Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Mesh’

My first tea from T Salon and it looks divine. It’s a blend of roses, vanilla and almond with a red tea base. The Rooibos is clearly high grade, long and slender stems, mixed in with a generous portion of vanilla and almond. I’m happy to see rose pieces in the blend because I’ve had bad experiences with floral teas that are just scented with artificial ‘flavor’.

Brewing this one in my favorite steeping mug because it has a fine enough mesh to contain the rooibos. Steeping in really hot water for 6 minutes. Love how forgiving Rooibos is if I accidently over steep it (almost wondering whether or not it’s even possible to over steep). This tea smells incredible with none of the ingrediants over powering the others, perfect balance. It tastes mostly of vanilla but you can definitely make out the almond in it. I can smell the rose just enough for it to be enjoyable without being perfumy. Planning to spend the rest of today with this tea, inhaling and sipping and enjoying this blend. Would definitely recommend this one to other rooibos lovers.

You can purchase the Silence directly from the T-Salon website.

Note – thanks to Al Fabian in the comments, it is noted that the London Teapot Company does not sell retail directly to the public. There are many different retail outlets to purchase Chatford Teapots from, but one to consider is devotea.com

Of all the tea ware that I own, my Chatsford remains my favorite. The Chatsford Teapot is an earthenware pot made by the London Teapot Company. I have compiled a list of good and bad points in the hopes it will provide someone valuable information before purchasing a teapot.

Good points about the Chatsford. Let me see, the infuser basket would have to be the best part of this teapot. The infuser is huge, almost as large as the round belly of the teapot itself! The infuser is made of polypropylene with fine mesh to keep any and all tea leaves from getting into your cup. The infuser also has a little tab that you can pull it out of the pot without burning your fingers. I have a two cup teapot, that little infuser fits perfectly into a small butter dish allowing you to save your leaves for a later steep. You can purchase the infuser baskets separately which will allow you to have one for herbals, one for blacks or just to have a spare if one is in the dishwasher. Since the teapot is earthenware, it retains heat beautifully. Your first cup will be hot, but your next cups will be even hotter. I have kept tea hot in my Chatsford for upwards of an hour.

Bad points about this teapot would have to include the limited colors that are available. It comes in a dark blue, dark green, yellow, white and brown. The only other bad thing about a Chatsford would be the cost. You can buy cheaper teapots in more vibrant colors, but would it have that great infuser basket that fits perfectly with the lid of the teapot. I think not.

I highly recommend this teapot. It is charming and makes darn good tea.

You can purchase the Chatsford Teapot directly from the The London Teapot Company website.

Tonight, I need to relax so I’ve chosen two decaf teas from Tea Forte. 

Pulling out my specially made Tea Forte cup with it’s perfect little hole in the lid, getting set to try their African Solstice.  Love rooibos in the evening and this blend smells delicious.  I’ve failed with some other Tea Forte pyramid teas in the past because it just never seemed that there was enough room for the leaves to steep properly, this one I hope is going to be different.  I can’t see the rooibos clearing enough (through the pyramid) to tell what grade it is but I’m hoping the needles are long enough to not sneak through the mesh.  The dry tea smells only of rooibos, can’t smell any of the other ingredients.

Steeped it per their instructions, and now I am starting to smell the berries and the flowers in the pyramid sneaking through the hole in the teacup lid.  Taking the lid off and now I’m getting hit with a smell of vanilla and berries.  Brews up a nice dark red with a negligible amount of dust.  Tastes good but the flowers are a bit overpowering, still a soothing rooibos with a berry twist.  Well suited to the shape of the pyramid, dancing rooibos is such a sight.

You can purchase the African Solstice directly from the Tea Forte website.

The dry leaves are quite large and long sencha leaves. The scent of the dry leaves is a bit tart and quite blueberry like. Once brewed the aroma is more mellow, berry and almost a little floral with a light tartness. The liquor is quite darker than I imagined. It’s almost as if a blue/purple food coloring was added lightly to the green tea. I haven’t brewed a sencha before, so I’m not sure if this is the leaves or something to do with the flavoring. I’m loving the smell of this! I have no words to describe elderberry with, but the flavor reminds me a bit of the brightness of fresh, ripe blueberries. The elderberries really compliment the flavor of the sencha. The sencha is very strong, but the flavors blend, the mesh so well, it is a wonderful dance on my tongue. I’m really enjoying this. I did brew it on the higher end of the temperature range, 180F, for 2:30 minutes. I think I will try this at 170F and 160F to see how it compares. I think the length of the steep is just right, as I’m not tasting any astringency.

You can purchase the Elderberry directly from the 52teas website.