PIPER & LEAF Artisan Tea Co.

2024 Advent Calendar #7

I skipped 6 because I had previously logged it and didn’t have any new things to say about it.
I enjoyed this peppery pumpkin-y blend. It’s not a pumpkin “spice” tea but more orange, cloves, and peppercorns. Reminds me of a dish I make for Thanksgiving time.

2024 Advent Calendar #5

Trying to psych myself to go for a walk but after a quick errand in the frigid temps and wind, I’m going to sip tea and plan for summer instead. The sachet smelled like chocolate and raspberries when I pulled it from the packet. Using my largest pottery mug I steeped this for about 3+ minutes. Sipping I taste the strawberries, some figs, and chocolate. The elderberry comes through as well. A good mug for a cold, blustery day.

2024 Advent Calendar #4

I don’t think I’ve ever had sweet potato pie. We love sweet potatoes in our family so I may have to try my hand at it.

The dry sachet had fabulous scents of cinnamon and clove. I, impatiently, let it steep for the full recommended 7 minutes and then snuggled in my arm chair with the mug. It was full of warm and comfort but not so strong with the chai spices. I do taste the cinnamon and clove and sweet potato. There is a flavor I can’t quite pinpoint and I googled Tulsi to see if that was it, as it’s the only ingredient I wasn’t familiar with. Still not sure if the Tulsi is what I’m getting. There was a creaminess to it that I think is coming from the sweet potato.

2024 Advent Calendar #3

Happy New Year! Taking a moment this morning to sit with a mug of this before undecorating and calendar planning. It’s the first one that I missed in the actual Advent season. It’s also the first disappointment for me but I would say, it is exactly as described. The color of the tea is a light cranberry color and the scent is strong with strawberry It’s very sweet, dry, tart with strawberries and hibiscus. For me this would be a better pick for summer than a New England summer

2024 Advent Calendar #2

This day suggested making paper snowflakes, which I might have the kids do since it’s pouring rain here and melting the little layer of snow we did have. But first a warm mug of berry tea to start the day. This is the only tea of P&L that I’ve have tried before. At that time, I drank it cold brewed in mason jar on a sunny summer deck. With a rainy, raw day, I wanted to try it out warm. It steeps up a deep red and tastes like tart blueberries and blackberries. The hibiscus is very prominent. I don’t get a sense of the elderberries or sage.

2024 Advent Calendar #1

December was a blur and I never had time to log in but this year I ordered the Piper and Leaf Advent Calendar. It was a good fit for me with some music, stories, Bible verses, and 2 tea sachets per day.

This was the first tea (and likely the only one I drank on the correct day). I enjoyed the blend of jasmine, bergamot, and mint. I could see this being a good cold brew but at this time of year I stick with hot mugs. I did a second steeping of this and found it enjoyable as well. The sampler started off with a good tea match for me!

No black teas in my advents today, so I figured I would take the opportunity to try one of these Piper & Leaf sachets from the weekly subscription free trial. I love woodsy teas, so this one stood out to me.

Gotta say, the dry scent was a bit intimating ha ha. The resinous, evergreen aroma was so strong, I assume because this has “balsam fir oil” listed as an ingredient. Thankfully, steeped up it’s not quite so intense. Definitely a very woodsy blend, with the cedar, juniper, and fir taking the lead. Then there’s the smoky lapsang, not too overbearing which is nice. I don’t really taste much of the spices though, this has cinnamon, ginger, and black pepper, but not finding those. Maybe a hint of sweetness from the cinnamon.

It’s definitely nice, especially for those who prefer a stronger woodsy tea. Not sure I would go out of my way to order it though, since overall it’s quite thin and watery, and I feel like it’s missing something to round it out.

This smells odd. The berry aroma is really nice, but the coconut adds an unpleasant smell.

The coconut is less noticeable in the flavor, but the hibiscus is strong here. Really tart, berry. It’s fine, but I was hoping for more of the berry flavor to be present.

A bit boring. Orange/cinnamon. Lots of hibiscus.

I love a unique tea blend, and Piper & Leaf definitely have a nice variety of unique blends. So it’s been fun tasting through the couple samplers I purchased.
This is incredibly savory smelling. Smells like oregano soup. Not getting any spices in the aroma.
Tastes savory as well- I’m getting mostly oregano, with some of the dill and fennel. Just a touch of ginger/cloves. Really interesting and not something I’ll drink all the time, but it’s still enjoyable.

I love sweet potato teas, so was really excited to try this. It smells like a spiced sweet potato pie.
But, there’s something strange about the flavor. I think it’s the licorice, which is giving it a vague artificial sweetener flavor (like monkfruit or stevia). The bit of sweet potato I can taste is nice, but it’s overwhelmed by the licorice.

This is fine. Generic red fruit black tea. Probably wouldn’t purchase again.

But, realized this has catnip in it. One of my cats absolutely lost her mind trying to steal the used teabag and stick her head into my brewed cup.

This is just okay. Not getting any apple. Slightly caramelly, with some licorice in the background.

This is a really lovely pumpkin chai blend. Nice balance of spices, with a really nice level of squashiness. I like the touch of orange rind as well.

Decided to purchase a couple of the Piper & Leaf samplers- they have so many unique sounding blends and I couldn’t resist trying them.
This is not a flavor profile I usually like in tea. Particularly the chocolate, which is more often than not painfully artificial tasting. This was a pleasant surprise though! The chocolate was not plasticy or artificial at all, and the mix of berries was a nice compliment. Can definitely taste the most strawberry, with a touch of raspberry.

This is such an interesting blend. Tastes like a redwood forest. A smoky redwood forest. Slightly fruity, but mostly quite earthy. Not an everyday kind of blend, but definitely something unique to have occasionally.

Almost gave this to Superanna since she loves mint and I usually don’t reach for it, but decided to make it today because a student of mine dislikes almost all tea except mint tisanes.

Did not like. Yes, it was purple. The mint was muddy. Tongue is still muddy minty tasting long after even though I didn’t feel like the mint taste was clean and fresh, so I would have thought it would have gone away by now. No fruitiness.

Not for me.

Strange. Thought I had reviewed this one already. It’s hot out. So this one just made sense. Thank you Shae for the sample! It’s a good blend for a hot day. Brisk black tea along with hints of lemon and slight varnish under tones that linger with the bits of astringency. It was okay hot this morning but I’m liking it better cold.

February Sipdown Prompt – National Pancake and Sticky Bun Day

I thought I had written a prompt that I couldn’t fulfill! I finished Eleven and Mornin’ Waffles and wasn’t sure what to drink for this, so I went with tea the flavor of a pancake or sticky bun.

We haven’t made pancakes in ages, but I do make Dutch Babies, which are also called German Pancakes around here. (Maybe everywhere?) I make caramel apple or blueberry ones, so this tea fits the bill nicely. To boost the correctness of my choice, I ate French Toast Girl Scout cookies with it. All breakfast themed!

I like this tea, and it will be a sipdown next time I drink it. It is over a year and a half old but tastes much the same as when I first got it.

It is a deep, dark, rich tasting tea. This is a burnt caramel flavor to me. The apple hides a bit while the tea is hot, but comes out more as it cools. I did make a second steep (and got a second cookie) and I think I liked the second steep even better. It was still a dark burnt caramel flavor but slightly lighter and with more discernible apple.

Another one I could have sworn I had made a note for.

I had this for breakfast and thought it was pretty good, lots and lots of rich, burnt brown sugar flavor and a decently strong black tea base. But I kept wondering where the apple was. I only drank half of the small pot.

Late in the afternoon I wandered by the pot and gave it a sniff. APPLE! There it is! A little sip confirmed that the apple was really there. Whether the flavor was covered up by the food I was eating (just oatmeal) or whether the apple doesn’t come out while the tea is piping hot, I don’t know.

After supper, I decided to rock out back and have some graham crackers. I heated the leftover tea to just above warm but definitely not hot, and the apple is quite apparent now. I will have to keep playing with this one, as I like it, and I wouldn’t mind having the apple flavor and not there, depending on the circumstances.

I’m beginning to suspect I’ve become the home for unwanted teas. Another friend gave me a packet of teas the other day. She could not identify this one but said there is a strawberry hint to it. After checking out the website, I figured out it is lemon berry blush.
I’m definitely saving this one for early summer. I think it will make a fabulous iced tea. I first taste the lemongrass and then I taste the strawberries. Definitely a fruity flavor. I think even the kids would like it.

I have made this as iced tea twice and finished it off by making by the carafe. It is nice, fruity, and made me think of Pomegranate Oolong from Harney and Sons somewhat. I don’t know that I would like it hot but it was quite serviceable cold. We go through a lot of iced tea in summer.

Enjoyed it, but not a re-order for me. There are so many good options that cost a lot less. Piper and Leaf just seems a bit expensive for the amount of leaf.

Although I haven’t posted notes for them all, I have finished off a number of samples lately and my cupboard is getting almost manageable! I do not add samples to cupboard, so there are probably at least fifty additional teas over what is listed for my online cupboard here. Working on it! (So I can order more tea…)

I signed on, excited that I get to remove something from cupboard. Except that I not only never added to cupboard, but there is no tasting note here, so I guess if I ever wrote one it was just for Sororitea Sisters? And here I am finishing it off.

While you have all been doing your amazing sipdowns and I am cheering you on because you are amazing, I have managed to finish off a few sample packs and swaps as well as a small tin or two. The problem is that I never added them to cupboard to begin with, so I don’t really count them.

I got this one around Christmas time, maybe a little before? I am not a chai lover, so it was going to be either latte or iced and sweetened for me, and in respect for the name I chose iced. And I actually really like it! It has great sparkle and the spices make it seem extra cold somehow. I do resteep it and mix the two steeps together with sugar and then chill it in a glass carafe. After working outside in the yard most of the day, it was very refreshing on the patio with supper.