two leaves and a bud

Speaking of Assam, here we have an Assam-esque tea which really is from Assam! The Two Leaves (formerly known as Two Leaves and a Bud) company offers a 15 sachet sampler set containing three varieties, one of which is organic Assam.

The sachet places the nice-looking leaves of this tea in proper relief, but the flavor of the tea is not all that great, it seems to me. Just another mid-level Assam. It brews up reddish amber and turns caramel colored upon the addition of cream. The tea is organic, and tastes perfectly fine but leaves a slight scratchiness in the back of my throat after swallowing.

(Blazing New Rating #26)

Tea #1 from Travelling Tea Box C Round 2
So I picked out this big pile of teas to try from the TTBC R2 and it’s a bit overwhelming on which to start with, so I pretty much closed my eyes and grabbed one. Lol. This came up first.
I wasn’t sure about the measurements so I kinda winged it. A heaping tsp in 8oz of water, 195* (it went a bit hotter than I intended. I had been aiming for 185*) for 3 min.
Overall I don’t really taste anything special about this tea. It’s kinda just an everyday roasty tasting oolong to me. Maybe a bit bitter (though I think that’s because I used too hot of water), but nothing amazing.

I’ve been wanting to do a steep-off of this Organic Tamayokucha from Two Leaves with the Imperial Tamaryokucha from Les Palais des Thés, but my remaining sachet of the Two Leaves was MIA. Happily, I just found it. However, I just noticed that the names of these two teas are actually different “Tamayokucha” versus “Tamaryokucha”. Could be a type-o, I suppose. Or are these really and different teas? The way to find out for sure will be to do a steep-off chez sherapop!

Both the diaphanous sachet from Tea Leaves and the cotton muslin sachet from Le Palais des Thés brew up golden with a green tint. Le Palais des Thés brews up slightly lighter and slightly more green. I noticed that these cotton muslin sachets contain quite a bit less tea than the see-through sachets of most every other company. The size appears to be determined by the same template as the one used by Kusmi—smaller and more rectangular in shape, rather than a pyramid or tetrahedron.

The tea in this sachet reminds me of Mighty Leaf Organic Green Dragon—more of a robust China blend than a single-origin Japanese tea… It’s good, but I would never have guessed that it came from Japan.

This is my first experience of tamayokucha, which Two Leaves glosses as “Extremely Green Tea”. Well, the liquor is a pale greenish yellow, but let’s not get carried away!

The flavor seems midway between a sencha and a long jing—almost a hybrid between a classic Japanese and a classic Chinese green. It’s pretty good.

second infusion: better than the first! I am using a large Bodum glass (about 10 ounces), so these sachets are essentially equivalent to two filter bags. Now I’m going to have to try this tea in the loose format…

I’m giving this bedtime brew from Two Leaves and a Bud another try. My last glass was not very effective, as I was penning my tasting note near 5 am. Tonight we’re pushing 2:30 am. With any luck, I’ll be asleep before 3:30 am.

What to say about this tisane. Lots of aniseed and lemon grass, not very much chamomile. I almost feel that chamomile was thrown in as an afterthought, or maybe to satisfy everyone’s concept of “bedtime brew”. I don’t even taste it. In fact, I’d recommend this infusion more for settling one’s stomach than as an inducement to sleep.

Despite the undeniable inclusion of stinky valerian, I’m not sure that the dose is high enough for me. Perhaps I’d be better off with two glasses, but then I’d have to descend from my chambers in the middle of the night. Oh well, this was my last bag, I believe.

A final question: why in the world did this company change their name to Two Leaves? It would be like Starbucks changing their name to Bucks. Hmmm… come to think of it, that name rather fits!

Tonight I was especially struck by the aniseed in my glass of Organic Better Rest. I found the liquor more enjoyable, but it does not seem to have induced sleep, as it is now 4:39 am!!!! Perhaps another glass? Or should I just stay up and begin brewing caffeinated tea? ;-)

Once again I was somewhat underwhelmed by the flavor of this blend. It tastes fine but somewhat nondescript. Perhaps Organic Better Rest Blend is supposed to be a bit boring in order better to induce sleep? The flavor seems something like a fourth infusion of a green tea.

The good news is that the lemon grass is not overwhelming despite the obvious preponderance of the little stalks in the sachet. Also a relief is that the stinky valerian does not smell the same infused as it does dry…

The scent of the dried tea in my sachet of Organic Better Rest from two leaves and a bud immediately revealed the presence of valerian. The flavor of the brew was smooth but somewhat neutral. It definitely worked its soporific magic, as I am now very tired!

time for a full review:

when i open the single sachet pack the tea smells like nice flowers and grass :)

when i steep it, it smels like a normal smooth light green tea :P

the same when i taste it :)

overall it smells and tastes nice :)

same rating.

I forgot I had this tea lol. Still a good enjoyable tea. Steeps quite fast :D

a nice light green tea :) very smooth sencha taste :D

I had this while I was out today, because I’m cold. It wasn’t bad for a hibiscus based herbal. I had it with honey. The blackberry flavours were a nice alternative to the usual herbal offerings (orange, lemon, chamomile…).

It hailed the saddest, teensiest hail on us today. Like little seed beads. But we walked, and went into the forest, and that was nice.

Picked this up from BrewTEAlly Sweet’s stash sale.

The name of this one is very confusing. I just don’t see it as a morning drink. Even if it was caffeinated. It’s more of a refreshing afternoon blend. The citrus and mint combination is lovely. The mint flavor lingers nicely. That said, I’m not a huge fan. I really don’t like lemongrass, and it’s certainly discernible here. I should have checked the ingredients list.

Sipdown

My wife got me this tea for my birthday, and I tried it this morning. I don’t have much experience with jasmine teas (in fact, this is my first one), but this is delicious. The jasmine smell is strong from the dry tea, but the flavor is subtle. Just as good on the second steep—in fact, I was able to taste some new subtleties (including what tasted like the smallest hint of cinnamon; of course, the only ingredients are green tea and jasmine, but the hint was still there). A very good tea—I’m glad this was my introduction to jasmine green tea. By the way, they’ve updated their packaging—recommended steep time is now three minutes.

Well, this won’t be a morning blend for me anytime soon (Give me caffeine!), but it’s better than I thought it would be. It has kind of a pungent woody aroma, but tastes far more lemongrass-y with a peppermint afterkick. It’s not super medicinal either.

Tasty, yes. But morning cup this is not.

My daughter got me this tea for my birthday (she’s five months old—apparently this is the one she reached for, which is fortunate, because it’s one of the ones that interested me most). I tried it today, and was astounded by how delicious it was. It’s complex, malty, earthy, woodsy, and vegetative, and slightly astringent (but not too much, and it’s not very bitter at all). I had it plain, and my wife had it with milk. I tried a sip of hers, and the milk didn’t change the flavor too much. While Twinings is my go-to for early morning tea, this is one that I’ll definitely have on mornings when I don’t have to wake up hours before dawn. Fantastic!

I pulled this teabag out of one of the traveling tea boxes and I’m actually glad that I remembered! I have a bad stomach ache tonight and need something soothing. I actually don’t have an herbal blend for these times, but I really should. I guess the herbs that are typically in those ‘tummy blends’ don’t appeal to me so I haven’t invested much time in finding a solid blend that will do the job and taste good.

This one is reasonably soft for the amount of herbs that are in it. It reminds me of Sleepytime tea without the strong minty note. To be honest, all of the flavors sort of mush together and shout together, “WE’RE HERBAL!” I like to think that it’s settling my stomach and before I know it, the cup is gone. This is a rather pleasant herbal blend for this evening — nothing too sharp or strong. I’m still on the search for a tasty tummy blend, but this was nice tonight!

This tea is really not good at all. It is way too overpriced for the quality, as well. There is very little bergamot flavor, and the tea itself has very little flavor. There were way too few leaves and way too many stems, it was as if the tea was made of little sticks. The leaves don’t expand very much, either. Over all, I was very disappointed with it.

Sipdown (179)!

Darn it – just as I finished my Mint Chocolate Rooibos review I saw that VariaTEA had managed to get in a few more teas tonight. This is my 14th cup of tea today, so I don’t think I can do anymore after this one. Despite a competitive drive, I just don’t think I can manage. Oh well, hopefully a day surrounded by tea tomorrow will yield some more tasting notes.

Anyway, this tea is one of two teas my Dad and Step Mom owned prior to my coming down from vacation. It comes in pyramid satchets and though there’s no information on the ingredients in the packaging, visually it looks like it’s just red rooibos, lemon grass, and cornflower. It has a strong lemon grass smell. I didn’t have any while I was there, but I did take a single satchet home with me to try.

Steeped up in 8 oz. of boiling water for like six minutes? I lose track of time a bit. Steeped smell is strongly lemongrass. And, as far as the taste goes, it’s more just plain old grass…

Ok, maybe that’s a little harsh. It’s more like very wood chippy and kind of medicinal rooibos, lawn trimmings, and a squeeze of fresh lemon. Yeah – I think I was right to be harsh. It’s just not that good. I think I’m dumping most of this cup. Sorry Dad, but this is nasty – I’m glad I left some higher quality tea for you to enjoy.