Simpson & Vail

Still a good dessert tea but I have many from this company and don’t think still that this will be a keeper. Made a two cup pot tonight and sipped while watching True Crime and munching on a yummy fish dinner. It’s sweet and doesn’t need sugar if you prefer without – which I don’t – the almond is there but not cloying

So far my favorite of the Fairy Tale box. Most are decaf or fruity but this one is black tea with a certain spice and perfect subtle cinnamon bite that blends together well. The box is reasonable, the tea plenty, and you cannot beat all these fairy tale cover arts and themes. Now if I only could find my missing Rumpelstiltskin :( I obviously did not put him back in the box where he belonged last time and he must be buried in the tea cabinet somewhere.

Sipdown Progress Challenge
February 2024 | Mardi Gras / A colorful tea

From the TeaTiff TTB.

Maybe not a wild color choice, but this is certainly one of the brightest and most vibrant teas that I have. I don’t remember who put this one in the box, but thank you! I don’t drink matcha all that often but this one sounded and smelled so good that I had to swipe it to try. I warmed and frothed some oat milk to mix with this, no sweetener needed since I believe it’s already sweetened, and it tastes like a blueberry muffin! Definitely a nice choice for breakfast.

additional notes: Oh this is the perfect tea for a day that says it will be 100% rain. This might become one of my go-to rainy day teas. It’s so bright on a great base, with just a tiny hint of sweet. An awesome balance of grapefruit and bergamot. I have probably already said I am not a grapefruit fan…

Thanks so much for sharing this one, Cameron B!  I LOVE THIS. I did not expect to enjoy it at all… not really a grapefruit fan.  But the description also mentions bergamot, so I think it is this wonderful mix of flavors on a strong black tea base that really hits the spot on a cold winter day.  I’d say it’s more of a sweet grapefruit flavor, rather than an extremely bitter grapefruit flavor, which is probably why I never like grapefruit. I think I steeped it perfectly.  It just reminds me of my favorite Earl Greys of the past, that just don’t have flavoring like this anymore.  Bright, refreshing, crisp, brisk, with maybe a hint of cream flavor.    It’s just a great flavor that I also haven’t ever tasted from any other tea shop before.   Simpson & Vail does it again!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

I wanted to finally write a note for this tea, as the book I’m reading now mentions Emily Dickinson —  when it isn’t mentioning Herman Melville anyway (the book is ‘Dayswork’ by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel).  This tea always confuses me, as I forget if it is green tea or black tea.  The package doesn’t say, the website doesn’t say.  Then I look at the leaf and it LOOKS like a black tea.  But then I brew it and it’s green tea.  So I finally hand wrote that it’s ‘green’ on the package so I actually remember.  But it’s a good tea!  Lots of florals!  It’s older now, so I’m sure it was much better before.  But a cold winter day calls for a floral tea.    It also might be better when I don’t brew it like a black tea.

edited to add: OH it looks like Cameron B updated the steepster page to say ‘green tea’, so there you go. :D Should have checked steepster.

I’m glad I had enough of this sample from Michelle to make a cup today … I’m bombing myself with preventative medicine as we have some upcoming travel and we’re having a run of the summer cruds at work. One victim whom I sat shoulder to shoulder with yesterday and gave her a hug. (Not regretting it. She had a rough day.)

But, hoping to keep ahead of it, zinc and Vitamin C will be my friends over the next few.

On to the tisane. Some flu-battle blends taste so herby and medicinal you can’t enjoy them much. This one is pleasantly lemony without tasting like you’re chewing dry grass. Would even serve as a nice hot-weather afternooner on ice.

Wouldn’t you know it…I can count on less than one hand the places other than home I visited during Christmas break…and on the first day back to work, germs from one of those errands caught up with me, causing minor aches, a sore throat, and a whiny disposition. Michelle, I’m glad I saved your Sniffle Slayer sample till it was truly needed!

I’ve been dosing myself with a constant barrage of elderberry tea, zinc lozenges, and ibuprofen for 24 hours, so it will be hard to scientifically isolate the medicinal effects of Sniffle Slayer, but I can affirm that it is tasty. The green rooibos gives a little heft to what would otherwise taste like one of those lemon-mint “spa” blends we discussed recently. Makes it taste like there’s some tea underneath it, even as clugged-up (that’s one notch more than clogged) as I am.

Homemade Advent Exchange Tea #9

This tea is delicious! I wouldn’t say it tastes like cookie, but the thick, sweet, creamy taste makes me think of cinnamon rice pudding. It’s an excellent dessert tea. I’m astonished at how creamy and vanilla-y this blend is. The tea is so fresh too! The cinnamon doesn’t have that fake sweetener taste that some teas get when they are heavy on the cinnamon bark. I think I just found a new favourite!

Homemade Advent Exchange Tea #1

This tea is delicious. A little bit sweet, fruity and floral, and some vibrant tannins. I was actually craving lychee because I bought some recently but ate them all. This made two delicious cups. Both steeps were equally strong. The liquid is very light but is fragrant and smells divine. The tea base is a nice background flavour but the fresh lychee taste is present at the forefront (which I like). No bitterness! I enjoyed both of my cups of this. I have enough leaf to maybe try a cold brew and/or another hot cup in the future. I’m a big lychee fan so this one really does it for me.

Sipdown! (5 | 407)

This one sounded so good to me, but sadly doesn’t live up to my expectations.

There are all these interesting ingredients, like juniper berries and birch bark, but I taste none of them. Mostly I just get a strong candy berry flavor. I’m not very familiar with huckleberry, I haven’t eaten one since I was very young, but this tastes a bit like a mixture of a very sweet blueberry jam with grape soda. Sweet on top of sweet, without anything else adding dimension.

It’s not bad, but I’m disappointed to not taste the juniper. I was hoping for a more woodsy forest berry sort of flavor profile, but I’m getting berry candy here. Ah well!

Sample sipdown!

Michelle sent me a generous sample of this tea. I wanted something a bit fun to drink with our lunch Friday since Ashman was off, so I made this hot and we both liked it a lot. I also made some as a sweet iced tea and wow, it was good hot but the sugar really made the watermelon flavor POP! This is one I would love to have around for hot summer weather.

Thank you, Michelle! And your package is finally on the way and should get there Tuesday!

Lazy Saturday breakfast treat. The sample Michelle sent my way was marked for a two minute steep. I was a little bepuzzled, but set the timer accordingly. Longer would have turned it into a cup of mud. As it is, we have a lovely malty, bready cup that I’m thoroughly enjoying. Thank you, friend!

I wish I’d read the Steepster reviews on this one before adding it to my cart! It’s such a promising concept, but all I get is clove, clove, and more clove, all on a very weak base. Disappointing. :(

A good, caffeine free fruity tea with a fun color. Matches the name. A tea I have to be in the mood for, not something I’d enjoy every night.

And again kudos for the artwork on these teas from Simpson

Enjoying a couple of mental health days. Yesterday spent in the some less-occupied corners of Branson, Missouri. (Tour bus season. Watch out for octogenarians that travel in packs.) We poked our nose in odd-duck little shops, played a lovely, quiet game of pirate mini golf while leaves were falling on the putting green, and bemoaned the fact that the spots we used to sit and hold hands while we were courting are quickly disappearing under asphalt and mall stores.

Today’s just been a lovely hodgepodge of puttering at home and reveling in a welcome cold front that’s dropped the temperature 15 degrees in the past hour and has turned our streets into a red carpet of leaves. What better environment to sample a cup of Cozy Comfort?

I agree with Ashmanra’s evaluation—this comes across as a substantial black tea with cinnamon. I spent a good deal of quality time as a kid hammering and shelling black walnuts from Grandma Schubert’s trees; I’m not picking up on much of that scent or flavor at all. That said, it’s fitting for a fine day enjoying a welcome dose of real autumn.

Another sipdown! I grabbed this from the Strange VariaTea TTB, so big thanks to whoever put it in there. I’m trying not to let teas with coconut in them sit around for too long so the coconut doesn’t have time to turn. Definitely hard to say goodbye to this one. It’s creamy, just the right level of sweet, and the coconut flavor is spot on. A possible restock for sure once I get my stash better under control.

Happy Mardi Gras! It’s snowing where I am, which is decidedly not Mardi Gras weather, but I’m recognizing the holiday with some low-key at-home activities. My partner made vegan jambalaya, I’ve got a king cake-scented candle, got my fleur-de-lis earrings on, etc. Of course I had to find a tea that’s on theme. I finally landed on a coconut oolong in a nod to Zulu coconuts (decorated coconuts are a prized giveaway at the Zulu Social Aide and Pleasure Club float parade on Mardi Gras day). My partner thinks it’s a stretch but I’m sticking by it. Also because the creaminess of this coconut oolong complemented the spiciness of the jambalaya nicely. So thank you to whoever put this in the Strange VariaTea TTB!

Pulled this from the Strange VariaTea TTB and will likely keep it. I’m almost out of DavidsTea’s Coconut Oolong and had been reluctant to finish it for lack of a replacement (funnily enough, grabbed that one from a TTB too!). This is an excellent replacement. Loving the coconut, loving the base. Sweet but not too sweet, full-bodied, coconut taste right on point. Didn’t even realize that there’s cocoa and vanilla in here until I came to post this note, but I didn’t miss what I wasn’t expecting.

October Sipdown Prompt – Have a chai!

I know this isn’t a chai, but I don’t have any chai so I turned this into one, more or less, so I could fulfill the prompt! Plus it is a sipdown of a swap sample but I won’t count it towards my totals since I don’t add samples to the cupboard.

This already has a very lightly spiced vibe, so I added some Tellicherry black peppercorns, cinnamon chunks, and cardamom pods, along with lots of milk and a little sugar. Consumed warm, it will tide me over nicely since Ashman is getting off a little late for lunch.

Thanks again, Michelle!

I received a generous package of tea from Michelle yesterday, and immediately picked one out for my chilly morning breakfast!

This has cinnamon, orange blossom, and black walnut flavor. I am not familiar enough with black walnut to know which part of the flavor comes from that and I do not find this particularly nutty. If asked what I was drinking without knowing, I would have sworn this was a black tea with cinnamon and just a hint of clove, but there is no clove listed. There is a briskness that could also come from orange peel but not from orange blossom. So I would have failed a test of my taste perceptions!

Nevertheless, it brought cozy comfort this morning! The black tea is a little drying so it goes great with breakfast but is a tad too drying for me as a stand alone cup.

Thank you, Michelle!

I finally used the Simpson & Vail gift card my mother-in-law gave me for the holidays last year, and my purchases arrived today! It’s too late in the day for caffeine, so I’m starting my tasting with a caffeine-free blend.

This smells incredibly buttery and rich, with lovely vanilla cake notes. It basically smells like vanilla buttercream. I find the brewed cup a smidge thin, but still tasty—I like that the green rooibos is pretty nondescript, so the cake flavors come through. It’s especially nice as it cools.

It definitely reminds me of Bird & Blend’s birthday cake tea. With that one, I found myself waaay overleafing it to really bring out the creamy vanilla cake flavors, so I’ll probably try that here, too.

Still, a nice cuppa when you want dessert-y vibes!

70 rating . Not my favorite but adorable part of their new fairy tale set

The TTB has arrived! So big, so many teas… no chance to try them all!
Tea #40

When I was choosing from oolong bag yesterday, I chose the Melon oolong as you can see in my last note. I was returning pouches, baggies and other packages back to the bag and this was left behind on my desk. Decided to brew it today, probably as very last tea “to try” and 10 others I will take to try some other day. And I will move the TTB. Afterall, I have it almost for a month.

This one is indeed creamy and indeed toasted coconut. I could not notice anything from cocoa which should be in as well, but I don’t mind it at all. The vanilla is there though.
Overall quite enjoyable cup, but maybe I have been expecting a bit more from the coconut, more like baked coconut goodies or something.