Two Leaves and a Bud – Organic Orange Sencha, Tamayokucha, Jasmine and Tropical Goji Green Teas Review

Today concludes our Two Leaves and a Bud review week. I wish you could be here to smell the symphony of aromas of all these green teas. I will be reviewing today four of their green teas – Organic Orange Sencha Green Tea , Tamayokucha Green Tea , Jasmine Green Tea , and Tropical Goji Green Tea. What a treat!

Kumquat in a cup

Let’s start with the Organic Orange Sencha Green Tea first.  The ingredients are organic Japanese green tea, organic orange peel, organic sunflower petals and organic orange flavor.  Have you ever had kumquat?  It’s like a mini tangerine or mandarin orange except the rinds are edible and deliciously sweet.  That is exactly what this tea tastes like!  It’s light, aromatic and reminiscent of sweet ripe kumquats.  The aroma of the kumquats does come on stronger than the sencha, so you only get a hint of sencha in the body.  Yum!

Try saying tamayokucha 3 times fast

Next is the Tamayokucha Green Tea.  From Two Leaves and a Bud

This incredible Japanese tea is steamed as it dries, yielding a sweet, light flavor with no bitterness. Like all high quality Japanese green teas, this tea is green, not brown.”Tama” means round.”yokucha” means green tea – so “round green tea.” This extremely green tea is finished in the shade – it is covered for the last few weeks of growth to preserve the chlorophyll.

The ingredients are 100% organic green tea from Kyushu, Japan.  This tea is extremely smooth and aromatic.  It is very light in body as the tea is steamed but it’s complex.  The flavour and umami of this tea lingers in your mouth long after your first sip.  I just wish I had some sushi to go with this!

One of the most aromatic teas on the market

I loveeeee anything Jasmine.  The scent of a Jasmine flower is incomparable to any other flower.  It’s unique and in a class of it’s own.  I encourage everyone to go out and try pure Jasmine flowers as a tea unto itself and then try it blended.  The ingredients of the Two Leaves and a Bud Jasmine green tea are green tea and jasmine petals.  The color of this tea is a light brown color, comparable to brandy.  The body of this tea is light, delicate and complex with strong Jasmine notes perfect to have with any meal.  I always get Jasmine tea whenever I have Dim Sum with my family.  This particular tea from Two Leaves and a Bud has a very strong smell of Jasmine.  I highly recommend this tea if you’ve never tried it before or want a very aromatic cup. 

A Japanese tea paired with the Chinese goji berry

Our last green tea of the day from Two Leaves and a Bud is the Tropical Goji Green Tea.  The ingredients are Organic green tea, organic goji berries and natural flavor.  The base was actually made from Japanese Sencha tea.  I think it would have been a better pairing to use a Chinese tea as a base as goji or wolfberries are from China.  The nose of this tea is sweet and berry like.  The body is light, sweet and refreshing.  It’s a simple yet aromatic tea that’s not overly complicated.  I really enjoyed this tea!  I think it would make an excellent iced tea as well in the summer.

I bet you didn’t know it was possible to conjure up such a wide variety of smells and tastes from green tea!  I highly encourage you to do the same.  To get a wide range and variety of green teas then sample them.  You will be suprised at how different green teas can be.  This doesn’t only apply to green tea.  The same can be said for any types of teas.  Enjoy!

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Two Leaves and a Bud – Organic Acai White and Peony White Teas Review

I’m reviewing two Two Leaves and a Bud White Teas today – Organic Acai White Tea and Organic White Peony Tea.  White teas unlike green or black teas, are made from the bud of the tea plant. White tea from what I’ve read had very little caffeine in it, although in The Harney and Sons Guide To Tea on page 19 it says

“To further deter predators, buds also contain extra caffeine and polyphenols…White teas are therefore more caffeinated than green and black teas.”

antioxidants in a cup

The first tea I am going to review is the Organic Acai White Tea.  Acai has been all the rage in the health industry lately thanks to a show where Oprah uncovered the amazing health benefits of acai.  It is Number 1 of Dr. Perricone’s Top 10 Superfoods.  The ingredients are organic white tea, conventional acai berries and natural flavor.  The white tea they used as a base in this tea is the silver needle.  This tea is nice.  It’s aromas are reminiscent of a bouquet of fresh flowers from the garden.  As with silver needle tea, the body is quite thin.  The tea is more on the vegetal side rather than fruity.  Either way, I would recommend this tea if you are looking for the antioxidant effects of the acai berry in a tea.

white peony - the darkest of all white teas

Next is the Two Leaves and a Bud White Peony Tea.  A little darker in color, this tea is still a light golden brown shade.  it is suppose to be the darkest of all white teas.  The ingredients are organic white peony blossom tea with rose petals.  The taste is a bit like a steamed pumpkin or melon on the end note.  Any white tea enthusiast needs to try this tea.

It took a while after I sampled these teas for the caffeine to kick in.  I usually feel the effects right away from teas, my conclusion is that these teas are very light in caffeine.  Be careful when brewing though, both of these teas are heavy in tannins so don’t forget to take it out after the recommend times 5 and 4 minutes respectively.  Oh and these teabags are good for multiple steepings.

9/15 teas down – 6 more Two Leaves and a Bud teas to go.

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Two Leaves and a Bud – Organic Pomi-Berry, Peppermint and Chamomile Tea Review

I’m going to be reviewing a trio of caffeine free herbal teas from Two Leaves and a Bud today.  It’s 5pm and I really don’t want caffeine coursing through my veins if I go to hot yoga tonight.  The three teas are peppermint, chamomile and Pomi-Berry.

like a hug from your favourite grandmother

I’m starting with the Pomi-Berry first.  The ingredients are organic: chamomile, lemon balm, lavender, apple, linden flowers, lemongrass, hibiscus, strawberries, raspberries and natural berry flavor.  The tea is a nice smell of chamomile and berries.  The color of the tea is brown with a red tones underneath.  The tea tastes strongly of chamomile and apples!  There is a hint of citrus and lemongrass on the end note.  The taste is very mellow.  I think this would be a good tea to drink while you’re camping.  This tea is so down to earth and cozy, it’s like hug from your grandmother.

full fat buds

Next is the chamomile tea.  This is every sick persons favourite.  The ingredients are pure organic Egyptian chamomile flowers.  The flower heads are left fully intact in the teabag.  Many companies choose to use broken down versions of the flower heads.  This tea is silky smooth, light and super gentle.  I love their version of this classic herbal tea.

Finally we have the 100% organic peppermint tea.  Peppermint is excellent for digestion, so after a heavy heavy meal this would be the tea to enjoy.  This peppermint definitely has some body and kick to it.  Some peppermint is thin and watery without much taste.  The mintyness is akin to my mouthwash!  Wow.  It’s very nice.  Talk about peppermint umami.  I could really go for some chocolate right now to complement this cup!

7/15 down – 8 more teas to go!

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Two Leaves and a Bud – Organic African Sunset Tea Review

Ah royyyy-boss.

If there was only one tea I could drink for the rest of my life it would be rooibos tea.  This South African tea is pronounced roy-boss in Afrikaans and literally means red bush.    When I’m stressed or having a less than perfect day, rooibos tea helps me to forget all of my problems and just bask in the experience of the tea.  It’s also caffeine free.

Today I’m going to be reviewing the Two Leaves and a Bud – Organic African Sunset tea today.  I need something to calm me down and help me unwind.  The ingredients of this rooibos are: organic rooibos herbal tea, organic lemongrass, organic lemon peel and natural lemon flavor.

The color of the tea became a reddish brown, more brown than red.  It’s aromas were sweet, smooth and velvety.  Again, I’m tasting this lightness to my tea.  This tea was very mouth watering.  There was an umami to it, but different from a Japanese teas. It wasn’t as vegetal.  If a Japanese umami is more golden, this umami was more down to earth.

On a side note, I am using these nylon teabags from Two Leaves and a Bud because they are made of biodegradable cornstarch based nylon, not petroleum based nylon.  I still rather brew this loose and take it out of the teabag, but as I already started brewing this teas in their teabags from review number 1, I will continue.

4/15 11 more teas to go!

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Two Leaves and a Bud – Alpine Berry Herbal Tea Review

It felt like Christmas morning!

I got this package from Two Leaves and A Bud last week and I finally had a chance today to review one of the teas. I’m seriously contemplating doing a tea week dedicated to these guys because of the sheer amount of samples they sent me. If I go forward with this, this will be 1/15 teas. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

Two Leaves and a Bud from Colorado is one tea company that I would be proud of owning.  Their packaging design is colorful, fun and engaging!  Their packaging and press kit actually reminded me of my website.

I decided to kick start off, hopefully, Two Leaves and a Bud Week with the caffeine free Alpine Berry.  I’m not a fan of berry teas, but I’m optimistic.  The ingredients are: hibiscus, apple peel, rosehips, blackberry leaves, orange peel, and natural berry flavors.

Yum!

I brewed the tea with almost boiling water and steeped for several minutes. The liqueur instantly became a brilliant burgundy.  The color reminded me of a deep red wine or pomegranate juice.  The smell of the tea is very light.  It’s smelled of baked apples and strawberries.  Now comes the taste test.  Wow.  I love this tea.  It is completely unlike many of the berry tea experiences that I’ve had in the past.  The flavours are rich and fragrant.  I feel like I’m drinking plump raspberries, blackberries and strawberries in a tea.  I’m used to berries being very sweet so I would definately add some honey into my tea in the future.  I think this would also make a fantastic iced tea – add some apple and lemon slices with some honey and you’re good to go.

I highly recommend this tea to people who are looking for a berry based fruity herbal tea that is caffeine free.

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