Mighty Leaf Tea

This one delivers—when I am in the mood for a punchy black base with orange notes carried on intense vanilla. It reminds me of some of the Cream of Earl Grey teas out there, but, to my taste, way better than most of the competition.

I really enjoy this one when I have a taste for it. I don’t often crave this tea, but when I do, there’s just nothing like it. This will always have a place in my tea cupboard, even if it is only a few teabag packets. MLT packages the individual tea bags nicely, and the scent and flavours last forever.

Another blustery day here. The bone-chilling kind.

I was fortunate enough to have a fiery Korean seafood soup to take a bit of the chill away and later followed up with this tea prepared chai-style at home. Very delicious.

The tea today has a bit of a rose-lychee hint with the slightest bit of cinnamon and star anise. I am nearing the end of this and suspect that I’ll be moving through the remainder rapidly. A nice variety of things going on in this one.

Inspired by the suggestion of a strong kick in the pants kind of tea, I reached for this one as Mighty Leaf black blends tend to have a robust black supporting the rest of the event. Well, not so much this one, as it happens.

The dry leaf appears to be mostly fruit and spice and not much tea: much different from the image here. It smells heavenly though.

My first few cups of this were straight up black and unsweetened. Strong cinnamon with a hint of star anise with generic fruit in the background.

I popped around the shops to try the second batch sweetened with honey with milk. More or less the same flavours with more complexity this time as I had gone a bit heavier on the leaf the second time. Nice.

I get the impression that flavours will vary depending on the leaf you have in the tea scoop. The fruit and spice pieces are rather large.

Very much a chai type blend. Perfect for a cold winter day.

I am adding the Mighty Leaf description and ingredient list of the Holiday Blend 2015 that I am drinking. Very much different from the tea described here on Steepster.

Holiday is a festive blend of Chinese black tea with cranberry, orange, papaya, apple, peach and spices. At once sweet and hearty, this tea is the ideal accompaniment to a joyous gathering of family and friends.

4 oz. loose tea in bag

Ingredients

Black Teas, Cranberry Fruit, Orange Peel, Apple Fruit, Papaya Fruit, Peach Fruit, Almond, Cinnamon, Rosehips, Rose Petals, Cornflower and natural flavoring of Cinnamon Orange Spice

This is a decent jasmine tea, and I do drink a lot of it. The jasmine isn’t too overbearing, and it isn’t too “perfumey”. Since I drink this one at work, it’s a little tough to control the temperature, and it sometimes gets a little too bitter. I would NOT buy this tea full price, it’s a little on the pricey side for it not being my favorite. However, homegoods frequently has it in stock for a good price, so I pick it up there.

stolen from Optimizely

And sipdown!
This is a tea that I once really loved, but my love for it has waned a bit. I’m not sure if I’ll bring it back next year, as its no longer an obsession, just a very pleasant cup.
Another of the “winter” teas down! I am getting very pleased with the progress.

I am further through the tin of this than I thought! Good news!
I am still working on sipping down teas that seem “wintery” to me, as I’m really not going to want to even look at them when the really hot weather comes around.
I used to really adore this, and its still good, but its not perfect. I’m finding it heavier than it is in my memory, but hey.
Its funny how taste evolves. Or they secretly reformulated it….

I’m rapidly running out of cold weather (waaah!), so I’m determined to drink my more “wintery” blends with a renewed focus.
I don’t love this quite as much as I once did, but its still a nice Winter Spice sort of blend. Its also a good, strong cup of tea, which is a great thing, as I have a mighty need for a strong cup of tea this morning.

Can you believe it is almost Spring? I mean, technically. It never quite feels like spring when it is spring, does it?
I wont be done with the “winter” teas by the time spring rolls around, but my sipdown goals mean things feel much more controlled there.

I am down to two pages in my cupboard. Two pages! When was the last time it was there? Probably years. Eeek!
So close to my goal of 30 teas, and I am super excited and inspired to keep on sipping.
I brewed this too strong today, and it was a solid cup of spices. What happened to my citrus touch? It wandered off.
Oh well.

Gah, I oversteeped this today. When that happens the spice gets too aggressive, and the touch of lemon that lightens it vanishes into the ether.

I don’t really think of myself as a poetic sort of person. I don’t find my mind constantly swooping into sonnets, or anything like that. The exception is, of course, about my bed.
I could write sonnets and odes to my bed as it was this morning, my body softly wrapped in my warm covers, my head cradled by the softness of my pillow, the perfect balance of physical comfort and mental rest. It was the sort of bed that is only ever achieved on a Monday morning, when you have to leave its perfect embrace for the cold world.
So, tea, (the other thing that I wax poetic about) is the only solution. Todays brew needed a backbone, which, fortunately this has.
It didn’t make up for having to leave the bed, really, but it made it much more bearable.

What is it? I’ve been sleeping like a log over the weekends, and then the work week happens, and I am utterly unable to get a good nights rest.
For example, I went to bed last night and just lay awake, unable to sleep, getting more annoyed the later it got.
Grr.
Tea is our only solution to these mornings.
I’m not as in love with this as once I was. Its still very nice, but it no longer completely rocks my world.

Its one of those relentlessly grey days. Its not raining, but the sky is the color of steel, and I cozied up to a pot of this tea this morning.
I like a winter tea with a touch of citrus. It adds brightness to the earthy tones and spices often found in winter blends.

Its the first day of winter, so I had to bring out this tea for my morning cuppa.
The spices and the citrus note are a good blend, and it was warming and thematic on this morning.
Ahh. Winter. Prime tea drinking time.

Friday. Thank goodness, its Friday.
I am quite stressed at work, and today is going to be massively busy. I’m worried that I won’t be done with the larger projects I’ve been given. Argh.
I wish I was feeling more confident in this new job! I’m dying to feel calm and detached when I come into the office, but right now I’m tense and stressed beyond belief.
Which means I’m not sleeping well. Which means that I’m not sleeping well. Which means tea.
This is my last bit of this, so its a sipdown.
I really like this blend. Its gorgeous in the cooler weather. Now that we’re pushing against spring, its time to drink it down.

Ugh, daylight savings time.
Anyone expecting elegant prose, or poetic desciptions, well, be gone, my friends. This day has been one long session of uggggggh, as I dragged my sorry carcass around, mewing slightly and bumping into objects.
I do not like waking up early, that’s for sure.
So! Bold! Rich! Strong! That’s what I grabbed this morning. Thank you for all your help, Winter Solstice.

I had a lovely pot of this in the morning. Its warm and the hint of citrus just uplift it, and keep it from being too heavy and dark.
Its lovely in these colder months, and as it was a rainy morning, it was glorious then.

It is pouring down rain today, which is so, so excited! So I decided on something warm and bold for the morning.
I’m so glad that this is the old Winter Solstice I knew and loved. I was worried I would be parted forever from it!

There was only one obvious choice for today, and this was it.
I am highly relieved to see that they don’t seem to have tinkered with this too much, as its moved from Peet’s house brand to Mighty Leaf. They had me worried.
It was a long day. I’m glad I had this bit of extra pep!

Really nice tea. I steeped it for way longer than 3 minutes and it never got too strong to drink.

Hmmm…I’m not getting any “cherry” in this. It smells too much like pinesol (giving me a mental image of licking my kitchen floor…unpleasant). It’s not a BAD tea but I was hoping to get more cherry flavor, the lemon is just overpowering.

Decided to brew double strength this time: two sachets per 14 oz water. Tastes a bit strong.