LeafSpa Organic Tea

Drank this all day yesterday as an iced tea. This is a nice tea served hot, but when you get it really cold, the Pekoe flavor really pops! IMO, This Ceylon is too light to be served with milk and sugar. Just go for the iced…WOW!
Be sure not to brew this one over 3 minutes or bitter is what you will have in your cup.

One of the best green teas I have ever had. Endless muscatel flavour and smoothness. You can get two solid steeps from the leaf. Great stuff.

My first exposure to a quality white tea, this from the Steepster Select offer.
My first impression, upon opening the can was “What!, this can’t be tea, its grey”…and I thought it looked a bit moldy! Come to find out…it’s not moldy, it’s hairy; an important distinction :-P
I read the directions on the can… 1tsp, water at 170 for 5 minutes—and promptly ignored them. I used 1 tsp in a paper sleeve, water at boiling, for 1 minute. I took the leaves out of the water and gave them a squeeze (gasp!). The brew was such a pale yellow that I didn’t think I had anything in there! I was wrong. I thought this being white tea would equate to low caffeine—it doesn’t. note to self, don’t drink at 10pm.
The tea is a pale yellow, turning amber/brown as it cools and oxidizes. The taste is incredibly light but flavorful. Not grassy like some green teas, but definetly vegetal and wholly unlike a black tea. Nothing in the way of spicy, or earthy or any of the other descriptions I’d apply to black teas. This tea is in a world of its own and I highly recommend it. If I fix it “right”, it might get even better…have to try that sometime ;-)

Note to self: Next time, don’t steep as long.

Not that there’s anything wrong with it, mind you. But for someone who’s not a huge fan of black tea, it was a little too, well, black.

I was willing to give black tea yet another try, though, and I’m glad I did with this one. Maybe because it’s yunan, or maybe because it’s organic, but either way I’ve actually found a black tea that I (gasp) rather enjoy. Oddly enough, I think I like the smell of the leaves better than the taste—not that that’s saying much of anything. The leaves have a strong, earthy smell (The length of time my nose was stuck in the canister is probably unhealthy).

The tea itself is good. It’s not like other black teas I’ve tried. There’s no bitter aftertaste, which is something I frequently experience with not-so-great teas. It’s really smooth, with a slight pepper aftertaste. Good call on this steepster select deal. Of course, we realize I now have a standard for black tea. I can’t drink that Tetley crap ever again.

Also, it took me too long to write this so the remaining tea in my mug is lukewarm. And it’s still not bad.

The Product Description From LeafSpa certainly describes the color and origin. As for the taste…

It’s fairly basic…a medium strength Ceylon…yet very clean and smooth. Because it’s not super strong or bold I am not sure if I would personally drink this as my first cup of the day but it is good. Me, personally, I am thinking it would be ideal for late morning and afternoon. This is the first LeafSpa Tea I have tried and I hope to sample some more in the future. This wasn’t bad at all!

I would certainly drink it again.

rediscovered this in “the bin” in the pantry…still just as good as the first time.

105 degrees (the air temp, not the water!). Made up a 24 oz tumbler of this for pouring over ice. Brewed it a bit longer than I normally would, about 4 minutes, to get a little extra dark. Poured hot over ice and immediately strained over fresh ice in a glass. Wow! nice clean and crisp flavor with a bit of astringincy. The tannins reminded me of a heavily oaked Chardonnay…kind of woody, clean and sharp. Tried with both a touch of lemon and plain…not much difference either way. I think this one would take well to making sweet tea.

Got this in yesterday from the Steepster Select offer. I’ll echo everyone else’s description. Yes, they did pack a lot of tea in the tin. What I am most impressed by is the simple, but perfect packaging. A plain steel tin with a tight fitting, friction fit lid..all wrapped in their paper lable. Simple, elegant, infinitly reusable.
The tea is as the picture, small black/gold leaves. The smell is earthy, but clean—not musty or moldy. I did my tea a bit on the short side compared to others. 1tsp, 90 seconds, 205deg water. Got a nice rust colored brew. Medium boldness, no astringency as others have noted as well. Smooth, slightly earthy…a good black tea flavor with no grassy tastes.

Somehow my tasting note for this disappeared. (I had some issues re-reviewing it, and who knows what I did). I obviously can’t remember now everything I said, but I assure you it was amazing. In fact, it’s probably my favorite tea in my cupboard at the moment. It’s night and light, and has a subtle flavor.

Trust me, my old review was awesome.

Be sure to read Cinoi’s tasting note on this one – it has some great details and I agree with a lot of it! She also has had other Yunans, and this is my first. I also want to echo that these tins are packed full – I heeded Cinoi’s warning the first time I opened the tins and was grateful. I sorta forgot about it this morning and had some spillage. D’oh! I also love the packaging, the Select deal, and the good service. I’m already getting a sense of loyalty toward LeafSpa.

Both dry and steeped there’s a black tea smell, but it’s different than others I’ve smelled. It’s more subtle and…I just don’t know. Super-subtle maltiness. And it took me reading the note to understand this other taste was pepper (and I don’t think it’s power of suggestion on this one). I just haven’t had many dishes with good pepper in my life so it wasn’t on my mind. This truly is one of the more complex black teas that I’ve had.

Second steep I had the water at 200 and added a minute. I think 200 shall be my set temp on this one. The first steep was supposed to be 195, but I’m still figuring out my newfangled kettle, so it was closer to 191. There’s still pepper, but the complexity just went to a new level for me. This is getting beyond my descriptive powers. It’s like a very shy carmelized sugar came along and keeps peeking out from behind a curtain of peppery black tea.

I never would have tried this tea without the amazingly generous Steepster Select deal – so thank you to all who made that possible! I still cringe at the price a bit, but after having experienced this tea I am willing to pay full amount. There wasn’t a teagasm with this one, but I think I was so lost in trying to peg down the tastes. It was more like a courtship that lead to love. More than NE.

Now, this tea surprised me a little in how much I liked it. Mostly because it’s pure Ceylon. I bought it somewhat on a whim, wanting to get something in addition to the Steepster Select from LeafSpa, and I was intrigued by the single garden, biodynamic, nature of this one. It reminds me a bit of Golden Moon’s Sinharaja (also Ceylon, so that makes sense), but less delicate, more strongly flavored. Lingering, rich fruity aftertaste. I’m still experimenting with getting a good second steep out of this one – if I do, I’ll up the rating.

This has become my breakfast tea of choice lately, because 1) It’s a good, flavorful, hearty black 2) I can drink it with or without milk, and 3) I don’t feel bad for not taking the time to resteep it.

Clearly I just need to stop pushing this tea to be stronger than it is, because I am having a single delicious steep right now. There won’t be a second, alas, because my second steeps of this have never turned out well, but this one is very good. The sweetness of raisins and dried fruit, a nice full mouthfeel – it’s a little like bread pudding without the cinnamon. Only a little (the tea isn’t that buttery or sweet), but that’s the best comparison I can think of.

I was going to do a QPR but it appears to be out of stock currently and I can’t remember the price. I’ll update this if/when it comes back. My google-fu has come through. It was $11.95/4.05oz, or about $3/oz. A single cup at 30¢ with no resteepability is a little high for my taste (unless I love the tea), but it is fairly cheap for organic.

In any case, I vow to try to enjoy this for what it is rather than constantly trying to get more out of it.

3g, 8oz boiling water, 4:30 steep

I’ve been holding off on rating this one, because I was actually a little disappointed by it. I haven’t had a lot of Yunnan teas, but Rishi’s China Breakfast and Samovar’s Breakfast blend have apparently spoiled me, because this tastes weak. I mean, it’s a good flavor – I will happily drink it – and it has the earth/pepper/smoke/malt flavor, but it doesn’t have the depth and kick I’ve gotten from those other two. I need to use a heaping teaspoon, maybe even 2 tsp, for 8 oz, and when I’ve tried for a second steep it’s been noticeably weaker. Now, if you prefer your black tea without additives this might be good for you, but I like milk, and this tea struggles to hold its own.

I’m happy to have tried this, it was a fantastic deal on Steepster Select for organic tea, but considering that Rishi’s is also organic (and priced similarly) I’d be more likely to buy there next time.

As this cools, I am getting some really interesting, almost puerh-like, flavors. This is certainly the earthiest black tea I’ve had, and might be a good one to try if you’re wanting to ease into puerh.

This is a great tea. The leaves in the tin are similar to the photo: black leaves w/golden tips. The brewed tea is bold but not astringent/brisk/bitter. Definitely strong peppery notes were detected. As the tea cooled, I noted a malty flavor…

A few days ago, I brewed Adagio’s Yunnan Gold, which was a milder tea (almost bland) as I recall. Based on memory, this is a more flavorful option…Ideally, I need to try these side by side…