The primary word I’d use for this blend is “smooth.”
Though “Colombian Blend” refers to South America, this tea says New Orleans to me. It’s got a malty, liquor-esque back-of-the-jazz-bar vibe. A throaty saxophone is being played on stage by a guy in sunglasses.
It is ambiguous whether he is blindingly cool or actually unable to see. He is the best you have ever heard. People used to smoke in the bar. They can’t any more, but the smell lingers in the dark, beaten wood furniture. Outside, a party dwindles. Plastic beads clatter on necks and pavement.
The bartenders declare last call, but you are content with the tea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description
This Sweet Colombian Black Tea has large, black wiry, slightly tippy leaves with a light malty aroma that brews to an amber cup with a smooth taste and delicate fruity notes.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Celtic Cream Green Tea from Simpson & Vail. . . .
This is, quite simply, my favorite green tea of the moment. I’ve been drinking it almost every day, but always at a time when I am nowhere near a computer to write about it. So today — TODAY, MY TEAPLE — I will write this review.
Sometimes green teas are a little bit tart/vegetal, which is fine, but I’m a sweet-tooth kinda girl. What I really want in a tea, honestly, is calorie-free dessert.
So this tea’s creamy sweetness is totally on point. It’s, like, a buttercream delight. I can still taste the authentic green underneath, too.
It’s the best of both worlds. This is great because whenever doctors are like “tea is good for you!”, they’re typically talking about green tea. Green tea, according to medical professionals, will, like, make your skin glow and your hair get long and your weight drop and your muscles big. You will be completely hydrated and sleep exactly 8 hours, 15 minutes every single night. You will turn into an Avenger who specializes in yoga. (I guess maybe that’s Pepper Potts’ real-life Gwenyth Paltrow persona, actually.)
And you know what? I *am* feeling strong. And I *did* lose a pound last week. MAYBE IT WAS THIS TEA. Who knows? You should try it and get back to me about your health progress, too.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description
In honor of the Emerald Isle and St. Patrick’s Day we have blended a delightful green tea with Irish cream flavor. The emerald green liquor complements the unique smooth & creamy flavor. Warm up with this healthy good tasting tea.
Ingredients: green tea and flavoring.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Tea Party Sonnet in honor of William Shakespeare black tea blend from Simpson and Vail
TEA-ming up with Tiny Salutations again for your reading pleasure with this sonnet:
Harken back to a faire of the 16th century
With “William Shakespeare’s black tea blend”
In each cup a wistful reverie
And a moment for your soul to mend.
It’s rosy liquid, by any other name,
Would it smell as sweet?
Inspiration my mouth doth claim
In framing Sonnets in my seat.
Intense floral aromas enhance
The Bard’s many tales
Of tragedy, comedy, and romance
Such a tea of Simpson and Vail’s.
Made of lavender and rose
And fresh plucked rosemary
A delight to eyes, mouth, and nose
As good a tea as potpourri!
The flavor is smooth
The rose aftertaste BOLD
A pleasant scent in truth
The color a rich chocolate gold.
This tea we doth surely keep.
Huzzah for a second steep!
Here’s the scoop!
Loose Leaf: Black tea Blend
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description: Gardens, herbs, and flowers appear in many of Shakespeare’s plays and oftentimes play a critical role in his stories. Our William Shakespeare tea blend is a combination of a few of the many herbs he references: lavender, roses, rosemary. The wit and playfulness of his verse means that Shakespeare’s plays can still be enjoyed today, ideally with a warm cup of tea.
This black tea and floral blend brews to an amber cup with a sweet, floral taste. The slightly earthy and woody notes are rounded out with the citrus taste of bergamot and sweet rose petals.
Certified Kosher
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
The Energy for Word Craft – James Joyce Tea Blend by Simpson and Vail. . . .
From day to day we find ourselves taxed with work, school, and the other things that make our life worthwhile. And when we try to sit down to pursue our hobbies, may it be writing, reading, or any other creative venture we find ourselves creatively drained. We either stare at a blank page or a room that holds our craft that refuses to give us the needed inspiration to fuel our venture.
This, my friends, is where I have found myself a lot this month. Balancing school and my desire to put the story, that I have been holding on to for ages, onto paper seems to be a momentous task. But that is where tea comes in.
To be specific James Joyce’s Tea Blend by Simpson & Vail gave me the needed boost to finally put something down on paper. Now, this is tea not alike the others I have tried for this tea is very simple in nature. This cuppa is like Irish/English Breakfast and as a matter of fact, it tastes like a blend of those two. It has that perfect maltiness that I have come to love in Irish Breakfast with a little bit of the robustness that English Breakfast has to offer.
The price of this tea won’t hurt your wallet either for you can get either a 4 oz package for $6.90 whereas if you want the decorative 4 oz tin that will be about $3 extra at $9.75.
Even though this tea didn’t have anything new or different added to the blend I still appreciate it. Drinking this blend brought me back to the days when I first tried hot tea. Calling this tea simple is not negative in this case for a simple cup of tea could be the only thing you need to get you back on track.
See you for the next cuppa!
Kara
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description
James Joyce was born February 2, 1882 in a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. He attended a private boarding school until his father’s debts caught up with the family and he and his siblings were forced to leave. He would later attend college and, while he achieved high marks, his views never aligned with the Jesuit professors. A collection of his short stories, The Dubliners, was published in 1914 and introduced Joyce’s dense and atmospheric prose to the world. He would go on to travel Europe, spending most of his productive years in France, where Ulysses was published in 1922. Joyce’s influence continues into the 21st century where his method of conveying the complexity and chaos of random thought as a stream of consciousness is still in use.
For Joyce, tea was an expected part of life and it appears in his works as a routine part of the day. As a man of taste, he enjoyed the finer things in life and, as an article describing a meeting at his house says, “Mrs. Joyce gives us the best tea and the nicest cakes that are to be had in any house in Paris.” Our James Joyce tea blend uses a distinctly Irish mix of black teas to mimic the type of drink he and his friends would have enjoyed.
This delightfully bold blend of teas brews to a golden cup with a malty flavor and a slightly fruity aftertaste.
Ingredients: Black teas from India, Sri Lanka and Kenya.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Go to Wonderland with a cup of Lewis Carroll tea from Simpson and Vail.. . .
Springtime feels like the time for Alice in Wonderland: flowers blooming, spending more time outside, feeling a little more whimsy after the winter blues. I’ve seen a few new teas popping up this time of year, themed for just such an occasion.
I recently tried the Lewis Carroll blend of black tea from Simpson and Vail. In case you don’t know, Lewis Carroll is the author of Alice in Wonderland, among other works. Alice in Wonderland tends to be a favorite among tea fans for the famous tea party scene featuring the Mad Hatter, not to mention all the cute tea cakes that wreak fantastical havoc for Alice’s adventures.
This Lewis Carroll tea blend features an Indian black tea base, combined with Chinese Rose Congou black tea, highlighted by added violet fragrance and flavoring. All these flowers are meant to put us in a fantasy world, whether in the queen’s roses, or in the garden beside the tea party. There are lots of blossoms in the dry leaves, and the brewed cup smells as sweet as a blooming garden.
I enjoy the fragrance of this tea, but strong floral blends aren’t my personal favorite when it comes to taste. I found I enjoyed the tea more with a touch of milk and sugar, which helped mellow out the strong floral flavors and made the brew more like a flower-scented dessert.
This is a great tea to put you in a springtime mood, perhaps sipped while out-of-doors after a dreary winter. If you’re one for having fancy tea parties, this may also be a great choice, whether it fits your Alice in Wonderland theme, or just because it feels fancy and ladylike, and makes the flowers on your teacup smell like they are alive and fresh!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description:
A tea party plays a memorable role in Carroll’s most celebrated novel as the setting for Alice’s nonsensical meeting with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. “A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden” where, as the Mad Hatter told Alice earlier, “it’s always tea time.” To make our Lewis Carroll blend, we added our fragrant violet flavor to an Indian Black tea and Rose Congou tea, a China black that has been scented with rose petals during the drying process, to create a deep amber cup with an incomparable bouquet and a flavor that is absolutely heavenly.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
