Two Leaves and a Bud – Organic Darjeeling Afternoon Tea and Earl Grey Tea Review

Today I’m reviewing two black teas from Two Leaves and a Bud – Organic Darjeeling Afternoon Tea and Organic Earl Grey Tea. Monday I’ll be reviewing the last four Two Leaves and a Bud teas I have – all green teas.

A nice complex darjeeling

I’ll be starting with the Organic Darjeeling Afternoon Tea first. Darjeeling, one of the highest growing regions of tea in the world, is from Northern India. This Darjeeling is 100% pure FTGFOP#1 = Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. One of the best and most expensive qualities of tea consisting of a high proportion of tips and buds.

There wasn’t much aroma to this tea, even the wet tea bad didn’t have much scent – so I’m expecting this tea to be delicate. The color was a golden medium brown. Wow. I generally love all Darjeeling teas I sample. This one was a complex yet delicate tea on the palate just as I expected. Even though I steeped for only 4 minutes, there was a hint of a bitterness on the end note indicative of a high tannin content characteristic of black teas. This tea is astringent in nature and is high in caffeine! I can feel right away even after the first sip. Phew! The flavours of the tea linger in your mouth even after a few minutes and create a umami. Not a beginners black tea.

Ceylon OP#1 - Orange Pekoe

Next is the classic Earl Grey – a black tea base scented with bergamot. The ingredients in this one are Ceylon tea with begamot. This tea was darker in color, a brown color with a slight aubergine undertone. If you click on the image on the left you can see the beautiful color of the broken tea leaves. I could see the oil of begamot form a thin film at the top of the tea. This tea definitely has a kick to it. The tea starts off with a hint of bergamot with a sharp and slighty astringent flavour of tea. The end notes are lemony and clean. My feeling is that is has less caffeine than the Darjeeling. If you like a sharp tasting Earl Grey then this is the tea for you.

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Tealightful Treasures Sweet Cherry & Tealightful Afternoon Tea Review

My personal package from Tealightful Treasures

Lisa from Tealightful Treasures of Rochester, New York sent me this adorable package in the mail.  She tucked the tea samples into an adorable hand written card.  I absolutely love personalized things and attention to detail so they get brownie points for this.  Tealightful Treasures is actually a home party company.  Meaning they can help you organize your very own tea party in the comfort of your own home complete with fine china and scones.  This company has been featured in USA Today, Parents and Rochester Healthy Living magazine just to show you how popular they are.

The two samples I received were Tealightful Afternoon, a black tea, and Sweet Cherry, a rooibos tea.  Black teas and rooibos should be steeped 2-5 and 4-6 minutes in boiling water respectively.  I used two T-Sac’s two hold the teas and started with the black tea first.  I figured I would end with the dessert tea!

Ceylon tea and Rooibos tea

Tealightful Afternoon is a Kenilworth OP (Orange Pekoe) Estate Ceylon (Sri Lanken) Tea.  I’ve had many Sri Lanken Teas and I love them so I’m looking forward to this.  The smell of this black tea is very mild and the tea is very light.  It’s body is comparable to a green tea.  It’s not bitter at all.  I’m guessing there is a lot of caffeine to this tea, as I’m feeling the effects of it even after a few sips!  If you want a tea with a caffeine kick and like a tea with a lighter body, this is the tea for you.  Side note:  If you prefer teas that are lighter in caffeine and you adore a black tea, go organic.  Organic teas actually have less caffeine.

Next is the Sweet Cherry Tea.  The ingredients are: rooibos, flavoring, heather petals, and freeze dried sour cherry pieces.  I love roobios and all things cherry, except for artificial cherry pieces because of all the food coloring!, so I’m bias to this.  This cherry tea is light and delicate on the palate.  The smell of the cherry notes are very subtle.  If you like rooibos tea and only a hint of cherry, then this is the tea for you.  This would be a very good dessert tea after a heavy meal.  It would also make an excellent iced tea in the summer with some agave or honey.

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