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!
A Cookie Tea With A Green Rooibos Base from Simpson and Vail. . . .
I only recently found out about Simpson and Vail. I have really loved each tea ive tried from them. I’m not usually a huge fan a rooibos though. For me, it is almost always a little too “woody” tasting. However, I couldn’t resist getting a little bit of the Caramel Walnut Shortbread Rooibos. Doesn’t it sound divine? Like, I am now debating making a caramel walnut shortbread cookie because the combination just sounds so yummy!
Last night I was up until 4 a.m with my little one. I have an (almost) 8 month old daughter and I don’t know if it’s maybe the whole daylight savings thing or what, but she has been up at all hours of the night and refusing to sleep. Because of my lack of sleep I was dying for a nap, but of course I needed to make a cup of tea first. This was the perfect time to try out a yummy new rooibos blend, as rooibos is naturally caffeine free!
The smell of the dry blend is totally cookies. Caramel cookies with a hint of nuttiness! Even my boyfriend was like “WOW that smells good.” He could smell it from across the kitchen soon as I opened the tin! Super yum. I brewed this tea for about 7 minutes with near boiling water and added just a pinch of agave to bring out the flavors and sweeten it up just a bit.
The smell of the brewed liquid is definitely still caramel and cookies with undertones of nuts and the woody rooibos. However, upon tasting this tea I was surprised that it was pleasantly smooth and did not have that wood-taste that usually comes with rooibos. The rooibos was mellow and just in the background. Caramel cookies and nuttiness was definitely in the forefront. This was a great after-dinner/dessert blend. It evokes the sense of comfort and makes me want to curl up on the couch with a fuzzy blanket and a good book. Definitely worth trying!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Rooibos
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description
Featuring another delicious caffeine-free addition to our Dessert Tea line. This new blend was easy for us to agree on. This Green Rooibos blend brews to an amber cup with a nutty, buttery taste and deep caramel overtones. A delectable brew that needs no sweeteners.
When I asked Jim for his feedback on this blend he gave it to me along with this “4 out of 4 people recommend this. I know usually it’s 4 out 5 but we didn’t like the 5th person’s comments so we threw his results out and him in the quarry”. I think this caffeine free blend might be just what Jim needs this afternoon!
Ingredients: Organic Green Rooibos, flavoring, safflower blossoms, and orange blossoms.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Blueberry Matcha Green Tea from Simpson & Vail. . . . .
I’ve had my eye on Simpson & Vail’s Blueberry Matcha Green Tea for a while. Guess what? We finally got our hands on it! YAY! It was well worth the wait, too!
Matcha, Blueberry Flavor, and Cane Sugar are the 3 ingredients in Blueberry Matcha Green Tea from Simpson & Vail. One of the most important things I need to mention in this review is that the use of the cane sugar is perfectly done. Many flavored matchas tend to over do it with the sugar or sweetener. Not Simpson & Vail! They used this cane sugar to accompany NOT overstep and it’s much appreciated!
The Blueberry flavor is nicely done, too! It’s a pleasing medium-strength blueberry flavor. The sugary-sweet blueberry taste is what lingers well after the last sip.
The Matcha base they use is top notch when it comes the the taste quality, too! I can’t wait to try the other flavored matchas S&V offers. Be on the look out for the Vanilla one, specifically!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Matcha
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description
We’ve found these great flavored matcha blends that we’re excited to offer to you! Each blend combines high quality matcha powder with cane sugar and natural flavor to create a delicious taste sensation. Try in your recipes for sweets, lattes, smoothies, iced beverages and more. Available in 1 oz. silver zip-lock bags.
Wildly popular in Japan, the matcha blueberry blend is becoming a favorite choice at tea and coffee shops across the country!
Ingredients: Cane sugar, matcha, natural flavor
Brewing: Add 1 tbsp of Blueberry Matcha to 6-8oz of water or milk and mix using a blender or shaker.
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!
Lemon Black from Simpson & Vail. . . . .
The older I get the more I crave lemon flavored teas it seems. Recently we were sent the Lemon Black Tea from Simpson & Vail and I couldn’t wait to try it!
As many of us already know the fruit from the Lemon evergreen tree has been used for culinary and medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Simpson & Vail noted on their website that while fresh lemons and zest are most often used for culinary recipes, the dried peel is an important make-up of tea blends. Its lemony taste helps add flavor to teas and herbal blends, as well as sometimes helping to mellow the flavor of unpleasant tasting herbs.
I think the Lemon Peel specifically shines the brightest in this flavored black tea – not only to the nose but to the tongue, too! It’s highly aromatic and intensely flavored and I just LOVE it!
This flavored tea blend combines natural lemon oil and organic lemon peel with black teas from Sri Lanka and China to produce a summer taste that is fresh and tart. I was completely delighted when I saw S&V used teas from 2 different regions!
I agree with Simpson & Vail when they say that this deep amber cup with its citrus aroma will uplift your spirits! I know it did mine!
Another thing I appreciate with this flavored black tea is that it has very few Ingredients to accomplish the intense flavor. Those ingredients are…black teas, organic lemon peel, and natural lemon oil. That’s it!
Lemon Flavored Black Tea from Simpson & Vail is everything you would expect in a lemon flavored black tea. And everything you would expect from this great company!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description
The fruit from the Lemon evergreen tree has been used for culinary and medicinal purposes for thousands of years. While fresh lemons and zest are most often used for culinary recipes, the dried peel is an important make-up of tea blends. Its lemony taste helps add flavor to teas and herbal blends, as well as sometimes helping to mellow the flavor of unpleasant tasting herbs.
This flavored tea blend combines natural lemon oil and organic lemon peel with black teas from Sri Lanka and China to produce a summer taste that is fresh and tart. This deep amber cup with its citrus aroma will uplift your spirits!
Ingredients: black teas, organic lemon peel and natural lemon oil.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!