Simpson & Vail

I really have too many types of lychee congou in my cupboard right now. Even though they are very similar and I really only need one, it’s like rose congou… I can’t help but try a company’s version in case they hold my new favorite. Not to mention I will often request them in swaps because I will probably like them. But I now have a boatload of Harney’s lychee congou, so I need to sipdown the others I have (smaller amounts) and be happy with the Harney until I run out of that one.

This is a pretty decent version. The base tea is nice and malty, smooth but not weak. It’s a light lychee flavor for sure, and I usually like a bit stronger lychee flavor, but it’s tasty nonetheless. I will definitely try this cold brew since I love lychee iced tea.

I decided today would be lychee morning, as I recently acquired a few lychee teas and I kind of want to try them at once. This one comes to me from Rachel Sincere in a swap, thanks for sending it!

I think I’ve only had one Simpson & Vail tea before, but I enjoyed it and they tend to get good reviews, so I am excited to try this one. I love a good lychee tea.

And this is a good lychee tea! Lovely lychee flavor and a nice, robust, tasty base tea. I said on the previous S&V tea I tried that the base reminded me of that of Upton’s Rose Congou, and that is definitely the case here. I find this lychee to be not too flowery, actually. A pleasure to drink, and nice as a slightly more subtle lychee flavor than some others I have tried.

I’m glad to see the tasting notes up and running again. I drank Pumpkin Pie Black again yesterday and enjoyed it even more, so I’ll bump up the rating. The first time I had it, I had the expectation of a stronger, more spicy Chai like tea, whereas this is more subtle, but it is wonderfully flavorful and I kept drinking cup after cup. The key is not to over-steep. I found just under 3 minutes was good.

Currently, on Simpson & Vail’s website, this is named Pumpkin Pie Black, but in their catalog, it is called Pumpkin Spice with the same item number T0694. I experimented with brewing times and preferred 2 1/2 minutes to the suggested 3 minutes. At 3 minutes, it was a little bitter. The spice in this is very subtle compared to other pumpkin spice type teas I have tried-a little too subtle for my taste. I’m still looking for my perfect pumpkin spice tea. This one has a nice taste, but it didn’t “wow” me.

Tea of the afternoon here. I haven’t seen this tea for a while and finally found it in my tea cupboard but there wasn’t that much of it, so this is also a SIPDOWN….

I’ve hardly been buying any tea, I still feel like I have more than enough to last me a year or longer! So maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to stock up when I actually had money although the danger with greener teas is that they will go stale before you’ve had the chance to drink them.

Anyhoo, if you’re looking for a chocolate dessert tea you could do a lot worse than this one. It definitely has a chocolate and caramel flavor, though adding a teaspoon of sugar really beings it out. I’m definitely enjoying it this afternoon, not sure it will be a restock however. I have a few favorites from S&V I’m itching to buy again but this isn’t one of them… tasty tho’

Tea of the afternoon. I hope this doesn’t keep me awake since I’m drinking it in the afternoon and lately I’ve been a bit more sensitive to caffeine. I just had a hankering for something warm and dessert-like and it’s been a while since I’ve had this. Adding a bit of raw cane sugar really helps to bring out the caramel notes in this tea. Enjoyable but probably won’t be a repurchase. I wonder if I can go without buying more tea until I actually get another job…lol

Tea of the morning, I forgot I had this because it was sitting on the back of my tea shelf but I’m glad I found it! This is one of the better chocolate teas I’ve had and there’s a rich base that reminds me of caramel, it’s nice with a touch of stevia.

I haven’t been ordering too much tea this year (I have a lot already) but I did place an order with S & V for some of their holiday teas and dessert teas. I’m looking forward to drinking those soon. I’m rarely disappointed in these peeps.

Having this for breakfast… again!
It’s really more of a dessert tea I guess. This was really nice with soymilk and I might add some sugar next time around. It would be great to find a chocolate tea I LOVED but that doesn’t seem to be happening! This is nice tho’

Tea of the morning – don’t judge because I am having this for breakfast. :)

This does have quite a bit of chocolate flavor in it and I am also picking up on some caramel which is fairly subtle. This is enjoyable with some soymilk and I definitely oversteeped it (because I forgot about it) but it still tastes good to me. I don’t know that I would need to keep this on hand but it’s pretty nice.

Sipdown no. 14 of March 2019 (no. 49 of 2019 total, no. 537 grand total).

Most of the last of this is cold brewing as we speak, with the last couple of spoons as my first morning hot tea.

I just updated my thoughts on it yesterday (the hot version) but I’ll note anything interesting about the cold version later if it’s worth writing about.

Meanwhile, I’m closing in on my stretch sipdown goal for March. One more and I’ll be 3 for 3! And most of these have NOT been samples, which is awesome!

Rethinking my rating on this one, particularly after sipping down the Teas Etc. Summer Currant recently.

This is really heavy compared to the Teas Etc. and this morning, it’s sitting like a rock in my stomach. The flavor is grapey as expected and not bad, but the heaviness seems unnecessary.

Also, as with other Simpson & Vail flavored teas, this has something a little generic about it, as though the mingling that went on in the shipping box is carrying over and flattening the flavor into some common thing that could be a signature if it were only something that was clearly done intentionally.

I noticed the same sort of thing with the Harney fruit blends. They all have a similar base of hibiscus, with a surface of the namesake flavor. But somehow that seems more intentional.

Bumping down the rating.

I meant to record a tasting note for this a while back and I see I never did. I must have been distracted. Probably had some rejection slips pop into my mail box which sent me scurrying to find another market to send a story to. ;-)

I’ll have to go back to it and write a more in-the-moment reflection, but the good news is this is a memorable tea. Even without having tasted it in three months I remember a thick mouth feel and a really nice currenty raisiny flavor over a mild and tasty black tea base. More later, but I didn’t want to leave this one naked. It’s cold out there.

Additional notes: Two teaspoons doesn’t really work for this one. I was imagining a yunnan base or something to give it a smooth chocolate flavor, but the base is more astringent than that. A yunnan base or something chocolatey would have been lovely with this one.

thank you again momo! I will be saying that some more… quite a few teas I haven’t made tasting notes for. I had this one yesterday morning. This one lives up to its name! If I had to guess the flavor, I’d probably say brownie. Though I could just think it is a very unique black tea. It almost tastes like a mild coffee to me. The cinnamon isn’t too present..until the second steep when I used just boiled water. But I like the brownie/black tea flavor anyway. I wonder if the tea just naturally tasted like a brownie? It’s an excellent deep, dark flavor. Hopefully it will wake me up, too!

Tea of the evening here and it’s a sipdown. I thought I would try this iced today and it’s very refreshing that way. Too bad S&V doesn’t carry this anymore…

I thought I had drank all of this but I found some lurking in my stash. I’m really sad this was discontinued because it’s so good. Strong apple flavor and cinnamon goes really well with the red rooibos. Looks like I’ll be on the hunt for another apple rooibos soon…

I had to work late tonight and decided to brew up a pot of this tisane when I got home. This is a really good rooibos and I need to remember to drink more of my tisanes in the evening. I love the apple and spice flavor here, it tastes so natural and almost decadent. It’s pretty good alone but also nice with a touch of coconut sugar. See previous notes for more details.

Now to start some yoga!

Hurray! This one is really GOOD and that’s not something I say about rooibos blends too often. The dry leaf smells incredible and after steeping this smells like apple cider. Yep, definitely apple cider-y in the flavor too. I am picking up cinnamom and clove and there’s chunks of dried apple in the tisane. It seems almost juicy!

This doesn’t have that “sour wood” flavor that a lot of rooibos blends have and I’m impressed that the flavoring here tastes so natural. This will be great for those chilly winter days. Yum – love it and wish I had bought the bigger size. If you’re a fan of rooibos you might want to try it. I’m happy I am digging a lot of my Simpson and Vail purchases but I think they need to do some samplers. :)

Note: I used approximately 2 tsp. in a 10 oz. mug.

After lunch tea here for me…

I am glad it’s Friday. I feel like a nap is in order but I don’t think I will get to leave the office early enough. More caffeine it is. This is a yummy dessert tea, I almost forgot I had it hidden in my desk. See previous notes for more info.

This probably isn’t a tea that one should be drinking at 10 am, but here goes nothing.

I don’t expect a lot from flavored tea most of the time but this was a pleasant surprise. I love the black tea base here which is a mix of Ceylon and a Chinese tea. It provides a rich background for the chocolate, which I can definitely taste, and the orange, which is refreshing and very natural tasting. You do see some bits of dried orange peel in the blend and they also used orange oil. Nice that it doesn’t seem artificial at all.

This is so tasty, rich and delicious. Simpson & Vail has created a real dessert tea winner here, IMHO. I had mine with soymilk but it would be good plain too. I only got 1 oz. which won’t last very long. :)

Backlog:

Last night, as I sat down to watch some television with my hubby, I brewed up a pot of this to enjoy while watching. It’s pretty good, but, it leaves a little something to be desired as far as red velvet cupcaked-ness goes. I agree with TeaEqualsBliss in that it SMELLS like a red velvet cupcake, but, it doesn’t really taste like one. Especially when served piping hot.

It IS tasty, though. I like it better after it’s had a chance to cool a few minutes in the teacup, because this seems to allow time for the chocolate flavors to really come forth. When sipped fresh from the teapot hot, the chocolate flavors are quite obscure, but, after a few minutes, they come forward. The raspberry and coconut are very subtle, but they’re there. This just doesn’t taste a lot like a red velvet cupcake, at least, no red velvet cupcake that I’ve tasted. There are some cake-y-ish flavors here, but, my palate feels the flavors are a little disjointed … it doesn’t come together on my palate as red velvet cupcake.

Disclaimer: Red Velvet isn’t my favorite cupcake so it’s not one I eat a lot, so, I don’t attest to be any kind of an expert in red velvet cupcakes.

I do like this, but, it isn’t my favorite dessert tea/tisane offering from Simpson & Vail.

I haven’t always been a big fan of floral teas but lilac is one of my favorite flower-y aromas, so I thought I’d check this out. Even though it’s called white lilac, this is a green tea.

After steeping I noticed little lavender colored blobs in the cup, I guess these are lilac pieces or tiny petals of some sort? This has a very relaxing and lovely aroma. I like the green tea here which is a Chinese tea, I think. It has a vegetal, almost buttery quality and a light yellow tea liquor.

The flavor is a bit… soapy which is not such a surprise. I love lilac soap, so there you go. This makes for an elegant afternoon tea but I can’t say I would drink this too often. Overall, I liked it but you need to be in the mood for a very flowery tea. I’m tempted to dab some behind my ears… :-P

Oh, I was a little nervous about this one initially because when I opened the tin the aroma reminded me of potpourri…. :)

Visually this is stunning with bits of cardamon, cinnamon stick, clove and ginger mingling around with the black tea. This is nicely blended because none of the flavors seem like they are overshadowing the others. I like the vanilla mixed with the chai, it reminds me of a chai creme brulee! This is delicious with soymilk.

I am definitely getting a ginger and clove “bite” in the finish. I agree with Hesper June, there is something about this that just reminds me of Christmas and it smells so lovely. It will be a nice cozy tea for winter, I think I’ll be keeping mine in the office where it tends to get very drafty in the winter time.

A very pleasant afternoon cuppa. I’ve had this tea for a while but I have no idea why. Some teas I drink a ton of and others I do not. Straight blacks are the ones I consume most often in the morning time. Flavored blacks I drink more often in the afternoon and since I’ve been trying to cut down a bit on the caffeine, maybe that’s one reason this has been languishing a bit. A good tea if you like grape flavors.