Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf » Liquid Honey

Tea Review: Drink The Leaf Hong Tao Mao Feng – 3

GG — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 21:39:04 +0000

Category: Black

Tea Company: Drink The Leaf (website)

Ingredients: Black Tea

Vendor Suggested Preparation: Boiling water, 4-5 minutes

This is one of those amazing quality teas that sends you straight to the package, squinting at the fine print to find evidence of flavoring above and beyond the tea itself. Nope. Nothing but great tea.

The dry leaves have the farmy burlap feed sack smell traditionally associated with Keemuns. (Southwest Missourian that I am, I could just breathe the bag fumes and be content!) Drink the Leaf subtitles this “red peach Keemun,” which is evident in the red-gold color of the steeped tea.

But peachy doesn’t even begin to describe all the things that happen in your mouth once you start enjoying this stuff! This tea has heft and a wonderful liquid honey taste that stays on the tongue long after you’ve swallowed. (Suddenly, I’m craving buttered toast.) A second steep lightens the flavor some, but it’s still pleasant follow-up to the first yummy batch.

Drink the Leaf describes Hong Tao Mao Feng as having a “long finish,” appropriate for a tea you’ll want to enjoy when you have plenty of time to sit and smile between sips.

You can purchase the Hong Tao Mao Feng directly from the Drink The Leaf website.

Tea Review: Rishi Tea Orange Blossom – Take 2

Jamie — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:45:18 +0000

Category of Tea: Green

Tea Company: Rishi (website)

Ingredients: Organic and Fair Trade Certified green tea, Organic lemongrass, Organic osthmanthus flowers, Organic lemon myrtle, natural essential oils of orange, lime and tangerine.

Vendor Suggested Preparation: Water: 180°F / Leaves: 1 tablespoon per 8 ounces / Infusion Time: 3–4 minutes.

Described as: “A profoundly flowery blend of select green teas, rare blossoms and aromatic lemon myrtle leaves”.

I was anxious to try this tea because I am a huge fan of lemon myrtle and it did not disappoint. It was difficult to wait the full three minutes for it to steep because the smell of the citrus and rose oils was so alluring. It brewed to a nice golden color, almost like liquid honey and tasted just as smooth. Lemon myrtle is sometimes overwhelming in a tea but this blend has just the right amount to perfectly compliment the taste of orange and the green tea. Couldn’t really pick out the lemon grass in the first steep but it came through in the second. A nice tangy aftertaste, refreshing and pleasant, with enough sweetness on it’s own. It went through three steeps perfectly and has earned a place at the front of my tea cabinet. Can’t wait to try this one iced…

You can purchase Rishi Tea Orange Blossom directly from their website.