LeafSpa Organic Tea

Overtired and feeling a bit yucky last night, I decided to heck with being able to concentrate and enjoy this tea the second time I made it (as I didn’t get to resteep it as much as it might have been last time). I wanted a green tea and this one edged ahead in this wanting. Very yum. I enjoyed it and I glad I decided on it and went with it. I did only steep two times and since it was late at night, I did something I’ve never done before and put the infuser basket in the fridge to resteep the next day. I feel those steeps should be a separate tealog though.

1st steep: 3 min.
A bit light. New green hay.

2nd steep: 3 min 15 sec.
Tea-flavored. Like a light black tea.

This tea looks really cool. Looong slender twists. Mint greens, reddish tans, and green blacks. The smell is sharp and musty, reminding me of polish, perhaps shoe, and mahogany. Wet, the leaves are muddied browns and olive greens. No smell. Then after a few steeps, burnt honey. They slowly uncurl.

1st steep: 3 min.
Leaves still mostly coiled. Taste is very light. Reminds me of young sweet peas.

2nd steep: 3 min 15 sec.
Leaves starting to uncoil. Stronger taste. Like fresh peas and pea tendrils and boston bibb lettuce. Buttery. Starchy pea-like mouthfeel.

3rd steep: 3 min 30 sec.
Leaves look like spiral curls. This steep is grainy, slightly roasted, reminds me of cereals. Like an oolong-lite.

4th steep: 3 min 45 sec.
Leaves only loosely curled. Buttery. Chestnut taste and mouthfeel. Dry at the end of the sip.

I could have steeped this tea more. I had a zucchini, onion, and feta cheese omelet for dinner and didn’t feel like green tea afterward. I was surprised by the difference in tastes among the steeps, and that I could close my eyes and sip and realize what the taste was like. I’m rating this tea a 78 initially, high on my good range (60-80). I’m pretty sure the rating will be moved into the really good/great range. One reason is that I’ve been thinking about drinking it again since I tried it. It’s just been hot and I haven’t been drinking afternoon teas.

Sipdown no. 155 of the year 2014.

Hi everyone! It’s pretty hot here and I find myself not much in the mood for hot beverages. But somehow tea is even hotter when hot than coffee, so coffee has taken over as my morning beverage. Perhaps it’s the chi (qi?) factor? No idea.

Periodically, though, I’ve been making up batches of cold brew, and between those and running out of coffee and drinking the rest of this hot this morning, I’ve reached another major sipdown. This made a really nice cold brew, better than the hot version. The citrus gives the cold brew a tiny tang that makes it interesting.

My sipdown project has obviously been derailed, but I’ll continue on through the summer to the extent I can. Baseball season is over, school is over, etc. but we’re now gearing up for a vacation in Scotland later in the summer, and work has maintained a steady state of busyness so life remains hectic. On top of all this I’m trying to keep writing and taking classes regularly. And did I mention exercise? I gained back all the weight I lost and got horribly out of shape due to stress and blues, but with the trip coming up I’m trying to shed some pounds (it won’t be nearly enough but it should help some) and get some basic aerobic fitness back so I’ll enjoy myself rather than feeling tired and out of breath roaming around Scotland.

In any case, sorry for my continued scarcity. Hope all is well with everyone!

I cold brewed this because it’s been rather on the hot side here lately, which now that I think about it may be one of the reasons I’ve not been craving tea.

8 teaspoons of loose leaf to 2 quarts water, steeped in fridge for approx. 20 hours.

I think I could have gone longer. Next time I’ll try at least 24.

It’s a nice “iced” tea, but not very grapefruit-y at all. In looking back at my original note, I see that it wasn’t very grapefruit-y on the first taste either, when I tried it hot.

I’m a little disappointed. I’ve changed my view on grapefruit tea in general. I really like the way it works in tea, and in a variety of teas—black, green, oolong, white—even though grapefruit isn’t my first choice of citrus at the buffet table. (Perhaps because as a kid I was forced to eat it for breakfast, and there were times when it was somewhat frostbitten or otherwise unpleasant in terms of texture.) I had hoped that this would come out with a stronger flavor done cold. But it wasn’t to be.

Question for the cold brew veterans since I haven’t done this much, maybe three times. Is it unusual for the tea to float at the top of the container? By about hour 20 most of it had sunk, but there was still a fairly thick layer of floating tea at the top of the container. I put the tea in after the water. If I put the tea in first, would that make a difference?

After going on at some length about how I wouldn’t have picked a grapefruit tea when I wrote my note about the Teas Etc. sample, I now find that I was moved to buy an entire can of this by the 50% off sale and had forgotten I’d been so adventurous. What a drag it is getting old. Seriously, if I didn’t know better, I’d think I was coming down with pre-senile dementia. As it is, I think I’m just fast forwarding to senile dementia.

There’s a confetti-like look to this tea, with the long, pretty, paper like calendula petals mixing in with the long black leaves. It doesn’t smell that much like grapefruit, though there is a fruity smell to the dry leaves, and a mild, flowery, almost vanilla smell from the petals.

The tea’s aroma does speak grapefruit, in a gentle way. There’s a sweet, somewhat malty smell to the tea that isn’t Darjeelingy at all. It’s a rounder smell, not the sharp smell I associate with Darjeeling. The tea does taste like Darjeeling, though. It has a bright, sparkly flavor with a slight essence of grapefruit to it. It has a soft feel to it, which seems a little unusual.

I’m thinking this one might do a little better steeped a little longer. It’s a nice tea, but if I were going to do a repeat on a grapefruit, I would lean toward the Teas Etc. If I decide to buy a grapefruit tea, I’m going to want to taste the grapefruit more than I do in the LeafSpa.

Must experiment some to see if I can get the flavor to come out more.

BTW, belated happy father’s day to all the dads out there. Our fathers day brunch took about 2 and a half hours, longer than we’d planned, and I was pretty wiped out yesterday. Too tired even to drink much tea, hence no tasting notes yesterday.

Sipdown no. 148 of the year 2014.

Home network has been reinstalled and is back up as of this morning, but I am woefully behind in reading/writing notes. Apologies.

I got a lot of enjoyment out of this tea while it lasted. I am not sure it’s the end all and be all of Irish Breakfast blends as I haven’t had enough of them (and haven’t had any recently enough to compare this to), but it consistently struck me as a tasty, brisk, medium-bodied black tea that was almost never heavy on the stomach when drunk first thing in the morning. If I didn’t have a ton of other black teas yet to try that I’m looking forward to tasting, I’d certainly miss this one.

Back to the old stand-by this morning. I woke up this morning feeling really rested for the first time in recent memory. I also had an incredibly bizarre dream, which probably explains while I feel rested. I must have had some decent REM sleep last night.

Alas, I am now off my daily sipdown count again as I logged nothing yesterday. I only had one cup of tea yesterday and (horrors) some Diet Coke, which may also explain why I slept well. But I doubt this has much to do with it.

Not to worry, though, as I have two lined up for today, if I can stay awake long enough to do the decaf one tonight.

Today this is really nice to wake up to. Nice and brisk, and very flavorful. I appreciate it more when I don’t drink it daily. I find that’s true of some teas, whereas with other’s it’s the opposite, almost like you have to build up to a certain critical mass before your enjoyment of it peaks. I wonder why that is.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Not that I really need one, but what a great excuse to do a thematic tea drinking experience today. You don’t have to be Irish to miss the celebrations in NYC, the parades, the green beer, etc. It’s not that there isn’t an Irish community in the SF Bay Area, it’s just not very big by comparison.

After having the English Breakfast for a number of consecutive mornings, I can say there’s a big difference between the two. I go back and forth on which I like better. Initially I thought it was slam dunk English, then I thought it was hands down Irish, and now I think it really just depends on what I’ve been drinking more frequently—the more I drink each of these, the more I like it.

No. 2 sipped this this morning and said, “I like the breakfast teas because they’re plain.” By which he means unflavored and taste like “tea.” This doesn’t have the body of the English Breakfast, but if anything, that just makes it easier to drink in the morning when the stomach still hasn’t gotten with the program.

I usually give points for consistency of flavor in a tea. There’s something comforting about being able to rely upon a tea delivering a particular flavor when you’re looking for that flavor.

Some teas, though, are inconsistent in a good way. I don’t perceive them as tasting the same each time, but the differences are always enjoyable.

This is one of those teas. It’s not as fresh-baked-bready today as it was the last time I had it. It’s quite sweet today with a dark honey note heading toward molasses. The aftertaste is very nice and tea-y. This might not sound great to most people, but it’s a flavor that reminds me of the smell of those freeze dried tea crystals from Nestea or the like, which is a smell I associate with summer as a kid, when I could make my own iced tea from those crystals and feel so grown up.

In this tea, not tasting the same each time is definitely a strong point.

This is really yummy today. There’s a thick, chewy mouth feel. There’s also a bready thing going on.

In fact, drinking this is reminding me of eating a piece of warm sour dough bread.

That’s an awesome thing for a rainy day like today.

It may not be like this next time, but for now, I gotta bump the rating.

After my two highly flavored experiences this morning I needed a palate cleanser.

Gosh, I’m looking back at my original note on this and I see that the exterior lighting project that we just recently finished was started four years ago. OMG! We started the project, we got busy with other things and dropped it, then we went back to it. I have to say if I was the only person whose opinion had to be taken into account it would have been done faster. ;-) But it got done and it’s amazing, so there’s that.

In any case, this is tasting pretty much as described in my original note. Except the cola I noted before… well, I’m not getting that this time. ;-)

It is an excellent palate cleanser, though. I can feel its briskness cutting through all the stuff I tasted this morning and replacing it with a nice, medium strength, naturally sweet tea flavor.

Started the morning with this one but didn’t get a chance to write about it. Had a nap, so I need to wake up and I’m having another cup now.

I have to say this house maintenance thing is more stressful than I’d hoped. Today we went to a lighting store because I want to replace the exterior lights and now I’m more confused than ever. This one looks good but you can’t put a motion sensor on it. That one looks good but you can’t put a dawn to dusk timer on it. This one looks awful but you can do anything you want to it. And are these even going to look good on the house? I mean, it’s a little hard to visualize while you’re there in the store and have to first visualize a larger version of what you’re looking at before you even get to visualizing what it looks like on the house. Ugh. And then I’m even wondering if I should pick these before the house gets painted. The painter said I should, but I’m not so sure. Double ugh.

Anyway. There’s an earthy black tea smell coming out of the can, very similar to that dry leaf earthy Assam smell I like. It’s sharper and less malty than the English Breakfast by LeafSpa I had yesterday, and the leaves are smaller and less tippy.

The liquor has a burnt orange/brown color with a small amount of red in it too. It’s that color I want in a sweater that I’ve seen in several other teas, notably GM’s Sinharaja.

The aroma is fruity and a little sweet. I get prunes more than plums, and something that is oddly like cola. (I’m not tasting the cola, though.) It has a crispness, a briskness to it, that is a refreshing quality for a wake up tea.

I think I prefer the English Breakfast, but I’m going to give this one a chance to grow on me.

What a magnificent tea!
I’ve been away (and life with tea bags is not fatal, actually, it’s just not nearly as much fun). I returned home and at the first opportunity rolled the die I got from RABS in the ongoing enchantingly marvelous Tea Geek Game. I rolled a “4” (I still have not rolled a “1” or an “8”) and got this tea: Organic Yunan Gold.

The dry tea has a pleasant aroma—earthy and a bit spicy but the dry aroma does not really give up the multitude of nuances the steeped tea will reveal.

It’s an exceptionally good Yunan and Yunans are amongst my favorites along with Lapsang Souchongs and Keemuns. I loved the play of flavor: the characteristically malty taste of a good Yunan is always a deep pleasure for me. In addition, I picked up on the peppery taste (before I had read the notes of others here) and loved it. It seemed as if each sip was a little bit of a yeasty pepper dancing a tango with some fleeting but at least momentary distinct overtones of chocolate and/or chestnut.

Overall, however, I’d say that this tea is unique in that I know of no other tea that brings in so much pepper in such a graceful way. It’s a bit tangy but not so much that the other tastes are overwhelmed. Although I didn’t need it, I think that this tea would do very nicely with milk and/or sweetener.

Another great selection from RABS, my teamonger of choice!

Just made a pitcher of this iced as it’s going to be a hot and steamy one today. I absolutely love this tea and no sweetener required.

Sipdown no. 138 of the year 2014.

Woke up with a headache, so I started the day with coffee for the first time in a long time. Just this minor break in routine was enough to derail my tea drinking for the day. I had big plans for getting a number of things close to sipdown, but now they’ll have to wait.

In keeping with the theme of not following routine, I am drinking this now at about 7:30 at night. I have no fear of caffeine tonight because I have a lot of work to do.

This was a really delicious blend, so rich and full and malty. I will miss it.

On another note, last night I finished watching a re-watch of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’s only season. I was trying to figure out why I get such a feel-good sense from watching Aaron Sorkin’s various series-es [what’s the plural of series?] and I realized that one of the reasons is because even when everything goes wrong for the characters they love their work. Something to think about.

Woke up this morning tired, not hungry, not thirsty, went through most of the day that way. Finally having my first tea of the day at almost 3 p.m.

It’s a little on the cold side because it sat for 44 minutes before I was able to get off the phone to drink it, but it’s pretty tasty. I think it would be good iced.

Now I want a nap.

This morning it is rich and smoky and malty and sweet and borderline chewy and all kinds of complex. And very good with half of an unadorned banana bread bagel (onion or garlic or salt is ordinarily about as far away from plain as I’m willing to go with bagels, but the BF bought these and the kids were going on about how great they were so I had one and they were right). And I just realized I’m still writing in the mode I used for my writing exercise of last night, with all the and and or connectors. LOL. Fortunately I haven’t been doing that in my emails for work.

I’m really tired. I didn’t sleep well and I think I was over-caffeinated, so today I’m going to make an effort to stop the caffeine by 4 p.m. or so and try to get to bed early. Daylight savings time. Ugh. It will put a crimp in my tea-drinking style, but I need the sleep.

Don’t read this part if you don’t like to read about medical ailments. ;-) Over the past week I’ve developed a rash of some kind on my foot. I have attempted self diagnosis via the internet and I believe it to be dyshidrosis, which can be brought on by stress, and apparently by inhaling dust if you’re allergic to dust. (And I did get a big whiff of dust during the weekend before last’s cleaning project.) Or nickel. (Does tea have nickel in it?) It looks awful, though it doesn’t feel that bad. I am not sure whether it’s going away. If it doesn’t go away by the end of the week, it’s medical appointment time. Great, just what I need.

Started the morning with this one, without having had the Irish before. It is indeed “stouter” and more full bodied, but without the Irish precursor, it has it’s own malty sweetness (which shows up as non-sweetness by comparison to the Irish). I also taste something of what I associate with the Yunnan blend flavor that I taste in Earl Greys with Yunnan base. I wish there was a word for this quality. Maybe there is and I just don’t know it. I have had Zinfandels that also have this quality and they are my favorite wines.

In any case, it’s a toss up with regard to rating the Irish vs. the English. I can’t say I like one more than the other as they’re very different. I think the Irish may be more of an every day drinker, because it is generally milder and sweeter. But all of this is moot of course, because LeafSpa is kaput. So it’s really more of a question as to which I’ll feel like drinking more frequently on the journey to inevitable sipdown. Now I’d say the Irish, but as an experiment I’m going to do the English for the next few days and see if I’m still saying that by Wednesday or so.

I started the day with a cup of the Irish Breakfast (no notes on that one today because I’ve nothing new to say) and then decided to see how this compared. I see from my previous note that when I drank it way back when, I used boiling water. I’m going to lower the temp this time because LeafSpa recommended it, and also because that’s how I’ve been steeping the Irish Breakfast.

I’m doubling up on the bold breakfast blends today to get the day kick started after spending the morning in bed watching Catching Fire on pay per view. I have wanted to see it for freakin’ ever, and I’d invited every single family member to go with me to see it in the theatre but no one was excited about it except me. So we ended up going to things like the Lego movie instead. The lot of being a parent, I guess. I really enjoyed the movie. Not surprising, because I quite liked the book. In fact, it may have been my favorite of the three because I really liked the arena design aspects. Also, I didn’t know Amanda Plummer was in the movie, which was a pleasant surprise. I am so glad she’s working.

Anyway, there’s a definite difference between the Irish Breakfast and this, it is very apparent when drinking them back to back. Judging from my earlier notes I would have said I preferred the English version but now I’m not so sure. The the Irish is definitely sweeter. It has the natural Ceylon sweetness. The English is maltier, has a fuller body, and is less sweet. I’m definitely getting smokiness this time, particularly compared to the Irish. I’m wondering whether there might be a little Keemun in the English. It has a bold flavor, and while I wouldn’t say it tastes like coffee it announces itself in a similar strong and no nonsense way.

Now I need to try it by itself again to see what I think about it on a clear palate.

When I opened the tin, the dry leaves smelled very familiar. I wondered where I’d smelled that sort of smell before. Thinking it might have been in the LeafSpa Yunan Gold, I opened up that tin as well to do a side by side sniff test. There is a similarity, but the Yunan Gold is a stronger, purer smell. This one has a more subdued smell. Still, I’m wondering if there isn’t some Yunan Gold in this English Breakfast. (Hey, you got your chocolate in my peanut butter! No, you got your peanut butter in my chocolate!)

The leaves are large, dark and tippy, though not as tippy as the Yunan Gold leaves. As with the Yunan Gold leaves, they are very attractive.

The tea brews up very dark, a clear, chestnut leaning toward mahogany color, with some nice red tones. The aroma is malty and sweet, and has a slight cocoa note.

It has a maltiness to the taste, as well, but isn’t as sweet as I’d expected from the aroma. I don’t get smoke, really. Maybe a tiny hint of it, but this isn’t what I’d call a smoky tea. It is smooth, and medium bodied, leaning toward full bodied, with a silky mouth feel.

It’s nice. It definitely makes the English Breakfast semi-finals.

Light, realistic, amazing iced. I caved and bought this when it was on Steepster Select, and I am very glad I did.

Excellent all-around black tea, no bitterness; holds up very well with milk and sugar.

A gift from LiberTEAs! Thanks girl!!!!

This seems to be more even and even a little cakey or a mini-cake-wannabe-type taste at the beginning of the sip! I like this because it is NOT chemically tasting and the floral and bergamot isn’t slapping you in the face like some seem to. My fave part is organic/fair trade! YAY!

Sipdown no. 113 of the year 2013, and it was a big tin. Almost 5 oz. Yay for progress!

It’s also my first LeafSpa sipdown and I suppose I should be sad because once these are gone, they’re gone, but I can’t be sad about getting out from under more tea. And it’s a nice big reusable canister, too. If I can get the gum off after removing the label. My Samovar canister repurposed from the Yerba Mate was a sticky mess. Last night I took the nail polish remover to it and it only marginally improved the situation. The BF said he was breathing the atmosphere of planet Acetone.

In any case, this was a perfectly fine example of an Earl Grey. It didn’t make it into my top tier but I drank it happily.

Oh, and I realized I do have tea from one more company that has disappeared. The Chicago Tea Garden, which had those little tuo chas in the mandarin oranges. Sad.