Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Staple’

Morroccan Mint tea seems to be a staple for most tea drinkers that I know. A very traditional tea that is easy to find and is enjoyable steeped in the traditional way or iced. Today I’m reviewing one from Golden Moon Tea and it’s unique in that it has mint oil added to it, I’ve never seen that as an ingredient before.

The dry leaves are clean with shiney and tightly rolled Gunpowder pellets and a generous amount of mint. Steeped it according to the instructions on the packaging, watching the Gunpowder pellets unfurl after a few minutes. It brews up to a nice dark color, with the scents balancing out after a few minutes making the smell of mint less over-powering. The taste is smooth and rich, with a nice minty lingering aftertaste. The second steep brought out more of the gunpowder flavor and was a bit drier than the first steep but still really enjoyable. From the taste, I think that the mint oil made the mint leaves taste a lot fresher than blends I’ve had without the oil. This is one of the better Moroccan Mints that I’ve had, can’t wait to try it iced.

You can purchase the Moroccan Mint directly from the Golden Moon Tea website.

I grew up drinking Celestial Seasonings teas and it was (and still is) a staple in my mom’s cupboard.  But for some reason I never got around to trying this particular one even though ‘SleepyTime’ is one of the standard CS blends. As it turns out, for once CS seems to have made a herbal tea without hibiscus being involved (thankfully, as the hibiscus over-dose is what has kept me away from a lot of them in recent years). Out of the box it smells quite herbal-y with a strong odor of mint. More in-depth sniffing revealed a sweet vanilla-y odor lurking in the background.

There’s not really a whole lot of vanilla that I can taste in the tea itself and I think that’s partially due to the fact that the mint and chamomile are such strong, aromatic herbs that they drown out any subtleties in this tea.  The herbal flavours aren’t bitter and the chamomile has a nicely sweet, apple-like flavour.  I can pick up a bit of citrus from the lemongrass, but the rest of the ingredient are mostly there for show I think l – or maybe they’re just part of the amorphous herbal flavour.  As for its effects as a practical herbal tea, I didn’t really find myself getting sleepy per say, but it does have a bit of a relaxing effect on the body and mind.

I gave this tea a Steepster review of 63/100

You can purchase Celestial Seasoning Sleepytime Vanilla directly from their website.

This is another tea that I’ve been enjoying for ages and appreciating more with each cup, but keep forgetting to review.  It’s poor man’s tea, rumored to have been created out of necessity during a time of tea rations… it makes me feel rich. Genmaicha, roughly translated, means brown rice tea in Japanese, and this one is absolutely the best I’ve ever had.

The dry tea looks a little odd (and gets some odd looks when people see me making it) but I’m happy to explain what it is and to refer people to TeaFrog to get their own.  The Sencha is delicate, like tiny needles, and a smooth dark green color when it’s dry.  The dry rice looks like puffed brown rice – not sure how else to describe it.  Can’t really smell the rice when it’s dry but the Sencha smells grassy and fresh.

Steeped it for four minutes in boiling water and it brews up really clean but with a bit of dust from the rice. Smells like roasted popcorn with a bizarre twist of fresh cut grass.  Tastes like smooth and buttery popcorn but still light and refreshing like you’d expect from a Sencha.  This is one of my favorite daytime teas, especially when I’m running late in the morning (most days).  It’s strangely filling yet light, hard to describe exactly (guess that’s why I’ve struggled to review it).

This Genmaicha should be a staple in everyone’s cupboard, wouldn’t (and haven’t) hesitated to recommend it.

You can purchase the Genmaicha Organic directly from the TeaFrog website.

As I was sorting through samples that we have received over the past few months, I had a craving for green tea, and came across Chloe from The Simple Leaf. I don’t recall tasting it before, and decided that it would be as good as any to review today!

Chloe seemed unusual for me, as it is a Darjeeling tea from the Pussimbing Estate. Unusual because I have not tried a lot of Darjeeling greens, even tho I know that they are becoming more and more available. I am used to strong, grassy greens from China and Japan, and expected similar here.

The Simple Leaf website describes this tea as: “Light, smooth and refreshing, these gorgeous large leaves make a mellow liquor that is perfect for late afternoon sipping. Subtle hints of fruit and freshly cut grass give this tea a remarkable flavor.”

So, I heated up some water to about 75 deg C (approx. 170 deg F), steeped it for 3 mins, and prepared myself for a great tasting experience.

First of all, the liquor is a light, honey color, light enough that I wondered if I steeped it long enough. The scent was similarly subtle, slightly fruity with the classic grassy tones that I associate with green tea.

The taste, I have to say, is a bit too light for me. As described by The Simple leaf, it was mellow, and I get the hits of freshly cut grass, and was perhaps, a tad sweet, but I did not get any fruity notes at all. It was in the end, a bit bland, and did not have a lot of character. A good beginners green tea to ease you into the complexities, but for the more experienced green tea drinker, I think that this is neither subtle or complex enough to truly enjoy.

All in all, it was not a bad or offensive cup of tea at all, just not interesting enough for me personally to make a staple in by cupboard, and certainly not what I expected from the region known for the “Champagne” of teas!

You can purchase Chloe directly from the Simple Leaf website.

We all have a ton of different travel coffee mugs in our cupboards, each bought with certain standard expectations.  Short ones, fat ones, tall ones, double walled, you name it.   They usually work ok.  Good for the commute to work, keeping your morning coffee warm for an hour or so. They aren’t truly meant for sitting for longer periods or for really cold activities.

I have spent a lot of money on travel mugs that make big promises and rarely deliver, until now.  My wonderful husband (actually my 2 little boys who know my love of all things tea) bought me 2 of these for Christmas this year and they are by far my favorite useful gift.

I decided to do a little experiment to see just how long the liquid stays warm for.  I boiled water, put in white tea, positioned the strainer and placed both tops on it.   I used the bag it comes in as well.  That was 4:10 in the afternoon.  I tested the tea at 11pm and it was still 120 degree’s, more then warm enough, I left it in the tea in the cup for the night and tested it again in the morning and to my complete surprise, it was still 95 degrees.   That was 16 hours and it was still warm, seriously!  I’ve never come across any other travel mug that has come close to this.

It is now a staple for my daily tea enjoyment, regardless if I am home all day or out and about traveling.    When I know I am going out all day, I will make both travel mug’s and simply tighten the lid on the 2nd to enjoy it much later in the day, tasting as if I had just made it.  I now  get to savor my tea, all warm and comforting all day long!

You can purchase the JOEmo XL Tea Travel Mug directly from the TeaFrog website.