Leafbox Tea

Got a sample of this with an order. Was surprised by some of the things discovered from this.

This is not a blend, it is just ground mint leaves. If you like the smell of mint, the dry leaves are awesome. The scent is powerfully strong. The scent is present in the brewing in a very present way and carries over into the liquor.

Surprisingly, for those who are used to mint gum and candy having a sharp bite to it, this is amazingly smooth. The mint aroma is present as you drink and there is a touch of sweetness (which is even more noticeable on the resteep).

The liquor is smooth and easy drinking, not at all like our preconceptions that we often have about mint. The liquor is not minty in the ordinary sense and the flavor is mild. Cooled down, it becomes very refreshing.

The body and mouthfeel is in a light to medium range, the liquor does stick to your tongue a little giving a you a nice after taste.

All in all, a good drink and something worth keeping in the house for times when you want something different.

This is a really tasty black tea that has a fresh, light taste. Brewed well, it made for a great daily drinker that literally gets gulped down.

OP (Orange Pekoe) teas are pretty much the most basic form of black tea. It is pretty much a medium grade of tea, making it affordable. Upton is charging only $5.20 for 200 grams for this tea. A good deal on a tea that makes a fantastic breakfast tea. There is nothing remarkable about this, but at the same time it manages to satisfy in a way that some better teas cannot. There is some special about “normal” teas like this that we find particularly satisfying.

We drank it plain, without milk or sugar and found it very refreshing. Drinking a pot of this was a great way to start the day.

For an inexpensive, everyday tea with a very fresh taste, this one is recommended.

After reading the reviews here, we wanted to see if we felt this tea lived up to the hype so we ordered up a packet.

52teas ships in 2-ounces packets which are solid silver on the back and see through on the front. This is a nice touch, especially when you have such a visually-appealing tea like this one. Those great images that 52teas creates (the one above) are actually the labels generated for the teas. We like these, but the labels are small on the packet and really don’t do justice to the work Frank and Company put into creating them. On the web and 52teas website, they look awesome, on the packet (printed on an ink-jet label printer) they look boring.

Our advice for this would be to simply leave the label off the packet and have those incredible images printed up as small glossy cards or inserts to be mailed along with the tea packet. It’ll add a bit of glitz and really show off the hard work done in creating the images and labels. The other upside is that there will be no label covering the front of the tea packet obscuring the beautiful tea inside.

Now, to the tea: the dry leaf really does look and smell awesome. The shavings of coconut are monstrous and the scent wafts up wonderfully. The shavings are supported by added flavorings, no problems there because it really gives a great smell. There really is no other tea on the market that we’ve been able to find that uses such enormous pieces of coconut.

In brewing, the tea brews up like a standard black tea. The tea leaves themselves are fairly small – nothing exciting. They are not fannings or dust, it appears to be machine-processed black tea that is commonly available and often used as a base for flavored teas. This is typical and we did not expect otherwise.

The liquid has a unique taste to it, we also found the “mint” flavor that Jason noted – though it isn’t a flavor inasmuch that it is a “bite” that appears as the tea dries on your tongue. It didn’t come in the back of the mouth, it comes at the front marking it as a mild bitter snap. The coconut flavor never really comes out in the liquid, but we are certain that the unique bite this tea has is a result of the coconut pieces. We did not try the latte recipe so we can’t comment on how it enhances the flavor of the coconut.

One interesting aspect we noted was the presence of the coconut oils visibly in the tea. Since oil rises to the top and separates from water, little spots of oil can be seen floating on the surface. We liked this, while we couldn’t taste a strong present flavor of coconut (beyond that unique minty-like bite) being able to see the infusion of the coconut was nice. This is a product of the large shavings used; this has not been noticed in other coconut teas.

That said, the coconut shavings do make this an interesting tea to drink plain; the snapiness that it has certainly sharpens the flavor profile. Because of the uniqueness of the tea, we did several tastings of it on several different days (ultimately consuming the entire packet just to come to our conclusions). We wanted to ensure we were thinking about it correctly.

It is an interesting tea, but as coconut goes, this batch/blend didn’t quite make it into the liquid. The dry tea is absolutely amazing, practically a work of art. If you want a decent cup of tea and don’t expect something wonderful from the cup but it is certainly worth buying just to look at the leaves and to shove your nose into the packet to inhale the smell.

This tea is probably one of the best examples of a Vanilla tea that we’ve encountered. It is a standard black tea, very much in line with the generic term, “China Black”. That said, it is a good quality tea base with a full black tea flavor.

The tea is advertised as a full-leaf tea, however, when wet, it reveals itself as a machine processed tea. The leaves are broken, cut and relatively small. This is in line with the tea being a standard China Black. Even though it does not appear to be a proper full-leaf tea, the base is still substantial enough to support the vanilla flavor.

This tea uses actual pieces of vanilla bean along with some artificial flavoring. The beans are exactly as they appear in the image, chopped pieces. In a sealed container, no doubt the oils from the bean pieces infuse with the tea. The flavoring is added for extra punch and works wonderfully.

Some drinkers may flinch at the use of artificial flavorings, however, Upton makes clear that the products they use are labeled according to FDA regulations which are fairly specific. However, Upton’s marketing material states, “…the so-called nature-identical flavorings which are used on most of our flavored teas, must be listed as artificial.” In other words, nothing to worry about here. Drink your tea.

The vanilla aroma is strongly present in the dry tea, and the liquor is properly infused with it as well. The subtle sweetness that vanilla offers is found throughout the sip and even lingers in the back of the mouth. The bean pieces really solidify what the added flavoring may not add, thus this tea has a creaminess to it.

We would go so far to say that this is one of the best Vanilla Teas available.

Note: Upton Tea is an importer, they repackage and sell teas from around the world. They are not blenders. This tea is a product of Germany and is blended there. Some members of the Leafbox staff are familiar with numerous German tea blenders and merchants. Vanilla tea is a standard tea in Germany available from numerous sources, this one ranks among the best of that segment as well.

Our tasters found this tea to be complimented well with a bar of good chocolate nearby.

This is a perfectly ordinary and drinkable tea. It doesn’t come across as anything spectacular. The oolong is basic without any fanfare and the vanilla is present in the dry leaves and continues to come through in the liquid itself.

The vanilla seemed slightly on the weak side with this. Along with the temperate oolong flavor this tea is decent but uninspiring.

This is an ordinary tea. Simple, but good, black tea flavored with coconut flakes and chocolate chips.

The coconut flavor and aroma is present and will certainly please coconut lovers. It could, perhaps be a little bit stronger. The biggest disappointment is the chocolate. Silver Leaf uses mini-chocolate chips to flavor their chocolate teas (probably the bittersweet kind). Chocolate chips are far too weak to properly give tea a chocolate flavor.

The biggest disadvantage they have is their size and weight. Chocolate chips don’t blend well with dry tea leaves. In scooping out the tea for the pot, we found that we only had 2 chips in the mix. This required reaching back into the bag and plucking out the chips individually to ensure we had some more in the pot. On top of that – how many is the right amount? The fact that we have to think about the balances of tea blending in a tea that is already supposed to be blended is a no-no.

Lightly ground cocoa beans would be a more refined and flavorful way to add a chocolate flavor to tea. The size and weight of the ground cocoa would blend more thoroughly and easily with the tea leaves giving the drinker a more consistent cup.

On average, because of the issues with blending chocolate chips with tea this tea if much more often a coconut tea than anything resembling a chocolate flavored one.

Very dark amber in the cup. With most teas, the bottom of the cup can be seen – not with this, it is very nearly opaque. This tea tastes exactly as most people describe, strong and earthy. This is a tea that one generally has to get used to – it will be an acquired taste for most people.

The “earthy” taste – some people just call it strange – comes from a unique ingredient that appears during the curing: fungus, bacteria, or mold. Anyone who has ever scraped out the deep blue veins from a strong Danish cheese and licked the mold off the knife is going to recognize the source of the “earthy” taste in Pu-erh immediately.

Extremely old (40-50+ years) Pu-erhs are known to have visible strands of blue mold. Even on younger Pu-erhs, the mold is still present, just not visible. It is that fungal growth that gives it the unique taste.

The age of a Pu-erh is important when thinking about the tea, Golden moon does state what year it may be from but they describe the ingredients in the tea as: Aged Chinese Tea from the Last Century. Pretty vague, but given the price, the tea probably a recent vintage from the last 2-3 years.

We brewed this for 2 minutes, 30 seconds using boiling water.

Our taster was disappointed with this tea. Vanilla Black tea is her number one favorite tea of all time (as in – vanilla tea must never be missing from the cupboard) but this one was found lacking in the vanilla flavor.

Golden Moon uses Vanilla extract and pieces of bean. Our taster said that it seemed like the vanilla flavor never took. There is a method for making vanilla bean-based teas that goes far beyond simply blending the ingredients together. The dry tea leaves need to absorb the vanilla oils and aroma and this takes time (about a month) and a sealed container (similar to making vanilla sugar) – using that method reduces the need for extracts which is a shortcut method.

Using extract to flavor vanilla tea is acceptable practice but it doesn’t always work well; some blenders manage it better than others. Whatever batch our sample came from; the result was disappointing.

Our taster also thought the tea as a whole seemed a little stale. It came to use in GM’s usual heat-sealed packaging so if it was stale or off then there may have been a storage issue at some point in its handling.

Golden Moon’s brewing instructions were followed: Infuse 3-4 minutes in freshly boiled water.

This Green tea has a very classic Green tea flavor. Not plant like the way some greens come across. The flavor profile is subtle with still a significant flavor – there is a simple, clean and mild sweetness to this. The liquid is light, as is the color in the cup. The flavor of this tea is such that it could be used as a baseline for other green teas.

Interestingly, this tea no longer seems to be in TG’s catalog. So as of this review it isn’t available. While teas literally come and go on a monthly basis, hopefully, TG will be able to secure another shipment of this or an equivalent tea next year.

We followed TG’s excellent brewing instruction to the letter on with this and the result was satisfying and refreshing. On a test to push the limits, we did let the steep time go a little over 3 minutes and the result was bitter reminding us again that Green teas are not as forgiving as black teas.

The dry leaves of this are fragrant with the smell of coconut; that smell translates well into the aroma of the liquor but not into the taste. The leaves of this oolong unfurl during the steeping, but despite their size remain on the milder side of teas.

The color is a light, transparent green,and the aroma is full of the scent of coconut. The coconut flavor never really comes out even after an extended brewing; though coconut is a rather mild taste, and may not be strong enough to make itself present against the tea. This may be the reason the blender chose such a mild tea.

Nevertheless, the smell of coconut is strong and present. If you don’t mind the lack of flavor, you will find the coconut filling your nose with each sip (drink it while its hot to get the full scent). This will not satisfy coconut lovers, but it makes a good effort.

Loved it – and that took some of us by surprise. Although we like Ceylon teas, I didn’t expect to like this one, this much! It’s light, but certainly makes an impact on the taste buds. Very refreshing, very thirst quenching – but what a wonderful way to quench it. It is a subtle tea, but very persuasive about being so.

We brewed this one a little longer than we usually brew our teas – we tend to go for shorter rather than longer. Our usual, preferred black tea brewing time is usually under 3 minutes. We also tested this at our standard 2 minutes 30 seconds for black tea and found all the flavors there. The 3 minutes plus only served to enhance them.

Dry, the leaves were long, tightly curled and thin. They had the dark, bright color that is expected from fresher teas. This Ceylon is a standard “regional” tea and is one of the basic examples of black tea.

This is as basic as a tea gets. Rooibos is technically a tisane or more commonly a herbal tea. It comes from a plant called Aspalathus linearis and simply referred to as red bush. The plant starts out as green and the “red” color emerges as a result of the oxidation that occurs during the processing of the leaves.

Rooibos has no caffeine as well as other chemicals that occur in tea (sourced from Camillia sinensis); these differences result in rooibos being very forgiving in the brewing process. You could easily oversteep leaves from Camillia sinenses and the resulting liquor is bitter, harsh and undrinkable, but oversteeping leaves from Aspalathus linearis does fall into that problem.

As a experiment, this rooibos was steeped for 8 minutes, with water that was boiling at the start. The tea that resulted tasted fine, it was strong on the typical smoky flavor but there was no bitterness.

Under a standard brewing of 2 minutes 30 seconds, it resulted in a refreshing tea that had a hint of smokiness to it and generally a smooth finish. There is a very, very slight nutty flavor to it that complements the mild plant-like taste- however, these two flavors are very mild, which is good for something like this that makes an excellent everyday drinker.

This is a GOOD tea. This is one of those really unique blends that should have been put into the classic tea lexicon a long time ago. Imagine how much more sensual and interesting the world would be if the British were drinking this instead of Earl Grey!

The black tea is standard TeaGschwender fare, the same good quality tea they use is most of their flavored blends. There are a lot of chocolate-flavored teas out there, but the American trend is to do it with chocolate pieces…that is: chocolate chips or flakes of a chocolate bar. While that adds a little creaminess, it also adds sugar and milk to the extraction. TG uses cocoa bean giving the extraction a much more pure chocolate flavor without the extras. Because of this, this tea is for real chocolate people. Its not bitter or harsh (but gets that way quick if you steep it too long).

The best part? The chili. If your liquid is still too hot It doesn’t hit you right away. Of course, if you are scalding your tongue with the liquid, the heat from the chili is reduced. Wait a few minutes before you drink it. The chili snaps out at you fairly quick and lingers through the after taste. Great stuff here! The chocolate and chili compliment each other fantastic way.

This is not a weak or mild flavored tea at all, this one is strong and satisfying. For a tea time that almost qualifies as a meal, drink this tea along with one of the great chili-chocolate bars that have been popular in recent years.

Tea Gschwender has some of the best and most detailed brewing instructions in the industry. Each tea has its own recommendations – this comes as a result of the enormous amount of testing the company does in their labs. This company is a favorite of the Leafbox staff because of this, we’ve found no other company that prepares and tests their products as thoroughly as TG does.

This tea should become a staple for chocolate and chili lovers. Keep this one handy for those mornings when something exotic is needed.

This tea was smooth and not bitter, but on the weak side. We left this one brewing longer than most teas in the hopes it would toughen up. Over 5 minutes in one case. Two tea bags in a mug helped but it was still a little light.

A big leaf oolong is going to give more flavor since this is really only tea dust, but it works in a pinch but only if you like your teas on the light side. Strong tea fans not recommended. Herbal tea drinkers might like this one.

This is a great licorice tea. Herbal teas can often be light and soft – this one doesn’t come across that way. The mixture of ingredients makes it taste strong in the mouth with a powerful licorice flavor. The fennel and peppermint don’t stand out, but blend with the licorice root to support it – you really don’t notice them until the back of the tongue when the mint kicks in.

This tea works extremely well either hot or at room temperature. Cold doesn’t serve this tea well and tends to hinder the flavor some. Highly recommended for licorice fans.

This tea is best after it has cooled to room temperature. Drinking it cold doesn’t let all the flavors come out; same with drinking it hot. There is something about having a glass of this once it has cooled that is really refreshing.

Not complicated, but lots of fruit flavors. Definitely a must for blueberry fans. No sweetener needed – it’ll confuse all the natural flavors that are in it.

This tea was purchased from a Wegmans grocery store. At the time of this review it did not appear on Harney’s website.

This was only a good tea. Wanted to try it simply because of a licorice craving. The licorice flavor was subdued by the black tea and needed longer steeping to bring it out. Of course, by then, the tea was too bitter.

Need to experiment with steeping times. At 2:30 minutes the licorice taste was too week. At 3:30 minutes it was stronger, but often black tea starts to get bitter right around then.

Not the best licorice tea out there – doesn’t really satisfy the craving for it. Otherwise, it is an ordinary tea. It seemed to taste better with a good chocolate bar than it did with a cookie. Licorice is too refined a taste to accompany a cookie.