Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Marigold Flowers’

For the last few weeks I’ve been stricken with an odd quandary. At the end of my day, I found myself too tired to brew up tea. Even the herbals. There was a time – not long past – when a good tisane was what the end of the day (or night) required. That ritual fell by the wayside in favor of…well…zoning. Tonight was about to be such a night until I turned to my “It’s All About the Leaf” box (yes, there is an actual box dedicated to this site).

One of the samples I forgot about in the fray was a Mighty Leaf offering. How this escaped my notice (and memory), I have no clue. I love Mighty Leaf, and their tisanes are topnotch. They made one of the best citrus chamomile fusions I’ve ever tried, and don’t get me started on how they made yerba mate drinkable.

The nighttime cup o’ “Thud!” I was turning to this time was aptly dubbed “African Nectar. From the name, it was obviously a rooibos base. In fact, I expected it to be straight rooibos with, maybe, a few other additives. Well…there were more than a few. Along for the rooibos ride were hibiscus (a mainstay in a lot of rooibos blends), rose petals, mallow blossoms, and marigolds. Natural flavors and natural tropical flavors rounded out the medley. Why flavoring had to be mentioned twice, I dunno. Emphasis, maybe.

What I loved best about this? It came in a sachet! Perfect for the lazy, lethargic steeper that I was at 2AM. To the sight, however, the contents didn’t look like the floral menagerie I was picturing in my head. I saw one marigold and a few other pieces, but for the most part, it was just rooibos. Smelled quite tropical, though.

Brewing instructions were dead simple. On the bag, they said to brew for five minutes. That’s it. No water temperature listing, no cup size, nothing. They simply expected you to fill a cup with hot water and dunk the bag in. At two past Witching Hour, I was quite okay with this.

I didn’t time the infusion as much as watched the clear mug dark from gold to crimson – really cool effect. The cup smelled as tart and tropical as the un-dunked bag did. It’s very promising when the natural flavoring can hold up to a long steep. To the taste, there was a mild citrus tang and hibiscus bite on the front, followed by the requisite rooibos nut-sweetness in the middle, and – not surprisingly – it ended on a floral note. There was also the texture of nectar, just as the namesake promised.

In my limited experience, it’s hard to find tisanes that do exactly what they promise. This did so. I think that should be Mighty Leaf’s credo: “We do what the name says, damn it.” (Okay, maybe phrased differently.)

You can purchase Mighty Leaf African Nectar Loose Tea or Mighty Leaf African Nectar Tea Pouches directly from their website.

I’m easily confused.  Especially when two conflicting rules butt up against each other.  So blends of black and green tea *definitely* confuse me.  Do I brew at high temps or low?  Risk scalding the green to get the black to brew up fully?  Or should you brew at the low temperature and risk a weak cuppa?

This meant playing with the parameters and seeing what worked best.  The lower temperature brew resulted in a more fruity/floral brew while the higher temperature brought out the tea more.  Both were flavorful cups that had some lovely fruity overtones.   My favorite was the lower temperature brew.  It had more floral and fruit notes and was definitely NOT a weak cup.  Either way, it was a lovely, light brown cup that was enjoyable to drink.

Nice, flavorful, and fruity. Yum.

You can purchase the 1001 Nights directly from the TeaFrog website.

I like this one a lot better than I thought I would. Even tho it has 4 floral type ingredients it’s not overly flower-like.  It’s not that bitter/floral type taste that I sometimes get and am worried about.  The Black tea and the green tea along with the flavors all make sense and make it very enjoyable!  I think I would have this more than once in a blue moon.  The aroma of the dry blend was pleasant and floral but also fruity.  I didn’t really taste the fruity tones, but that may be why it wasn’t overly floral tasting.  Perhaps those fruity tones helps cancel the potential floral bitterness.  I’m not sure how TeaFrog made this happen but I am sure glad they did.  This one made it to my 85 percentile of good-solid teas!

You can purchase the 1001 Nights directly from the TeaFrog website.

I am a fan of Rooibos. I love all teas, but there is something about Rooibos that is more appealing to me. Perhaps it is my sweet tooth, which appreciates the natural sweetness of Rooibos, or perhaps it is because Rooibos tends to blend with so many “sweet” flavours such as Caramel and Vanilla. Whatever it is, I am a fan.

With that in the forefront of my mind, I brewed up a bag of the Mighty Leaf African Nectar. My teabag prejudice aside, Rooibos actually works well in a teabag because it is naturally a small leaf, and does not need a lot of room to expand.

I brewed the tea using my regular Rooibos methods, boiling water, steeped for 5-6 minutes. The smell was fantastic, and I could not wait to dive into it. The cup was a deep red color that I relate to good quality Rooibos.

Prevalent in the taste was a mango and vanilla combined with, but not overwhelming, Rooibos flavour, which is a sweetish, nutty flavour. I like it. I like it a lot! There is not much more to say on this tea, as I think the above speaks for it’s self. Sometimes Mighty Leaf has fallen down in taste for me, but in this case, it is a home run! I would recommend this tea to anyone who likes Rooibos, and to someone who wants to get an idea of what a flavoured Rooibos tea can be!

You can purchase Mighty Leaf African Nectar Loose Tea or Mighty Leaf African Nectar Tea Pouches directly from their website.