LeafSpa Organic Tea

This is an interesting black tea. The scent is very mellow, kind of rich and almost smoky in scent, but when steeped, it’s smooth and there’s no hint of smokiness. It’s a very nice black tea without astringency and no bitterness at all. There is a tobacco flavor, but it’s not very pronounced and exists mostly in the finish, as if I had a tobacco leaf leftover in my mouth.

This was a surprise tea that Rachanac added in to a package from teatra.de. :) Thanks, Rachanac!

Huh, I guess I never did rate this tea. Well this is my last cup before I send the rest off in a swap. It’s not a bad tea, but since I first tried it I’ve had the chance to sample other silver needle teas and found them to be superior to this one. Wegman’s Silver Needle in particular I found to be sweeter and less vegetale with more of a nuanced flavour than this one has.

The smell that came wafting out of the canister when I opened it up reminded me of nothing so much as fresh-cut, sweet hay on a warm, sunny day. It’s a smell I’m used to associating with summer because many of the ranchers around here grow and cut hay crops during that time to feed their livestock over the winter.

The flavour of the tea is also reminisent of sweet hay, but without tasting too grassy or bitter. It’s not too vegetal either – a problem which I noticed with some other silver needle teas that I’ve tried. It is slightly drying to the mouth, but only a bit – nothing too unpleasent. It makes for a light, fragrant, and flavourful drink, and perhaps it’s just the hay association, but it seems like a tea that’s very much suited for sipping in the summertime.

EDIT TO ADD:
The resteep is considerably paler in colour and lighter in flavour. It has an almost delicately flowery quality to it now. Still very drinkable and it could probably go for more steeps, but it’s late and I don’t want to be more caffeinated than I already am! ;)

Thanks to Rachel for providing me with this very generous sample!

First, a backlog – I tried this cold brewed yesterday. It was my first time ever doing that, but it’s also the first time I’ve had a white tea in a while that the cold brew would ostensibly work for. So I tried it using a 750 ml insulated water bottle that had a mesh strainer in it (perfect how that worked out).

8 hours later and the tea was ice cold and tasted faintly of honey and vanilla in the sip. A little watery, which I then figured out had to be because you measure white teas by weight and not teaspoons or tablespoons, so the fault was entirely mine. But it was still good. Still really good. And I sensed it’s potential. :)

Today I used those leaves and then the rest of my sample to make about 16 oz of tea in my Breville using the parameters below. The liquor was a little dark for white teas, a medium yellowish color. It smelled very honeyish, which was very pleasant and new, as I didn’t get much of a scent the first time around with the cold brew.

This time the mouthfeel was just what I imagined it to be from the name – thick (not cloying or unpleasantly so) with both honey and vanilla laced delicately above the white tea flavor. It is not bitter at all, even with such a long steep time.

As it cools (and the last of it has gotten quite cold because I am SO SLOW when I drink tea) THIS is what I imagined the iced tea would taste like, and I can see where a lot of people were over the moon for it.

Sigh. I’m so glad I got to try it- and sad I missed buying it when it was still available…if anyone ever gets wind of that supposed liquidation sale I will be in the throng of people snapping this up.

I enjoyed this but not as much as my fellow steeps, of course because I’m a hard sell with flavorings. That said, I appreciated the smoothness and subtle minty aftertaste that Lori mentioned — a bit of a tingle at the end, interesting for a tea without mint. The vanilla and honey blend well. Although it’s soft and not perfumey, the vanilla overtakes the flavor of the tea, itself. I think it’d be a better iced tea, though, as everyone mentions, and I’ll look forward to that. But I’m rating here for hot, not iced…

Thank you, TeaEqualsBliss, for parting with some of this wonderful tea

I’ve been drinking flavored teas and green teas for a long time, so I was glad to receive a “plain” black tea to try.

This has a wonderful flavor profile – even though it’s just a “plain” tea. It’s bold but also sweet. TeaEqualsBliss described it as “clean-tasting,” and I agree. It’s smooth and soft, almost a velvety taste.

Absolutely wonderful! You could pair with mint or another tea, but this tea holds its own. YUM!

I am sure this has caffeine, but for some reason Silver Needle is always comforting and relaxing. This tea tastes especially good tonight – very honeyed and smooth.

Second infusion is probably my favorite so far. I find this tea to be rich, slightly buttery, and naturally sweet. I’ve mentioned in the past that Silver Needle tastes like Chamomile should taste and I once again am drawn to that conclusion. I also wanted to mention that these are the fuzziest leaves I’ve seen on a Silver Needle, reaching your hand inside of the pouch results in your hand being covered in soft, downy fuzz.

This is so tasty and smooth. Very comforting!

I finally have Silver Needle back in my cupboard again, thanks to threewhales! I have severely missed having this tea. Very smooth, lightly sweet, and almost a bit buttery (or maybe I’m imagining that…) I also really love the look of this tea: the little fuzzy leaves are so adorable! This is a welcome tea tonight because I’m starting to feel a bit under the weather. Hopefully good tea will pull me through.

I’m not a huge green tea drinker but I really do want to learn more about them. This was an enjoyable tea but not really that memorable.

After the worst day I can ever remember having, I chose this as I know it will soothe and relax me, being the magic elixir it is. It is just as good as I remember and it was the perfect tea to choose today.

Thaks LauraR for sending me this tea!

I have never had a creamsicle so I don’t know how this is meant to taste but…wow! It’s the best tisane I’ve ever had!

Before steeping, it smells really creamy and I almost get a hint of white chocolate. I was a bit sceptical that it could actually taste as good as it smelled but it didn’t disappoint me! The steeped tea smells more like chamomile but the taste is sweet and the peppermint really takes it to another level. This is going to be my night-time tea, I think, as it is far superior to the rooibos I drink at the moment.

Yay!

Had 2 cups of this with some cookies after a nice lunch with my parents. Sometimes being on vacation from school is wonderful :)

I love this tea. I am so sad that I won’t be able to buy more.

This is a nice WYSIWYG type tea. Great Silver Needle to have on hand. There is a lovely natural-sugary-sweet type taste to it.

This has a great fragrance that’s subtle, yet well defined. It’s nutty and peppery with a bit of citrus and honey.

Prepared, this is a really well balanced darjeeling. It’s nutty and slightly astringent but is far more mellow than others I’ve had in the same category. Waking up to this tea is more like a small bell as opposed to the gong of a darjeeling I normally drink.

Thanks LiberTEAS for the sample!

Thank you LiberTEAS for a taste of this tea! :) I brewed some for my day at work. It was a good amount of jasmine. I prefer jasmine tea that lighter, and this fits the bill. It was a nice tea for iced. With the green in the tea, I would of liked this more hot.

But I just read this company went under. What a shame, looks like there much to try from this company.

Tastes like a good green tea. A really good green tea. I don’t really know how to describe the taste…light and refreshing. Thankfully not as hay and spinach tasting as green teas I despise. Not quite as sweet as sencha, but very tasty.

I’ve been liking mint teas less and less lately, but this one seems to be sweet and light and very chocolatey. I received a sample from LauraR with the big sample box she sent my way. It’s very tasty and I could see purchasing this to get through dessert cravings this winter. I bet it would be good with a few chocolate marshmallows mixed in. Very chocolatey and not in a fake chocolate way. Milk chocolate and mint goodness, covers up the rooibos nicely!

I have Rachel to thank for sending me a sampling of this tea – and boy, am I glad she did! This is FANTASTIC!

I can see why everyone has rated this one so high. It delivers exactly as the name suggests, delicious honey and vanilla flavors on a light, white tea base.

So delicious! I just wrote a review for this one for the SororiTEA Sisters blog… it will publish soon!

Great mango flavor, nice full flavored black tea blend. Short and sweet notes today as I am tired and making several typos as I go. Enjoyable blend, nothing especially memorable though.

Second note on this one. It’s too bad this company went outta business. They had a quality product, especially this organic honeybush, which I finally found the perfect delivery mechanism for…as a latte. Yes, I latte’d the heck out of it and added some Greek honey for good measure. If there was some Dionysian nectar of the gods, this is it. I could go into taster notes on this, but you probably already know what they are now – just think honey-vanilla. It was awesome.