Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Tea Description:
When you sip this delectable brew the strawberry taste first hits your tastebuds followed by the rich, creamy, chocolate “cake” taste. Some of our staff like this blend with agave or sugar, but I find it’s delicious (and less caloric) as is! The aroma is as enticing as the taste – sweet, baked strawberry cupcakes. Yum! The cup leaves a lingering creamy taste of fresh fruit that makes it hard to resist another and another and another sip!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm… cupcakes. I am very fond of cupcakes. I can’t tell you what it is, exactly, about them that I love so much. I think it’s just because it’s a little cake, all cute and adorable. Just enough for one person. I can eat a cupcake and not feel like I’ve overindulged (just don’t eat more than one!) And with all the cupcake bakeries popping up all over, trying to win our business, they are coming up with so many new and tempting flavors.
And as much as I love the unique flavors that are coming out, I love the classics too. Like strawberry cupcakes. And this tea captures the joy of a strawberry cupcake so deliciously!
But this isn’t just a strawberry cupcake flavored tea. It’s a strawberry chocolate cupcake flavored tea. And… the only thing that can make a strawberry better is … chocolate, of course. With my first few sips, I tasted strawberry. After about four sips, the chocolate flavor starts coming through. And it’s not just a little bit of chocolate, here, this is CHOCOLATE!
The strawberry is a sweet strawberry flavor, with a hint of berry tartness toward the end of the sip. The chocolate has a creamy flavor (frosting?) to it … and there is a bake-y, cake-y kind of flavor to go along with it. It’s kind of hard to tell whether or not it’s a strawberry cake with chocolate frosting, or a chocolate cake with strawberry frosting!
And the black tea is not overlooked here either, nor is it off in the background minding it’s own business. It stands strong, tasting rich and even a little malty which really enhances the overall “cake-y” kind of taste. It has a very bold flavor, and there is a moderate amount of astringency that seems to draw attention to the strawberry.
This is a really tasty tea, and it is rich and satisfying enough to serve as a breakfast tea, too. Imagine: strawberry cupcakes for breakfast! Sounds like my kind of breakfast!
Citrus Paradisi Earl Grey from Simpson & Vail
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Tea Description:
Citrus Paradisi is a citrus lovers delight. We’ve combined our best selling Earl Grey black tea with natural grapefruit oil to create a taste sensation. The tea brews to a dark amber cup with a hearty, full bodied taste. The aroma and taste of this blend is captivating and refreshing.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I am THRILLED to be able to try this variation on the classic Earl Grey. I’ve made it no secret that I’m a huge Earl Grey fan, and I just love it when a tea company comes up with such an intriguing twist on the traditional Earl Grey.
This blend starts with a black tea based Earl Grey and then adds grapefruit oil to offer an additional layer of flavor to the cup. The result is really quite delightful. I taste the bergamot … but it does not attempt to overpower the grapefruit, which really brightens the cup. It is bright and juicy, and I’m loving it!
There is a compelling balance between the citrus flavors here. The bergamot is there, but, because of the presence of the other citrus notes it doesn’t become overwhelming or aggressive. It tastes tangy and just a wee bit floral without coming off as soapy. The grapefruit gives a touch of acidity to the cup without making it too tart, instead, what it does is just brighten the whole cup – making it tastes more vibrant and lively.
And the black tea does its part in this too, providing a solid layer of black tea flavor in the background: earthy, rich and full-flavored. It is fairly mellow as far as black teas go – however, I think a bolder tea would have been too much. The grapefruit is the real star of this cup, and I like the way the flavors all come together.
This is a deliciously different take on the classic favorite, Earl Grey. I’d recommend it to the Earl Grey fans who might be looking for something just a little bit different, and also to those who don’t normally care for bergamot. The grapefruit alters the flavor of the bergamot just enough so that it doesn’t taste quite like any bergamot I’ve tasted before!
This tea gets two enthusiastic thumbs up from me!
Carrot Cake Cupcake Green Rooibos from Simpson & Vail
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Tisane Description:
The latest addition to our popular dessert teas are these cupcake teas! Available in Red Velvet Cupcake, Carrot Cake Cupcake and Strawberry Cupcake.
I love carrot cake, whether it’s in a loaf or in cupcake form. What I don’t like is that “some” people always feel the need to add raisins to what is already perfection. Don’t mess with success people! And what I do like about this rooibos tea version, is that you get all that lovely carrot cake goodness with none of the calories (and no wrinkled little grapes!). The dry leaf has a delicate aroma of carrot cake spices. The brewed cup is full flavored and fabulous with the smell of just baked carrot cake.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Simpson & Vail has an all-new line of cupcake inspired teas that they’ve added to their dessert tea collection, and I’m so excited to be able to try some of them, because I not only love tea, but I adore cupcakes, too. These cupcake teas let me enjoy them both without all the calories!
But I have to admit I was a little skeptical about the idea of this carrot cake cupcake rooibos. I have tasted some cupcake flavored teas in the past, and even a couple of carrot cake flavored teas … but, I still find myself a bit leery about them … carrot taste … in tea? That might be a little too weird, even for me.
However, this is really tasty! I taste notes of cinnamon along with a hint of fruit as well as the carrot taste. The carrot is sweet, and melds really nicely with the green rooibos which has a lighter, fruitier taste versus the red (oxidized) rooibos. I think the green rooibos was the right choice to use as a base here, because the fruity notes seem to tie in with the carrot-cake-like flavors.
The sweetness of this cup seems to lend a sort of cake and frosting kind of taste to the overall taste. I don’t know that I’m tasting a definitive “carrot cake” kind of flavor here – but, then again, I don’t know that I’m not. I just know that as I sip and I taste the medley of flavors and how they work together, my taste buds get a sense that I’m drinking liquified carrot cake.
This is really yummy, and it’s an ideal way to enjoy carrot cake without indulging in the calories!
Toasted Nut Cafe Black Tea from Simpson & Vail
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Tea Description:
For some people, desserts can only be served with coffee. For others, desserts and tea are perfectly complementary. With our Toasted Nut Café you don’t have to be one or the other! This blend combines black tea, almonds, coffee beans and flavors to produce a hearty cup that has a toasty coffee flavor. The black tea flavor comes through with the coffee and toasted nut flavors as an aftertaste. A perfect beverage to accompany a wide range of sweets: truffles, tortes, pies, cakes and more. Or enjoy as is or with a little sweetener and a dollop of cream.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was a little nervous as well as excited to try this new tea. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve had quite a tumultuous history with the coffee bean. There was a time when I really enjoyed coffee and drank it every morning, but, by about eleven in the morning I would start to feel sick to my stomach. It didn’t take too long for me to realize that it was my morning coffee habit that was causing the nausea, so, it was at that point that I switched to drinking tea. I don’t regret that switch, of course, because I have fallen deeper in love with tea than I ever felt for coffee.
But that being said, there are still times when I miss coffee. Specifically, I miss that bold, rich fragrance of coffee, and I do also miss the robust flavor – but not so much as I miss the aroma. Tea aroma is – of course – amazing, however, there is something that is very eye-opening about the smell of coffee. I miss that sometimes. But I certainly didn’t miss it this morning when I deeply inhaled the bouquet of this tea! It smells rich and delicious with notes of coffee and almond. The faintest smell of black tea is there too, but the coffee notes do overwhelm it just a bit.
My first thought when I smelled it was YUM! Then, thoughts of dismay came to me … what if this makes me sick just like coffee did. I know I’ve had this thought before with other coffee flavored teas, and I think that this will always be a worry whenever I encounter a coffee flavored tea. I guess, when a person goes through that … that always stays with them, right?
Anyway… after brewing, I took a tentative sip, but, was very pleased by the flavor. Yes, it tastes of coffee! Rich, bold coffee notes are the strongest that I taste, followed by a hint of toasted almond that sort of weaves its way through the sip, but is most noticeable toward the finish and in the aftertaste. The tea flavor is there too, and it adds a nice complexity to the cup. I find that this coffee-ish tea is much more flavorful than I remember my morning cup of coffee ever being – even when I’d splurge and indulge in a mocha! The tea really seems to bring out more of the complex notes with hints of dark cocoa, and a smooth earthiness.
Overall, the cup is rich, smooth, and delicious. There are hints of a savory bitterness from the coffee, a sweet undertone from the tea as well as the almond flavors, and a very roasty, toasty sort of feel that is invigorating. It’s really very good.
The word is still out on whether or not this will leave me feeling sick in an hour or two… but, after that time has lapsed I’ll come back and edit this post to add the update!
UPDATE: Well, it’s about four hours after finishing a cup of this tea, and I’ve experienced no nausea. Yay! A great alternative to those who need to steer away from coffee, but still want to experience that flavor every once in a while. This tea gets two enthusiastic thumbs up!
Chocolate Caramel Tea from Simpson & Vail
Tea Type: Black Tea
Where To Buy: Simpson & Vail
Product Description:
Two of my favorite tastes – chocolate and creamy caramel – meet in this delicious black tea blend. Let the sweet chocolate aroma awaken your senses while the rich, smooth chocolate taste, and buttery aftertaste, thrill your tastebuds.
Ingredients: black teas, cacao nibs, flavoring, and safflower petals.
Brew tea at 212º – steep for 3 minutes.
Tasters Review:
I know it seems that I have a major sweet tooth lately but I really don’t. It’s just that Simpson & Vail have all these new tea offerings and I can’t contain excitement! I really LOVE them all!
Chocolate Caramel Tea…need I say more? Buttery smooth but velvety caramel and chocolate! This is Really amazing! Nice! Many of you know I hate to use the term “mouth feel” but that’s the only way I can explain it! It has a nice mouth feel (I cringe every time I say it! LOL) and the flavor is amazing!
