Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Brewing Time’

One of the things I’ve been noticing over the years, as I’ve ordered tea from various merchants, is that common parameters aren’t always common.

Almost every tea will have directions on the back of the packet, telling you how to brew a cup of tea. Too bad they can’t agree on the definition of the word ‘cup’. A standard English definition of the word cup could lead you to believe that it would be a measurement somewhere around 8 oz. But apparently this doesn’t count in the tea world. The general rule of thumb is 2-3 grams of tea per cup. But if you don’t have the same definition of cup, that could result in some very strange brewing parameters.

Lupicia has one of the smallest definitions of a cup I’ve ever seen. They define a cup as 5 oz., and still call for 3 grams of tea per these 5 oz. I’d be afraid of oversteeping with something like this but this cup? This was an amazing cup of tea.

The product description says “Sweet nostalgic aroma of caramel and almonds. Delicious straight or with milk.” This tea leaf smells sweet. And brewed up, it’s a beautiful medium brown and smells lovely, although much less sweet. Drinking the tea straight up, it has hints of caramel and almond flavors; a nice light cup. However, I like to add splenda or honey to my black teas. And if you sweeten this? Wow, it’s amazing. Mellow, smooth caramel flavors. Rich, creamy, and sweet with an almond finish. I also tried this tea with milk, and while nice, I didn’t find that it added as much as the sweetener did.

I strongly recommend that those who like a little sweetness with their tea give this a try. It’s a lovely yummy cup of goodness.

You can purchase the Caramele directly from the Lupicia Tea website.

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), it was a beautiful amber in the cup, but I couldn’t coax much flavor out of it. It just tasted light and tea-ish.

When I got distracted—a routine occurrence on busy Saturdays—and left the rest of the pot for more than an hour, the color began to darken. Once that happened, some sweet, nutty notes began to emerge—prompting visions of and a craving for my Aunt Nancy’s legendary pecan pie. The full pot’s worth of leaves, double strength in a single cup, made a great glass of iced tea in the afternoon.

Evidently, this tea is not intended to be treated like a pampered pussycat. Even though the leaves are light and fluffy, they need strength (a heaping teaspoon per cup and then some) and time (minimum five minutes). When you give Harmutty Golden Paw a lion’s share of care and attention, you’ll get a smooth, light, slightly sweet, highly enjoyable tea.

The little leaves are twisted wiry leaves that are dark green in color. The smell of the dry leaves is sweet and nutty.

Recommended brewing time is 3 minutes. I started out with a 2 minute infusion. The color is light.

First smell reminds me of a Japanese green. The taste reminds me of Genmaicha. A nutty tone is present, smooth, light, savory. The nutty tone is described by Leaf Spa as a woody note. This is a “pan-dried fine spring harvest green tea from the Jiangsu province of Mainland China.”

Went for a second flush on the leaves, it is ok, but not as good as the first pot. The nutty/woodsy notes are much weaker in this second flush. All I taste now are the grassy notes. Not bad, just different from the first cup.

You can purchase the Organic Bi Luo Chun Tea directly from the Leaf Spa Tea website.

I do believe I have just found it!! I didn’t think it could be done, I was skeptical at best, but I went in with an open mind and I have been rewarded. Yes I am talking tea. I drink a lot of it and all different types. Some gourmet, other’s my daughter and I refer lovingly to as ‘crap tea’. That’s the stuff you pick up at drive through to warm your hands and thaw your toes in a hurry.

Teas with a fruit essence has never really been my thing, white tea’s I have tried, but usually go back to an old standard black, Earl Grey Special from Tea Frog being my first choice.

In becoming a reviewer of tea, I have been able to open my world and palate to a whole other experience.

First let me say I love the packaging, well not the packaging per se, but more the design of the tea bag itself. I know, it doesn’t REALLY matter, but to me I notice stuff like this. The bag looks as if it’s been hand stitched in a perfect little pillow form. The stitching extending long enough to easily dunk and retrieve the bag, but the best part of it has to be the little label on the end of the string. A little label attached to the bag with all the necessary information on brewing time, type of tea and their website with phone number. It’s a small thing, but it made an impact on me.

The best part about this tea is I truly enjoyed each cup, and I brewed the same bag 5 times, the final brewing I left it in the cup to extract the last hint of flavor. There was a very subtle hint of the fruit, melons and peaches, enough to be made aware of the flavor, not overwhelmed by it. I couldn’t detect any bitter aftertaste. As per my usual I drank it without any additions to it and savored each sip. I could imagine drinking it over ice with a splash of lemon & sugar on a hot day, or in my to-go travel mug on my way to the toboggan hill this winter. I have to give this one a strong 8.5/10 and unless you detest the aroma of peach, I am confident you would enjoy this light addition to your tea drinking choices.

You can purchase Mighty Leaf White Orchard directly from their website.