It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘mighty leaf tea’

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.

Having recently given up coffee I drink Chai every day, as I find it is the only tea that has enough of a flavorful kick to get me awake and out the door in the morning.

When I tried Mighty Leaf’s Bombay Chai I found that it was pleasantly smooth and warm. However, generally Chai is distinguished by the bite of its spices, which didn’t seem particularly present here.

When I added milk I found that this overpowered the spices to the point that they were barely even noticeable. To me this tea seems to be suitable as a spiced black tea, but without knowing what it was I wouldn’t identify it as chai.

You can purchase Mighty Leaf Bombay Chai directly from their website.

Mighty Leaf is one of few popular Canadian tea companies. As a Canadian, I celebrate that fact, and always look forward to sampling a new Mighty Leaf tea. However, in this case, I am left with a bit of a *meh* feeling.

I picked out the Green Tea Tropical from the samples that Mighty Leaf sent us, anticipating visions and flavours of tropical vacations to Mexico and Costa Rica, and the initial scent of the un-brewed leaves gave me just that. It is of course, packaged in the signature Mighty Leaf stitched pillow teabag, and the leaf appeared to be fairly large and full, and as such, of seemingly high quality.

The first brewing was as suggested, 180 degrees for 3 minutes. As the teabag went in, the scent started to become more muted. After 3 minutes, I was left with a dark amber liquor, and mildly tropical scented water.

As I sipped, I noted that the tea was not in the least bit astringent (aka “bitter” for some), leading me to again, believe that the green tea was of good quality. However, the flavouring of the tea was strangely blended together, not really allowing me to sort out different tropical flavours, tho the scent was “Guava” like. I found overall, the tea not “incredible” – but a decent cup of tea, but yet, unremarkable, leaving me with that *meh* that I mentioned before – a take it or leave it kind of feeling.

As I make notes on this tea, the taste does slightly linger, while leaving my teeth feeling a bit fuzzy, and my mouth a bit dry, again, green tea characteristics. The problem I think here, is that the actual green tea flavour gets lost in the tropical fruit flavouring, never really rising to the top to be complemented by the flavours. The second steeping (4 min @ 180 deg) was even more unremarkable, with a little flavour, but less so that the original, and again, the green tea not coming to the fore.

So my overall impression of this tea is that it would be a good starting tea for a convert, someone that is not used to green tea and could get turned off by the earthier aspects of a straight green. This tea has maybe a wider appeal, but I am not sure if it is good enough to be called a “premium” tea or to charge premium prices for.

All that being said, it is not a bad tea, and Mighty Leaf produces some top quality teas, which is maybe why this one leaves me wanting more.

You can purchase Mighty Leaf Green Tea Tropical directly from their website.

EDIT: I was informed by an astute commenter that Mighty Leaf is NOT a Canadian company, and much to my chagrin, they are correct. My apologies for the mistake in this review!

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.

The smell of the Organic Earl Grey tea from Mighty Leaf is very pleasant and has a warming aroma; nothing too overpowering and it has a nice blended smell. This makes a great afternoon relaxing tea – nice and light, not too rich in flavour or aftertaste. The smell and taste fit flawlessly in a great cup of tea, mixed with a splash of milk and a cube of sugar.

I truly enjoy my black teas. I love rich blends and light blends; this one from Mighty Leaf is most undoubtedly a great light blend and the colour matches the taste – “Mighty Leaf perfects the classic tea with an elegant, balanced and full flavored cup. Earl Grey himself would be proud”. The classic earl grey tea is one one of my favourites. I love the essences of bergamot and jasmine that is blended in this particular brand.

I steeped this tea a litte longer than my usual standby classics, but the taste and colour did not become too dark or overpowering. It was steeped for about four minutes as recommended on the Mighty Leaf pouch package.

I loved the presentation and the aroma. Some teas you try are great to start with but you can not finish the entire cup as it becomes bitter or the taste changes near the end of the cup, but this is not the case with the Earl Grey Mighty Leaf. Basically, great to the last drop as they say.

You can purchase Mighty Leaf Tea Organic Earl Grey directly from their 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.

Chamomile Citrus is a Mighty Leaf signature blend of rosehips, orange peel, Egyptian chamomile, lemongrass, lemon myrtle, nana mint, hibiscus flowers and various other flowers and flavors that are only identified as “citrus” and/or “natural” (it always makes me wonder when there is only a vague reference to ingredients). Mighty Leaf describes it as “a refreshing infusion perfected to curl up with and savor by the sip…”.

I find that people either love Chamomile Tea or they don’t like it at all. Personally, I love a good cup of Egyptian Chamomile. I love the subtle taste it has and how it smells softly of strawberry. Chamomile grew wild in the neighborhood that I lived in as a child and I can remember crushing the flowers between my fingers to release their scent; happy memories recalled are likely the reason that I find Chamomile so relaxing and enjoyable. I also like all things citrus so based on the name and description I was really looking forward to trying this tea.

I steeped it for 5 minutes and the resulting tea was a nice light gold color. I really wanted to like this tea but I have to say that I was disappointed. I found that the simplicity of Chamomile was overwhelmed by all of the fruits, herbs, flowers, and “flavors”. All of the citrus tones from the orange peel, lemongrass, lemon myrtle, and citrus flowers seemed to result in a too sweet combination – it almost tasted sugary to me. I guess that the rosehip, mint and hibiscus were meant to balance this sweetness but I just didn’t like the taste.

The sample that I tried was in a bag from Mighty Leaf that they call their “Tea Pouch”. It’s a very nice presentation which looks like a hand stitched square of semi-opaque silk that allows you to see the tea inside. The Chamomile Citrus is visually lovely with green, orange and red tones and unbrewed it smells just as good as it looks.

You can purchase Mightly Leaf Chamomile Citrus directly from their website.