Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Black tea

All Reviews for Black tea

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Due to user error, my first experimental pot of Lochan’s Harmutty Golden Paw was a declawed version of what a good Assam should be. At a scant teaspoon per cup and 3:45 brewing time (what I thought was a fair middle range)…

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The smell of the tea leaves (dry and wet) is musty. Oh, I see pollen pieces on the ingredient list. That would explain the slight musty…

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Much to my delight, I recently received a shipment of 3 teas from Davids Tea. I have been looking forward to sampling and reviewing tea from Davids ever since a store opened close to me here. They are truly a Canadian company (unlike the mistake I made with Mighty Leaf, Davids really was started, and is run, in Canada ), and I have been itching

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Tea Forte supplies whole loose leaf tea in these clever pyramid shaped infusers, which give room for the tea to expand as it steeps. It is a great brand for novice tea drinkers to try higher quality teas than typically offered at the supermarket and for tea snobs to drink at work without having to use a messy tea infuser at the office. Personally, Tea Forte was my…

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Category: Black Tea Company: Leaf Spa Tea (website) Ingredients: Organic Ceylon Tea Vendor Suggested Preparation: Brew Temperature: 205 deg F / Brew Time: 5 minutes The Product Description from LeafSpa certainly describes the color and origin perfectly. As for the taste… I found that it’s fairly basic… a medium strength Ceylon… yet very clean and [...]

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I began by preparing this tea (in my Tea Forte Cafe Cup), following the directions given on the Tea Forte (steep 3-5 minutes using just-boiled water)…

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Keemun Hao Ya B is one of the very best grades of  Keemun teas from China, so I brewed Vicony’s import with great anticipation.  I was not a bit disappointed–indeed, I felt rapturous.  A good Keemun tea opens up a universe of surprising and complexly melded taste treats…

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I’ll start off by saying I wasn’t exactly sure how to brew this tea. The sample packaging had no steeping parameters on it, so I tried the website and didn’t find any suggestions. I decided to brew this a little on the safe side and stick to…

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I recently received this from a friend. Apparently she lives near the Tea House where this came from. The Pre-Infusion/Dry Loose Leaf smell is like Vanilla, Apricot, and a hint of chocolate…which is interesting because I don’t think 2 out of those 3 are even in there…

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This dark loose leaf tea has become my favorite tea. I drink it morning, noon and night. What makes it different from all the other teas that I have had the privilege of tasting? Sinharaja tastes like tea. The way tea should taste, not with a bunch of other flavors crowding out the tea taste…

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Noticing that the last tea I drank that had “Mao Feng” in the title was a green tea, this made me curious, so I first went and looked up what “Mao Feng” meant. According to the “wonderful source of all knowledge,” Wikipedia…

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Ginger Peach is a popular flavor combination. It’s also a very difficult one to pull off. Too much ginger and the peach will disappear. Too much peach and any discernible ginger is gone. Sometimes popular dessert combinations do not translate well to tea blends…

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I didn’t know what to expect from a 1st Flush Darjeeling, but I could have sworn it was a black tea. I did a bit of research and it turns out that the 1st flush is more like a green tea, so now that I knew a bit of what to expect I went ahead and brewed up some of this…

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A blend of China and Sri Lankan teas. Dry leaf appearance: teeny black leaves with a brown leaves intermingled throughout the blend. The smell of the dry leaves reminds me of grapes that are over ripe…

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This is my first tea from Harney & Sons and I must say that I have heard a lot of amazing things about Florence. I truly hope to not be disappointed…

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Keemun is a variety of Chinese black tea, possibly China’s most famous. The region centered around the town of Qimen, between the Yangtze and the Yellow mountains, produces mostly black tea. Keemun used to be a component leaf in many traditional English Breakfast blends…

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leaves are small and black. The dry leaf smell is of tea, a really good quality Ceylon tea. I can smell the tiniest hint of green? Can this be possible in a Ceylon black tea?

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I received this tea from a friend and had only HEARD about it prior. Because I LOVE the fact Frank from 52 Teas ‘thinks outside the box…or in this case, the bag”…I like to try as many blends of his that I can…

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I love Earl Grey. I used to drink it quite often, but a couple of months ago I came across a couple of EG variations that were bad. They gave Earl Grey a really horrible, perfume filled name. It used to be my favorite variety of tea, so I was excited to try this version from Mighty Leaf in hopes of renewing my faith in Earl Grey…

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Category: Green Tea Company: The Simple Leaf (website) Ingredients: Black Tea Vendor Suggested Preparation: 1 tsp. / 6oz cup 190 – 208 deg boiling water 5 minute infusion These are some of the most beautiful leaves I’ve ever seen with a black tea. Usually black teas are all short pieces, small and fairly boring looking. [...]

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The fancy teabag/pyramid/thing had a wonderful fragrance when I took it out of its packaging. The vanilla was deliciously fragrant and smelled like actual vanilla bean rather than some random perfume or extract. I could smell the tea base underneath which had an oddly lightly spiced sort of scent. I had to concentrate for my nose to pick up the coconut, but I think I detected it up. There’s something about coconut that just seems to blend really well with vanilla.

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With much fanfare, Rishi Tea has reintroduced its Chai concentrate – it is now available with new packaging, a high profile association with Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots program, and a change in the recipe. The ingredients listed are filtered water, black tea, cinnamon, cardamon, black pepper, cloves, ginger, dried cane syrup, blackstrap molasses, vanilla extract and lemon juice – all organic, and the tea is also organic as well as fair trade certified…

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You know, I don’t think I’ve ever drank a First Flush Darjeeling before, so this will be a first for me. The scent of the tea was quite unusual, very green and vegetale and not as much of the basic ‘tea’ scent as I was expecting. The leaves are surprisingly green-looking too and after I steeped them they looked more like the leaves of a green tea – brightly green and vibrant-looking. The liquor is a warm, amber-gold shade and very clear-looking, unlike some teas that have a cloudy appearance…

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I’ve heard such rave reviews of this tea that when I had the opportunity to try it for myself, I jumped on it. Opening the bag you are hit with the smell of rich, dark baking cocoa. The dry leaves are extremely beautiful, long, twisted, and dark in color…

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First off, I am a sucker for clever packaging, and the little pyramid single-serve boxes from Tea Forte just scream “adorable.”. I pried mine open very gingerly so I could preserve the pattern—I work with fifth graders at my church, and I’m seeing triangular game pieces…

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I start each day with at least 1 black or black flavored tea…my day “tea day” progresses from there…each day a new tea adventure. BUT…I always HAVE to have some good, solid Black or Black Flavored Tea Favorites or Standby’s nearby…

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The dry leaf smells like cinnamon and star anise, though predominately of star anise. Through the bag I could distinguish long black tea leaves mixed with small bits of what appeared to be the ginger and cloves….

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For those of you that know me, the fact that I am reviewing an Earl Grey tea may seem a bit… strange. For those of you that do NOT know me, you should know that I do not like Earl Grey. I have tasted teas from all over the world, different cultures, countries and hundreds of different blended and flavoured tea, and I could just never get my head around one of the most well known teas, Earl Grey – until now…

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Dawn, by Simple Leaf Co, is one of my favorite orthodox black teas for its distinct chocolate taste making it a perfect treat in the afternoon. Dawn has no added flavorings (no cocoa nibs or chocolate chips) and is sourced from a single plantation estate that expertly coaxes the tea’s inherent chocolate flavors via the farm’s cultivation methods, processing, and geographic location. So, I say “Bravo!”…

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According to the Vicony Teas website, Keemun tea is the result of an embarrassed civil servant who lost his job in the 1870′s. His father advised him to pick up a “real trade,” which he did-tea farming…

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When this tea arrived, I didn’t recognize the name and the only red tea that I’d tried was rooibos (I love rooibos). Seemed a curious name for an African ‘tea’ though hmm. Yes, this grasshopper has a lot to learn….

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On a shopping trip the other day I saw a box labeled Chinese Red tea. Chinese *red* tea? I’ve never heard of that, I’ve heard of white, green, black, herbal, oolong, honeybush and rooibos teas, but not Chinese Red. I’ve heard rooibos called red…

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Real chocolate draws your eye. The scent of exotic spices pulls you closer. By the time you taste this rich and complex black tea, you’ve already fallen in love….

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When I poured the contents of the sample bag into the filter I noticed that there were a surprising amount of fannings in the as well. A certain amount would be expected in a full bag, but having them in a sample does not give a promising preview of the tea on sale.

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On the Mighty Leaf website this description is given: Bombay Chai with a melange of spicy notes conjures the steamy, aromatic delights of an Indian street market. Black tea leaves with subtle hints of Pepper, Orange, Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Clove make up our chai, the Indian word for tea. Bombay Chai is delicious when brewed fresh and blended with heated milk and sugar to taste…

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Starting my day with a taste of India, closing my eyes, allowing myself to be taken away to northern India with this charming, malty, CTC Assam from 52teas…

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Let me start by saying, I am not a coffee drinker. For me, the tea I choose to drink throughout the day will be dependent on my mood. This tea would be one that I would use to start my day, as I think it has the ability to give you that initial morning burst that many people claim to get from that first pot of java…

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On a recent trip to Banff, we passed this quaint little tea store. There was no resisting, you just never know what you are going to find, and I wasn’t disappointed. They offered a whole wall of teas from Maple to Almond and even an ice wine tea…

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Tea from the Darjeeling region of India is known as the “Champagne” of tea. While I have always known that, I have yet to taste the definition of such a tea. I think after drinking the TeaGschwender Darjeeling Phuguri FTGFOP1, I have a clearer idea of why that is.

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The Mighty Leaf Organic Earl Grey tea is quite a delight. Opening the package to find a silk tea bag is very impressive and allows the customer to use the loose leaf tea without the usual mess and effort. I definitely love the tea pouch style….

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I truly enjoy this cup of Tea, from the moment you open the container you can smell the warm aroma of superior loose leaf tea. Black teas are one of my favourites and this one certainly fits the bill…

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