June was National Iced Tea Month so I thought a few Iced Tea attempts were surely in order! To kick things off I brewed some Dragonfuit Fusion Tea Bags from Simpson & Vail.
As many of you know Hibiscus scares me and Rosehips are creeping on that list as well. When I saw how intensely pinkish-red this was after brewing I ASSUMED it was going to be that dreaded tarty-sour Hibiscus I was so frightened of. BUT…I don’t know how S&V did it but it worked well here! It wasn’t overly tart or overly sweet. Perhaps it was the Green Rooibos base that helped even it out?
Ingredients include Organic green rooibos, organic rosehips, organic hibiscus, organic orange peel, organic lemon peel and natural flavors. I will say that I could taste the citrusy peels mentioned in the list of ingredients and that seemed to really contribute to the overall flavor of this tea!
The rebel that I am – I sipped a half of a cup of this tea hot before icing and it was pretty good hot, too!
I have a very large thermo container that I will be traveling with a lot this summer and I can see myself keeping iced teas in there very soon! I’m looking forward to Iced Tea Season. Are you?
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal/Tisane
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description
Perfect for lazy summer days, this organic herbal blend brews to a ruby red color with a tropical fruit taste. Caffeine free and bursting with flavor, this “tea” will be enjoyed by young and old alike. Add a little sweetener or seltzer to brighten up the taste!
Ingredients: Organic green rooibos, organic rosehips, organic hibiscus, organic orange peel, organic lemon peel and natural flavors.
To brew:
Put teabag in a gallon container. Pour boiling water over the teabag to cover, steep for 5 minutes then remove the bag. Add cold water to fill the container and stir. Refrigerate. Serve over ice as is or with your choice of sweetener.
Iced tea in the refrigerator may turn cloudy. If this should occur, pour a little boiling water into the tea after removal from the refrigerator.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
A Black Tea Inspired by Ireland. . . . #SimpsonandVail
Dunmore East Black Tea from Simpson & Vail was inspired by a small fishing village in Ireland called Dunmore East. It’s on the southeastern coast in County Waterford and is a beautiful village and very popular as a vacation destination known for its fishing and water activities, beaches, fabulous restaurants and cafes, music, and breathtaking scenery. Simpson & Vail created Dunmore East Black Tea to honor Cyndi’s wonderful memories of holidays in the village visiting her friends.
Cyndi is part of the Harron Family – the Family that is running Simpson & Vail. Simpson & Vail has been a well-known tea company since 1929. Prior to that it was known for being a Green Coffee Merchant established in 1904.
Dunmore East Black Tea is a delightfully bold blend of teas. With a golden cup, a malty flavor, and a slightly fruity aftertaste this is a sure WINNER if you are a black tea fan like I am! Simpson & Vail mentions on their website that Dunmore East has become one of their favorite blends! They suggest starting the day with this hearty black tea blend and claim it’s enjoyable with milk or sweetener but also perfect without! I completely AGREE with the WITHOUT option! It’s fine and dandy as-is and straight-up! Just the way I like it! YUM!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description
Dunmore East is a small fishing village on Ireland’s southeastern coast in County Waterford. This beautiful village is very popular as a vacation destination known for its fishing and water activities, beaches, fabulous restaurants and cafes, music, and breathtaking scenery.
This delightfully bold blend of teas, with a golden cup, a malty flavor and a slightly fruity aftertaste was created to honor Cyndi’s wonderful memories of holidays in the village visiting her friends. This tea has become one of our favorite blends! Start the day with this hearty black tea blend, enjoyable with milk or sweetener but also perfect without!
This tea blend pairs well with chocolate, spiced desserts, cheeses, eggs, pastries, meats and more.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Charles Dickens’ Black Tea Blend by Simpson & Vail
Steeping specs: I steeped a heaping teaspoon of this tea in about 10 oz. of boiling water for three minutes.
I tried some of this tea before looking it up, so I didn’t know what to expect but then realized it was rather unusual so I checked out the background and steeping recommendations so I could give it a more “proper” review. Apparently it’s a combination of black tea, oolong tea, and natural flavoring (plus cornflower petals, which add visual interest). I found it to be quite a memorable blend.
(Combinations of black tea and oolong intrigue me . . . I mean, for one thing, they’re really hard to classify. For another, I’m never sure what combining them is supposed to accomplish. Is it supposed to be like black tea but with more floral notes, maybe? I wonder what black tea would taste like if combined with a smoky roasted oolong? Hmm, maybe it’s time for an experiment . . .)
After steeping, it’s a sort of cedar-mahogany color, quite clear, and not very viscous. The scent is a bit tart and so is the first sip. It’s rather more acidic and astringent than your typical black tea, but in a good way. It seems quite well-blended; I think the flavors balance well (they bring out the strong, tannic, earthy properties of the black tea). It’s nice and strong, which I like. It would make a great breakfast or afternoon tea, I think. The S&V website doesn’t say exactly what flavoring is in the tea, just that it has a currant aftertaste, but I found it to be quite hearty in a satisfying, filling sort of way.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black/Oolong Blend
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description
Unlike many of his characters, Charles Dickens was born to loving parents in February of 1812. However, when he was only 12, his father was imprisoned for debt and Charles was sent to work in a blacking factory where he labeled endless bottles of shoeshine. He would leave the factory four years later to finish his education, but those formative years deeply affected him and inspired many of the boyhood horrors he would later write about. He wrote many of his most famous novels like Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby episodically, with a new chapter appearing in a magazine each month. These works examined the lives of the less fortunate and found humanity amid the most inhuman conditions.
Tea appeared in Dickens’ work as a calming force like in David Copperfield, when the main character recounts how he “sat swilling tea until [his] whole nervous system, if [he] had had any in those days, must have gone by the board.” Or it could surface as a commonality between classes that allowed Dickens to emphasize the stark differences between lifestyles. While a “real solid silver teapot” and “real silver spoons to stir the tea with” are listed among the treasures of Old Lobbs in The Pickwick Papers, “a regular place of public entertainment for the poorer classes” described in Oliver Twist would provide “a public breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper all the year round.” Our Charles Dickens blend adds a flash of color to a traditional british tea. The blend is a hearty, well-rounded blend of China and Indian teas that has an amber cup with a light currant after-taste.
Ingredients: Black teas, oolong tea, flavoring, cornflower petals.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
#Fanatic Friday: Walt Whitman’s Green Tea Blend from Simpson and Vail
We at SororiTea Sisters adore our friends at Simpson & Vail so that is why we thought we would dedicate today’s posts to all things Simpson & Vail! We hope you enjoy our reviews and find some goodies to try for yourself! ~The SororiTea Sisters
Walt Whitman’s Green Tea Blend from Simpson & Vail is the tea of the moment here at Sororitea Sisters!
Walt Whitman’s Green Tea Blend from Simpson & Vail is inspired by his beautiful nature imagery in Leaves of Grass, especially the poems he wrote about roots and herbs.
In one of his memoirs, Whitman describes a man who “express’d a great desire for good, strong green tea.” This blend is an earthier and more mature variation on Simpson & Vail’s Lemon Ginger Green Tea.
A few things I noticed right away about Walt Whitman’s Green Tea Blend from Simpson & Vail was that it first and foremost smells like green tea and ginseng right off the bat – both dry and wet. Then when I poured the water on top of the leaves to infuse there was a natural froth that swam on top in the infuser pot. This fascinated me
The color of the post-infused liquor is quite glowing. That is the best way to describe the color of tea that Walt Whitman’s Green Tea Blend from Simpson & Vail produces
If you are a fan of herbal tasting green teas Walt Whitman’s Green Tea Blend from Simpson & Vail will be right up your alley! If you are a fan of ginseng – Walt Whitman’s Green Tea Blend from Simpson & Vail might just be your cuppa! If you are into literature, nature, and tea connections with the appreciation for good tribute teas – you are going to want to check Walt Whitman’s Green Tea Blend from Simpson & Vail out! A lot of thought and passion went into this flavored green! Bravo!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description
Walt Whitman was born May 31, 1819 to a housebuilder and his wife in Brooklyn. He was introduced to the written word at the age of 12 when he began working as a printer’s apprentice. There, he taught himself to read and devoured the classics. When the printing house burned down, Walt taught for five years until he decided to pursue journalism. The first edition of Leaves of Grass, a rough self-published volume of only twelve poems, was printed in 1855. Whitman would continue to revise and reprint Leaves of Grass until he died. Though his contributions to poetry are considered some of the most important in American history, Whitman did not enjoy success in his lifetime. He spent much of his life struggling to get by with only a meager clerk’s wage to support himself as well as his mother and invalid brother. An 1882 edition of Leaves of Grass finally afforded him enough wealth to buy a house in Camden, New Jersey where he would work on Good-Bye, My Fancy until his death in 1892.
Our Walt Whitman tea blend is inspired by his beautiful nature imagery in Leaves of Grass, especially the poems he wrote about roots and herbs. In one of his memoirs, Whitman describes a man who “express’d a great desire for good, strong green tea.” This blend is an earthier and more mature variation on Simpson & Vail’s Lemon Ginger Green Tea. It combines an unobtrusive green tea base with the earthiness of ginger and eleuthero roots and the sweetness and acid bite of lemon (with lemongrass, lemon peel, and lemon flavoring).
Ingredients: Organic Green Tea, organic ginger root, organic lemon peel, organic eleuthero root, organic lemongrass and natural lemon flavor.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!