I think it must be very rare to meet a tea lover who is not also a book lover. The Simpson and Vail Literary Blends are an incredible way to celebrate both of our passions – drinking tea and reading. Good books are always better with tea!
This blend is inspired by the flowers Emily loved to grow. The base is listed as jasmine tea, and my best guess is that this is a pouchong. There are jasmine flowers, rose petals, marigold petals, and blue cornflowers as well, making an absolutely stunning presentation. This is a tea that needs to be displayed on the table in a tea scoop or in a little glass before steeping, because it makes a beautiful display to begin your tea time, and shouldn’t tea time engage all of your senses? Your eyes will feast on this one!
The steeped tea is a medium gold color. It is a smooth and lightly brisk tea, which is very fitting for Miss Dickinson. The floral taste is surprisingly light. This isn’t a heavy jasmine and rose blend, but rather a confident green base with light floral notes sweetening it.
“Bring me the sunset in a cup.” Yes, thank you. This is lovely and comfortable with hubby and daughters sipping away and draining the pot as we wind down for the night.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description
Emily Dickinson was born on December 10th, 1830 and lived in a home that was central to Amherst political society thanks to her father and brothers. Growing up around powerful men prepared Dickinson for a life of the same, but society dictated that, as a woman, she was relegated to seemingly less meaningful ventures. Her anger at this slight comes across in her poetry and letters where she explored complex ideas of meaning and self while examining the smallest details of the world around her. She withdrew herself from society and lived in relative solitude until her death. Only a few of her poems were made public during her lifetime, but four years after her demise, a collection of poems was published and met with popular and critical acclaim. Her poems reveal a complicated mind that examined itself with as much attention to detail as it examined the world. Dickinson’s defiance of categorization and simplification make her a popular poet to study even today.
In the years she spent away from society, Emily Dickinson cultivated an extensive garden. In it, she grew jasmine flowers, cornflowers, roses, and many other flowers, plants and herbs. These flowers appear repeatedly in her poetry so our blend had to be floral. We created a delightful combination of jasmine tea and rose petals that brews to a light ecru cup with long green leaves and rose petal accents. This delicate tea hits you with a strong jasmine taste that’s sweetened and mellowed with the subtle flavors of the rose petals.
Ingredients: Jasmine tea, rose petals, jasmine blossoms, marigold petals and blue cornflower petals.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Arabian Nights from Fox Tea Club. . . .
It’s black. It’s green. It’s creamy. It’s buttery. It’s fruity. It’s got complete roses in its blend.
This tea sounds like an indecisive hot mess, I know. The blend’s ingredients sound like someone had a bunch of leftovers and upended them into a vat. (They include, for reference, Black Tea, Calendula, Cornflower, Green Tea, Mango, Pineapple, Rose).
But it totally works. It’s sweet and friendly and flowery. I’m not getting “Arabian Nights” from this (possibly because I’ve never had Turkish delight). I’m getting “Mother Goose.” This tea is a fairytale jumble. All of your favorite stories and flavors, blending together. It’s a dessert potluck. *
* (note: Have you ever had a dessert potluck? Probably the best party I ever threw.)
If you’re in the mood for some sweetness, throw this in your kettle. All the rabbits and sprites in the forest will be clamoring to join you.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green/Black
Where to Buy: Fox Tea Club
Description
Exotic seductive smoothness and delicate spice aromas float from the cup with each sip of this black and green tea blend, which includes calendula, red rose, and cornflower petals. Remarkable subtle tones of vanilla cream with rich sponge cake recall warm deserts evenings with the crescent moon rising in the starry sky.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Drop That Sweet Beet from Steeped Tea. . . .
I’ve had this one in my stash for a while and after one sip I wondered why it took me so long to jump into a cup of it. Drop That Sweet Beet by Steeped Tea is a Green Tea with plenty of other ingredients coming to the party.
Green Tea, Sultanas, Almond Bits, Apple Bits, Date Bits, Beetroot Bits, Rose Blossom Leaves, are what make up this cup!
Upon opening the package this smells like pure candy…sugary, sweet, and berry-like. Once infused it smelled more like a fruit juice or juicy wine. The beetroot certainly played the main part in contribution to the color of the tea water. The dates added a nice sweetness but also a contrast to the other fruits in this cuppa.
There is a slight spice on the end sip especially if you drink this as an iced tea. Both a hot cuppa and an iced cuppa are stellar with this tea! I can’t choose which one I enjoy more.
This is a very nicely flavored green tea with plenty of surprises in each sip. And a great way to incorporate beets and dates in a flavored tea. Two thumbs up from me on this one!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Steeped Tea
Description
Green tea, Sultanas, Almond bits, Apple bits, Date bits, Beetroot bits, Rose petals, Natural flavors. Contains: Almonds. May contain other tree nuts. Naturally contains caffeine.
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!
Socklatinga Green Tea 2nd Flush, 2017 from Tea Swan. . .
I don’t recall if I have ever had a Green Assam from Socklatinga so I was thrilled to have it in front of me recently.
According to the Tea Swan website – Socklatinga Green Tea is a variant of whole leaf green-tea collected during the second flush of Assam and makes a cup of warm golden-green tea.
Tasting the charming fruity flavor of this tea was a pleasure but I also found it to be a bit grassy-green with a hint of helpful bitterness, too! What kind of fruity notes? Pear – possibly!
As I continued to sip on this tea I wanted to learn more about the tea estate, itself. A brief recap in my research found that the Sockieting Tea Estate produces 4,00,000 kgs of tea in a year and is a HACCP accredited estate. The property was procured from Andrew Yule & Co Ltd and spreads across 223 hectares of land.
This was a tasty tea. I would suggest it for those who enjoy a grassier-green with hints of pear-like-fruit hidden underneath.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Swan
Description
Socklatinga Green Tea whole leaf green-tea collected during the second flush of Assam makes a cup of warm golden-green drink.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!