two leaves and a bud

Travelling Tea Box C

Not a remarkable Dark Oolong. I tend to prefer lighter oolongs anyway. Dark wood charcoal flavor with a gritty texture on the first steep. This mellows out into something more mineral-like in the second steep. I preferred that one.

The directions on the cylinder suggest one teaspoonful – maybe that’s not quite enough? I found this one disappointing; very bland. I’ll keep experimenting, but I don’t have high hopes.

Recidivism. Ignoring all that I learned in previous brews, I used overly hot water (80C) and I also used too much tea. The result was a bit bitter, just like my very first batch.

That’s okay, now I won’t forgot: 76C is the maximum temperature for this tea! Do not overleaf!

I have finally figured out how to brew this tea! Correct temperature = 75F; steep time = 2 minutes. But the most important part of all is to use the correct filter, which I have determined through trial and error is a metal mesh cone coffee filter basket. I don’t like the result when I use that sort of filter to prepare coffee—it leaves too much silt behind, creating more of a Turkish style brew. However, the mesh size turns out to be perfect for removing the broken particles from brewed sencha, of which there are many in this two leaves and a bud sencha.

Using a more effective filter device to catch all of the smaller pieces of tea produces a much better first infusion! I always liked the subsequent infusions, but before I was finding the first one too bitter. Not anymore!

Once again, I found the second infusion of this tea to be vastly superior to the first. The liquor was bright yellow with just a hint of green, and fairly clear—definitely much less cloudy than the first round.

I noticed that the dried tea is not whole leaf—there are lots of small pieces and even some powder, which ends up in the bottom of the glass in the first infusion. It’s not that I’m using too much tea, but that the fine particles are not filtered out from the first volume of brew produced. Then they are gone, which is why the second infusion is so much better—not at all bitter. Clean, slightly vegetal and thirst quenching and smooth.

The solution to this problem may be to use a paper filter rather than only a metal mesh colander-like sieve. We shall see…

I’m back to a bitter first infusion again. Not sure what I did wrong today. I definitely did not overheat the water. I may have overleafed, as I’ve been drinking a lot of very subtle greens of late, so I added a big tablespoon to my 27 ounce tetsubin. Or perhaps I oversteeped. Is three minutes too long for this tea? I shall find out the answers to these and more questions in the steeps to come…

I would like to take this opportunity, however, to ask whether this little statement on the cardboard two leaves and a bud cylindrical container is true or false:

tea is like wine

Well, obviously the fact that this statement caught my attention reveals how false I find it to be! Here a just a few of the many ways in which

tea is not like wine

1. Tea is a stimulant, not a depressant
2. Tea enhances productivity. Wine? What is a wine-o?
3. Copious quaffing of tea (as in multiple infusions of loose leaf green) is good for the health of the body. Copious quaffing of wine leads to alcoholism and liver disease.

I understand that the marketers’ intention was to elevate tea, but this is just a mistake. Why? Because

tea is higher than wine!

A second infusion of this tea was much better. I now believe that I made two mistakes: first, the water was too hot; second, I had put too much dried tea in my little pot.

I am encouraged by this follow-up brew and look forward to future infusions…

My first encounter with Two leaves and a bud, this inexpensive, grocery-store, China-sourced organic loose-leaf sencha is quite bitter and astringent. It is possible that my water was too hot, but I only steeped it for three minutes. I’ll try again with cooler water.

Of course, it’s also possible that it’s just not that good. The price was rather low: only $6.99 for a 4 ounce cylinder…

I’ve drank this tea a lot and still enjoy it. This tea is not strong enough to be too bold in the morning but nice enough to wake you up. I drink it with milk and sugar just to wake up.

At Beyu Caffe, Durham. A great find, with live music and a full menu (with vegetarian and gluten free options noted, too!)

I will start by saying right off, I am not a seasoned green tea drinker. I am learning. I found this at a local super market. Price was right, I felt, so I went for it. I will admit, I thought the packaging was ‘cute’, but the bag inside did rip easily and was hard to keep the tea in. I made it work, but it was a little messy opening each time. I have drank this 3 different times. No sugar the first two and sugar the last. Compared to other green teas I have been trying, this flavor was a little off/not consistent with. It was stronger and the color bolder then most I have had. I will note, the last time I brewed it, with the sugar, I also threw in a wildberry hibiscus tea bag (from Tea Forte). I will have to say, I really enjoyed it this way. By itself, it was ok, with the wildberry hibiscus it was really ok.

I’m so so in love with this tea & yet so sad I’ve read it tastes different since the company was bought. Does anyone knows a bit more about it?

I really wanted it :(

I love Earls with lavender, but this lavender tastes beyond delicious. It’s strong & aromatic. The black base is nice not strong. I love how well it pairs with the bergamot, even when the lavender is stronger, you still can taste the bergamot.

I got this sachet from BrewTEAlly Sweet :)

Not a bad little bagged jasmine! Very much like the kind they serve at good Chinese restaurants. Always welcome in my tea stash ;)

This is just about my worst tea nightmare- hibiscus? berries? Oh lordy. But it was a gift, and before I bring it to the university and unload it upon my department I thought I should at least try a cup. Not feeling optimistic when I see the deep wine colored brew.
Ok, bracing myself.

Yep, tastes like warm kool-aid. Like jell-o mix before it cools. All teas of this sort just taste exactly the same to me. I even blame them for the bad impression I had of herbal teas for years (thanks, Celestial Seasonings berry tea).
Not gonna number-rank this, because I saw my distaste for it coming. If it hadn’t been drilled into my head from a young age not to waste things, I’d probably pour this down the drain.

The aroma is lovely, you can certainly tell it is an Assam from the first sniff! Rich and malty. I was however, surprised by the amount of dust in the tea wrapper and then in my tea, I have not run into that before with this company’s Assam.

The taste is quite good! Malty, rich, subtly sweet, and not at all bitter. I think this tea would be perfect to make a Chai and I will have to get more to do just that!

While visiting a local coffee shop in the mountains, I stumbled upon this brand and decided to try the peppermint. The tea smells very strong of peppermint but has a very refreshing taste to it.

Originally published at The Nice Drinks In Life: http://thenicedrinksinlife.blogspot.com/2013/03/jasmine-petal-tea.html

Name: Jasmine Petal Tea
Type: Green Tea
Purveyor: Two Leaves Tea Co.
Preparation: One tea bag steeped in about eight ounces of 180-degree water for 3:00 (as recommended), sipped plain

It is hardly a secret that tea is an absorbent product. It absorbs moisture, of course, but more perniciously, it absorbs scents, aromas, flavors, and just about any other such compound, making careful storage of dry leaves an indispensable task for tea drinkers. Anyone who has ever, from a cavalier attitude or simple laziness, just tossed an unsecured bag of tea into the cabinet or (even worse) the ’fridge, knows precisely of what I speak.

Of course, it is not all a bad thing. The good Mr. Richard Rosenfeld, founder and CEO of Two Leaves Tea Co. (formerly Two Leaves and a Bud), is said to take tea that he finds sub-par for drinking, and use it in place of baking soda as an odor absorber in his refrigerator. It works quite the same.

Another, perhaps more appreciable way to put tea’s absorbent qualities to good use is to produce scented tea. This nifty category of flavored teas is produced by drying tea leaves among whatever is is that we want the tea to taste like, and letting the scents and flavors get absorbed. Then the tea leaves – and only the tea leaves, not the scent-producers – are gathered and sold.

Scented teas are hardly rare, and comprise a tradition many centuries old going back to China, but all too often these days tea is flavored by throwing it together with other objects and packaging them all together. The flavors become overpowering, the tasting notes and health benefits of the tea become diluted, and even calling the product “tea” becomes rather more a convention of convenience than one of precision, as actual tea may comprise a rather small percentage of what gets brewed.

With scented tea, on the other hand, the flavors are discrete, balanced, in harmony with the tea instead of clashing against it. Two Leaves Tea has done a keen job with Jasmine Petal of scenting green tea with jasmine. By no means should my kind readership just take my word for it: trust some experts. This tea has brought to Two Leaves Tea first place prize at the 2012 North American Tea Championship in the Jasmine Scented Green Tea category of the Packaged Single-Service class (a new class in the competition). Very nice!

The tea brews into a strong, yellow beverage – not fluorescent, but not pale or translucent, either; just a deep, rich hue of yellow. In the aroma, jasmine opens like a lotus as it ascends into the nose. There are slight – very slight – fruity notes as well. The aroma is rich, but discreet. Also, smooth.

Most people who have tasted jasmine are familiar with its occasional tendency towards astringency, but this jasmine here, on the contrary, is quite sweet. Some malt underlies the flavor, but comes off more as a textural note than as a tasting note. As the sips go on, the green tea’s own notes come out from the woodwork: leafy, sweet, slightly tannic. But the jasmine maintains the spotlight, right through to the finish. Conveniently for this flavor combination, the tea is medium-bodied and very smooth, even silky.

The flavors really do blend well together. The green tea notes make for an excellent platform on which the jasmine sits high – elegant; solid yet supple; strong yet gentle.

The Jasmine Petal tea works for breakfast inasmuch as it is caffeinated, but it would be most ideally suited for the afternoon. The rich flavors and easy smoothness make for an excellent vessel by which to return oneself to a state of calm, focus, and clarity after one of those busy days in which, between the mind and the body, each seems to be more wound up than the other.

Enjoy.

Had this earlier with an amazing lemon meringue donut. It was actually more like after the donut because it was too hot.

I also think the girl at the register was really confused because I wouldn’t let her put the tea bag in LOL but I only wanted to steep this for a minute, which worked out just fine.

This was really just an excuse for warmth that worked out in the end because my boyfriend switched rental cars twice today. And standing around while they double check things was cold.

With steeping it quickly, I still got just enough of a tart berry flavor to mix in with the white tea. That was just what I wanted, I didn’t want it to be too fruity and sweet because it would have ruined how incredible that donut was.

I probably wouldn’t get this one again, I’m not that taken by acai but if I’m up at this shop again and I want something that isn’t too heavy, I’d get it again because I don’t think they had any other white teas.

I made tea for myself on Monday and then left it on the counter. With time to spare, I went to the library for a giant $2 cup of tea and picked this one out.

I probably liked this even better than the tea I had made! (Which I never got to drink.)

It’s not as good as a specific single estate, specific flush Darjeeling, as in I really couldn’t taste my favorite nutty/citrusy notes, but there’s still honey and the lovely Darjeeling astringency. It was an all around smooth and enjoyable cup.

For $2 a cup I don’t have to get mad about forgetting my travel mug!

Originally published at The Nice Drinks In Life: http://thenicedrinksinlife.blogspot.com/2013/01/organic-tamayokucha.html

Origin: China
Type: Tamayokucha
Purveyor: Two Leaves and a Bud
Preparation: One bag steeped in about eight ounces of boiling water for 3:00 (as recommended), sipped plain

Here is an interesting specimen: Chinese-grown leaves prepared in a traditional Japanese style. Tamayokucha (also known as tamaryokucha, which altered syllable one would think would alter the entire word) can be processed either via pan-firing or via steaming, and Two Leaves and a Bud made a good choice in the latter. Pan-firing brings out a more vegetal essence in the tea, and while this example certainly has some of those characteristics, it also, because of the steaming, was able to keep plenty of space for sweetness, tannins, and just plain roominess.

The color of the brewed tea is light yellow, rich, translucent, and full of character, not unlike a pigment that might be used in a stained glass window. The aroma is sweet – not honey-like, nor sugary, nor fruity, but sweet. There is also an undertone to the aroma, more of a texture than a scent, really, which gives it a sort of earthy feel, in the same way that one can feel the air in a woodland before and after a rain differently than one can feel it in other settings. (This is surely magnified many times over in pan-fired varieties.) Perhaps the best approximation – and it is only that – of this unique combination of sweetness and texture in the aroma is a steaming-hot mug of green tea ice cream.

This tamayokucha tastes delicate, light, flavorful, pure, with a touch of briskness (surprisingly), and nice tannins (which are at optimal levels). Sweetness is there but not overpowering. The fine-tuned combination of all of those factors yields a delicious brew that really tastes like green tea ought to taste; truly an excellent example of the category.

As per its dynamic character, this tea can serve equally well as a morning get-me-going potion, an object around which to unwind in the afternoon, or (for those unaffected by caffeine) something to make one cozy of an evening. Enjoy.

Beautiful color. Awesome berry scent. The taste even with sweetener is a little tart but mostly flat. I am not a big herbal or berry drinker. Maybe this is good. Maybe I just don’t get it. It was not hard to drink. I just wasn’t a fan.