of more the bad way.

Thanks for the sample, Fjellrev! Too bad this isn’t for me. Doesn’t change the fact that I want to try other Violet teas, though, so it’s not all bad. :)

This is a fairly strong tea, the black tea itself is very bold and the chocolate is almost overpowering in its intensity. Definitely not a tea to add too much of to your infuser or steep to long, but if you get it just right it’s delicious!

This smells fantastic, and it tastes good. I’m getting more brulee than creme. For me it’s caramelized sugar, almost to the point of burnt. I actually quite like that, but I’m not getting anything that I would call vanilla or custard. This is really sweet with a some burned caramel tones…..

Sweet, bakery-ish – not getting any almond (or nut). I’ve had a better “cookie” tea recently. This pales in comparison.

Out of my MissB box of insanely awesome tea, I chose this for my mid-afternoon cup (THANK YOU, MissB!!!). I didn’t make a true chai with it, but instead just added milk and sugar…and holy moley was it delicious.
I’m sure you could fancy it up, steaming your milk and all that (and maybe I’ll do that next time, since ifjuly taught me that neato frothed milk in a jar trick…), but this was so good.
I found that I had downed my first cup before I knew it, unable to hold back from the deliciousness. I guess I was in a chocolate chai mood…. So, I resteeped, and got to do it all over again. :)
Speaking of chocolate—the chocolate is really nice in this. I love how it’s balanced with the spice…nothing fighting, or arguing for center stage..everything just getting along swimmingly in your tea cup, to the delight of my taste buds.
Thank you so much for sending this my way, MissB!

The scent of this tea is a mix of apples, cinnamon and a bit of that “baked good” smell. The bakery scent mixes well with that of the black tea base. I can’t tell the difference between the two. I’m a little concerned that the tea base might take over when it comes to the actual taste and that the actual apple cinnamon coffeecake flavor will be lost.

Sipping… there is something in this that reminds me of the Simpson & Vail almond sugar cookie blend. I first taste a bit of the black tea which turns into that “bakery” flavor. The cinnamon seems to be woven in nicely – it’s not too strong or weak, but is definitely present throughout. My first sip was mostly cinnamon and apple – now it’s a little bit harder for the apple to come through. It’s there, though, if you look for it… not artificial, but like a nice fresh slice. A part of me wants to say that this is the almond sugar cookie blend without a whole lot of almond, but there is something that I can’t quite identify that makes it just a little bit different. To me, this doesn’t really taste like apple cinnamon coffeecake, but it is tasty and original. I can’t remember who sent this tea to me.. I’m just terrible at remembering some of these older teas I have left to try. So thank you so much to that person who sent this to me in a swap!

Sipdown!

I’m working on clearing out samples and sipdowns to make room for the Della Terra order I’m getting later this week, plus some stuff from Dexter to try soon.

This one is quite tasty, and I like the subtle toffee notes here. I did add milk which may have melded the flavours a bit more.

I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to buy this one, but it is good, so thanks to OMGsrsly for the sample to try.

’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #7
Now I usually don’t like ginger, but whoa, this chai could be on my Top 10 chai list… The dry blend itself looks really well balanced.. the black tea leaves, perfect amount of spices. Oh well, call me a tea nerd, I know! I see cinnamon, ginger, cloves. The flavor is perfect – the right amount of robustness to be tough but not over-power the spices, which is pretty strong itself, but there is also a sweetness.. I’m not sure from what.. maybe the flavoring that should be there? I wouldn’t call this particularly like gingerbread or an unusual amount of ginger. Ginger is my kryptonite, but with chai, it’s okay. I might take the last remaining couple teaspoons of this from the teabox. I think I’ve loved every tea I’ve tried from Simpson & Vail. There will be a S&V order at some point, but definitely not in the next year when I’m already planning on a couple orders.
Steep #1 // just boiled // 3 1/2 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

First thing I get is strawberry and then a hint of chocolate comes through. This is pretty light for a black tea. I’m not tasting much of the base, mostly just strawberry. It gets a little bitter as it cools. It is a decent tea, but not one that I will seek out.

“Holy crap, root beer tea!”

No, seriously, if you’re looking for a non root beer drink that tastes and smells (and boy does it smell strong) as much like root beer as something that’s not root beer could ever possibly taste or smell, you found it!

I had wanted to try this for awhile, so thank you Courtney for sending some!
I had to separate it from all my other teas because the smell is that potent! Nuts!

I drank this on a walk with my baby, hot, in my travel mug.
It was very tasty.

Though in hindsight, I’m not entirely sure I ever need to drink hot root beer. So the rest will be cold brewed.

I kind of regret not ordering this with my one and only S&V order but I probably wouldn’t drink it too often anyway.

Super delish though! Yum!

From the HHTTB2

Helloooooo, clove! There are lots spices here, but the clove is much stronger than the rest. It does remind me of gingerbread, and I can see how this would be nice to have during the fall and winter months. I can see myself picking up a sample size at some point around the holidays.

Another surprise in the tea swap from Marcel Duchamp! Thank you so much! This tastes basically exactly how I was thinking it would, so I obviously I love it.

Steep #1 // 10 mins after boiling (accidentally waited that long) // 3-4 min
The black tea base suits this perfectly – it’s mild enough, yet it pairs well with the flavors. First, there is an odd flavor from the strawberry leaves, but that is thankfully only at the top of the cup. There is definitely something here that makes this taste like CUPCAKE. A bit of strawberry and I thiiinnk a hint of chocolate. There should really be some more strawberry, but it might take away from the cupcake flavor. I love it – it’s perfect because I was craving a tea that was cakey today.

Steep #2 // just boiled // 4-5 min
This cup was also nice, but a little light on the flavor which was surprising since I accidentally waited 10 mins for the first steep. I love this though!

Since this arrived in my package from MissB I have been dreaming about it. The big success of almond in with the leaves and the thought of drinking almond sugar cookies….mmmmmm…… so I made this as my late morning brew. It is quite tasty, very almondy. It’s not quite as cookie as I would have liked, but it’s in the background. Maybe a touch of milk would bring that out more.

Sorry for the absence, Steepster, I haven’t had much time between work and my social life lately. Also, I’ve been blending my own chai and drinking that most mornings, so I haven’t had much to write about.

Anyway, I got this in a trade with JustJames a while back. It’s a pretty tea. Short, dark leaves with flakes of pale strawberry leaf and pink strawberry pieces. The aroma is just gorgeous. Tempting chocolate cake scent mixed with a hint of sweet-tart fruit. It really does smell like a cupcake.

Steeped, it starts to get a less-than-realistic, Tootsie Roll sort of smell. It looks lovely in the glass pot, however. Beautiful ambery red. From the aroma, I expected chocolate to be the most prominent flavor, but actually, it’s the strawberry! It reminds me of strawberry preserves, not strawberry candy, which is nice. Also, I can actually taste the black tea base. It’s mild and Assam-like with just a touch of astringency, but no bitterness. The chocolate is most noticable at the end, but I still feel like I’m smelling it more than I’m tasting it.

While chocolate teas aren’t really my thing, this one would be nice to revisit every once in a while.

This was a first for me. The first time I dumped a cup of tea without drinking it.

There is probably nothing wrong with the tea, except that it has a coconut tone and I can’t stand coconut. If I am ever abandoned on a tropical island I am in big trouble.

And um ok, isn’t classic creme brûlée just vanilla? Why is there coconut here? I didn’t expect it at all.

So I opened the envelope. Slight coconut smell. Uh oh. Well, let me brew it. Smelled it when steeping too. Maybe it won’t be there when I taste it. First sip: I just drank suntan lotion! I am that hyper sensitive to the flavor.

Personal taste thing. Sorry world! No rating since this is a me thing.

Tastes better as it cools. Not exactly what I was looking for this morning, which is no fault of the tea’s. :)

I don’t have a lot of experience with hazelnuts, except in Nutella (which isn’t exactly a wholesome way of eating hazelnuts)!

I liked this tea. I like the hazelnut taste, which is different than other nuts. The black tea base was pretty mellow, and the hazelnut taste comes through well.

I over-steeped this the first time so this is round 2! This tastes so much better with a little cream added as it really helps bring out the richness of the caramel. This is what I would consider to be a “light” dessert tea because the caramel and chocolate flavors are there but subtle.

Thank you Courtney for introducing me to Simpson & Vail! I love me some dessert teas. ;-D

Thank you, MissB for sharing some of this treasure with me (227). It really is liquid candy cane.
It really is delcious. It really is the perfect cup before bed…

Sipdown…dumped the rest of the sample into the steeper without measuring, and it came out pretty good! I think maybe last time I underleafed. I was worried that I might be overleafing this time, but yay, I didn’t!

I liked it much better today than the first time, so I have to up my rating a bit. I’m not sure if I like it enough to buy it, but I am glad I could try some, so thanks for that, OMGsrsly. Maybe when the fall comes around again I’ll want more of this, but for now, I’m good. :)

Gave this one a go today, given the weather. Sadly, it has not wowed me. I find the base a little strong, and the spices a little generic. Nothing about this tea really makes me think of gingerbread, but it might have just been an off brew, so we’ll see how the last of the sample goes. This is ok, but not great.

Thanks, OMGsrsly for sending this. Maybe the last bit will be better.

This is from a swap with Courtney, a swap to expand a little my tea horizons. Because this is really not my type of cup of tea, but I find myself really interested in this type of tea. Not sure it will be love or if they will overcome my beloved afternoon-type teas, but I am definitely intrigued.

This is presumably a black tea from Java. I never had indonesian tea before, so not sure what quite to expect. Maybe something Ceylon-ish? And somehow that was what I got, though a bit more delicate, flowery (and ok, thinner bodied) than I would expect of a Ceylon tea. It had that some copper-y (I can not think of any other way to describe it. Kind of metallic but not unpleasant?) feeling I associate with some ceylon teas. I think it had some wood (besides floral) notes, and a bit of tannin as well, which was not unpleasant. Sadly not quite as much body as I wanted of a first-thing-in-the-morning tea, but I can put this in afternoon service with please. Really interesting. Thanks Courtney!

Yay, Spring Break! No students, no PARENTS for one whole week :)

This tea smells awesome and tastes pretty good too. Definitely nice cinnamon and apple taste. I made the mistake of drinking it with my McD’s breakfast burrito with salsa so the taste was a little funky but now that I’m done and ate cookies, definitely a nice dessert tea.

Thank you ifjuly for this sample.
Smells heavenly. I’m a big fan of ATR Brioche and they smell similar. While I was reading previous reviews I noticed JustJames recipe. I made it in the perfect mug 12 oz and split it in 2 cups. 1 cup I added 1tsp agave syrup, 2nd nothing. I didn’t have salted macadamia nuts on hand, but had white cheddar popped corn chips( not to salty, not strong flavor just right)
I wasn’t impressed with either of the cup. The smell doesn’t match to the taste. As it cooled sweetened cup reminded me of sugar cookie but no almond taste. I prefer w/ agave syrup cooled. Brioche still my favorite.