I’ve had my eye on Simpson & Vail’s Blueberry Matcha Green Tea for a while. Guess what? We finally got our hands on it! YAY! It was well worth the wait, too!
Matcha, Blueberry Flavor, and Cane Sugar are the 3 ingredients in Blueberry Matcha Green Tea from Simpson & Vail. One of the most important things I need to mention in this review is that the use of the cane sugar is perfectly done. Many flavored matchas tend to over do it with the sugar or sweetener. Not Simpson & Vail! They used this cane sugar to accompany NOT overstep and it’s much appreciated!
The Blueberry flavor is nicely done, too! It’s a pleasing medium-strength blueberry flavor. The sugary-sweet blueberry taste is what lingers well after the last sip.
The Matcha base they use is top notch when it comes the the taste quality, too! I can’t wait to try the other flavored matchas S&V offers. Be on the look out for the Vanilla one, specifically!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Matcha
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description
We’ve found these great flavored matcha blends that we’re excited to offer to you! Each blend combines high quality matcha powder with cane sugar and natural flavor to create a delicious taste sensation. Try in your recipes for sweets, lattes, smoothies, iced beverages and more. Available in 1 oz. silver zip-lock bags.
Wildly popular in Japan, the matcha blueberry blend is becoming a favorite choice at tea and coffee shops across the country!
Ingredients: Cane sugar, matcha, natural flavor
Brewing: Add 1 tbsp of Blueberry Matcha to 6-8oz of water or milk and mix using a blender or shaker.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Charles Dickens’ Black Tea Blend by Simpson & Vail
Steeping specs: I steeped a heaping teaspoon of this tea in about 10 oz. of boiling water for three minutes.
I tried some of this tea before looking it up, so I didn’t know what to expect but then realized it was rather unusual so I checked out the background and steeping recommendations so I could give it a more “proper” review. Apparently it’s a combination of black tea, oolong tea, and natural flavoring (plus cornflower petals, which add visual interest). I found it to be quite a memorable blend.
(Combinations of black tea and oolong intrigue me . . . I mean, for one thing, they’re really hard to classify. For another, I’m never sure what combining them is supposed to accomplish. Is it supposed to be like black tea but with more floral notes, maybe? I wonder what black tea would taste like if combined with a smoky roasted oolong? Hmm, maybe it’s time for an experiment . . .)
After steeping, it’s a sort of cedar-mahogany color, quite clear, and not very viscous. The scent is a bit tart and so is the first sip. It’s rather more acidic and astringent than your typical black tea, but in a good way. It seems quite well-blended; I think the flavors balance well (they bring out the strong, tannic, earthy properties of the black tea). It’s nice and strong, which I like. It would make a great breakfast or afternoon tea, I think. The S&V website doesn’t say exactly what flavoring is in the tea, just that it has a currant aftertaste, but I found it to be quite hearty in a satisfying, filling sort of way.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black/Oolong Blend
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description
Unlike many of his characters, Charles Dickens was born to loving parents in February of 1812. However, when he was only 12, his father was imprisoned for debt and Charles was sent to work in a blacking factory where he labeled endless bottles of shoeshine. He would leave the factory four years later to finish his education, but those formative years deeply affected him and inspired many of the boyhood horrors he would later write about. He wrote many of his most famous novels like Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby episodically, with a new chapter appearing in a magazine each month. These works examined the lives of the less fortunate and found humanity amid the most inhuman conditions.
Tea appeared in Dickens’ work as a calming force like in David Copperfield, when the main character recounts how he “sat swilling tea until [his] whole nervous system, if [he] had had any in those days, must have gone by the board.” Or it could surface as a commonality between classes that allowed Dickens to emphasize the stark differences between lifestyles. While a “real solid silver teapot” and “real silver spoons to stir the tea with” are listed among the treasures of Old Lobbs in The Pickwick Papers, “a regular place of public entertainment for the poorer classes” described in Oliver Twist would provide “a public breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper all the year round.” Our Charles Dickens blend adds a flash of color to a traditional british tea. The blend is a hearty, well-rounded blend of China and Indian teas that has an amber cup with a light currant after-taste.
Ingredients: Black teas, oolong tea, flavoring, cornflower petals.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Lemon Black from Simpson & Vail. . . . .
The older I get the more I crave lemon flavored teas it seems. Recently we were sent the Lemon Black Tea from Simpson & Vail and I couldn’t wait to try it!
As many of us already know the fruit from the Lemon evergreen tree has been used for culinary and medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Simpson & Vail noted on their website that while fresh lemons and zest are most often used for culinary recipes, the dried peel is an important make-up of tea blends. Its lemony taste helps add flavor to teas and herbal blends, as well as sometimes helping to mellow the flavor of unpleasant tasting herbs.
I think the Lemon Peel specifically shines the brightest in this flavored black tea – not only to the nose but to the tongue, too! It’s highly aromatic and intensely flavored and I just LOVE it!
This flavored tea blend combines natural lemon oil and organic lemon peel with black teas from Sri Lanka and China to produce a summer taste that is fresh and tart. I was completely delighted when I saw S&V used teas from 2 different regions!
I agree with Simpson & Vail when they say that this deep amber cup with its citrus aroma will uplift your spirits! I know it did mine!
Another thing I appreciate with this flavored black tea is that it has very few Ingredients to accomplish the intense flavor. Those ingredients are…black teas, organic lemon peel, and natural lemon oil. That’s it!
Lemon Flavored Black Tea from Simpson & Vail is everything you would expect in a lemon flavored black tea. And everything you would expect from this great company!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description
The fruit from the Lemon evergreen tree has been used for culinary and medicinal purposes for thousands of years. While fresh lemons and zest are most often used for culinary recipes, the dried peel is an important make-up of tea blends. Its lemony taste helps add flavor to teas and herbal blends, as well as sometimes helping to mellow the flavor of unpleasant tasting herbs.
This flavored tea blend combines natural lemon oil and organic lemon peel with black teas from Sri Lanka and China to produce a summer taste that is fresh and tart. This deep amber cup with its citrus aroma will uplift your spirits!
Ingredients: black teas, organic lemon peel and natural lemon oil.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Darjeeling – Ambootia Estate Organic Green Tea from Simpson & Vail. . . .
Darjeeling – Ambootia Estate Organic Green Tea from Simpson & Vail is something I MUST discuss with you today!
Internationally renowned Darjeeling teas come to Simpson & Vail from the area in and around Darjeeling, a Himalayan town in the state of West Bengal in eastern India. The soil and climatic conditions that exist there create teas that are treasured for their exquisite taste. Darjeeling is often referred to as the “Champagne of teas”, and are so prized that the government there created a special logo that certifies that the teas bearing this logo were actually grown in this beautiful mountain terrain. You may have read about this already here at the Sororitea Sisters but we like to remind ourselves and other – every chance we can!
The Ambootia Estate, specifically, was established in 1861, and currently produces all of their teas using organic and bio-dynamic farming practices. This is ALWAYS a PLUS! Their organic green is a superlative tea with its pale hues and refreshing aroma. The smallish green leaves impart a sweet after-taste, with more body than most green teas and the wonderful flavor of a fine Darjeeling…according to the Simpson & Vail website, shop, and product description. I tend to agree, however, I was able to also pick up on a few floral notes and a more vegetal green flavor instead of a sweeter green flavor.
This was a MIGHTY FINE Green Darjeeling! I would LOVE to try the Black Tea equivalent of this soon! YUM!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description
Internationally renowned Darjeeling teas come to us from the area in and around Darjeeling, a Himalayan
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Pomegranate Passion White from Simpson and Vail. . . . .
I’ve been on a white tea kick lately. I couldn’t tell you what spurred white tea specifically but I certainly have one I would like to share with you today! It’s a flavored white tea and it’s from Simpson & Vail. It’s their Pomegranate Passion White Tea.
Pomegranate White Tea from Simpson & Vail is lightly sweet and incredibly delicious! It’s a blend of natural pomegranate and passion fruit flavors and it has a lovely airy, breezy tropical aroma that awakens the senses. Once infused it looks a little pinkish to the naked eye – sitting there in the cup waiting for me to take the first sip. This can be enjoyed either hot or iced. I like them equally.
Ingredients in this Pomegranate Passion White Tea are…of course…White tea…PLUS organic hibiscus flowers, marigold petals, malva flowers and natural pomegranate and natural passion fruit flavors. The ‘barely-there’ hibiscus flowers are at the ratio I wish most if not all other companies would ‘live by’. A little bit goes a long way! S&V seem to have this ratio down pat and for that I’m thankful! The floral ingredients are on the sweeter side moreso than the bitter/floral side and I’m happy about that, too! The fruity flavoring is nicely done…NOT overdone. Who ever put this tea together deserves a ‘MAJOR AWARD’ as the catch phrase from Christmas Story states!
I brewed 2 teaspoons of this loose leaf tea in 8 ounces of water (at roughly 175°), and steeped for 3 or 4 minutes. I was also able to cold brew this with success by infusing it overnight, too!
I’m totally LOVING this flavored white tea!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White Tea
Where to Buy: Simpson and 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 even more about this tea and tea company here!