Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Product Description:
This blend combines black teas with pumpkin and spice flavor to create a deep amber cup that is velvety smooth and aromatic. Its light, delicious taste is reminiscent of pumpkin custard. This tea, enjoyed year round, just adds another sensory delight to the mystique of the pumpkin!
Ingredients: black teas, pumpkin flavor and marigold petals.
Taster’s Review:
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM THE SORORITEA SISTERS!
The hot cup of tea that sits before me now smells yummy. It smells the way my kitchen smells on Thanksgiving morning – freshly baked pumpkin pie! Delish!
This is a very tasty pumpkin spice tea. While it doesn’t have that pie/pastry flavor to it, it does have a delicious, savory pumpkin flavor with a hint of spice. It tastes very much like the baked pumpkin pie filling sans the pastry. And unless gramma is baking the pie (she made the most incredible crusts, but I digress), the baked custard is the best part of the pie anyway.
The black tea base is a brisk black tea. It is mild as far as black teas go, but, it works with this blend. It is pleasant and provides a delicious background for the pumpkin and spice flavors.
I could taste the spice notes right away, particularly the cinnamon. It isn’t a spicy cinnamon taste, it is more like a sweet hint of spice which enhances the natural sweetness as well as the savory notes of the fruit (or vegetable?)
It took a few sips for the pumpkin flavor to really develop. At first, I was left wondering: where is the pumpkin? But, by the time I was finished with my third or fourth sip, the pumpkin came through nicely. Now that I’m nearly finished with my second cup, I am questioning my memory! Did I really not taste the pumpkin? I mean, it’s RIGHT THERE! That is to say, it is a strong, prominent flavor. Rich and sweet. Delicious.
I prefer this tea hot, but that could be because it’s chilly outside and a good, hot cup of Pumpkin Spice tea is quite a comfort on a day like this. It really doesn’t require any sweetening, but if you like a sweeter cup, it wouldn’t hurt to add a drizzle of honey (or perhaps maple syrup!) or maybe try a little bit of brown sugar. The molasses in the brown sugar might add an interesting dimension to the pumpkin. Hmm… now I’m thinking I need to brew another pot of this tea!
Kenya Black OP Malaika Tea from Simpson & Vail
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Product Description:
Kenya, a country in East Africa, is known worldwide for its wildlife reserves, its lofty mountain peaks, and the high quality offerings from the country’s tea gardens and coffee plantations. Kenya tea is a main staple in Irish and English tea blends, and for years it was mostly produced for the tea bag trade. For the past 10 years or so, the Kenya tea producers have been focusing on more orthodox producing to create high quality large leaf style teas.
Read more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Kenyan black is delightful.
It is bold, rich and malty – reminiscent of a high quality Assam – but it lacks the bitterness and is less astringent than a typical Assam. Instead, this cup is incredibly smooth with a very pleasant mouthfeel.
The sweetness here is honey and caramel. The malty tones enhance not only the sweet notes of this tea but also accentuate a biscuit-y sort of flavor – very rich and bread-y. I also taste a hint of citrus here – a flavor that can be enhanced with a thin slice of lemon.
This is a tea that would not only make an outstanding breakfast tea but also a very enjoyable pick-me-up for those afternoons when you’re dragging and need something to get you back in the swing of things. It takes to the addition of milk and honey well, but I personally prefer this one served neat and clean.
I prefer this tea hot, but, not piping hot. By allowing it to cool to a drinkable temperature, I find that the richness of this tea develops into a full-bodied, satisfying cup of tea!
Assam Kama from Simpson & Vail
Tea Information:
Leaf type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Product Description:
In the northeastern state of Assam in India, along the Brahmaputra River grow the hearty, malty Assam teas. The heavy rainfall and hot, humid day time temperatures in this area create the perfect green house like environment for growth, as well as helping to create the unique taste found only in Assam teas. Their distinct flavor can be enjoyed “as is”; however, Assam teas are often used in conjunction with other teas to create numerous blends, specifically breakfast teas.
This outstanding jet-black, long, twisted leafed tea from the Satrupa Estate in the Tinsukia district of Assam has a clean, fresh, mountain aroma. The tea yields a bright copper cup with a smooth, rich taste and is one of the thickest, creamiest and most malty Assam teas we have ever cupped.
Taster’s Review:
Looking for an Assam tea? Simpson & Vail has one of the largest collections of Assam Teas that I’ve ever seen! Among them is this Assam Kama. And if you love the malty character of an Assam, this is the Assam for you!
The flavor is indeed smooth and rich. Typically with an Assam, you’ll encounter some astringency, and there is some astringency with this Assam, but, I must say that it is a bit lighter than I was expecting. The sip is smooth throughout, and the astringency is barely noticeable until I arrive at the aftertaste, where I notice a slight dry and tangy sensation on the palate.
The flavor is delectable, with a thick, sort of bread-y kind of taste. It has a real heft to it, making it an excellent choice for a breakfast tea. It also has an enchanting sweetness to it which enhances the caramel-like tones of the malty qualities of the tea.
This tea takes the additions of milk and honey well, if you care to add them, but it is also quite nice served neat and clean with no additions. However you choose to serve it, you’re in for an incredibly satisfying cup of Assam with this tea.
Crème Brulee from Simpson & Vail
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Product Description:
This scrumptious black tea blend has the taste and aroma of buttery, creamy sweet goodness. The dark amber cup is sweet and creamy with a finish that tastes like caramelized brown sugar.
Taster’s Review:
Have you ever dreamed about having Crème Brulee for breakfast? I have!
My favorite dessert of all time is Crème Brulee. So to say I was excited to try this tea from Simpson & Vail was an understatement!
The fragrance emitting from the pouch when I opened it was enough to make my mouth water. I could smell the vanilla and that caramelized sugar topping. The brewed tea has more of a buttery kind of smell … still sweet but not quite as caramel/sugar sweet.
And the flavor … amazing! Simpson & Vail has managed to capture the flavor of my favorite dessert. It has that smooth, creamy vanilla custard taste. Although it smells like butter, it doesn’t really taste like it. It tastes like a perfectly baked custard. There is even that burnt-sugar flavor in there which is especially noticeable toward the tail end of the sip.
The black tea is a medium-strength, somewhat astringent black tea. It has a pleasing flavor that doesn’t interfere with the delicate vanilla tones. There is some bitterness to it, enough to provide contrast to the sweet dessert flavor, but not so much that it overwhelms.
This tastes like black tea flavored Crème Brulee! All that’s missing for me is that crackle of the caramelized crust, the crunch of that topping mingling with the smooth, silky custard, and of course: the calories! This tea is a dream come true!
Groovy Guava from Simpson & Vail
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Product Description:
A wonderful afternoon tea! This fabulous blend of delicious fruits is melded with colorful herbs and our delicate White Monkey tea. The pale ecru cup emits a scrumptious fruity taste that is certain to please.
Contains: Green tea, Orange Blossoms, Raspberry pieces, Cornflower petals and flavorings.
Taster’s Review:
Delicious!
This tea really is fabulous! From the very first moment when I opened the package I fell in love with this tea. Well, actually, I think I fell in love with it before that – because I love the name too. The fragrance of the tea is exotic and captivating, smelling a bit like a tropical paradise … or at least, what I would imagine a tropical paradise to smell like!
This luscious aroma translates to the flavor to a T (tea?) It is nectar-like and sweet, like a tropical smoothie, only thinner. There are hints of tartness throughout the sip, but they really reveal themselves in the finish. The aftertaste is sweet yet tart, complete with that tart-y tingle on the tongue.
The flavor of the green tea almost gets lost in this blend. Almost, but not quite. I can taste the light, crisp flavor of the green tea. One thing this mild green tea lacks, though, is the grassy/vegetative taste that so often accompanies a green tea … making this tea a perfect choice for those who generally find that grassy taste off-putting. The flavor is very smooth, mellow and fruity … but it doesn’t taste like a tropical fruit punch. It has that sweet, fresh flavor of green tea but without the grassy tones.
This tea wins big points with me. It’s awesome iced, but also very good served hot too … and with winter around the corner, it would be nice to keep this tea on hand for those times when you’d like to take a little tropical getaway, even if it is just in your head … and teacup!