Leland Tea Co

It’s an odd Christmas. My mother and I were supposed to be in NYC with my brother, but for health reasons we had to cancel at the last minute. That means we didn’t do any decorating or anything here at home, as we were not expecting to be here.
So it’s not exactly feeling merry, in my part of the world, so it’s time to drink the holiday teas.
I picked this one up and saved it for December, for obvious reasons. It’s a Wonderful Life is a special movie to me, as I played Mary in a stage production a few years ago, which was a lovely experience.
Happy Holidays, and a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it!

I hope the picture I tried to upload displays, because this is a really visually attractive tea. The splash of color from the red saffron blossoms is quite pretty.

In the tin, this smells like an almost perfectly proportioned blend of coconut and pineapple. Not toasted coconut. Coconut. I have had a lot of teas with these two flavors, and it’s usually the case that one dominates over the other. Which is kind of amusing, because when combined with other flavors and not each other, they seem to dominate whatever they are in. Pineapple plus mango often tastes like only pineapple, for example. Coconut and chocolate is often heavy on the coconut.

After steeping, all bets are off. I smell something toasty-roasty that is maybe like toasted coconut, but because it smelled like non-toasted in the tin, it’s hard to know. The pineapple is in there somewhere, but suffice it to say the perfect blend of the two is not what I smell after steeping. The tea is a vibrant amber color.

The flavor is definitely coconut of the toasted variety, and pineapple of the not overly strong variety. But it works! Though not perfectly balanced (the toasted coconut dominates), that’s ok — the pineapple doesn’t need to be an equal partner in this blend to do its thing in a very appealing way.

The BF and no. 1 both thought it was awesome, too.

Ahhh, this is more like it.

After a bit of white and yellow tea disappointment, this is some chocolately goodness.

In the tin, the tea smells like a chocolate bar. Really. Sweet, dark chocolate. Not much in the way of rose scent, though there is some.

The chocolate isn’t lost in the steeping. The tea smells strongly of chocolate, and the rose comes awake with the heat to give just a little bit of interest. The tea is mahogany colored and clear.

Maybe I’m just in the mood, but this is really hitting the spot. The chocolate flavor is rich and sweet, not the less sweet, baking chocolate flavor of some chocolate teas. Like someone shaved a candy bar right into the tea.

Now if only my Pokemon Go habit hadn’t been revitalized by people talking about it at work Friday so that I’m feeling compelled to hunt all the time, this tea would make this a lovely morning.

Sipdown no. 58 of 2017 (no. 414 total).

It didn’t work as an iced tea all that well, and it didn’t deliver much pear whether cold or hot. But it was a decent caramel black tea when prepared hot.

Since this one had one of the lower ratings in my cupboard currently, I decided to try it cold to see if it would work.

Not really. No. 2 said “it tastes like nothing.”

It’s going into the hot sipdown category.

Cracking this one open on a rainy day in sun land.

This is interesting. The dry leaf does have some sort of fruitiness to its fragrance, but having had the dragonfruit tisane recently I’m smelling that more than pear. I smell the caramel, too. There’s not a lot of underlying tea aroma in the dry leaf.

I’m with Rosehips on this one. Steeped, the aroma is primarily of caramel and I’m not really able to discern a pear smell, either separately or as an add on to the caramel. The tea is a medium-dark copper and clear.

I taste the caramel for sure, but I have to really focus to get anything that I could identify as pear. It’s not completely missing, but I taste it more in its effect on the caramel than as a separate flavor. It broadens the caramel flavor, for lack of a better word. Spreads it out, so that it isn’t a concentrated flavor and adds a “fresh” note.

This tea isn’t sweet, as so many caramel teas are. I could add something to it, but I wish it was a bit sweeter on its own. I have the sense that some sweetness could bring out the pear more as well.

The tea is enjoyable and flavorful. I’m only docking points because I wanted and expected more pear.

Sipdown no. 73 of 2018 (no. 429 total).

I wrote to Leland a week ago to ask whether there is in fact lapsang souchong in this tea, or whether the description is intending to suggest blending this tea with lapsang souchong.

I hoped I’d have an answer by sipdown time, but alas, they never responded.

In any case, this tea grew on me. There was one time, last weekend, when I thought perhaps my interpretation was incorrect. I thought I might have tasted some smokiness which could mean lapsang was in the blend. But I got over it.

If they ever write back to me, I’ll let you guys know.

I can’t believe I’m trying this for the first time!

What an interesting tea. I don’t think I’ve had anything quite like it before.

There are big honking pieces of cinnamon in the blend, and because of that, I expected this to be another tea where cinnamon is pretty much all you can taste. But
cinnamon is just one of many things this tea has going on.

The aroma of the dry leaf almost defies description, but I’ll try. It has something deep and rich about it that I want to call cocoa or coffee, but that is probably a very beany vanilla. It also has a more surface level pastry aspect with a hint of caramel. There’s definitely a nutiness, but it’s a confectionary nuttiness. I’m reminded of pralines, though the nut isn’t pecan.

After steeping, the aroma has a lot of vanilla, some spice, and something else that I expect must be hazelnut — but if I was doing a blind taste test I wouldn’t have identified it as such. The tea is a dark, tea-colored brown and clear.

I’m puzzled by one thing. I think a number of folks have read this to contain lapsang souchong. I don’t think it does. I think that Leland is suggesting that it be blended with lapsang, and that if it is, it will please coffee lovers. While I can’t be certain this is the case, I taste and smell no lapsang without trying so hard I am wondering if I’m tasting something merely through power of suggestion and not because it’s there. It seems like a very odd thing to blend with a tea of this type. Which is why I wonder if there’s an interpretation issue here. If there is, perhaps Leland should make its description less ambiguous.

In any case, I tasted mostly vanilla at the beginning of the cup, but now at the halfway mark I’m noticing the hazelnut a lot, particularly in the finish and aftertaste. Really, the only thing that is missing from this that would make it truly wonderful in my book is some natural sweetness to the tea base. I suppose I could sweeten it up myself, but I’d rather I didn’t have to think about it. And I’ve tasted enough black teas with natural sweetness (even lapsangs) that I think it must be possible to achieve that with some thought and experimentation.

It gets points for originality and for complexity, but I’m having a hard time getting myself to the same high rating scale on this one that so many others have had.

I could just be in a critical frame of mind. There was a time when my ratings were pretty much all in the 80s and up, and I’ve been noticing that I’ve been having a hard time justifying higher ratings these days.

Sipdown no. 77 of 2018 (no. 433 total).

Tossed the rest of this into a pitcher and it is currently cold brewing in the fridge. It’s been super hot here so I’m going through cold brew pretty quickly.

If there’s anything interesting that comes out of the cold brew experience, I’ll record it.

I’m easing myself back into heavier tea consumption as the weather grows a bit cooler. I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while but somehow never got around to it.

The dry leaves smell like sugar cookies! The aroma of the tea carries this over pretty well. The sugar part is definitely there, the cookie a bit less so — and yet, there’s a pastry undertone. It’s been a while since I had a black tea in a clear glass and I remember why I love clear glass now — what a pretty color. Deep red with a touch of brown, but not quite enough brown to make it mahogany.

It’s a slightly sweet black “tea” flavor with a sweet finish and aftertaste and some astringency to the mouthfeel and a briskness to the tea base. The pastry note is very subtle, but sneaks up on you.

Leland is pretty close to me. How is it I’ve never been there?

As the name might evoke, this is a little black dress of teas. Its basic in the best sense of the word- a tea you can turn to any time you fel stumped, and just want something perfectly nice.
If I ever come across this again I think I shall pick some up again. Its a really nice blend to have on hand!
But, for the time being, its a sipdown!
Four more teas to go till my black Friday goal.

So I didn’t get into the play I auditioned for, but that’s alright. There will be more things to audition for in the new year!
And, to keep my mind off of it, it is now the first day of Nanowrimo!
Does anyone else do Nanowrimo? I’ve done it every year for years, and really enjoy it. Its a lot of work, but it really feels good to flex my writing mussels like that.
This was the tea to kick off that project, and it was a really nice, strong brew this morning.
Alas, also perilously close to a sipdown, but as I now only have 23 days standing between me and my 40-teas-in-cupboard-by-black-friday goal, when it is sipped down it will further that goal.
Five teas to go!

Tea of the morning, and its a good strong brew. I did not sleep well again last night (come on, subconscious, what gives?), so I need all the liquid assistance I can get.
This certainly goes on the list of teas I might very well purchase again in future. Its a very nice blend.

Not my most successful cup of tea. I managed to spill some of the loose leaf on the floor, and then I let what I’d managed to get into the cup to steep too long, so it was bitter.
Lets hope its not an indicator about how the rest of the day is going to go.

Another windy night, which is a serious problem, as the wildfires continue to burn up my state.
I am not in any danger at this present time, the fires are still a fair piece away, but I am keeping an ear out.
I am powering my morning with this tea, which is in my “basic in the best way” camp.

Tea of the morning.
I needed something no-frills today, and this fits the bill.
It always sounds a bit like an insult when I say that, but its not intended to be. This is a solidly good, basic tea. There are days when nothing else will do.

Its been the sort of morning where I staggered out of bed, brewed this tea, sat down to drink it and then thought, “wait, what blend is this?” Friends I am tired.
This, however, was a good choice for my morning blend. It is solid, strong without being harsh, and was a good pick me up for the morning.

Reports of my death are 100% accurate. I am dead. Its tech week, things are going even worse than tech week usually does, and its only Tuesday.
I am dead.
This tea was bold and a little bit bitter this morning, which fits my mood quite well.

And another week begins! Ughhh. Its going to be a very busy week, with lots and lots of 100 degree days in it.
I was feeling like simplicity would do me some good this morning, so I reached for this, which is a very nice black tea blend. Its straightforward, which is not meant as a slight. In fact, I can see that its appeal is based on the fact that it is not overly adorned with bells or whistles.

When I was given this blend it was described as the little black dress of black blends, and I think thats a decent description. Its a solid, basic black tea, that would be good in lots of situations, and accessorizes like a dream (milk or sugar).
So I’m drinking a small pot of this for breakfast, with a side of toast and lemon curd, and thats an excellent day.

My Harney and Sons order arrived yesterday! Wahoo! Autumnal goodness is now safely in my cupboard.
So, the sipdowns are in full force, as this is but the first wave of fall teas.
I’ve enjoyed this. Its quite a pleasant cup! I never really did get the pear, more of a burnt sugar caramel, but that is pleasant too.
Sipdown!

Its cooled down today, so I feel fully justified in breaking out a more autumnal tea for my morning cup.
I am not really getting pear out of this, and the caramel today was a bit more burnt sugar.
None the less, the flavor seemed to speak of fall to me, and that made me happy, as I dreamed about soup and sweaters and feeling cozy.

Cup of my morning.
I never really seem to be able to pull the pear out of this, which I imagine would act as a crispness at the edge of the caramel. I just get a caramel black, which is very nice, but I think my imagined crisp pear edge would be phenomenal.

The caramel in this blend is the most noticeable flavor, and it really starts to come out as the brew cools down.
By the end of my cup this morning it was a warm and lightly caramel-y blend of deliciousness.