Tamarindel said

Simpson & Vail literary teas

Has anyone tried these classic-author inspired teas from Simpson & Vail?
http://www.svtea.com/products.asp?dept=137

I couldn’t find anything about them on Steepster. I think they look intriguing, but since I haven’t yet tried anything from Simpson and Vail, I’m a little hesitant to spring for 4 oz tins (and they don’t seem to be available in anything smaller).

41 Replies

I know Nicole was offering to do a split on some of the teas in this thread: http://steepster.com/discuss/12027-simpson-and-vail-tea-split

Not sure if that’s already happened or if it’s still going through, but I’d ask her if you’re interested!

Tamarindel said

Thanks, Beorhthraefn, I’ll check it out!

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AllanK said

I have had a lot of teas from Simpson and Vail. They are generally good quality teas for a good price. They are not quite on par with Whispering Pines in how good they are but they are good solid teas. I must have bought fifty of them in the past several years but I haven’t tried any of their Literary Blends.

Tamarindel said

Thanks, AllanK, that’s good to hear! They definitely have a lot that look tempting!

AllanK – I’d love to hear which of the 50 are your favorites! I was planning a small order – mainly to get empty tea bags.

AllanK said

It would have to be the Nepal Black from Aarubotay Gardens and the White Ambrosia. At least these are the first two that come to mind. I remember their ripe puerh being decent but not as good as I am now used to. I remember liking their Tippy Yunnan China Black Tea. Their are so many more that I just haven’t drank recently and don’t remember that well but I do remember liking a lot of them.

AllanK said

They probably have more teas than any other vendor of loose teas in the USA. Someone like Puerhshop may have more but I don’t think any vendors of loose teas in the USA do.

Thanks for the response! I’ve liked all of the samples I’ve tried over the years. They have some nice teas.

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Nicole said

The order in the other thread has not happened yet. :)

I’ve only had a few SV teas myself and AllanK is pretty much spot on with his input about them.

Tamarindel said

Yes, they sound pretty promising! Of course this time of year with all the holiday sales, there are so many teas that look tempting. I’ve been going over my tiny tea budget, and after I get the really mandatory things ordered, I have only about $10 left. It’s such a measly amount, I don’t know if you’d want to be bothered with it? I completely understand if it’s not worth the trouble. When I posted this thread, I wasn’t sure how new the literary teas were, and I was really just trying to figure out why there wasn’t anything on Steepster about them.

Nicole said

I’d be fine sending you some from anything I order, but not sure it will happen. I hear you about tea budget and I’ve kind of blown mine on tea ware in the last couple of months. If there are enough interested to make the order economical for everyone, I’ll let you know. :)

AllanK said

I don’t know why Simpson and Vail doesn’t get more press on Steepster. I guess they don’t promote themselves here. They have a couple of teas from Nepal Aarubotay gardens that I really liked for a few. My last order from them was a bunch of decaf teas to cold brew. I like to brew their decaf teas as iced teas with dinner when I am avoiding caffeine.

Tamarindel said

@ Nicole Thanks, I appreciate it!

I’m with AllanK. I love Simpson and Vail. They are fantastic and have great customer service!

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Tamarindel said

@AllanK I think they just have so much to choose from, it’s hard to know where to start!

AllanK said

They sell most of their teas in one ounce sample sizes although the packaging of such is inconvenient. They use a bag capable of fitting a pound for their one ounce samples. You have to dig down to the bottom. I usually buy their small one ounce tin to store their samples in. I guess these literary teas are only sold in 4 oz packages.

Tamarindel said

Well, that is a strange way to sell samples. I do have plenty of spare tins though (some of them quite small), so I wouldn’t be too bothered by that: http://danamartinillustration.tumblr.com/post/127977134782/froaderick-fronkensteen

And yes, the literary teas only come in 4 oz. I’m really kind of surprised they’re not selling a sampler with a little of each flavor.

AllanK said

If you emailed them perhaps you could get them to sell you samples of some of the literary teas, unless of course they get them in in the tins. They are fairly responsive to emails. Because of my email suggestion they now advertise their teas as gluten free. When I realized they had what seemed to be gluten free teas I suggested they advertise it. After they changed one of their ingredients to a gluten free source they were able to call their teas gluten free. It’s somewhere on their website.

Tamarindel said

You’re right, sending in feedback definitely helps. I’ll shoot them an email!

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keychange said

I’m interested in trying these teas as well, and wasn’t going to order them in these massive quantities, but a friend of a friend is willing to bring them when she visits Canada so obviously I had to take her up on that offer.

Obviously.

But it does mean I’ll have 4 oz of tea I potentially won’t like. But some of the blends sound hella intriguing.

Sorry—I know I didn’t really say much of use. Just that I hear you on a) them sounding great; b) sucks they only come in 4 oz; and c) someone needs to try them and report back. Haha.

Tamarindel said

Well, that’s cool! I hope you’ll write about them when they arrive :) I just emailed Simpson and Vail to suggest they make a little sampler out of this set (‘cause what we really want is to taste them all, right? They just sound so intriguing). Who knows if they’ll go for it, but all we can do is try!

Oh cool! Do let us know what they say. I saw Nicole’s post and wanted to try them, but even 2oz of each sounded like a lot. @Keychange, I can’t wait to read your notes.

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keychange said

Happy to help…now I can say I “need” the tea for reviews! haha.

And yeah, I do hope they spring for the sampler set idea.

Tamarindel said

That’s right!
And if they do write back, I’ll post about it here.

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Tamarindel said

So I received this reply to my email to S&V:

“Thank you for your email. We don’t have a sampler set made up yet of the Literary Teas, however this may be something for us to consider! The line launched about 2 weeks ago and as we’re too close to the holidays to have any packaging made up this will have to be a consideration for 2016.”

So who knows, maybe in a few months, samplers will be an option! :)

AllanK said

It’s too bad they won’t sell samples as of yet. They sell samples of almost all their teas. I don’t know why they don’t want to sample these.

Tamarindel said

I know what you mean, but apparently packing is a real snag? I’ve heard this from Adagio too.

AllanK said

It’s very strange the way Simpson and Vail packages one ounce samples. They use a full sized bag big enough for at least a pound of tea. I simply cut the bag open and transfer the contents. Otherwise getting at the tea is a pain.

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keychange said

I do have to say their customer service is steller. I placed an order under my own name and had it shipped to my friend’s friend in the states. I very quickly got an e-mail asking me if my order contained a gift and if I wanted to attach a gift message. I told them I was just getting a gift for myself, and thanked them for being so attentive to detail! Anyway, I’ll definitely hav enough tea to share, and if it isn’t too stressful to package them up and label them (I’m blind so I’ll have to get someone else to write out the lables for me), I’m happy to share. Lord knows I don’t really need 4 oz of anything.

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Tamarindel said

Thanks, keychange! That is super nice of you!

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MissB said

I love S&V. Did a bulk order a few years back with a few other Steepster-ites, and will forever be in love with Kapha, Bamboo Pomelo (seriously, just get it, you won’t want to share) and the… uh… one that’s like whiskey. O’Connor’s Cream? They’re a great company, excellent customer service, and really fun, unique tea.

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