Whenever I try out a Simpson & Vail blend, I know that I’m in for a treat. With the last days of summer upon us, I wanted to try Pomegranate Passion White Tea as an iced tea.
Scooped a few heap fulls into my pitcher, poured in fresh cold water, and a cup full of ice. Placed the pitcher into the fridge and allowed the tea to cold brew overnight. It was fun to see all of the gorgeous colors swirling around in the pitcher while it steeped. The pops of yellow and purple made this tea just holler “Summertime!”
The next morning I poured this cold brew tea into a tumbler with fresh ice. First sip in and this is the way this tea is supposed to be brewed!
Fresh vibrant complimentary flavors of white floral tea notes, hibiscus, and pomegranate said hello as I tried the tea. Each sip finished off with a sweet almost tropical feel that I’m assuming is coming from the passion fruit. Lovely, elegant, and the perfect tea to enjoy poolside or at the park.
Overall, I don’t think this is heavy on the tropical flavors like the description says but there are definitely notes and tones throughout each sip that make you like tropical and sunshine. To me this tea is blended perfectly and with just the right amount of tartness to keep the sweetness in check. White floral sweet notes and the passion fruit just kick this tea to the next level.
One of those teas that you are sad when your tea spoon hits the bottom of the pouch. Truly a tea that I could have pounds of and I still wouldn’t be sick of it.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to buy: Simpson & Vail
Description:
Sweet and delicious! This blend of natural pomegranate and passion fruit flavors has a heady, tropical aroma that transforms perfectly into the taste in the cup. This extraordinary pink brew can be enjoyed either hot or iced.
Ingredients: White tea, organic hibiscus flowers, marigold petals, malva flowers and natural pomegranate and natural passion fruit flavors.
Brew: 2 tsp tea in 8 oz. water (at 175°), steep for 4 minutes.
Learn more about this tea and tea company here!
Banana Split from The NecessiTeas
I despise bananas! I mean…I REALLY hate them! I HATE Bananas! Can’t you tell I’m passionate about my dislike for bananas? Having said that – Banana Split from The NecessiTeas is pretty darn tasty!
I’m not sure if it’s just everything ELSE that went into Banana Split from The NecessiTeas but I’m totally digging it! The Rooibos base ‘almost’ tasted like honeybush and I have to be honest I did a double take of the dry ingredients just to be sure! Once Banana Split from The NecessiTeas cooled at room temperature I noticed the traditional red rooibos flavor more but at the beginning of the piping hot cuppa it tasted a bit different.
As for the other ingredients in Banana Split from The NecessiTeas there are freeze dried banana, carob, and strawberries. I will say that I tasted the strawberry more than the other two ingredients and I’m completely fine with that. I think it kicked the banana back a notch and for that I’m grateful. Then I could taste the carob and that was rather nice. Lastly, the banana came into play. This was a satisfying cup. Banana Split from The NecessiTeas was a sweet, fruity, chocolaty, and near creamy cup, too! For someone who REALLY can’t stand bananas this was darn tasty! The banana ratio was one I could certainly tolerate and darn I say ‘enjoy’.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal/Rooibos
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
Description:
Three scoops of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla in a cup come to mind when you taste this blend of dried strawberries, banana chips, and chocolate morsels submerged in organic rooibos tea. The strawberries release their sweet flavor as they rehydrate, the sweet chocolate melts into this dessert, and the banana chips make it authentic. Just add a little rock sugar and a splash of milk for that creamy, dreamy dessert without the calories. Characteristics Super Antioxidant, Dessert Flavor Profile Fruity, Sweet Ingredients Organic rooibos, freeze dried banana, carob bean, strawberries, natural and organic flavors
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Mint To Be Together from For Tea’s Sake
At first glance, this tea sounds stellar-a combo of different mints and lemon peel. Sounds refreshing and so inviting. When I opened the pouch, I was greeted with a fresh feel to the tea.
For Tea’s Sake is one that I stumbled upon after lunch with my parents at a neighboring town. I couldn’t resist grabbing 4 different kinds of their loose leaf tea to try.
Brewed up with fresh water at 212F and allowed to steep for 5 minutes, I poured myself a generous cuppa to enjoy. Unfortunately, first sip in, I knew this tea wasn’t for me. The lemon and mint didn’t play very well. Since I wasn’t in love with what I had, I thought I would try a nice cold brew.
So I scooped what I had remaining of this tea into a pitcher and allowed the tea to sit overnight. I have to say this way of brewing the tea yielded a better flavor but I just don’t think this is a tea cut out for me.
Final Thoughts? The lemon was present and quite lovely but I just didn’t like the combo of the mint with the lemon. It was almost like the mint either needed to be pulled back a bit or more lemon peel added in. This tea (for me) seems to be sort of confused. Regardless, I appreciate the effort. I would try this tea again in a heart beat just to try adding in another spoonful or maybe even cold brewing for another day or two. Or maybe even add in strawberries or raspberries. That may be the ticket.
Just one of those blends that needs a bit of experimenting!
Here’s the Scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: For Tea’s Sake
Description:
For Tea’s Sake Mint To Be Together Loose Leaf Iced Tea Blend. The perfect combination of tart lemonade and refreshing mint is reminiscent of warm sunny days and long conversations in the shade. Lemonade and friends are meant to be together. Mint Lemonade, 1.8oz/45g Tin.
INGREDIENTS:
peppermint, ground lemon peel and spearmint
Learn more about this tea and tea company here.
Lemon-Lime Meringue Kukicha Green Tea from 52Teas (plus an experiment!)
Our Sister’s Thoughts:
Lemon-Lime Meringue Kukicha Green Tea from 52Teas. Just thinking about this tea makes your mouth water. I loved the original blend from 52Teas and honestly still have some. So I thought it was time to revisit the re-blend that was created earlier in the year.
First impressions-this tea has crisp tangy citrus notes that are crying to be a shaken iced tea. So that is exactly what I did.
I actually experimented a bit with this blend and tried cold brewing the tea a different way. I have a Grosche Smart Tea Maker and I love it. (Actually I have two!) They work really well.
So, I threw a few scoops of this blend into the tea maker, added cold water, and a few ice cubes and let the tea do its thing. At home I have very little free fridge space with having 5 boys with ranging ages in the house. So if this works, this could be a great shortcut to making cold brew tea.
Allowed the tea to cold brew for a few moments and took my first sip. Of course the tea wasn’t 100% ready but I was curious what the flavor would be like.
At 10 minutes: Brew came across as a subtle limeade. What flavors I could note where soft and gentle.
At 30 minutes: Tea was coming around. Lime flavors were stronger and there was a hint of lemon. Green Tea notes are starting to become pronounced.
At 1 hour: Lemon-Lime Green Tea at its finest! Ice cold and refreshing! The lime notes are the most prominent with a lemon citrus tang following. I can’t really pick up the kukicha green tea like I could when the tea was brewed hot but I love the rich smoothness the base tea adds to the iced tea. Absolutely delicious and refreshing.
I did try this blend brewed hot and I didn’t like it as much as I did as a cold brew. This is the way this tea should be enjoyed!
All in all, I think this experiment was a great success. This is going to be a great way to make cold brew tea while I’m at work.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
I was very excited when this tea won the vote for this Retro Monday, mostly because it was my first opportunity to blend with Kukicha! And after this very positive experience, I think I’ll be working with it again in the future!
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a lemon-lime meringue pie. My gramma used to make lemon meringue pies quite often, though and when I first smelled this tea, it brought me back to one of her delicious pies. The citrus is bright and I find that as I continue to sip, I pick up on more of the meringue flavors and even just a hint of buttery pastry.
The original description went like this:
This is a Kukicha green tea blended with lemon myrtle and natural flavors.
We’ve managed to capture the essence of a slice of lemon-lime meringue pie, with a light touch of pastry-like crust, lemon and lime and of course, the meringue. Those of you who have the opportunity to try this are going to be blown away by it. Don’t delay, it’s not going to last long.
This was one of my favorites from Frank’s teas and it’s especially awesome iced. I realize that it’s not quite iced tea weather just yet – depending upon where you are in the world – but you really should try some of this iced before your pouch is empty!
Taster size is approximately 1/2 ounce.
ingredients: kukicha green tea, dried lemon & lime segments, lemon grass*, lemon balm*, lemon myrtle*, lemon peel*, lime leaves, vanilla bean* and natural flavors*. *denotes organic
Learn more about this tea here.
Love Love Love from Harlow Tea Co
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Harlow Tea Co
Tea Description:
Love, Love, Love Loose Leaf Tea
This caffeine free tea is a great tea for any tea drinker, someone brand new to tea or have tried it all.
Honeybush tea is vey mild, but gives great flavor without caffeine. Floral hints from rose hips, hibiscus flower, and lady’s mantle is balanced with the fruity aroma of dried plums.
Does not contain caffeine
Lady’s mantle is considered in many cultures to be used as a woman’s healing herb.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Honeybush and I have a love hate relationship. Sometimes I love it and sometimes not so much. I wasn’t sure what I would think of Harlow Tea Co’s Love Love Love blend.
First whiff of the dry leaf and I was greeted with a lush plum fragrance that I wanted to bottle into a candle. So very soft and romantic. This simple mixture yielded such an amazing full flavor, just like all of the other Harlow Tea Co blends I’ve tried.
Silky sweet notes combined with a deep plum jam note. Very soft notes of floral complete with sip with just small peeks of hibiscus. Each flavor does a great job of complimenting the others and no one flavor dominates. This tea is as romantic as you can get!
The perfect tea to end your day with. Soul soothing and one you can really curl up with. I’m in love with this blend! I haven’t had a chance to try Love Love Love as an iced tea or cold brew but that is next on the list. Another superb blend from Harlow Tea Co.