Simpson & Vail

Hmm, I think I wasn’t in a proper tea mood on Thursday, or I brewed this incorrectly that day, as it was definitely not as tasty as I remembered. I actually dumped half my mug out. It just wasn’t sitting right with me for whatever reason.

I have no idea why I ordered this tea. I don’t really like sugar cookies. I’m fairly indifferent about almond flavouring (and don’t really like marzipan). So I assume it must have been near the top of the list of highly rated S&V teas.

Either way…. I have no regrets! This tea smells like almond sugar cookies. Exactly like them. Floury, sugary cookie with nutty almond. NOT marzipan, which too many “almond-flavoured” things taste like (ick). The flavour is quite true to an almond sugar cookie as well… except that it is not sweet in the slightest. An issue easily fixed by adding sugar (and really, who here would appreciate if they had dumped a load of stevia in just to make it sweet?) I didn’t add sugar though… this tea doesn’t need it to be tasty.

The black base here is also quite present, and is contributing a bit of astringency/making my mouth a bit dry, which is a little entertaining as dry cookies can totally do that to you too! I think I may have overleafed a touch here, so that may be the cause, or that may just be how this tea is. It’s not too bothersome though.

Anyways, I’ve now gone through all my new Simpson & Vail teas, and certainly need to make another order at some point, or someone try all the other flavours I regret not ordering!

ETA: Second infusion (same parameters) was a lighter version of the first, but with more astringency.

So this tea. I don’t know what happened, but it smelled like it was going off (it was in a paper bag, so it’s possible?), and very unfortunately, that smell permeated into some other teas. I debated trying a cup of it, but opted to just toss the remainder instead. I was surprised to see that I actually enjoyed this in the past, so I’d be curious to try it again in the future.

This smells so strongly like root beer, it’s crazy! And the flavour is the most authentic root beer flavour I’ve tried in a tea yet. I’m drinking this cold because I left it for quite a while, and I think it’s great this way, but I should try it hot as well.

The only downside to this tea is that although I like root beer, I don’t think this is a tea I’d want to drink too often.

Sipdown! Yay me!

Still pretty tasty, and perfect as a treat in this cold weather. Not that I’ve been outside much, mind you, but the floor is darn cold…!

Another “repeat” from the travel mugs. I just didn’t have the time to grab different teas :(

Anyways, nothing really to be sad about, as this one’s still quite enjoyable. So much like actual coffeecake, it’s crazy. I don’t think I’d buy this again (merely due to cupboard space issues) but would more than happily drink it if offered!

Apparently I don’t have too much of this one left! Which is ok only because I have too many other teas :D Anyhow, into the travel mug it went, and it was oh-so-tasty. I had somehow forgotten about all my S&V teas when choosing flavoured blacks for the morning; I’ll have to migrate some into the “potential morning selections” bin :P

I am not sure I’ve ever had a tea that smells quite so true to a baked good! This tea smells exactly like the coffeecake I’ve had before, complete with oaty/brown sugary topping. The cinnamon is lightly present, and I can imagine that I’m smelling apple, although it’s not a predominant aroma.

The tea doesn’t taste quite as good as it smells (mom agreed), and I’m really not getting the apple, but it does taste quite cakey and with that light cinnamon flavour, which is quite delicious. I would like it to be a bit sweeter and/or creamier, and have more fruitiness, but this really isn’t bad at all! I imagine that if this was to be sweetened, it would be bang on coffeecake flavour.

Thanks Indigobloom for letting me thief a bit of this before I hand it off to you!

So from the description, I’m expecting pretty much a black currant-flavoured tea. Which have been rather hit or miss for me – Jane Austen Mafia from Adagio was quite good, although it also has a creaminess, but I dislike 52teas’ blends containing black currant.

The flavour of the cup is more on the side of the 52teas’ flavouring, somewhat candy-like but less artificial. Definitely kind of perfumey, which I don’t think gooseberries actually are. (Funny observation: I think last time I ate gooseberries, they were rather tart, so my mouth is currently watering like crazy in anticipation of eating tart fruits, even though I know the tea will be nothing like that! I should note that this also is more of a ‘dilute-the-tartness’ thing, than an ‘om-nom-nom’ thing. Silly salivary glands!)

The flavour of the cup is milder than I anticipated. Not very fruity at all. The “gooseberry/black currant” flavour is there, as is the perfuminess, but they’re quite mild. This is definitely not an in-your-face flavoured tea!

Certainly not my cup of tea, but I imagine it may be for those who like this sort of fruitiness!

One day, I’d like to have this fresh again. I really like this particular ginger pear combination – sweet and not too powerful.

One cup of this left, which I’ll probably have soon – I forgot how delicious this tea was! And it resteeps well, too. A really balanced blend of pear and ginger.

Yum yum, still like this tea. Sweet ginger and pear, and if anything, tastes better cold!

Best when cooled, because it tastes like candy. :D

Ok, sorry, I’ll stop spamming the dashboard now. Just one last note on this tea – still great in a travel mug, and almost tempting to get more because it’s so enjoyable. But as long as I have this much tea, and Ginger Pear remains available, I will resist. It’s just that lure of teas going out of stock/becoming unavailable. Gets me every time. :(

Sometimes, this tea is really amazing in a Timolino, particularly when allowed to cool completely. Yesterday/today was one of those times. Malty, flavourful base, a perfect amount of sweetness, a small dose of pear and a slightly bigger hit of ginger. I always partially dread drinking it until I take a sip, and then I wish I had more. Still have a good few mugs of this left that I should finish off sooner rather than later (that won’t be too difficult…)

Trrryyyiiinggg to sip this now down, but I have a fair bit left, and I’m not overly fond of it anymore. It’s pretty good for what it’s supposed to be – gingery, a nice bit of pear, and some floral notes – but that’s apparently not a flavour combination I really feel like most of the time, so I end up randomly making it in a travel mug from time to time. Still a lot left…

Still quite tasty and withstands being in a travel mug. A bit of floral pear, but not overly, and a nice ginger bite that deepens with longer infusions.

Tasted rather floral when I had this on the weekend, and until I realized what it was, I was kind of confused. Delicious once I put things together though (sometimes I can’t remember which teas I’ve brewed up in my five mugs, or even if I can, sometimes I can’t tell which tea is in which mug. Thought this was Lupicia’s ‘Fantasy’ for about half an hour.) Anyways, drank most of this en route to a Maple Syrup Festival on Saturday. Bad decision (drinking the tea, I mean), as we then ended up sitting for 45 minutes or so in traffic, inching along slowly while my tummy was filled with tea… haha.

Tasty morning tea. Got a piece of ginger in the infuser this morning, and definitely can taste it (though it’s certainly not overpowering!) I guess it may just be a bit hit or miss, as I don’t think there are a lot of ginger pieces in here.

Also, it got an extra minute this morning and is not suffering at all for it, which is great!

When I opened the bag of this tea, I was greeted with the most amazing pear smell. I had been expecting ginger to predominate (given that S&V has a pear black, and ginger is first in the name here), however given that one of my “quests” is to find a great pear tea, it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest if this was more pear than ginger!

The aroma of the brewed cup is true to the dry tea… and crazily enough, so is the flavour!! (I say crazily enough because how often does the flavour actually match the aroma?! Not nearly enough, IMO.) Ohhhhh man, this one is good, guys! If you like sweet pears? BUY THIS TEA!! The tea leaves a lingering pear-flavoured sweetness in your mouth which is absolutely divine. I’ve gotta admit that my hopes have been far exceeded here, and the likelihood of me placing another order from S&V in the far-too-near future are rising. I’ll admit that it’s a little on the perfumey side, but then again, so are pears. The perfuminess does remind me a little bit of the Violet tea I just drank, so perhaps it’s a flavouring component.

Oh… and there’s no discernible ginger here. So if you’re looking for ginger pear, I suggest you either add your own, or buy a different tea.

ETA: Prior to the second infusion, I sniffed the infuser basket and definitely smelled ginger, which also was noticeable in the brewed tea alongside the pear. My guess is that a) the strong pear flavouring masks the ginger in the first infusion and b) perhaps the ginger needs a bit more time to infuse into the cup?? Either way, this second infusion, in half the water, was quite pleasant!

Backlog from sometime in January.

Blech, I just can’t drink this one. It’s too powerful in the florals dep’t, and I’m just not a fan of that. I believe I dumped most of this mug down the drain because I have way too much tea to drink to spend time forcing something down my throat that I don’t care for. It shall be rehomed to keychange, who hopefully will enjoy it more than I did!

So apparently I’m the first person to review this tea!

Anyhow, the aroma is very…. interesting. It smells almost soapy, but not, just more in the sense that the aroma is one that one would more likely associate with bath products as opposed to tea. Flavourwise it’s flowery and sweet (not sugary, though), and I suppose, “spring-y” as the description mentions. Quite an interesting aroma. My lack of palate training is definitely hurting me here! The black tea base is fairly unassuming, strong enough to back the violet flavour well, but not interfering with the flavouring. There’s also very little astringency at the recommended infusion time of 3 minutes.

Overall, probably not a tea I’d re-purchase, but certainly one that has helped to satiate my curiousity as to what “violet flavour” tastes/smells like!

ETA: Second infusion is pretty similar.

Sipdown! 974.

Gee, this one sure stuck around a while for me. 2 years old, by my spreadsheet. I wasn’t overly fond of it though, and am pretty happy to see it gone. I let my roommate and her boyfriend make a pot of it the other night (A whole pot!! It used up so much tea! Joy!) and they seemed to like it; when I brought it out tonight, I decided to have a farewell travel mug’s worth, and let her have the rest (probably enough for another pot). It’s along the lines of Bayswater’s Creme Brûlée, but had a funky something going on for me that put me off it (and tasted nothing like creme brûlée, perhaps a touch like burnt (not caramelized) sugar).

Eh, this one was tasty enough when I drank it yesterday, but definitely not as good as Apple Cinnamon Coffeecake. A good, sweet, dessert-treat tea, but nothing like creme brulee, IMO.