t Leaf T

Aha! I knew I would like spearmint more than peppermint in tea form (whereas in gum or mints form I prefer it the other way around). A much brighter, cleaner minty taste than peppermint and more refreshing too. I’m looking foward to experimenting with adding this to other teas and blends!

I have been craving a cup of matcha since I watched that teashow.tv episode, but knowing that I really don’t like the taste of the only matcha I can get my hands on, I had a look around for different ways of drinking it. Of course the answer lies in adding two of my favourite things: Milk and honey (not Frank Sinatra and Christmas, I’m not that insane). Whisking warm milk and matcha together with a spoonful of honey made for a delightfully creamy, less grassy, sweet and comforting cup. It definitely gave me the kick I needed to make it through the rest of today in one piece.

The smooth and mellow characteristics of this really surprised me – I didn’t realize the peppery bite in the kawakawa version of this blend was entirely from said kawakawa leaves. I know its a classic duo, but much like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, I prefer the ginger root and lemongrass seperately.

The aroma of this tea in both the dry leaves and resulting brew is a rich berry one, but it turns out this is just a disappointingly mild strawberry-flavoured black tea. Best drunk plain really. Meh.

Who would have thought that plain old lemongrass would deliver a kick-ass lemon flavour? Sweet, rich and almost buttery in taste – surely there is a skilled tea blender out there who can unite black tea and lemongrass in perfect harmony without adding other ingredients to make it taste medicinal and awful? No? Time to experiment then!

I knew this was going to be tasty as soon as I started to brew a pot. Comfortingly cloudy, this manages to have just the right amount of zing to be drunk without sweetener. It also packs enough flavour to be my new evening tea for these colder nights. Squeeze of lemon, touch of honey… perfection!

Its come to my understanding that nearly all fruit teas are completely useless hot – its like drinking warmed up juice and tastes all kinds of wrong.
The cup I brewed yesterday had a single flavour: tart hibiscus. But leaving it to steep in the fridge overnight and beat the hibiscus into submission, resulted in a lovely mango-pineapple concoction. Yet another fantastic “serve poolside” blend from t leaf T, its a shame they are releasing this as we are head towards winter!

Well I was in the middle of writing this tasting note when the Great Wellington Powercut 2010 happened, so let me try to remember what I had written…
The aroma of the dry leaves smells promising, sweetly lemon. Could this be the lemon tea I have been looking for? No. No it could not. Oh my god, why did I take a mouthful instead of just a sip?!?!? Medicinal lemon with a medicinal lemon aftertaste. Yikes.

A rooibos blend with fruit in its name generally scares me, but I figured I should give this a go. I’m glad I did! The aroma is strongly mango, but the flavour that comes through in the resulting infusion is dominated by passionfruit. Even though we are heading towards winter, I’m thinking that the full-flavour of this blend would make an amazing iced tea. Splash of vodka, bit of soda, few slices of orange, lounging poolside, mambo on the boombox… perfection!

Another misleadingly-named tea! The aroma has a sweetness along with the raspberry, so you assume the vanilla will be a discernable flavour. It is not. A perfectly palatable raspberry flavoured rooibos though, perhaps they should just name it “Red Raspberry Rarrr!”.

I want so badly to like this tea, but after several cups I have decided to give up and face the facts: I do not like Sweet Lemon at all. It has a strange lemon flavour, reminiscent of imitation lemon essence that you think is okay to use in your cupcakes when you’re out of real lemons, but it ends up ruining the whole batch.
I guess I’ll continue my hunt for a tasty lemon black tea…

Either the tea blossoms or the chamomile in this blend are not agreeing with me at all. I’m unsure what makes this a “Turkish Delight” aside from the rose, which would be nicer on its own than with the addition of other flowers.
Looks pretty but tastes bad, like fondant icing. Perhaps this is the wedding cake of teas?

Chocolate tea. I think no matter what, chocolate flavoured tea will always be disappointing, because its no substitute for the real thing. The flavour is sickly sweet and more artificial “chocolate flavouring” than chocolate. I think if you’re looking for something to sate your sweet tooth you should hit up a caramel or vanilla tea instead.

Lovely! Sending the last little bit to my good friend LiberTEAs

This is the last of my first tastes from the goodie-bag Miss Sweet sent me and boy-oh-boy it was a happy ending! This is lovely! It’s a nice flavored white and it’s juicy! Thirst-quenching, even!

YAY! I think with all the teas from t Leaf T I have tried yesterday and today I can safely say I am a t Leaf T Fan!!!! Thanks Miss Sweet!

num, num, num…another Miss Sweet Tea…this time an Oolong!
When I say Oooooooo….you say…???? (anybody!?) LOL

Anyhow…this is lovely! Let me get that out right away. It’s earthy-sweetness is tasty. It’s not too much on scent but I guess if I were to compare…I would say it has a slight fresh/sweet pea smell.

This is certainly screaming multiple infusions!

Another Miss Sweet Tea! :)
She spoiled me!

This is the first time I have ever had Kawakawa…the leaves are HUGE. The Ginger and Lemongrass are mingled well throughout.

I honestly didn’t know what I would think of this…because some ginger teas and tisanes freak me out sometimes but this one is quite pleasant. Thanks to the lemon grass, perhaps?

Either way…I was pleasantly surprised and so happy I go to try this one!

You can taste all 3 main ingredients but none too overpowering, thankfully!

Not too shabby! :)

Yet ANOTHER tea that Miss Sweet Sent me!! YAY! (I’m till thinking about that wonderful New Zealand Breakfast…yummmmm)

Anyhow…
As soon as I open the bag I could smell LOTS of cinnamon. But once I started infusing I could smell citrus.

The color of the liquid is a nice even medium brown. The first thing that came to mind once I smells the finished product (the post-infusion) was my Girls Scout Camp Days…I can’t really tell you why this is the case but it was the first thing I thought of while sniffing the aroma.

WOW!

The first sip was surprisingly good. Even tho it’s a Rooibos it doesn’t really taste like it – I guess it happily meets the other flavors in the middle for a ‘happy medium’ of tastes! It’s a little sweet but is paired with cinnamon and citrus but no one ingredient is overly louder than the others…I really like this!

Ready for a shocker!?

I think this is my FAVORITE Chai/Rooibos thus far!!!!

This is the last Cup I have in my stash…so sad to see it go!!!! Even tho my water temp was much cooler than I usually do this one at it’s still wonderful! Just not as much pine flavor. Still FAB tho!

I am certainly going to miss this when I run out…only have enough for one more cup. :( Good news, tho, I got 3 packages of new teas from friends and 1 company for samples today so I will start sampling ASAP!

Another Lovely selection from Miss Sweet and I must say I AM LOVING THIS!!!! I think this is the first New Zealand Breakfast I have ever had.

The color is EXTREMELY Dark. The taste is bold and malty. I like the word Miss Sweet used in her review…MALTYLICIOUS! :)

I can also taste the pine-like comparison and am surprised yet delighted with the outcome of the flavor.

This is the perfect morning cup! And New Zealand should be proud of this little gem!

Another Miss Sweet gift…yay!

Lately I am thinking I like Honeybush better than Rooibos…at least this stuff is pretty good…it’s plain and simple but tasty and refreshing!

Another selection from Miss Sweet’s goody bag that she sent me…YAY!

mocha…CHECK

chocolate and coffee…CHECK

roasted matè, cocoa…OKAY…I’ll buy it!

almond…IS PRESENT, slightly.

cactus flowers and cornflower blossoms…CAN’T TELL

All-in-All I totally see what they are going for here! And I would say it would be comparable to Roasted Chocolate Almond Coffee or Mocha…

I’m glad I got to try this, not sure if I would buy it myself. It’s nice for a change but not something I would drink daily. It seems to leave a slight barky after taste…but not too bad.

Fairly good considering all the ingredients and the coffee alternative mask…

Lil’ Scrappy once asked, “I got money in the bank, shawty what you drank?”. Well, my preferred green to “drank” is Hon Gyokuro. It has a more lush, rounded flavour than the Kabuse with that buttery goodness that even Young Buck would enjoy (perhaps while driving his Bentley that 50 Cent bought him).

Today’s gyokuro craving was bought to you by those teashow.tv dudes. Unfortunately I don’t have “money long like sleeves”, but this was the highest grade I could get my hands on…

2nd steep: 65C/2min 30secs