Simpson & Vail

I made a pot of this to drink last night with my family as we socialized. I was trying to taste the mango, but all I got was honey vanilla and pear. Very yummy and would make a good iced tea. Brewed the leaves again in a large mug and it was just as good this morning. I would add this to an order. :)

It seems like an interesting concept and I’m glad I added it to my latest SV order, but this was just a miss for me. It’s not bitter, it’s just too floral poppuri for me. I tried adding a little honey, and it softened the soapy taste, but not enough for me to like this tea.

Hm, I see some awful reviews but they are older now so wondering if Simpson & Vail changed it.

We had last night with the new Alien Romulus movie on Hulu with all the commercials (ack). We enjoyed the tea as something different. I did expect the peppermint to be stronger and actually added more tea to it than I usually would have a little, but it was definitely not too harsh or strong with peppermint. I didn’t find any sour taste but had ordered a tin so will see if my tastes change with it.

Unfortunately as a note the day before did Mulberry Black from New Mexico Tea company and find it delicious, but it’s not in steepster catalogue and doesn’t seem to exist anymore with the company either :(

Sipdown!

We have had big pots of this in the evening with snacks. It is one of the few red rooibos teas I like. I haven’t had red velvet cake in many years – decades, even. I don’t really remember what it tasted like so I don’t know how authentic this is. Definitely dessert-like and would be even more so with milk and sugar, but we like it plain.

Sipdown! I really need to drink all the odds and ends tea before advent season. So this ho hum blend gets finished off. If you don’t like shou I’d give this one a pass. And even the shou has a barnyard bite to it. It seems like a good idea, maybe I’ll try blending some shou with my favorite awesome tea and see how it turns out.

Sipdown

Ceylon teas are the perfect tea for the end of the day. Yeah, it’s nearing 23:00, but that won’t stop me from drinking a simple light tea. Assam is by far something I stay away from after 17:00; this will not stop me from going to sleep. It may, at best, give me weird dreams, as all teas do.

This isn’t the most flavorful tea I’ve had, yet it’s nice. Soft floral and very, very lightly malty—to the point I can hardly notice it—which makes for the perfect cup to conclude the day.

Sipdown/Backlog

Dear Readers,

Sometimes when I decide to drink tea at work, I hardly make notes on tea bags or scrap paper stuffed inside after it’s completed. With that said, the only note that I had added here was, “Where the heck is the jasmine?” What else did I think of this tea? The world, including myself, will never know.

After sticking to my tea-buying hiatus pretty faithfully this year, all bets are off! I ordered Simpson & Vail’s advent last week and felt obliged to add a few teas… for the free shipping, of course. ;)

This is S&V’s newewst “literary blend” and it sounded very appealing to me on paper: lapsang, whiskey, and wild cherry? Right up my alley! But I tried it this morning and did not love it. :( I have a pretty high tolerance for cherry flavor — even when others describe something cherry-flavored as “medicinal,” I rarely feel the same way. Yet I really struggled with the hibiscus-enhanced cherry in this blend. It’s cloying and almost chemical, and I don’t feel like it complements the smokiness.

The flavors just kind of sit next to one another, and not in an entirely pleasant way. I’m also not getting any whiskey, which is a shame.

I may have overleafed this cup, so maybe I’m not doing it justice. I want to love it! I’ll have to give it another shot.

Backlog from yesterday:

My daughter surprised me with this tea for Author’s Day! I was very surprised to find that it wasn’t in the database yet, but she says it is a newer blend that hasn’t been out long.

As I expected, this is mostly lapsang, and I enjoy lapsang. Although the description says there is whisky flavor, I am not getting much of that. I would say there is light cherry here, and I definitely pick up on the hibiscus.

Ashman does not like Lapsang tea at all, but he insisted that he wanted to try it so I made a big enough pot for the two of us to share. He did say that when there is smoke, he just doesn’t taste anything else, but he did finish a cup or two of it.

Next time I have it, I want to try it with a little maple syrup and see if that brings out the whisky flavor. I think it might!

November Sipdown Challenge Prompt – Cookie Monster’s Birthday

Last month when I did the Muppet prompts, my daughter informed me that it was nearly Cookie Monster’s birthday. Now I realize that she knew that because she has been digging up all sorts of holidays similar to our sipdown prompts to give me theme teas for the past month or so. I assumed it would end October 31st, the end of breast cancer awareness month, but it hasn’t! I had a new tea both yesterday and today.

In addition to the new tea, she also made a double batch of Tollhouse cookies and peanut butter cookie dough, although the PB cookies are reserved for baking tomorrow.

One of the teas she gave me a couple of weeks ago was Almond Black tea and I wondered if this would be very different, and it definitely is. The other is distinctly almond and the almond is pretty strong. This one has a little less almond and the addition of vanilla and a definite baked pastry/cookie flavor. I am having a hard time deciding which I prefer, or maybe there is a place for each on the shelf since they are so different. I think the Almond Black is a better foil for Pleine Lune, which I finished just as I was starting the Almond Black.

Today’s gift of tea from my daughter was this one – waiting at the breakfast table being held aloft on a little platform by three small silver skeletons! This one is themed to Halloween, of course!

When I looked at the steeping parameters I only glanced at the description and saw the word chocolate, so I was really surprised to smell berry and not very much chocolate when I opened it. A quick look at the tin confirmed that this is indeed a berry flavored tea, with chocolate. The berry flavor is the biggest player in it to me, for sure. I have to search for the chocolate.

And I love it! I had it with breakfast, and I found it to be an excellent tea for leisurely mid-morning sipping. (With pound cake. Shhhhh.)

This reminds me of a peach lavender candle I purchased years ago that I absolutely love. I won’t burn it since it’s not made anymore and just sniff it occasionally.

The apricot/lavender combo here smells amazing, though I wish there was more of the stonefruit in the flavor. I mostly get really herbaceous lavender, which just a touch of the fruit. This blend would be incredible if the flavors were more balanced.

I had been wanting to try Simpson & Vail for many years and just never got around to it. Since they released an advent this year, I decided it was time and placed an order for that, along with a gift and a few other teas.

This smells absolutely amazing. Like honey coated lilacs. It tastes lovely too. Really strong honey and lilac flavors. Really impressed with this, especially for the cost.

I thought I’d reviewed this tea before! It’s such a solid dessert blend. I absolutely get buttery caramel and shortbread, and just a whisper of walnut. The green rooibos base works really well, too, giving the whole thing a little oomph.

I’m drinking this alongside a late-night snack plate, which includes some Ritz chips. This tea is fantastic with the salty, crunchy chips — it’s got salted caramel vibes.

Anyway, this is a good ’un!

Sip Down

I’m typically one for the deeply roasted teas (e.g. Lapsang Souchong, Wuyi, etc.), but this one didn’t make the cut. S&V has had a nearly long streak of luck with my palate and has blown me away with most of their teas. Did I expect to keep that streak running until I’ve managed to get through as many teas in their catalogue? Yes and no. Yes – that’d have been special. No – I know that this idea was only a fantasy. This one bad session doesn’t mean that this is the end of my relationship with S&V though! We’ve a long way to go :)

Sip Down

The first and second cups of this tea left me satisfied with bursting flavors of cranberry and citrus. However, the last cup was overly medicinal and bitter. One thing I’ve noted on the bag was that this tea’s brewing instructions _must- be followed; otherwise, anything over the recommended 5-minute steeping time will result in the third cup.

Sip Down

I made the rest of this for the drive into work on Monday. I didn’t have time to sip this for tasting notes prior to leaving the house, so I brought the packet along with me to add my tasting notes on the back. Luckily for me, I only noted, “Awesome! Strong enough to awake the deepest of sleepers and have them ready in a jiffy. Malty, strong, and needs a touch of milk to cut the intensity.” Thank you, past self for making this easy on me. Ha-ha.

Sip Down & Backlog

The aroma is heavenly with a nice perfumy (floral, vanilla, & pear) note dominating the room! The floral note takes the lead with this mug, and offered a unique tea experience.

October Sipdown Prompt – tea from a favorite fall cup or mug

Once again, I awoke to find a placard and a gift bag at my place at the table. This sign announced that it is October 21st is Apple Day and the gift bag from the daughter who lives with us contained this tea.

For my favorite fall cup or mug, I don’t really have any mugs that are specifically fall and I very rarely drink tea from a mug. However, I do switch to Old Country Roses for fall (especially Thanksgiving) through Easter, as I use Lady Carlyle for spring and summer tea times or parties. Everyday ware is anything blue and white by Spode, collected at bargain prices over many years, just as the china sets were absolutely stunning deals.

In Old Country Roses pattern, I have two of the breakfast cups that I purchased from eBay that are absolutely HUGE. I would love to get more as they are great for serving soups, but even on eBay they tend to run expensive and I felt fortunate to find these in good condition many years ago. So that will count as my fall cup or mug!

The tea is good, and while drinking it I felt that the apple was very subtle and the coffeecake aspect was dominant, but now that I have finished it the apple flavor is the lingering taste with cinnamon dancing over the top.

I have a bad, horribly itchy rash from a reaction to the antibiotic so my tastes are weird and off and I just don’t want my normal breakfasts right now. I had this with biscotti, then grabbed a pecan shortbread cookie and found that to be a perfect pairing for the tea, so now I have a great excuse to put shortbread cookies on the grocery list every week for a while. Fortunately, we love the cheap store brand at our grocery and the name brand are frequently BOGO.

I think this would make a good latte or be great with milk and/or sugar. It is a tad drying and brisk, which isn’t as noticeable with food.

Sip Down & Backlog

This is surprisingly floral and honey forward tea. I would’ve assumed this to be strongly fruity and have a touch of vanilla to the cup, but I didn’t note those ingredients. shrug

Backlog

I drank this as an iced tea while working at the office. Unfortunately, I made one note and don’t recall this session.

Note: Solid iced tea blend. Would buy again.

That’s helpful. ; )

This tea one of those you can drink without really noticing it’s disappearing. I would say the scent and taste is mostly caramel/dark-burnt sugar. There are perhaps subtle hints of pumpkin, if I concentrate, but it could be my imagination. I wouldn’t say this one is special, but it’s a nice enough cup. Thanks for sharing Cameron!

Sip Down and Backlog

This blend is similar to sticking your face in a bag of Sour Patch Kids and inhaling deeply. However, the taste is Sweet Tart-esq, fruity, mango sweetness (at the front of the overall flavor), tart hibiscus, and a nice sweet and sour pineapple finish.

Sip Down and Backlog

The taste between the hot and iced is that the hot brings the white tea base out much more, while the iced version elevates the strawberry notes; however, I noted ‘heavy floral’ in the iced and hot cup. Overall, very little fruity flavors.