Simpson & Vail

Another TTB sample. This was possibly the one I was most interested in because I’ve had reasonably good experiences with Simpson & Vail teas.

Mm, this smells buttery, creamy, vanilla-y, and caramelly in a burnt-sugar way, all what I would expect from creme brulee. And those are all present in the flavor as well; I particularly like the burnt sugar flavor, which is subtle but definitely present. The black tea base isn’t the star of this show but it has body and makes a decent background. There is a touch of astringency to this that is somewhat at odds with the creme brulee feeling of it; I would expect smoothness and richness, but this is a touch brighter. Definitely a pretty tasty tea and I’m glad I got to try it!

sipdown on this sample! I don’t have a variable temp kettle at work so I brewed this at boiling, the flavors are so muddled at boiling though. For anyone wondering, YES…SV flavored black teas are best (in my opinion) at 180 degrees F for about 2.5-3 minutes.

Got this in a swap from TastyBrew and am sipping it at my desk since I have a good chunk of time right now that doesn’t involve seeing clients. It’s so beautiful in Vermont today, high of 76 but we don’t have the super dryness or super humidity, it’s a peaceful comfortable 76 with the occasional warm breeze and draft off of the lake.

Brewed hot, I can smell primarily cinnamon. There’s also a rich malty scent that is clearly the chocolate but it doesn’t smell overpoweringly like chocolate. The first sip is fabulous, this seriously tastes like a brownie. It’s more of the cakey dry type brownie than the gooey underbaked kind that I prefer. The cinnamon is a nice note throughout the sip but it isn’t the dominant flavor. I think the flavors in this tea are so well balanced and I didn’t expect that at all. I’m thinking this would be fabulous with a little milk even though I drink my teas straight. It just makes me think of having a glass of milk with a brownie…

Swap from TastyBrew!! I wasn’t expecting to like this because from what I’ve tried, I don’t like most apple teas. I LOVE apples, and mostly everything apple flavored, but teas just don’t hit the mark for me. However, this had a fresh baked cinnamon apple flavor. Like baked apples fresh out of the oven sprinkled with some ground cinnamon. But it also had the cakey, bakery like taste of the coffeecake. It’s a smooth tasty combination with distinct flavors. I might steep it at a little bit of a cooler temp that 212 though, I might go with 180 because the bitterness of the black tea CAN overpower the flavors if you steep even a second too long. Usually I find a lower temp fixes that.

Backlog:

A really tasty chai! I love the addition of vanilla to chai blends … it gives it a sort of “latte” taste without having to add dairy, although, I did turn this chai into a latte because I wanted lots of that creamy, rich taste … I was in the mood for indulgence! This is a good chai for that!

The spices are well balanced, I love the zesty licorice note. YUM! A really good chai. REALLY good!

Here is my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/02/16/chai-french-vanilla-black-tea-from-simpson-vail/

Thanks to Kittenna for another S&V sample!

Again, hard not to have high hopes for this one given the heavenly scent wafting from the little baggie. But also yet again, the taste did not compare to the smell.

I tried it twice to be sure (using fresh leaves, not a resteep) and sadly, it’s just MEH. That’s the word I’d use if I had to sum this tea up in one word. Or “Disappointing”. Because it’s very watery, thin, not at all full bodied. The smell is misleading. There’s a faint hint of what it could have been. Untapped tea potential.

So this one is not on my wish list.

I’ve been spoiled by Della Terra’s dessert teas because the smell actually often matches the taste, and they’re usually pretty full bodied.

This one is drying out my teeth. That means it’s astringent, right? I still don’t really get that.

Glad I got to try it though because I would have assumed all S&V teas were as tasty as the Almond Sugar Cookie!

I don’t lovvvve this tea anymore, had it after supper last night.
I had it rated at 91 but I think the problem is I find it has a similar background taste to the rest of S&V’s teas….and this was the only one I tried that I enjoyed.

I still enjoy it, but that background taste is presumably the black base they use, which sadly has a bit of a cardboard note…. Like the inside of a paper bag or something. Either that or it’s the flavoring.

If the base was a bit heartier I think I would love this more, but it’s still pretty cookie like.
I have a huge tin of it so I have lots of time to play around with quantities and whatnot!

I’m lowering my rating a bit though.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, hold on a second here.

Did they liquefy some cookies and make a tea blend out of it or what?! Why is this so good??

Thanks so much Kittenna for this sample…. Pretty sure it might be the best cookie/baked goods tea I’ve ever tried. I will probably have to buy some soon.

I made it to bring along in my Contigo travel mug for a 2.5 hour car ride, and those mugs keep the liquid ridiculously hot for a silly amount of time so I was patiently waiting to not melt the inside of my mouth…. I was so pleased when I could finally take a sip! It’s really good. I am impressed.

Curses. It’s both exciting and disappointing to find an awesome tea to add to your wish list :)
Especially not knowing the shipping cost situation for that company. But I will look into it soon enough! Now I’m pumped to try my other S&V samples from Kittenna. You guys might be creating a monster over here……

Hearty, woodsy, a teeny bit of fruit (pear?). I like it better with milk and sugar, but it’s smooth enough to drink on its own (not bitter, and that’s the only time I pick up on the fruit).

As breakfast teas go, this is as strong as I’ll go before crossing the line into smoky teas (which always make me feel like I’m waking up in the military or something). For this Scottish blend, no need to break out the bugle reveille and the WWII helmet. This one still has a touch of coziness.

Having the last bit of this. It’s slightly bitter, makes my teeth ache with dryness and the flavour is a mere whisper of what the smell suggests. I hate being hard on a tea, especially a dessert tea, but you must pay the price for disappointing me so badly. If the dry leaves didn’t smell so delectable my review wouldn’t be so harsh. Gotta lower my rating accordingly.

Grateful for this sample from Kittenna because I’d be pissed if I wasted my tea money on some of these.

ETA Hey! 100 Tasting notes! :)

Kittenna sent me a sample of this, much appreciated!!

I made some tonight after work and I thought it was pretty good. I’m not quite getting creme brûlée out of it but to me the flavours mesh together to make a totally inoffensive caramel tea.

Not my holy grail caramel tea or anything, it’s not SUPER flavourful, but I’m not getting the cardboard taste others have mentioned and it’s not the burnt type of caramel (despite being creme brûlée flavoured), so all in all I’d call this a perfectly ok cuppa!

Just logging this, I’m up at 230am ET feeling nauseous but this tea and my snuggle hungry boy cat are making me feel better already

So about a month ago, maybe more, I wrote to Simpson and Vail. I had a sample of DAVIDs Cocomint Cream not expecting to like it and I fell in love. It reminded me of home and cured my constant homesickness, the coconut reminded me of putting on sunscreen before going for runs to the beach on the coast in CT where I served for a year, and the mint reminded me of my dad making me peppermint tea after hockey games in the winters when I was little. It only made sense to reach out to a local family owned company in my home state to top it off with perfection.

I sent a sample of Cocomint Cream to Cyndi at Simpson and Vail and she said they would try to come up with their version of it. They promptly sent me back their own sample of their blend and BAM…I’m obsessed. The only difference (and it’s one I love) is that SV uses unsweetened coconut while DAVIDs uses sweetened.

After telling Cyndi that this is my favorite tea I’ve ever tasted (freshest mint, smoothest flavors, light coconut aroma- would be GREAT iced), I asked her when and where I can buy it. It is now on the website but you have to search for it…type in either “jaclyn” or “cocomint” to find it. I immediately ordered a pound of it and cannot wait to drink it without having to savor each last drop because it is a limited tea.

SV, and Cyndi in particular, offered and displayed the absolute top of the line best customer service I have received in any setting. It felt like I was talking to my family about this idea. If you have never tried a Simpson and Vail tea, you will NOT be disappointed with your order (try my cocomint one!!).

And my name is in it…it’s JACLYN’S. best day of my life.

Sipdown 11. I finished off the last of my sample from Marcel Duchamp today. I’ve written a tasting note for this tea previously, but this time around I noticed the carrot cake-like quality comes almost entirely from the smell. The flavor itself is a bit mild. I can taste hints of creamy vanilla and cinnamon on top of the (very slightly) vegetal green rooibos base, but all the carroty goodness comes from the smell alone.

If I ever order from Simpson & Vail, I will probably pick up more of this. For now I’m trying to drink the tea I already have without buying more, so it may be a long time before that happens.

So yummy! This blend does justice to its namesake— it really does taste like carrot cake! The dominant flavors are carrot and cinnamon with a creamy finish. The green rooibos gives the blend a bit of an earthy quality which I just adore.

Big thanks to Marcel Duchamp for sending this in a swap!

I made my first cup and then didn’t have time to drink it until it had cooled considerably, which worked for me since I prefer my teas that way, anyway. This is incredible. Sweet, fruity, cake-y goodness. I don’t really like cake, because the texture kind of turns me off, but this is delicious.

I wish I could order more, but shipping to Canada from Simpson & Vail is a flat rate of $30, and that is impossible for me to justify. Sorry, Strawberry Cupcake. I wish I could drink more of you.

Thanks, Mitch, for this delightful sample!

Thank you Marcel Duchamp for the sample! Sure enough, this has a very natural strong strawberry flavor. Also this is the most pastry or baked goods type flavor I’ve gotten from a flavored tea. Very nice!

Oh this is odd. So very odd. It’s buttery in a strange no good way. Plus, I taste chicory or carob. I can’t really say much more about it because I couldn’t take more than a few sips. The remainder is still sitting downstairs waiting for me to dump the cup.

This tea tastes really artificial, sour, and soapy to me. I actually have yet to brew a drinkable cup. I’ve tried different temperatures and steep times, and nothing helps. It just tastes like soap. I ended up throwing out the rest of the bag. What a waste of money.

SIPDOWN!

So this time around? This tea is much improved. I’m not sure if it was teh ratio of goodness in this steeping or what but its much more strawberry like than the first time, though the cake like goodness is also less noticeable in this steep versus the last one. Bumping the rating up since I can see the potential for delicious goodness that this one has.

hmmmm…so far, not overly impressed with this tea. I’m wondering if i brewed it a little funny or it just really needs sugar to reach it’s happy spot.

I for sure get a chocolatey, cake kind of taste from this, but there isn’t a lot of strawberry in this one. I’m wondering if this needs sugar to bring that out. Or maybe i have a strawberry tea i can blend this with to get more strawberry + cake. I have enough to give it another whirl (more than 1 if i don’t brew it in my giant mugs lol), so the rating might be modified once i get a chance to play a little more.

Full review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 27th of March 2013 but here are the snippits:

This Strawberry Cupcake from Simpson and Vail is one of the freshest tasting strawberry teas I have ever sampled. As a dessert tea however I do wish it were a little fuller in the mouthfeel. That is not to say it is thin or watery but I do think that somehow the ripe fresh juiciness almost hurts the thickness in the mouthfeel. I know that does not sound like too bad of a thing now does it? Because it does taste so amazingly fresh almost as if biting into an actual strawberry! I guess I was just anticipating by the decedent aroma and darker colored cup that it would be richer.

I really rather like this since a lot of teas have a wine like flavor, or even mixed drink type flavor, this is one of the few that have this beer type flavor!

I have been surprised by this tea and am thankful to my Steepster friend Marcel Duchamp who shared it with me. Yup this goes on the wish list and I will order it sometime in the future.

SIPDOWN! This here sample is from Marcel Duchamp! Thanks, again!

This one smells so delicious! It’s bakey/buttery, almondy, sweet, and has just a tad of the black base present, especially when brewed. My nose is in heaven right now.

Taste: First thing I’m noticing right off the bat is how thick this one is on the tongue…it’s almost like I added cream. Very cool mouthfeel. I’m getting the black base in the front, with slight honey/butter notes mixed in (the cookie portion, I’m assuming) followed by a nice nutty almond taste. It isn’t as sweet as I was expecting, but it is yummy. I don’t know if I’d shout “Almond Cookie!” had this been a mystery tea, but I would say that it’s an almond flavored black with a slight bake-y aspect. The more this one cools down, the closer it seems to get to representing it’s name, but it doesn’t quite make it all the way.

Overall, I like this one quite a bit. Does it live up to it’s name? Not 100%, but it’s pretty darn close. I might buy it sometime.

NOTE TO FUTURE SELF: I’m enjoying this one a lot more at a “warm” temp than at a “hot” temp. It’s a lot more “cookie”-ish and the almond shines through a bit more.

I really thought I logged this one…Oops!

Well, here we go!

I love how this one smells! It’s sweet wood – more sweet than wood. Not dirty wood either…not really earthy, per say, but a nice sweetness! There is a savoriness to it, too!

The flavor is lovely as well! Somewhat brothy, a little chewy, slightly vegetal – almost more on the gentle herbal side – like a sweet basil, perhaps – but just a hint!

It’s VERY yummy! A delightful Oolong! YUM!