Simpson & Vail

Today I wanted a sipdown. So I decided to have one. Bye bye, Violet Rose Tea.
This kills the Simpson and Vail teas I got back on Black Friday. They were cheap, which is by far the best thing.
Nothing was undrinkable, but I just wasnt impressed, so I dont think I’ll be ordering again.

I didnt want anything overly nice this morning. Do you ever have those mornings, when really, its just an unexceptional cup of tea that you want? They’re rare, but its a good time to drink something you are only meh on.
I will say that this is better than a lot of the teas that I got from S&V, but I still find it underwhelming.
Well, it was an interesting tea experiement, I suppose.

Once again I cannot find the proper balance in this tea. It tastes very much of candied violet, but I cannot pick out the rose.
Its not bad, its just a little one dimentional. I was expecting more balance and flavor layering.

The last of my Simpon and Vail order from Black Friday. It seemed like a good day to break it open.
In the bag, the dry leaf smells like a candied violet (side note- who was the first person to go, “lets make a candy out of something. I know, that flower! That’ll do.”)
Experience with other S & V teas tells me to brew this short and hot, which is what I did.
The liquid is light and clear, and smells sweet and unspecifically floral.
Its not bad, actually. More violet than rose, I think. And its very, very sweet. No sugar added and it tastes as sweet as two lumps.
I had some trepidation, after my other S&V disapointments, but this is pleasant. And good for this fine spring day.

Sipdown!! (170)

Thank you Fjellrev for sharing this with me. It sounded delicious and people really seem to enjoy it, but having yet another cup, I think I have decided it is not for me. I believe sugar would really help this out but since I am back to behaving and sticking to the diet, that is not even an option for me. Plus, at the end of the day, if a tea needs something to be amazing, it is not a tea I would stock. I am so grateful to have gotten to try it though.

Thank you Fjellrev for sending me a sample of this tea. It is one I have wanted to try for a while so I am super grateful for the opportunity. I am impressed that it is pretty reminiscent of a coconut macaroon but it does lack some of the sweetness associated with the tasty treat. I imagine that is nothing a little sugar couldn’t fix but since I am not one for adding sweetners, this probably won’t be something I get again once it is gone.

It’s been a while since I made a tasting note and I blame it on piling up coursework. Thank you to Courtney for pulling me away from the hum-drum by sending me a sample of this! This smells and tastes a lot like root beer. Although, it has a dark (slightly smokey) black tea base flavor that reminds me it’s tea. I think I’d like this better chilled but it could be because I feel odd drinking hot root beer… I’m going to add a little sugar, put this in the fridge, and use this free time as an excuse to sample some others. :)

I originally bought this tea because the ingredients sounded so unusual and interesting to me. Citrus tarragon black tea? Yes, of course I want to try it. Yet it’s sat here for a little bit with me avoiding it for whatever reason. Why?! This is surprisingly delicious.

I get a creamy mouthfeel first, followed by faint (yet definitely present) tarragon. There’s a hint of the black base which is smooth, and then a hint of sweetness that’s vague yet citrus-y. It makes me think of using this tea as brine for cooking something, although frankly I think I may just want to drink it as-is. Definitely a savory tea, and the smell of tarragon is much stronger than the taste – in this case, I think that’s a good thing.

Savory tea lovers, I definitely recommend trying this one out.

1.5 tsp in 12 oz.

I guess I’m on an almond tea roll this morning. Now that I think about it, an almond pastry roll would be delicious right now too!

This tea is much smoother than the last almond tea I just tried and for that I am grateful! It has a nice round almond taste, but that is about it. There is no wow factor. It isn’t bad by any means, but it isn’t grabbing me either. It was good to try, won’t be a restock, but isn’t going into the “get rid of it” pile either.

I received a sample of this from Marcel Duchamp! After falling in love with a green chai with the name Kashmiri, the similar name of this tea is intriguing.

I’m smelling rose and cardamon when the tea is steeped. Wow, rose and cardamon go really well together! I used to work next door to this shop that sold a specific type of middle eastern food (the exact country is escaping my memory) and they would have desserts that I would get regularly. Most had rosewater in them, but one ice cream was rose and cardamon, which is why this tea is bringing back that memories.

The tea is really smooth and I’m not getting any bitterness. I’m finding I like it just as much with as without sugar. The cardamon is strong, but not overpowering which is a really impressive balance. The rose merges so well with the cardamon that it is hard to pick out on it’s own at times. The tea looses it’s smooth edge just slightly once the cup has cooled. I really like it, but I haven’t decided if it is a must have or not. Maybe I’ll know in a few more cups.

I made this tea with German rock sugar and some cream. It has a nice little spice to it, but it is not really chocolatey. I think maybe my tastebuds are use to coffee mochas, so this is a lot more mild. Maybe I just needed more of a kick this morning.

Wow… what a long, crazy day! Snow, cold, too much paperwork, stress, kid who doesn’t want to do homework … UrgH!, making 2 food dishes to take to said kid’s Cub Scout meeting, Cub Scout meeting … along with Pinewood Derby (small wooden car race)… which my kiddo won, again! He won last year too. In a few weeks they will go to district and see how he does with a larger group of cars. Then home to get kiddo who is worked up and excited off to bed, more paperwork -put in an offer on a house.

Sigh… time for some tea!

This one is familiar and yummy…I needed something sweet and comforting tonight… I’ve especially grown to like that this is a rooibos, but has no woodsy flavor, caffeine free late night dessert like treat! This is soon to be a sad sipdown, only to mean I will finally be forced to place an order w/Simpson & Vail. I keep hoping they will do some random free shipping offer but I will likely meet the free shipping minimum w/little effort as I have several there I’d like to get more of and some I’d like to try anyway.

Thanks again MissB for such a generous sample of this one… I surely have enjoyed it, and enjoyed sharing it.

Thanks MissB for such a generous sample of this wonderful tea! You must have known I would just love it.. and you got it right… I do.

I wasn’t sure if I should try this one with the remnants of my head cold or not, but I have been looking through my S&V catalog lately trying to decide when/what to order from them. You see, when MissB sent me a generous sample of Candy Cane & a sample of Cinnamon Chocolate Brownie from S&V I really liked them so I went online looking to see what all they offered and found they had a catalog, it arrived safely and is sitting on the end table by the couch with notes by things I might like to order… narrowing it down is the problem. Anyway, the Coconut Macaroon was one at the top of my list to try… & here she sent it to me.. just like she knew :) I just couldn’t wait a couple of more days.

Dry, I couldn’t make out much fragrance, but my nose isn’t working well either. Steeped, this came through as true coconut macaroon. You know the ones like you get at the Chinese buffet that are dense and sweet and yummy? I hope when I get completely better that I like it even more.

My mom and sister love coconut macaroons too… do I dare share?!?! I’m not sure how my mom would feel about a flavored teas, but my sister enjoys iced fruit teas… bet she’ll love this.

Thanks MissB for letting me give this a shot! (170)

It’s a tasty green tea with lots of cream and butter to it. I don’t get Irish Cream from it, but I do get cream.

thank you for this sample Marcel Duchamp! I didn’t remember this was smoky until I brewed it, so I’m glad I separated this sample from the others! I needed something brisk this morning. A Scottish inspired tea should probably be brisk, so I went with this one… Scotland probably gets the same amount of sun as NY… this better be the last week of this snow! I’m so sun deprived! I steeped up the teaspoon and a half for this cup. It’s gone now! Both steeps are pretty much the same — surprisingly smoky but it seems like it’s on an assam type base, so that seems different. It is brisk, as I expected, slightly malty. Smoky smoky! I wish had more to say about this one… but their description is definitely accurate. But it’s another good one from S&V. I’ve tried a few from them now and they are always good!

Sipdown no. 21 of 2016 (no. 232 total).

Not much to add to my previous notes on this one. It’s a nice tea, but not really an Earl Grey and not really creamy. More of a fruity floral, a la some of the Kusmi Russian blends.

Revisiting this one today for my first morning tea. I have very much the same impression that I had the first time around, which is that this is a tasty tea. But if I was doing a blind tasting of it, I probably wouldn’t identify it as an Earl Grey. And I certainly wouldn’t identify it as a creamy Earl Grey.

I might identify it as a fruity floral, in the same general category as one of the Kusmi black tea blends like St. Petersburg. I don’t taste vanilla or cream, I don’t taste bergamot. I taste something vaguely fruity that is more of a red fruit taste than a citrus taste, that starts fruity and ends floral. Almost rose-like.

Torn on the rating. It gets a lot of points for tastiness and smoothness, but it doesn’t taste like what it says it is, i.e., an earl grey creme. I’m going to keep the rating where it is. I really like the tea (points up). But it isn’t what I think of as an Earl Grey creme (points down).

I think this is the last of my Simpson & Vail Earl Greys. It has a lot in common with the other two.

Usually I smell bergamot in Earl Grey dry leaf, sometimes eye-wateringly so, but whatever I smell usually smooths out and becomes must more mellow after steeping. I don’t smell bergamot in this dry leaf, unless it is the vaguely floral scent I’m smelling. I don’t smell citrus. I don’t really smell vanilla either. But I do smell a nice, solid, earthy black tea.

That tea also takes center stage in the aroma after steeping. It’s malty and sweet which makes me think there may be some Chinese black tea in the blend and I suspect there is some Ceylon because of the color. It has a deep red, almost garnet liquor. The description doesn’t say what sort of black tea is in the blend, but I am guessing it is similar to what is in the Earl Grey Aromatic, which contains both Ceylon and Chinese Blacks, as well as Assam and Darjeeling. I don’t get the heft of Assam here, but perhaps that’s the influence of the cream (even though I don’t smell cream).

In flavor, this is a tasty, sweet, medium-full bodied black tea with a floral note. Because I don’t really get a distinctive bergamot flavor, It doesn’t really taste like an Earl Grey to me, but then, neither did the S&V plain Earl Grey. I’m also not really tasting cream, which makes me want to do a side by side between this and the S&V non-creamy Earl.

Essentially, I have the same impression of this as an Earl Grey crème that I had of its sibling as an Earl Grey, which is to say I think the tea is lovely but it doesn’t really seem to meet the criteria for an Earl Grey, with the additional point that I don’t really get the crème either. Maybe my taster is off. I’ll try it side by side another time and see what happens. For now, rating it the same as its sibling.

This was an EU Travelling Teabox Try.

There’s no two ways of saying this. It smells like soap. Not even perfumed soap, just soap soap. No hints of vanilla or of rooibos. Only soap. It smells exactly like the way accidentally getting a little shampoo in your mouth in the shower tastes.

It tastes like rooibos and not too much like soap. There’s a little bit of that sensation hanging in the nostrils after sipping, but I expect that’s because of how closely related to taste the sense of smell is. The vanilla flavouring is not very strong and mainly shows up as an aftertaste. Unfortunately that’s where it gets mixed in with that shampoo in the mouth feeling, so all in all, this is actually not very pleasant.

I can’t seem to get rid of that feeling of shampoo in my sinuses.

Originally I had intended this to be a Take and take all of it, but having tasted it, I thought better of it and put it back in the box. Demoted.

A vanilla flavoured blend that I’m scoring low. Of all things! O.o I’m very disappointed.

Sipdown (194/196)!

So, I mixed the last little bit of this (about half a cup worth) with the last little bit of Herbal Infusion’s Strawberry Cream Cacao (also about half a cup worth) with the hope that the two would pair well because they’re really similar and that they’d piggyback on each other’s flavours – both individually are a little weak – and create and nice, strong cup.

How excited was I when that turned out to be the case? Well, the answer is pretty fucking excited. Combined, the two made for a tea with a thicker mouthfeel and almost a “spongey” chocolate cake flavour accompanied by a very rich, flavourful, and aromatic strawberry that was indulgent and delectable.

That’s what I call tea blending success! Some really lovely sipdowns indeed.

Thanks Courtney for the sample! I still have one more cup worth left after this too!

This smells amazing and incredibly aromatic; sort of like a strawberry shortcake (plus black tea) – however my concern making it would be that like the Rootbeer I had earlier today the flavour would fall incredibly short to the delicious aromatic smell. However, steeped up it’s not too bad. I mean, yeah it doesn’t quite live up to the smell but it’s still a really nice strawberry flavour with a fudgey cake like (not shortcake) layer underneath and a nice enough black base (no bitterness or astringency). It reminds me of DT’s Love Tea #7 with a bit of a step up in strawberry flavour.

That said, I have lots of Love Tea #7 so I wouldn’t consider getting more of this one until I was out of Love Tea #7 – which could be awhile.

Thanks Courtney!

Sipdown (189/191)!

Thanks Courtney for the sample! there was enough left I probably could have made two small cups, but I figured I’d over leaf a bit and see if that would create more of the flavour that the dry leaf promises. I also toyed with adding milk, but wound up passing in favour of using the milk for a match latte later tonight.

Overleafing, did bring out more flavour so this is a more enjoyable cup in comparison to the first one. What I like about this blend in particular, is that it’s pretty creamy and has strong vanilla notes but doesn’t claim to be a “float” tea – at least as far as the name goes (I haven’t read the tea description, though I probably should). However, it’s still really light overall.

I may have slightly oversteeped this (five minutes), which could have been a help and hindrance. It may have added to the strong rootbeer flavouring, but there’s also a little underlying bitterness that’s a touch unpleasant.

I hate to say it, but my favourite black rootbeer tea is probably still the discontinued DT version (please bring it back for summer or something!) despite all its floaties. Just because Cherry Cola was crap doesn’t mean that one was too!

In other news, I think I’ve finally stopped adding to my swap for Courtney – now I just have to find the time/money to send it.

This one came today from Courtney and I could not wait to try it because I must try allll the rootbeer teas, and this one smelled incredibly intoxicatingly delicious.

I have to say though, ok, I literally zoned out for a solid 15 minutes trying to finish this sentence the taste of this one really fell short for me. Nothing like the smell, which was really saddening. Very weak in flavour :/

That said, this did have a strong vanilla flavour – so it probably could have really passed as a “float” tea had the rootbeer been kicked up a notch. Oh well, I was really happy to try it; one more of many rootbeer blends checked off!